“The messiah waits for you!”: agency and Zionism in the German-Jewish reception of a Talmudic tale

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents the unique reception of the Talmudic tale about the messiah at the gates of Rome (BT, Sanhedrin 98a) among German-Jewish intellectuals in the early twentieth century. Thereby, the article offers a new perspective on the relations between messianism, Zionism, and human agency in German-Jewish thought. In tractate Sanhedrin, Yehoshua ben Levi asks the messiah about the date of his arrival, and the redeemer answers, “Today.” However, as redemption fails to arrive, the prophet Elijah explains the redeemer’s words as “Today, if you will listen to my voice.” The tale raises the possibility that people have an agency to act and hasten the redemption. Nevertheless, the “correct” nature of redemptive actions is missing. I argue that by repeatedly interpreting the Aggadah, German-Jewish intellectuals position themselves within the political-theological conversation about Zionism and negotiate the tension between the ethical and the political manifestations of messianic agency. On the one hand, Zionists like Martin Buber, Chaim Arlosoroff, and Arnold Zweig change the content of the tale and charge it with political potency. On the other hand, Franz Rosenzweig returns to the traditional tale to offer a counter-reading supporting an ethical mode of agency instead of a Zionist form of activity.