50 Jewish Messiahs: The Untold Life Stories of 50 Jewish Messiahs Since Jesus and How They Changed the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Worlds

by Jerry Rabow

It is a little known fact that there have been more than fifty prominent Jewish Messiahs. These characters, though unrenowned today, inspired messianic fervour that at times seized the whole Jewish, Christian, Muslim and even secular worlds. The stories of these fifty Messiahs, both male and female, are unknown -- suppressed by Jewish religious authorities or ignored by historians of all religions. Until now. In this book, these Jewish Messiahs are remembered, and now their forgotten stories -- whether humorous, bizarre, tragic or solemn -- are finally told. The Messiah who killed the Pope; The Messiah who was saved from the Inquisition when the Pope hid him in the Vatican; The Messiah who demanded that his head be cut off in order to prove his immortality The Messiah who defied the Holy Roman Emperor; The 17th century Messiah whose followers continued their secret society into the 20th century. And to contemporary times and the story of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and how he inspired a passionate and devoted following. Above all, Fifty Jewish Messiahs examines humanity, not divinity, and history rather than theology. Taken together, these intriguing stories paint a vivid portrait of the universal and timeless human need for optimism, and hope in a better future.

Genres: Religion, Christianity

216 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subject of Jewish messianism is interesting. If one were to compile a list of the who’s who of Kabbalism, it would largely match the who’s who of Jewish pseudo-messianism. That in and of itself is intriguing. Not all the pseudo-messiahs discussed in this book were Kabbalists, but enough were that one could posit some sort of correlation.

This is the second time I’ve read this book and I have to say that the author does a fairly good job of at least cursorily examining the pseudo-messiahs that have appeared in Judaism. The author pointedly refrains from using the term false messiah, but I think these all must qualify as false messiahs given what Jews have accepted as the messianic prerequisites and given that Islam and Christianity already acknowledge a messiah. Bar Kokhba is one of the earlier examples given here. His activities effectively incited the Romans to expel Jews from the holy land. The only other notable example of a pseudo-messiah that had a substantial following would be Shabbatai Zevi. While a number of influential Kabbalists claimed to be the messiah, such as Abraham Abulafia and Isaac Luria, they didn’t have a substantial following of people that accepted them as such. Isaac Luria was undoubtedly influential as a Kabbalist though, and it was his system that allowed people like Zevi the theological pretext they needed to make messianic claims. Having studied the affect that Shabbatai Zevi had on even Protestant Europe, one must acknowledge that he would probably be the most notable pseudo-messiah thus far. He also influenced Jacob Frank, one of the more disturbed individuals we find in this group. I won’t go into detail about his activities, but he reminds me of Alistair Crowley in a lot of ways.

An interesting book and subject. I am again reading Gershom Scholem’s the Messianic Idea in Judaism, and that goes far more into detail as to the activities of some of these people, especially of Shabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank.

[Dale Rosenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better in concept than execution. The only Jew I knew much about who claimed to be the Messiah before reading this book was Shabbatai Zvi. I was really intrigued to learn about other false messiahs in other times and places, as well as what motivated them and what became of them. Some of those would-be Messiahs are in here; some were hucksters and some sincere but crazy. Almost all came to bad ends. Their stories are really fascinating but reading this book just gives you enough info to intrigue, as the focus is on quantity of messiahs rather than quality of scholarship or writing. I'd love to hear more, for example, about the one who convinced people he was the messiah "because he could fly." It would be interesting to see the sources - who said they saw him flying? What did that look like? Are there existing accounts of skeptics who thought he was somehow faking it? In general, the messianic claims are just stated, with little reference to contemporaneous sources and few quotes.

More of a problem is that to try to make the numbers larger, he includes major Jewish religious figures, scholars, and writers who never claimed messianic status. Rabow says that some Jews at the time considered the likes of Joseph Karo, the Ari (Isaac Luria), and others to be the Messiah. However, he doesn't support that claim well, again not quoting often from original documents, and it seems to me that it muddies the waters to include people who made no messianic claim and had no actual group of followers who called them Messiah.

All that said, it was a fun read and a very quick one. And the introduction, in which he explains the Jewish concept of the messiah and how it differs among different communities and has evolved over time, is a simple yet cogent treatment of the topic.

[Sydney Hack · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s the history you have to learn and the history you choose to learn. And let me tell you, the history of Jewish messiahs is WILD and everyone should learn about it.

[Georg Sagittarius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beßer, man liest die (AUTO)BIOGRAPHIEN des Echten: Jakob Böhme/Lorber (GEJ, 3T, Jugend Jesu...), Swedenborg, Bertha Dudde (j-lorber.de!)!

[Joel D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant and interesting read on a somewhat obscure topic.

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazingly quick read for a book on somewhat obscure points of Jewish religion and history. While this is not as rigorous as say a Gershom Sholem treatise or an academic monograph, it is surprisingly well-documented for a more or less breezily-paced introduction to Jewish Messianism. Ranging from Bar Kokhba to Chabad, Rabow shows the ups and downs of Jewish messianism in a way that is sometimes humorous, often insightful, and very entertaining.

Want to know the origins of the myth that Native Americans are the lost tribe of Israel? Well, it has to do with Cromwell and a Rabbi interpreting Messianic history. What does Messianism have to do with converting to Islam? Why where conversos often awaiting the lost tribe of Israel to defeat the Muslim empires? Why did the Pope try to support a Jewish messiah claimant? Which messiah figure is said to have killed a Pope? These stories are all explored in this book.

There is lots of more serious points to learn about about the evolution of Jewish religion, and comparative belief systems. From Rabow's work, we can see that the Donmeh practiced rituals that resembled the Christian Brethren of the Free Spirit. We can learn that occultation and reincarnation played a strong role in Jewish messianic belief, the former in ways that seemed to mirror Shia Islam. One can find implied parallels all through the history of Jewish messianic movements.

One can also see why Maimonides warned against careless belief in messianic claimants as these stories in tragedy or fraud (and often both)--over and over again. An excellent introduction to the complications and history of Jewish eschatological beliefs, both in sophisticated and folk theological forms.