History has a beginning and an end. The process of advancing history toward its conclusion is called redemption. Redemption isn’t merely a prophecy but a core value of Jewish belief.
However, the specific details of redemption remain murky and cryptic. According to our tradition, Jacob, on his deathbed, assembled his children, hoping to provide a road map for the messianic era. However, his plan was thwarted from above, as his prophetic spirit was temporarily suspended. Ironically, the only person in the Bible who provides a coded road map of redemption is the gentile prophet Bilam, whose fourth and final prophecy addresses events that will unfold in “the end of days.” Broadly speaking, though, the details of redemption remain shrouded in secrecy.
For numerous reasons, Jewish tradition intentionally avoids excessive scrutiny of messianic matters. Too much focus on the future can lead to runaway messianic fervor, raising unrealistic expectations which, when unfulfilled, can be dispiriting. Secondly, focusing too sharply on a bright utopian future can easily distract us from the relatively dreary affairs and responsibilities of our current situation. Messianism can easily slip into escapism and fantasy. Jewish consciousness is delicately balanced between the here and now and the golden future we anxiously await.
Finally, as redemptive belief is predicated on a strong, unshakable sense of historical mission, extreme and radical actions can mistakenly be justified to achieve a higher, divine goal of redemption.
For these and other reasons, Judaism was always cautious about peering too deeply into the mystery of redemption. To paraphrase Maimonides, we will know the details of the Messiah only after he arrives.
Yet, despite the obscurity of the messianic details, Judaism’s unconditional belief in redemption profoundly shaped Jewish identity and general human history.
Navigating adversity
Redemption assures us that the world is constantly surging to a better state. No matter how dark or dysfunctional the world appears to be, we resolutely cling to the belief that God continues to drive our world to its inevitable better future. Though evil can temporarily sidetrack this trajectory, the overall arc of redemption is woven into the fabric of history.
Belief in redemption offers us strength and solace during gloomy periods of history. For this reason, redemptive interest often surged in the wake of national tragedies. As early as the 2nd century, the great sage Rabbi Akiva assumed that Bar-Kochba was the Messiah. How else to explain the brutal and vicious Roman persecution of our people?
About 1,200 years later, redemptive enthusiasm spiked in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition. Once the epitome of Jewish cultural and intellectual achievement, Spanish Jews were now scattered as refugees across the globe, homeless and penniless. This dramatic surge in messianic eagerness accounted, in part, for the renewed interest in the study of Kabbalah.
Redemptive fervor also swelled in the late 17th century, in the aftermath of the bloody Khmelnytsky Uprising, during which tens of thousands of Jews were brutally murdered, a tragedy that abruptly and violently ended the first golden era of Polish Jewry. This messianic intensity fueled the rise of the Hassidic movement, which spotlighted Jewish hopes for, and belief in, redemption.
Throughout our history, we remained convinced that a better world awaits us, regardless of the adversity and hostility we faced. Steadfast optimism in a hopeful future and in the possibility of redemption provided us with the strength to overcome stiff historical challenges. During the bleakest moments of history, when the world around us came crashing down, redemptive belief strengthened our national resilience.
A dynamic world
Viewing history as a redemptive journey also fosters belief in historical dynamism. Redemption implies that history is moving toward a divinely ordained goal and suggests that current conditions are not permanent and can be improved. To the redemptive imagination, history is malleable and can be transformed.
The conviction that God propels the world to a better state also empowered man to take accountability and participate in this process as God’s partner. It encouraged belief in human potential and emphasized that individuals and societies are capable of profound change and improvement.
Furthermore, redemption, as part of a larger covenant with God, implies that human actions matter and are capable of influencing both divine favor and historical outcomes. When we assert that history is purposeful and has direction, our belief in redemption inspires us to view our lives as part of a larger, dynamic story.
Finally, belief in redemption assumes that there is order and purpose to our world. As there is a divine author directing history, events aren’t random. Belief in a rational and orderly universe supervised by a purposeful God encouraged man to pursue knowledge as a way of understanding that divine will. This pursuit of knowledge yielded exploration, discovery, and innovation.
Redemption fixes our imaginations on this world and its vast potential while shifting our attention away from the afterlife. Utopia isn’t deferred to a different world but can be crafted in this one.
Religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, which view history as cyclical rather than linear, do not acknowledge the end point of historical redemption. Not incidentally, these cultures aren’t as developed as Western civilization, which, under the Judeo-Christian influence, experienced dramatic political, economic, scientific, and educational advancements, many of which were fueled by a redemptive outlook on history.
Redemption is inclusive
Aside from framing this world as dynamic, belief in redemption also cultivates collectivism by emphasizing the interconnectedness of all individuals possessing a shared destiny. Our historical covenant is not just individual but communal, binding the entire Jewish community into a collective relationship with God.
Additionally, belief in historical redemption reinforces our belief in personal redemption. If history can change, so can individuals. Appreciating the potential for change in other people makes us more patient and supportive of them, and, hopefully, less judgmental of their flaws or limitations. Belief in redemption stretches our imagination beyond the present and beyond the individual or even the communal. Redemption opens our imagination to the future and expands our interest to an entire nation and ultimately to the entire world, which we hope one day to redeem.
Chabad
Last week marked the 30th anniversary of the death of the seventh Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. One of the most distinguished and influential rabbis of the past few centuries, he almost single-handedly turned the Chabad movement into one of the most expansive, inclusive, and important worldwide Jewish movements.
The Rebbe deepened redemptive awareness. His lectures, writings, and teachings constantly examined the redemption that he thought was imminent and for which he so fervently prayed. His heightened redemptive passion generated a deep love for, and embrace of, every Jew regardless of his or her religious level of observance. Every Jew became part of his redemptive vision, and every Jew had a role in accelerating his longed-for historical end point of redemption.
Based on the Rebbe’s influence, Chabad’s vast network of shluchim, or emissaries, continues to tirelessly and selflessly reach out to every Jew in a friendly and nonjudgmental fashion, making every Jew feel valued and accepted, regardless of his or her level of observance or knowledge.
During this moment in history, as we all search for formulas to unite our people, the Rebbe’s life and his legacy remind us that one route to unity is pondering our common redemptive destiny. During the past nine months since Oct. 7, we have spent so much energy contemplating our common past as our unifying narrative. Perhaps we should also visualize the future as a common destiny which includes every Jew.
One of the many legacies of the Rebbe was how his longing for redemption stoked his love for every Jew.
The writer is a rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion/Gush, a hesder yeshiva, with ordination from Yeshiva University and a master’s in English literature from CUNY. He is the author of Dark Clouds Above, Faith Below (Kodesh Press), which provides religious responses to Oct. 7.