What Are Common Misconceptions About Moshiach?
The most common misconception is that Moshiach is a distant dream. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, King Moshiach, taught that Moshiach’s coming “is no longer a dream of a distant future, but an imminent reality,” and the Rambam rules that Moshiach is a human king who works within the natural world (Hilchos Melachim 11-12).
Is the Redemption a distant dream?
No. The Rebbe taught in 5751 that we stand on the threshold of the Redemption (Sichos In English).
In the summer of 5751, after the Gulf War, the Rebbe said that Moshiach’s coming is an imminent reality that will very shortly be fully revealed (Sichos In English, “On the Threshold of the Redemption,” from the sichos of Balak and Pinchas 5751). During the crisis the Rebbe had suggested publicizing a passage of the Yalkut Shimoni (Isaiah 499). It describes the nations in turmoil in the year King Moshiach is revealed, and ends with Moshiach announcing, “Humble ones, the time for your redemption has arrived.”
On 28 Nissan 5751 the Rebbe asked every Jew to “do everything you can to bring Moshiach, here and now, immediately.” In October 1991 a CNN reporter asked the Rebbe for his message to the world. The Rebbe answered:
“Moshiach is ready to come now. It is only on our part to do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness.”
The full message is collected in the Rebbe’s message to the world, and the question of when Moshiach will come has a clear answer: now.
Is Moshiach a supernatural or divine being?
No. The Rambam rules that Moshiach is a king from the House of David who studies Torah (Hilchos Melachim 11:4).
Moshiach is a human being, not G-d and not an angel. The Rebbe quoted the Chasam Sofer: from the time the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, in every generation one was born who in his righteousness is worthy of being the redeemer (Sichos In English, “Mashiach in Every Generation”). The Bartenura writes the same: in every generation someone from the tribe of Yehudah is born who is worthy of being Moshiach.
So Moshiach is not an idea or an era alone. He is a real person, the leader of the generation. The difference between an angel and a man matters, and the Rambam’s criteria for who is Moshiach are all about a human leader.
Does Moshiach have to perform miracles?
No. The Rambam rules that Moshiach does not need to perform signs or wonders (Hilchos Melachim 11:3).
The Rambam writes: “Let it not enter your mind that King Moshiach will need to perform signs or miracles… or resurrect the dead.” His proof is Rabbi Akiva, the greatest sage of his generation. Rabbi Akiva and all the sages of his time considered Bar Kochba to be Moshiach, and did not ask him for any sign.
The Raavad disagrees in his gloss, citing the Talmud that the sages tested Bar Kochba (Sanhedrin 93b). The Rebbe discusses this dispute in Likkutei Sichos (vol. 13, p. 297, note 14; vol. 27, p. 200, note 69). The halachah follows the Rambam: Moshiach is recognized by his deeds. He leads the people in Torah, fights the wars of G-d, builds the Beis Hamikdash and gathers the exiles (Hilchos Melachim 11:4).
Does the world end, or leave nature, when Moshiach comes?
No. The Rambam rules that the world continues in its normal course in the days of Moshiach (Hilchos Melachim 12:1).
The Talmud quotes Shmuel: “The only difference between this world and the days of Moshiach is the subjugation of Israel to the nations” (Berachos 34b; Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 12:2).
The Rebbe explained the point. The physical setting of the world will not change in the era of the Redemption; what will be different is our knowledge and awareness of G-d. Our souls will still be in bodies, we will still eat physical food, and we will live together with gentile neighbors. All of it will be filled with the awareness of G-d. The Hebrew words for exile (golah) and Redemption (geulah) differ by one letter, the alef, which stands for G-d (Sichos In English, “Make This Place Eretz Yisrael”). The Rambam closes his laws with the verse, “The world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9; Hilchos Melachim 12:5).
Will Moshiach change the Torah?
No. The Rambam rules that the Torah and its laws are eternal (Hilchos Melachim 11:3).
The Rambam writes that in Moshiach’s days all the laws return as before: the offerings, and the Shemitah and Yovel years (Hilchos Melachim 11:1). The Rebbe asks, in a talk on Parshas Pinchas, how any Torah prohibition could be uprooted in the days of King Moshiach, since no prophet may make a change in the mitzvos (Likkutei Sichos vol. 38, p. 104).
The Rebbe also taught that the righteous who rise at the start of the Redemption will still keep the mitzvos, on a higher level (Sichos In English, Shabbos Parshas Vaeira 5752). Moshiach does not replace the Torah. He brings its full observance.
Is there nothing to do but wait?
No. The Rebbe taught that what remains is to accept Moshiach (Shabbos Parshas Terumah 5752).
The Rebbe said that the Jewish people have completed all the spiritual tasks demanded of them, and “all that is necessary is to actually accept Mashiach” (Sichos In English, Terumah 5752). The Previous Rebbe had already said that only “polishing the buttons” was left (Sichos In English, Naso 5751).
The Rebbe gave practical steps. Study about Moshiach and the Redemption, since the study itself hastens his coming. Live with the Redemption so that it shapes our daily conduct (“On the Threshold of the Redemption”). Every mitzvah can tip the balance of the whole world (Sichos In English, Ki Seitzei 5751). These steps are gathered under how to bring Moshiach.
Is belief in Moshiach optional?
No. The Rambam rules that whoever does not believe in Moshiach or await him denies the Torah (Hilchos Melachim 11:1).
Awaiting Moshiach every day is the twelfth of the Rambam’s Thirteen Principles: “I believe with complete faith in the coming of Moshiach, and though he may tarry, I will wait for him every day that he will come.” The Talmud says a person is asked after his life, “Did you await the Redemption?” (Shabbos 31a).
Three times a day the Amidah asks G-d to make the offspring of David flourish. The Rambam’s two chapters on Moshiach are summarized in the Rambam’s laws of Moshiach, and the era they describe is laid out in what happens when Moshiach comes, including the resurrection of the dead that follows.