Akiba himself did not long resist the contagion of messianism. When he saw Roman legions yield to untrained Judean youths, new hope blossomed in his heart. "Yet once, it will be a little while," he quoted from Haggai (2:6), "and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ." He went so far as to encourage the popular delusion concerning the miraculous role to be played by the new leader and applied to him the verse (Numbers 24:1), "The star hath trodden forth out of Jacob." Once he even said outright, "this is the messianic king."
The dismal response of one of his friends, "Akiba, grass will grow out of your jaw and the messiah will not yet have come!" shows that some of the sages were till sane enough to realize the hopeless inequality of the struggle. -Rabbi Louis Finkelstein
In many generations when disaster confronted our people we have prayed and loved for the redeemer to be dispatched and deliver us. We wait and will never lose hope.
The dismal response of one of his friends, "Akiba, grass will grow out of your jaw and the messiah will not yet have come!" shows that some of the sages were till sane enough to realize the hopeless inequality of the struggle. -Rabbi Louis Finkelstein
In many generations when disaster confronted our people we have prayed and loved for the redeemer to be dispatched and deliver us. We wait and will never lose hope.
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