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Before the Common Era
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Simon of Peraea (c. 4 BCE), a former slave of Herod the Great, who
rebelled and was killed by the Romans.
Athronges (c. 4-2? BCE), a shepherd turned rebel leader of a rebellion
with his four brothers against Herod Archelaus and the Romans after
proclaiming himself the Messiah. He and his brothers were eventually
defeated.
1st century
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Jesus (ca. 4 BCE - 30 CE), in Galilee and the Roman province of Judea.
Jews who believed him to be the Messiah were the first Christians, also
known as Jewish Christians. It is estimated that there are 2.5 billion
Christians in the world today,[6] making Jesus of Nazareth the most
widely followed Messiah claimant. In addition to Christians, Muslims
also regard Jesus ('Isa) as the Jewish messiah.
Judas of Galilee (6 CE), Judas led a violent resistance to the census
imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in Iudaea Province around 6
CE. The revolt was crushed brutally by the Romans.
Menahem ben Judah (?), the son or grandson of Judas of Galilee, was a
leader of the Sicarii. When the war broke, he armed his followers with
the weapons captured at Masada and besieged Antonia Fortress in
Jerusalem, overpowering the troops of Agrippa II in Judea and forcing
the Roman garrison to retreat. Emboldened by his success, he behaved as
an "insufferable tyrant",[8] thereby arousing the enmity of Eleazar, the
Temple Captain and de facto a rival Zealot rebel leader, who had him
tortured and killed.[9] He may be identical with the Menahem ben
Hezekiah mentioned in the Talmud (tractate Sanhedrin 98b) and called
"the comforter that should relieve".
Theudas (?-46 CE), a Jewish rebel of the 1st century CE, at some point
between 44 and 46 CE, Theudas led his followers in a short-lived revolt.
Some writers are of the opinion that he may have said he was the
Messiah.
Vespasian, c.70, according to Flavius Josephus
John of Gischala (? after 70), was a leader of the Jewish revolt against
the Romans in the First Jewish-Roman War, and played a part in the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70CE.
2nd century
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Simon bar Kokhba (also: Bar Kosiba) (?- died c. 135), with the
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem the appearance of messiahs ceased
for a time. Sixty years later a politico-Messianic movement of large
proportions took place. The leader of the revolt Simon bar Kokhba
against Rome was hailed as Messiah-king by Rabbi Akiva, who referred to
him, Numbers xxiv. 17: "There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, and
a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite through the corners
of Moab,", and Hag. ii. 21, 22; "I will shake the heavens and the earth
and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms. . . ." (Talmud tractate
Sanhedrin97b). Although some doubted his messiahship, he seems to have
carried the nation with him for his undertaking. After stirring up a war
(133-135) that taxed the power of Rome, he at last met his death on the
walls of Bethar. He founded a short-lived Jewish state before his
Messianic movement ended in defeat in the Second Jewish-Roman War
causing misery for the survivors.
Lukuas (115 CE), was the leader of Jewish rebels during the Kitos War.
5th century
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Moses of Crete (?), the unsuccessful issue of the Bar Kokba war put an
end for centuries to Messianic movements, but Messianic hopes were
nonetheless cherished. In accordance with a computation found in the
Talmud, the Messiah was expected in 440 (Sanh. 97b) or 471 ('Ab. Zarah
9b). This expectation in connection with the disturbances in the Roman
empire attendant upon invasions may have raised up the Messiah who
appeared about this time in Crete, and who won over the Jewish
population to his movement. He called himself Moses, and promised to
lead the people, like the ancient Moses, dry-shod through the sea back
to Palestine. In about 440-470, his followers, convinced by him, left
their possessions and waited for the promised day, when at his command
many cast themselves into the sea to return to Israel, some finding
death, others being rescued. The pseudo-Messiah himself disappeared.
Socrates (Which Socrates?) states that Moses of Crete fled, while the
Chronicle of John of Nikiû claims that he perished in the sea. While he
called himself Moses, the Chronicle gives his actual name as 'Fiskis'.
7th century
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The Khuzistan Chronicle records an otherwise-unknown Messianic claimant
who arose alongside the Muslim conquest of Khuzistan. This Messiah led
the Jews to destroying numerous Christian churches in Iraq and coastal
Iran.
8th century
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The pseudo-Messiahs that followed played their roles in the Orient, and
were at the same time religious reformers whose work influenced Karaism.
