Failed Messiah?

The Baltimore Jewish Times has this revealing interview with Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, founder of CLAL:

Rabbi Greenberg also contends that Jesus was not so much a false messiah, as mainstream Judaism has steadfastly declared for some 2,000 years, but a "failed" messiah - a category into which Rabbi Greenberg also places the patriarchs Abraham and Moses, the prophet Jeremiah, and the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, among others . . .

"Jews deemed Jesus to be a false messiah out of defensiveness," Rabbi Greenberg explains. "A failed messiah is someone who teaches correct values . . . "Moses," Rabbi Greenberg continues, "was a failure because he sought to transform people who left Egypt as slaves into truly free people, but he couldn't do that. They remained slaves mentally and had to die in the desert before the Nation of Israel could enter the Promised Land. Even [Moses] failed to get there. . . . When Christians speak of the Second Coming, they are tacitly admitting that a complete transformation of the world did not occur during Jesus' lifetime, and in that sense, he also failed."

To be called a "failed messiah," Rabbi Greenberg emphasizes, is anything but demeaning. Rather, it is the highest of compliments, given the importance of the messianic vision in Jewish thought.

"To do so much good to even be thought of by some as a messiah speaks of the rarest of individuals," he says.

. . . As for Rabbi Greenberg's conclusions about Jesus, Rev. Leighton adds, ". . . My own view is that the Christian tradition has always acknowledged that what Jesus did was inaugurate a process of redemption and that we still await the consummation of that redemption. Therefore the claim that Jesus failed is, I think, a Jewish rendering of the Christian understanding . . ."

Of course, this is exactly what Chabad claims about the Rebbe.

So try reading the quote like this: "Chabad believes that what the Rebbe did was inaugurate a process of redemption and that we still await the consummation of that redemption. Therefore the claim that the Rebbe failed is an anti-Chabad rendering of what Chabad believes."

See what I mean?

Read the entire interview here.

Comments

[Zalman Alpert]

Here the problem is with Dr. Greenberg not the rebbe. To compare the rebbe with the others is one massive chilul hashem.

[Carmen]

Yeshua was a "failed" Messiah? HOW was He a failed Messiah? I challenge on that one, my friend! Write to me!

Carmen

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H
Shalom uBrocha!
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and Shmarya conviniently ignore Jewish law as codified by the Rambam who writes that:
5. The whole of the following passage was deleted from most of the editions published since the Venice edition of 1574.
"If he did not succeed to this degree or he was killed, he surely is not [the redeemer] promised by the Torah. [Rather,] he should be considered as all the other proper and legitimate kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. G-d only caused him to arise in order to test the multitude. As it is written [Daniel 11:35], "Some of the wise men will stumble, to purge, to refine, and to clarify, until the appointed time, for it is yet to come."

"Jesus of Nazareth who aspired to be the Moshiach and was executed by the court was also spoken of in Daniel's prophecies [Daniel 11:14], "The renegades among your people shall exalt themselves in an attempt to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble."

"Can there be a greater stumbling block than [Christianity]? All the prophets spoke of Moshiach as the redeemer of Israel and their savior, who would gather their dispersed ones and strengthen their [observance of] the mitzvos. In contrast [the founder of Christianity] caused the Jews to be slain by the sword, their remnants to be scattered and humiliated, the Torah to be altered, and the majority of the world to err and serve a god other than the L-rd."

"Nevertheless, the intent of the Creator of the world is not within the power of man to comprehend, for [to paraphrase Yeshayahu 55:8] His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. [Ultimately,] all the deeds of Jesus of Nazareth and that Ishmaelite [i.e. Mohammed] who arose after him will only serve to pave the way for the coming of Moshiach and for the improvement of the entire world, [motivating the nations] to serve G-d together, as it is written [Zephaniah 3:9], "I will make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of G-d and serve Him with one purpose."

"How will this come about? The entire world has already become filled with talk of [the supposed] Messiah, as well as of the Torah and the mitzvos. These matters have been spread among many spiritually insensitive nations, who discuss these matters as well as the mitzvos of the Torah. Some of them [i.e. the Christians] say: "These commandments were true, but are not in force in the present age; they are not applicable for all time." Others [i.e. the Moslems] say: "Implied in the commandments are hidden concepts that cannot be understood simply; the Messiah has already come and revealed them."

"When the true Messiah king will arise and prove successful, his [position becoming] exalted and uplifted, they will all return and realize that their ancestors endowed them with a false heritage; their prophets and ancestors cause them to err."
http://www.kesser.org/moshiach/rambam.html
here in audio: chapters 11 and 12 http://www.sichosinenglish.org/audio/sefer-hayad/14.htm
another interesting point: http://www.kingmessiah.com/365/4828.html

According to the above someone like Bar Kochbah who was accepted as Moshiach by Rabbis and fulfilled much what Moshiach must do but then was killed would be "failed Messiah" or in the words of the Rambam:
"If he did not succeed to this degree or he was killed, he surely is not [the redeemer] promised by the Torah. [Rather,] he should be considered as all the other proper and legitimate kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. G-d only caused him to arise in order to test the multitude. As it is written [Daniel 11:35], "Some of the wise men will stumble, to purge, to refine, and to clarify, until the appointed time, for it is yet to come."
Yeshu however would be a false Messiah:

"Jesus of Nazareth who aspired to be the Moshiach and was executed by the court was also spoken of in Daniel's prophecies [Daniel 11:14], "The renegades among your people shall exalt themselves in an attempt to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble."

The Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a (May He live forever and ever!) however is the true Messiah who fullfilled the laws of Moshiach and also being a confirmed prophet testified about himself being Moshiach and Torah obligates us to believe words of a prophet
Ruling of Jewish Law signed by many Rabbis atesting to the fact that the Rebbe is Moshiach:

http://www.PsakDin.net
With respect and blessing:
Ariel Sokolovsky
Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!