Messianic Redemption

This chapter evaluates Judah Loew's understanding of the nature of the Messianic Era. For Judah Loew, the advent of the Messiah does not represent the abrogation or superseding of the commandments of the Torah of Moses. The commandments, Loew insists, will be in force in the Messianic Age. The messianic advent signifies the actualization of the observance of the commandments, not their abolition. The role of the Messiah is not so much to bring about this conclusion of the historical age but to symbolize that it has been attained. Just as the actualization of the natural world in the Messianic Era is but a prelude to the supernatural world, so the actualization of the Torah in this world is but a prelude to its ultimate return to its completely supernatural form. For Loew, the intrusion of the supernatural entities into “this world”—i.e., Moses, Messiah, Torah, Temple, soul, and intellect—is for the purpose of guiding creation back to its source, back to the totally spiritual realm, back to the World to Come, back to God.