Appearing at the first part of the 8th century in Persia:
Isḥaḳ ben Ya'ḳub Obadiah Abu 'Isa al-Isfahani of Ispahan. He lived in
the reign of Marwan II (744-750). Known as Abu Isa, he claimed to be the
last of the five forerunners of the Messiah and that God had appointed
him to free Israel. Having gathering a large number of followers, he
rebelled against the caliph in Persia.[19] But he was defeated and slain
at Rai. His followers claimed that he was inspired and urged as proof
the fact that he wrote books, although he was ignorant of reading and
writing. He founded the first sect that arose in Judaism after the
destruction of the Temple, the 'Isawiyya.
Yudghan, called "Al-Ra'i" ("the shepherd of the flock of his people"),
who lived and taught in Persia in the first half of the 8th century. He
was disciple of Abu Isa who continued the faith after Isa was slain.
[citation needed]. He declared himself to be a prophet, and was by his
disciples regarded as a Messiah. He came from Hamadan, and taught
doctrines which he claimed to have received through prophecy. According
to Shahristani, he opposed the belief in anthropomorphism, taught the
doctrine of free will, and held that the Torah had an allegorical
meaning in addition to its literal one. He admonished his followers to
lead an ascetic life, to abstain from meat and wine, and to pray and
fast often, following in this his master Abu 'Isa. He held that the
observance of the Sabbath and festivals was merely a matter of memorial.
After his death his followers formed a sect, the Yudghanites, who
believed that their Messiah had not died, but would return.
Serene (his name is given variously in the sources as Sherini, Sheria,
Serenus, Zonoria, Saüra, Severus) the Syrian was born a Christian. He
preached in the district of Mardin between 720 and 723. Those Christian
sources dependent on Theophilus's history report that "Severus"
proclaimed himself Messiah; the Zuqnin Chronicle reports that he
proclaimed himself Moses "sent again for the salvation of Israel".
Serene promised "to lead you into the desert in order to introduce you
then to the inheritance of the Promised Land which you shall possess as
before";more as a "prophet like Moses" than as a Davidic "anointed one"
as such. The immediate occasion for his appearance may have been the
restriction of the liberties of the Jews by the caliph Omar II (717-720)
and his proselytizing efforts.
Serene had followers even in Spain, where the Jews were suffering under
the oppressive taxation of their new Arab rulers, and many left their
homes for the new Moses. These Jews paid instead a tithe to Serene.
Like Abu 'Isa and Yudghan, Serene also was a religious reformer.
According to Natronai b. Nehemiah, gaon of Pumbedita (719-30), Serene
was hostile to rabbinic Judaism laws. His followers disregarded the
dietary laws, the rabbinically instituted prayers, and the prohibition
against the "wine of libation"; they worked on the second day of the
festivals; they did not write marriage and divorce documents according
to Talmudic prescriptions, and did not accept the Talmudic prohibition
against the marriage of near relatives.
Serene was arrested. Brought before Caliph Yazid II, he declared that he
had acted only in jest, whereupon he was handed over to the Jews for
punishment. Natronai laid down the criteria by which Serene's followers
might rejoin the synagogue; most of said followers then presumably did
so.
12th century
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Under the influence of the Crusades the number of Messiahs increased,
and the 12th century records many of them;
One appeared in France (c. 1087) and was slain by the French.
Another appeared in the province of Córdoba (c. 1117).
Moses al-Dar'i, a Moroccan teacher, gained a large following. He was
convinced that the Messiah would free the Jews in the Almoravid
countries at Passover 1127.
David Alroy or Alrui, who was born in Kurdistan, appeared in Persia
about 1160 declaring himself a Messiah. Taking advantage of his personal
popularity, the disturbed and weakened condition of the caliphate, and
the discontent of the Jews, who were burdened with a heavy poll tax, he
set out upon his political schemes, asserting that he had been sent by
God to free the Jews from the Moslem yoke and to lead them back to
Jerusalem. For this purpose he summoned the warlike Jews of the
neighbouring district of Azerbaijan and his coreligionists of Mosul and
Baghdad to come armed to his aid and to assist in the capture of Amadia.
From this point his career is enveloped in legend. His movement failed,
and he is said to have been assassinated, while asleep, by his own
father-in-law. A heavy fine was exacted from the Jews for this uprising.
After his death Alroy had many followers in Khof, Salmas, Tauris, and
Maragha, and these formed a sect called the Menahemists, from the
Messianic name "Menahem," assumed by their founder.
The Yemenite Messiah, was an anonymous alleged forerunner of the Messiah
from Yemen, who appeared in Fez. Just as the Muslims were making
determined efforts to convert the Jews living there. He declared the
misfortunes of the time to be prognostications of the coming Messianic
kingdom, and called upon the Jews to divide their property with the
poor, preaching repentance that those who gave their worldly possessions
to the poor would gain a treasure in heaven. This anonymous pseudo-
Messiah was the subject of Maimonides' Iggeret Teman. He continued his
activity for a year, when he was arrested by the Muslim authorities and
beheaded at his own suggestion, it is said, in order that he might prove
the truth of his mission by returning to life.[30] Nothing is known
beyond the mention of him in Maimonides' "Iggeret Teman" (The Yemen
Epistle).
13th century
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Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (b. 1240- after 1291), the cabalist, begin
the pseudo-Messiahs whose activity is deeply influenced by their
cabalistic speculations. Because of his mystic studies, Abulafia came to
believe first that he was a prophet; and in a prophetic book, which he
published in Urbino (1279), he declared that God had spoken to him. It
is thought, though not proven, that in Messina, on the island of Sicily,
where he was well received, and won disciples, he declared himself the
Messiah and announced 1290 as the year for the Messianic era to begin.
Solomon ben Adret, who was appealed to with regard to Abulafia's claims,
condemned him, and some congregations declared against him. Persecuted
in Sicily, he went to the island of Comino, near Malta (c. 1288), still
asserting in his writings his mission. His end is unknown. Two of his
disciples, Joseph Gikatilla and Samuel, both from Medinaceli, later
claimed to be prophets and miracle-workers. The latter foretold in
mystic language at Ayllon in Segovia the advent of the Messiah. Abulafia
gained much modern notoriety as a the name for the computer of a
character in Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum
Nissim ben Abraham (?), another individual making claims of prophethood,
active in Avila around 1295. His followers told of him that, although
ignorant, he had been suddenly endowed, by an angel, with the power to
write a mystic work, The Wonder of Wisdom, with a commentary thereon.
Again an appeal was made to Solomon ben Adret, who doubted Nissim's
prophetic pretension and urged careful investigation. The prophet
continued his activity, nevertheless, and even fixed the last day of the
fourth month, Tammuz, 1295, as the date for the Messiah's coming. The
credulous prepared for the event by fasting and almsgiving, and came
together on the appointed day. Instead of finding the Messiah, some saw
on their garments little crosses, perhaps pinned on by unbelievers to
ridicule the movement. In their disappointment some of Nissim's
followers are said to have gone over to Christianity. What became of the
person is unknown.
15th century
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Moses Botarel of Cisneros (?), active around 1413. After the lapse of a
century another false Messiah came forward with Messianic pretensions.
According to H. Grätz (l.c. viii. 404), this pretended Messiah is to be
identified with Moses Botarel. He claimed to be a sorcerer able to
combine the names of God. One of his adherents and partisans was Hasdai
Crescas. Their relation is referred to by Gerónimo de Santa Fe in his
speech at the disputation in Tortosa 1413.
16th century
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Asher Lämmlein , Asher Kay (Käei) (?), a German proclaiming himself a
forerunner of the Messiah, appeared in Istria, near Venice in 1502, and
announced that if the Jews would be penitent and practice charity the
Messiah would come within half a year, and a pillar of cloud and of
smoke would precede the Jews on their return to Jerusalem. He found
believers in Italy and Germany, even among the Christians. In obedience
to his preaching, people fasted and prayed and gave alms to prepare for
the coming of the Messiah, so that the year came to be known as the
"year of penitence." However, the "Messiah" either died or disappeared.
Isaac Luria (1534–1573) and Hayyim Vital (1543–1620), together they were
apparently able to conjure up the spirits of deceased rabbis. One of the
spirits they spoke to, convinced them that he was the Messiah and that
he would come soon.
Isaac Luria (1534–1572), was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the
community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine. He is
considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah.[32] Luria understood
that he was the 'suffering servant', who was, in his own view, the
forerunner of the 'Messiah of David.'
Hayyim Vital (1543–1620), started his career as an alchemist, looking
for the philosopher's stone that would convert lead into gold. After
several failures, he decided to study the Kabbalah with Isaac Luria.
