You Can Call me Ray…

November 29th, 2011

Why Couldn’t it Have Been “Melvin”?

Today I’m reading up on Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri. He was a student of the top rabbi in Baghdad, and he moved to Israel as a young man. He died in 2005, at the age of a hundred and something.

Rabbi Kaduri did something that caused a lot of controversy. In the months before he died he talked about the Messiah a lot, and he had visions. He said the Messiah had come to him in a vision, and that the Messiah had identified himself. The Rabbi provided the Messiah’s name in a note, and he gave orders that it was not to be read until a year after his death.

After a year, the note was opened, and it contained a Hebrew message indicating that the name was “Yehoshuah,” which is the same name as “Joshua,” “Yeshua,” or…”Jesus.”

He also predicted that the Messiah would appear to Israel after Ariel Sharon died. Sharon has been in a coma since 2006. He is now 83 years old.

You can imagine the mess this has caused. It’s like serving pork at a bris. Observant Jews are highly disturbed that a respected rabbi has said that the Messiah has the same name as the Christian God. Some have asked if the note proved the Rabbi was a Christian, and others have expressed distress at the prospect of Christians celebrating the news. The rabbi’s son has insisted that the note is a forgery. He says the handwriting is not right, and that the rabbi was not capable of writing when the note was produced.

Here’s some more stuff Rabbi Kaduri wrote, presumably translated into English. I’ve looked at Word documents from his website, and so far, they’ve all been in Hebrew:

It is hard for many good people in society to understand the person of the Messiah. The leadership and order of a Messiah of flesh and blood is hard to accept for many in the nation.

As leader, the Messiah will not hold any office, but will be among the people and use the media to communicate. His reign will be pure and without personal or political desire. During his dominion, only righteousness and truth will reign.

Will all believe in the Messiah right away? No, in the beginning some of us will believe in him and some not. It will be easier for non-religious people to follow the Messiah than for Orthodox people.

The revelation of the Messiah will be fulfilled in two stages: First, he will actively confirm his position as Messiah without knowing himself that he is the Messiah.

Then he will reveal himself to some Jews, not necessarily to wise Torah scholars. It can be even simple people. Only then he will reveal himself to the whole nation. The people will wonder and say: What, that s the Messiah? Many have known his name but have not believed that he is the Messiah.

The funny part of this is the way it conforms to Christian expectations. The learned will reject the Messiah. “Many have known his name but have not believed.”

Do I buy it? Not really. I can’t dismiss it, but this guy has been wrong before. He said Sharon would be the last Prime Minister of Israel, and that didn’t pan out. He also said the soul of the Messiah had already become attached to a person in Israel. Jesus said he would return in the clouds, and that the whole world would see it. That doesn’t sound like a new incarnation to me. Aside from that, we are told that we only die once, so Christians don’t believe in reincarnation. We believe there is a spiritual anointing that can move from one person to another, as we see in the story of Elijah and Elisha, but that’s not reincarnation.

Maybe he’s right about some things and wrong about others.

I don’t know what Jews say about the rabbi’s credibility. They’re pretty gung-ho on the Talmud’s street cred, and they seem to have a lot of faith in men like Kaduri and the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

One thing is for sure: this will have Jewish scholars chasing their tails until the Messiah comes, and probably longer than that.

3 Responses to “You Can Call me Ray…”

  1. Juan Paxety Says:

    I have a friend who has been convinced for 30-years that the “in the clouds” and everyone will know parts refer to world wide satellite television – originally CNN, but I suppose they wouldn’t carry the return of Jesus anymore.

  2. Elisson Says:

    A bit of circular reasoning is involved, since “Yehoshua” is Hebrew for “savior.” And let’s face it – Jews have been waiting for the Messiah for a long time. We invented the term. We just don’t believe anyone has come along who meets the definitional requirements… and of course, the Christian concept of Messiahship is very different.

    Makes a good story, anyhow.

  3. Steve H. Says:

    It’s definitely a good story, even though the “revelations,” taken together, seem inconsistent with Christianity. I would guess that on a theological footing, it’s less objectionable to Jews than Christians.
    .
    The funny part, to me, is that one of your guys came up with this without our help. And Orthodox scholars seem to be upset primarily by the name, not by any of the other things Rabbi Kaduri said. I wonder what their response would have been if the name had been Shlomo or something.