Language:
Hebrew
Year of publication:
2024
Titel der Quelle:
מורשת ישראל; כתב-עת ליהדות לציונות ולארץ ישראל
Angaben zur Quelle:
21,2 (תשפד) 237-260
Keywords:
Bar Kokhba,
;
Shabbethai Tzevi, Death and burial
;
Messiah Judaism
;
Lion in literature
;
Zionism
Abstract:
The Messiah, the legendary king who would bring history to its end and allow Israel to realize its purpose, has occupied the Jewish imagination for significant periods of time: as an idea, as a literary form, and as a political motivation. In this light, a line may be proposed that connects Shabtai Zvi to Bar Kochba, each of whom led a major messianic movement that aroused both hopes and objections in Jewish society. Both movements were characterized by a messianic peak, followed by a partial or complete rupture when messianic aspirations failed to match reality – so with the failure of the Bar Kochba rebellion, and so with the conversion to Islam and later the death of Shabtai Zvi.This article aims to show that in addition to the historical connection between the characters, there is also a literary one: a story in which the Messiah (Bar Kochba or Shabtai Zvi), mounted on a lion’s back, leads the people to Jerusalem. Different versions of the story appear among Shabtai Zvi’s believers; with regard to Bar Kochba, iterations of the story are found in 19th-century Germany, then resurface in the children’s songs of 20th-century Zionism. This motifeme will be the focus of the literary study in the article.While various hypotheses have been put forward regarding the origins of the story of Bar Kochba and the lion, the story has not yet been linked to the mystical visions of Shabtai Zvi. This article notes the similarities between the stories and attempts to establish the connection between them. The article first examines the roots of the story in rabbinic literature, then suggests a literary connection. Finally, it claims that the literary parallels reflect a deeper connection between Zionism and the ethos it has fostered – in part through children’s songs and stories, as well as the reclamation of neglected Jewish symbols of strength and power – and Sabbateanism, which was revered more or less openly by early Zionists, and which some even viewed as a sort of predecessor to the Zionist political project. The two messiahs, Bar Kochba and Shabtai Zvi, occupied an important place in the culture that developed in the early days of Zionism.At the basis of this study is the concept of the structure of the thematic repeating story. This concept investigates narrative kernels, with all their constitutive components and levels. It deepens the comparative view and provides a tool for clarification. Further, it enables a broader discourse on the messages and meanings of sacrifice, as well as the difference between recurring narrative forms in the Jewish-national consciousness – a discourse that will also be of interest in this article.
URL:
אתר את הפרסום בקטלוג המאוחד של ספריות ישראל
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