Greeting the Messiah
R. Yoḥanan ben Zakkai taught: If you are holding a sapling in your hand and someone says to you that the Messiah has come, stay and plant the sapling, then go to greet the Messiah.
Translated by Carol Bakhos.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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One of the famous teachings of the first-century rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai is about how one should react to news of the appearance of the Messiah: first finish what you are doing, and then welcome the Messiah.
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Aramaic Apocalypse 2:1–9
He will be called son of God, and they will call him son of the Most High. Like the sparks that you saw, so will their kingdom be; they will rule several year[s] over the earth and crush…
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