[Avodah] The Rambam and Eliyahu haNavi

[Lisa Liel]

At 01:41 PM 6/23/2011, Zev wrote:
>As for Moshiach ben Yosef, pretty much everyone holds that this is
>precisely one of the details that we won't understand until it happens.
>We know that such a concept exists, and that in hindsight we will be
>able to identify something or someone as Moshiach ben Yosef.  The very
>fact that we pray every day that the Tzemach David, i.e. MbY, is not
>killed shows that there is no certainty that he will be; this may mean
>that there will be such a person and his fate is undetermined, or it
>may mean something completely different, but it certainly means that
>we are not required to believe that there will be a literal MbY who
>*will* be killed.

I think you need to establish that Mashiach ben Yosef is the same as 
Tzemech David.  That's pretty counter-intuitive.  Tzemech David 
should be a descendent of David.  Mashiach ben Yosef should not.

Lisa