[Avodah] Rambam on False Messiahs

[Zev Sero]

On 28/08/2013 4:58 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 11:35:11AM -0700, saul newman wrote:
> : if we use  rZS 's  example of  bar kochba [where there is no dissent to
> : the thesis that he is NOT the messiah]  , was there a chiyuv to follow him,
> : and believe in him; and at what point did that become assur....
>
> I am not sure BK actually was a false messiah.

I don't believe there is such a concept in Judaism as "false messiah".
There is only "actual messiah", and "turned out not to be messiah",
of which -- in the Rambam's shita -- BK is the prime example.  I think
the term "false messiah", with its negative implication, was introduced
by the maskilim.

But the topic of this thread is the Rambam's discussion of those who turned
out not to be the Moshiach, and BK is the specific person he had in mind when
he wrote that paragraph, and indeed the whole chapter.


> In the same sense, one could say that decision that BK wasn't mashiach
> wasn't made until about the time R' Aqiva left the cause.

AFAIK the Rambam doesn't hold that this happened.  His shita is that BK
was killed not because of "his sins", but because of "sins", i.e. those
of the generation which meant they didn't deserve him.

-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
zev at sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan