It was only natural that following the Holocaust...messianic yearnings would once again surface
Numerous false messiahs have cropped up throughout history. Some, like the Christian messiah, Shabtai Zvi, and Jacob Frank, had a significant and often damaging impact; others made for curious historical footnotes rather than causing widespread upheaval. Jewish hope for the final redemption became especially acute following times of crisis.
The Roman persecution in the second century fanned hopes for the ultimately failed messiah of Shimon Bar Kochva. Following the expulsion from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century, David Hareuveni and Shlomo Molcho turned up on the scene promising redemption. And in the wake of the desolation of the 1648-49 Chmielnicki massacres, the infamous Shabtai Zvi wreaked havoc on the Jewish world desperate for a better future.
It was only natural that following the Holocaust, the greatest destruction in Jewish history, messianic yearnings would once again surface. Many survivors described liberation as a moment of mixed emotion, after they had fantasized through the years of horror that the end of the war would bring the arrival of Mashiach.
A prominent chassidic survivor from Hungary named Reb Chaim Alter Roth submitted this testimony:
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