In parshat Vayechi Jacob makes a dramatic announcement: “And then Jacob called his sons and said: ‘Gather together and I will tell you what will happen to you in the End of Days.’”[1] Jacob wanted to reveal his prophetic vision of the End of Days to his sons, but just as he was about to speak the Shechinah, the Divine Presence, left him. Although God did not allow Jacob to openly reveal the End of Days, he was permitted to embed different parts of his overall vision in the blessings he subsequently gave his sons. Rashi points out many of these prophetic allusions in his commentary. Judah’s blessing, for instance, contains some explicit and other subtler references to the future:
Judah—you, your brothers shall acknowledge; your hand will beat your enemies’ neck; your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you. A lion cub is Judah; from the prey, my son, you elevated yourself. He crouches, lies down like a lion, and like an awesome lion, who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawmaker from among his descendants until Shiloh arrives and his will be an assembly of nations. He will tie his donkey to the vine; to the vine branch his donkey’s foal; he will launder his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes. Red eyed from wine, and white toothed from milk.[2]
Moses and Mashiach
Much of this blessing is dedicated to describing the tribe of Judah’s future role as the progenitor of kings. Not only will the Jewish people accept Judah’s descendants as kings and scholars, the nations of the world will also accept his penultimate descendant as the universal ruler of humanity. Rashi explains that Jacob is alluding to the Davidic monarchy and to Mashiach, the future redeemer. The Hebrew words, “Shiloh arrives,” (יָבֹא שִׁילֹה) equal 358, exactly the numerical value of Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ)!
The Hebrew word “Shiloh,” (שִׁילֹה) by itself, equals 345, the numerical value of Moshe (משה), Moses’ name in Hebrew. As the Midrash states, Moses “is the first redeemer and he [his soul enclothed within the soul of Mashiach] will be the last redeemer.”[3] This statement links the souls of Moses and Mashiach together. The connection between Moses and Mashiach is further stressed by both their Hebrew names beginning with the letters mem and shin.
In this blessing, Jacob also subtly sheds light on Mashiach’s role and on the change of consciousness that humanity will undergo in the Messianic era. Most importantly, Jacob foresees that the crowns of leadership and scholarship will be combined and come to fruition in Judah’s descendants. Moses of course combined both these qualities as perhaps no one else before or after him. Based on this, the Rambam asserts, in his concise, but highly influential treatment of the Messianic era, that for an individual to be considered Mashiach, he must fulfill the following conditions:
He must be a ruler from the House of David, immersed in the Torah and its commandments like David and his ancestors. He must also follow both the Written and the Oral Torah, lead all Jews back to the Torah, strengthen the observance of its laws, and fight God’s battles. If one fulfills these conditions, then we may assume that he is the Mashiach. If he does this successfully and then rebuilds the Temple on its original site and gathers all the dispersed Jews, then we may be certain that he is the Mashiach.[4]
A New Torah from Me Will Emerge
The root of the Hebrew word for “lawmaker” (מְחֹקֵק) that Jacob uses in blessing Judah has a number of other meanings: a Divine decree that transcends human logic (חֻקָּה); a law (חֹק); bosom (חֵיק) or inside; and to engrave (חֲקִיקָה). Not only will Mashiach teach the nation of Israel and the entire world Torah, he will also expose a level of Torah wisdom and mystic thought which is so deep and novel that it will be permanently engraved in the bosoms, the hearts, of his listeners. This new level of understanding is referred to in the Midrashic statement (based on a verse from the prophets[5]): “A new Torah from Me will emerge.”[6] According to the traditional understanding of this Midrash, the so-called new Torah will actually be constructed from the very same letters as the Torah we have at present, but our understanding of its profundity will be so much infinitely deeper that it will be like a new Torah.
Prophecy and Divine Inspiration
According to Rambam the Mashiach does not need to be a prophet, nor does he need to perform miracles to accomplish his task.[7] Nevertheless, there are many teachings that draw a parallel between the soul of Mashiach and the soul of Moses. According to tradition there are some general disagreements as to the comparable spiritual levels of Moses and Mashiach, relating directly to their respective qualities of prophecy and Divine inspiration (Ru’ach HaKodesh). Although Mashiach will not compare to Moses’ level of prophecy, his soul will reach a higher level of Divine inspiration than Moses inasmuch as the Mashiach will descend from the House of David, who excelled in the realm of Divine inspiration.