After Luria's death, Vital started to understand that he himself was the
Messiah of David and went to Damascus. He claimed that God would redeem
Israel when he had found ten righteous people (the number mentioned in
Genesis 18.32), but never succeeded.
David Reubeni (1490-1541) and Solomon Molcho (1500–1532), adventurers
who travelled in Portugal, Italy, and Turkey.
David Reubeni (early 16th century), he pretended to be the ambassador
and brother of the King of Khaibar, a town and former district of
Arabia, in which the descendants of the "lost tribes" of Reuben and Gad
were supposed to dwell. He claimed he was sent to the Pope and the
powers of Europe to secure cannon and firearms for war against the
Muslims, who prevented the union of the Jews living on the two sides of
the Red Sea. He denied expressly that he was a Messiah or a prophet
(comp. Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 256), claiming that he was merely a
warrior. The credence which he found at the papal court in 1524, the
reception accorded to him in 1525 at the Portuguese court (whither he
came at the invitation of John III, and where he at first received the
promise of help), the temporary cessation of persecution of the Marranos
—all gave the Portuguese and Spanish Marranos reason to believe that
Reuveni was a forerunner of the Messiah. Selaya, inquisitor of Badajoz,
complained to the King of Portugal that a Jew who had come from the
Orient (referring to Reuveni) had filled the Spanish Marranos with the
hope that the Messiah would come and lead Israel from all lands back to
Palestine, and that he had even emboldened them to overt acts (comp. H.
Grätz, l.c. ix. 532).
David Reuveni and Solomon Molcho (was a mostly unknown Czech Jew from
around the 1650s) were arrested in Regensburg on the orders of Charles
V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain. He was taken to Mantua, in
Italy, where he was tried and eventually burned at the stake by the
Popein November, 1532. A spirit of expectancy was aroused by Reuveni's
stay in Portugal. In Herrera del Duque, close to Puebla de Alcocer
(Badajoz, Extremadura), a girl of 15 described ecstatic visions in which
she talked to the Messiah, who took her to heaven where she saw all
those who were burned seated in thrones of gold, and assured her of his
near coming. She (only known for us as the Maiden of Herrera) was
enthusiastically proclaimed a prophetess, and such was the commotion
caused by her visions that the Toledo Inquisition had her promptly
arrested and burned together with many of her followers.
17th century
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Sabbatai Zevi (alternative spellings: Shabbetai, Sabbetai, Shabbesai;
Zvi, Tzvi) (b. at Smyrna 1626; d. at Dulcigno 1676), an Ottoman Jew who
claimed to be the Messiah, but then converted to Islam; still has
followers today in the Dönmeh. The most important messianic movement,
and one whose influence was widespread throughout Jewry, lasting in some
quarters over a century. After his death, Sabbatai was followed by a
line of putative followers declared themselves Messiahs "Sabbethaian
pseudo-messiahs";
Barukhia Russo (Osman Baba), successor of Sabbatai Zevi.
Mordecai Mokia (1650–1729), ("the Rebuker") of Eisenstadt, another
follower of Shabbethai who remained faithful to him, Mordecai Mokiaḥ
("the Rebuker") of Eisenstadt, also pretended to be a Messiah. His
period of activity was from 1678 to 1682 or 1683. He preached at first
that Shabbethai was the true Messiah, that his conversion was for mystic
reasons necessary, that he did not die but would reveal himself within
three years after his supposed death, and pointed to the persecution of
the Jews in Oran (by Spain), in Austria, and in France, and to the
pestilence in Germany as prognostications of his coming. He found a
following among Hungarian, Moravian, and Bohemian Jews. Going a step
further, he declared that he was the Davidic Messiah. Shabbethai,
according to him, was only the Ephraitic Messiah and was furthermore
rich, and therefore could not accomplish the redemption of Israel. He
(Mordecai), being poor, was the real Messiah and at the same time the
incarnation of the soul of the Ephraitic Messiah. Italian Jews heard of
him and invited him to Italy. He went there about 1680, and received a
warm welcome in Reggio and Modena. He spoke of Messianic preparations,
which he had to make in Rome, and hinted at having perhaps to adopt
Christianity outwardly. Denounced to the Inquisition, or advised to
leave Italy, he returned to Bohemia, and then went to Poland, where he
is said to have become insane. From his time a sect began to form there,
which still existed at the beginning of the Mendelssohnian era.
