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The Coming of the Messiah
The Messianic PeriodThe messianic period is described by the prophets. The Sages richly embellish and elaborate on that description on the basis of traditions they received. They portray, at times using metaphor, the messianic era as a period of miraculous abundance and prosperity in all areas of life: health, fertility, agriculture, and more, accompanied by a spiritual renaissance and eternal life.
The Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to transform the fast of Tisha Be’Av into gladness and joy, and a happy festival, and He Himself will rebuild Jerusalem and gather the exiles, as it is stated: “The Lord is the builder of Jerusalem; He gathers in the dispersed of Israel” (Psalms 147:2).
Avimi son of Rabbi Abbahu taught: The messianic era will last seven thousand years for the Jewish people….
Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: The duration of the messianic era is like the duration of the period from the day the world was created until now….
Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak says: Its duration is like from the days of Noah until now.
A woman is destined to give birth every day….
Trees are destined to produce fruits every day….
The Land of Israel is destined to produce baked goods and silk garments that grow from the ground.
Wheat is destined to grow as tall as a palm tree and ascend to the mountaintops. Lest you say that if so there will be great exertion for its reaper…the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring wind from His storehouse and cause it to blow on the wheat, and this will detach the wheat kernels for the flour from the stalks, and a person will go out to the field and bring back a palmful of kernels, from which his sustenance and the sustenance of the members of his household will be provided….
Each wheat kernel is destined to be as large as the two kidneys of a large ox….
The World to Come is not like this world. In this world, harvesting and pressing grapes involves great exertion. But in the World to Come, a person will bring one grape in a wagon or on a boat
The synagogues and the study halls in the Diaspora are destined to be transported and reestablished in the Land of Israel.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said: In this world, few people prophesied, but in the World to Come, all of Israel will become prophets.
In the messianic era, all the sick people will be healed.
In this world, one’s lifespan is shortened due to the evil inclination, but in the messianic era: “He will eliminate death forever” (Isaiah 25:8).
Rabbi Hanina says: In the messianic era, death will exist only among the gentiles. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: Death will not exist among Jews nor among gentiles, as it is stated: “He will eliminate death forever and the Lord God will wipe tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8).
Just as new moons are sanctified and renewed
Jerusalem is destined to be a metropolis