blogs/rabbi-huberman

Two questions are posed to rabbis above all others.

The first is “What is the Jewish view of the afterlife?” That's a question we'll explore at a later date.

The other is “What is the Jewish understanding of the Messiah?” The answer to this second question is contained, in part, within this Shabbat's Haftorah reading from the prophet Ezekiel: the concept is known as “two sticks”: that is, two messiahs.

Judaism holds that the ultimate Messiah, or Maschiach (“one anointed in oil”) will be a descendant of King David, and will be a human being who arrives to preside over a perfected world.

Many believe that the Messiah will only arrive when we, humankind, have done that perfecting: when the world is free of injustice, of prejudice, of hunger or poverty.

That is the ultimate goal of the Jewish mission of Tikun Olam, the repair of this broken world.

The Conservative movement supports a pluralistic view of the Messiah, as it states in its statement of central principles: “Since no one can say for certain what will happen ‘in the days to come,' each of us is free to fashion personal speculative visions.”

Based on Ezekiel's vision, rabbinic and prophetic literature speak of two consecutive messiahs, each playing unique, perhaps contradictory roles.

As Ezekiel saw it, the world was divided into two “sticks.” In his day, those two sticks represented the northern tribes of Israel (Ephraim) and the southern tribes of Judah.

Over the centuries, many Sages have interpreted Ezekiel's “two sticks” as the perpetual battle between the spiritual and the physical.

Just as the biblical Joseph advised the reigning Pharaoh on how to conserve food during seven years of famine, Sages envisioned a first Messiah, a descendant of Joseph, who will guarantee the world's physical