Jacob Querido (died 1690), son of Joseph Filosof, and brother of the
fourth wife of Sabbatai, became the head of the Shabbethaians in
Salonica, being regarded by them as the new incarnation of Shabbethai.
He pretended to be Shabbethai's son and adopted the name Jacob Tzvi.
With 400 followers converted to Islam about 1687, forming a sect called
the Dönmeh. He himself even made a pilgrimage to Mecca (c. 1690). After
his death during the pilgrimage his son Berechiah or Berokia succeeded
him (c. 1695-1740).
Miguel (Abraham) Cardoso (1630–1706), born of Marano parents, may have
been initiated into the Shabbethaian movement by Moses Pinheiro in
Leghorn. He became a prophet of the Messiah, and when the latter
embraced Islam he justified this treason, saying that it was necessary
for the Messiah to be reckoned among the sinners in order to atone for
Israel's idolatry. He applied Isa. liii. to Shabbethai, and sent out
epistles to prove that Shabbethai was the true Messiah, and he even
suffered persecution for advocating his cause. Later he considered
himself as the Ephraitic Messiah, asserting that he had marks on his
body, which were proof of this. He preached and wrote of the speedy
coming of the Messiah, fixing different dates until his death (see
Cardoso, Miguel).
Löbele Prossnitz (Joseph ben Jacob) (?-1750), (early 18th century). He
taught that God had given dominion of the world to the "pious one,"
i.e., the one who had entered into the depths of Kabbalah. Such a
representative of God had been Shabbethai, whose soul had passed into
other "pious" men, into Jonathan Eybeschütz and into himself. Another,
Isaiah Hasid (a brother-in-law of the Shabbethaian Judah Hasid), who
lived in Mannheim, secretly claimed to be the resurrected Messiah,
although publicly he had abjured Shabbethaian beliefs. He was a proven
fraud who nevertheless attained some following amongst former followers
of Sabbatai, calling himself the "Messiah ben Joseph."
18th century
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Jacob Joseph Frank (b. 1726 in Podolia; d. 1791), founder of the
Frankist movement, also claimed to be the messiah. In his youth he made
contact with the Dönmeh. He taught that he was a reincarnation of King
David and the Patriarch Joseph. Having secured a following among some
Turkish and Wallachian Jews, he came in 1755 to Podolia, where the
Shabbethaians were in need of a leader, and revealed himself to them as
the reincarnation of the soul of Berechiah. He laid stress on the idea
of the "holy king" who was at the same time Messiah, and he accordingly
called himself "santo señor" ("holy lord"). His followers claimed he
performed miracles; and they even prayed to him. His purpose, as well as
that of his sect, was to uproot rabbinic Judaism. He was forced to leave
Podolia; and his followers were persecuted. Returning in 1759, he
advised his followers to embrace Christianity, and about 1,000 were
converted and became privileged Polish gentry of Jewish origins. He
himself was converted in Warsaw November 1759. Later his insincerity was
exposed, and he was imprisoned as a heretic, remaining, however, even in
prison the head of this sect.
Eve Frank (1754–1816/1817), was the daughter of Jacob Frank. In 1770 Eve
was declared to be the incarnation of the Shekinah, the female aspect of
God, as well as the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary and thus became the
object of a devotional subcult herself in Częstochowa, with some
followers keeping small statues of her in their homes.[citation needed]
According to historian Jerry Rabow, she was the only woman to have been
declared a Jewish messiah.
19th century
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Shukr Kuhayl I, 19th-century Yemenite pseudo-messiah.
Judah ben Shalom (Shukr Kuhayl II), 19th-century Yemenite pseudo-messiah
[edit]20th century
Moses Guibbory (1899–1985), in the mid-1920s, he announced that he was
the Messiah, and some people started to believe him after he had
predicted a severe earthquake. He also called himself the Lord of the
Universe, the Last Incarnation of Jehovah, the Shepherd and New Moses.
He gave arguments for these claims in a huge commentary on the
Scriptures, in which he demonstrated that all prophets had predicted his
own coming to this world.
Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), within the 1990s Lubavich
movement, was widely believed to be the Messiah. Although he never
directly stated that he was the Messiah, the Rebbe also did not
contradict those who said he was. Even after his death in 1994, some
continue to await his return as the Messiah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah_claimants | G******e
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