A Spark of Moses, A Spark of Mashiach
Regarding Moses the Midrash states: “He is the first redeemer, and he will be the last redeemer.”[8] Similarly, the Zohar also relates the soul of Moses and Mashiach. The Or HaChaim, the famous Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, asserts that the Mashiach will have the souls of both David and Moses.
According to the Zohar, the soul of Moses is present in every generation.[9] The Alter Rebbe, Rebbe Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in his classic book, the Tanya, explains that every Jew in fact contains a spark of Moses, manifest within their soul’s innate sense of knowing God, a power attributed especially to Moses.[10] This soul power is the aspect of Moses as the first redeemer. As the final redeemer, the spark of Moses in every Jew is manifest in the deep Messianic desire to rectify, redeem, and heal the world.[11]
This idea in the Tanya is based on the slightly earlier teaching from the Ba’al Shem Tov that every Jew possesses a spark of Mashiach, as discussed above. This holy spark is the innate leadership potential in each individual waiting to be manifested. When enough individuals clarify, harness, and activate their own spark of Mashiach, a critical mass of redemptive energy will be set in motion, drawing down the revelation of Mashiach into the world.
Messianic Compassion
The two cardinal attributes of Moses—compassion and humility—will also be present in the Mashiach. Of these two qualities, Moses’ humility was more essentially rooted in his soul, whereas compassion will be the more essential characteristic of Mashiach. The source for this idea is a verse in Isaiah relating to the future redeemer: “…for he who has compassion for them shall lead them, by springs of water he will guide them.”[12]
A deep level of understanding this verse is revealed through the numerical value of the Hebrew word “one who has compassion” (מְרָחֵם) which is 288. This number has great significance in the teachings of the Arizal who explains that in the initial stages of the Divine creative process a catastrophic event occurred called the breaking of the vessels, when the initial immature vessels of creation could not contain the pure spiritual light of the Creator, and as a result they shattered. According to Kabbalah, this breaking of the vessels that occurred in a previous state of creation actually forms the reality of this world, as the shards of these vessels are scattered, along with the sparks of infinite light they contain, throughout all creation. For this reason, the previous world is referred to as the World of Chaos (Olam HaTohu), a chaotic state of reality, whereas our present world is called, the World of Rectification (Olam HaTikkun). We are charged, according to this Kabbalistic creation paradigm, with gathering all these scattered sparks in order to bring them back together within the strong and flexible vessels of rectified consciousness.
It is fascinating to note how the Arizal established that it was 288 shards containing sparks of light that fell into the lower worlds due to the breaking of the vessels, He learned the number 288 from the word “hovering,” in the Torah’s second verse:
Now the earth was chaotic (tohu) and empty and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering (מְרַחֶפֶת) over the face of the water.”[13]
The initial and final letters of the word “was hovering” (מְרַחֶפֶת) spell מת, “died,” while the three inner letters (רחפ) equal 288. Thus, the Arizal read this word as indicating that 288 sparks died or fell in the shattering of the vessels of chaos. The word “was hovering” (מְרַחֶפֶת) is understood to imply that the exterior framework (symbolized by the mem and the tav) of that previous world died when it was shattered, but the 288 sparks of vital energy initially contained within the World of Chaos, although fallen, are still present and in fact form the basic reality of our world. It is up to us to locate, gather, and elevate them back to their primordial wholeness, thus repairing the world. It is through this very process of liberating the light that we are empowered to bring redemption to the world.
Reflecting on this matter deeply, we see that the secret of redemption facilitated by the Mashiach will be based on his rectified state of compassion, which will have the empathic power—again “the one who has compassion” equals 288—to redeem all the 288 fallen sparks of light, no matter how low they may have fallen. Inasmuch as each Jew has a spark of Mashiach and Moses within them, as well as having an integral part to play in the rectification of the world, it is incumbent upon each individual to cultivate their own qualities of compassion in order to bring redemption to the world.
[1]. Genesis 49:1.
[2]. Genesis 49:8-12.
[3]. Shemot Rabbah 4:2.
[4]. Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim [Laws of Kings] 11:4.
[5]. “Torah will emerge from me” (Isaiah 51:4).
[6]. Vayikra Rabbah 13:3.
[7]. Mishneh Torah; Hilchot Melachim 11:3.
[8]. Shemot Rabbah 4:2.
[9]. Tikkunei Zohar 69 (112a). See also Zohar 3:216b.
[10]. Tanya ch. 42.
[11]. See Rectifying the State of Israel, p. 152 note 2.
[12]. Isaiah 49:10.
[13]. Genesis 1:2.
