Rabbi Kaduri, Ariel Sharon and Jesus (Yeshua)

[I]n the “very interesting” category comes this video concerning the famous Jewish Rabbi, Yitzchak Kaduri. It is told that the Lubavitcher Rebbe foretold that Rabbi Kaduri would witness the coming of the Messiah. That got my attention, because quotes from the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) comprise one of my favorite books, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth: 365 Meditations of the Rebbe (good luck finding it.)

Anyway, Rabbi Kaduri’s thoughts were centered on the coming of the Messiah, during his final years on Earth. He passed on in January of 2006. Before leaving us, though, he apparently left two hints about the Messiah (Mashiach.) First, that He would appear after the death of Ariel Sharon. Next, that the Messiah’s name is Yehoshua, Yeshua, Yahusha… you got it, the one that most English speaking moderns call Jesus. Now, if that idea doesn’t rattle the cage of Orthodox Judaism, I don’t know what does.

Yes, there is big controversy over this–many claiming that it is all an invention of Christians, and others saying it is a sign that the end of the world as we know it is imminent. One thing for certain: Ariel Sharon has been in dire medical condition since 2006. He is still with us, but has been comatose for some time now.

Any way you cut it… the entire situation is both strange and interesting. I need to research more, before I can comment, but didn’t want to hold back on sharing the video. By the way, I know nothing about the folks who are behind this film, but I do appreciate their making it available.

I’ll close with this followup, from the Israel Today website…

Rabbi David Kaduri, the 80-year-old son of the late Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, denied that his father left a note with the name Yeshua just before he died.

“It’s not his writing,” he said when we showed him a copy of the note.

During a nighttime meeting in the Nahalat Yitzhak Yeshiva in Jerusalem, books with the elder Kaduri’s handwriting from 80 years ago were presented to us in an attempt to prove that the Messiah note was not authentic.

When we told Rabbi Kaduri that his father’s official website (www.kaduri.net) had mentioned the Messiah note, he was shocked. “Oh no! That’s blasphemy. The people could understand that my father pointed to him [the Messiah of the Christians].”

David Kaduri confirmed, however, that in his last year, his father had talked and dreamed almost exclusively about the Messiah and his coming. “My father has met the Messiah in a vision,” he said, “and told us that he would come soon.”

Israel Today was given access to many of the rabbi’s manuscripts, written in his own hand for the exclusive use of his students. Most striking were the cross-like symbols painted by Kaduri all over the pages. In the Jewish tradition, one does not use crosses. In fact, even the use of a plus sign is discouraged because it might be mistaken for a cross.

But there they were, scribbled in the rabbi’s own hand. When we asked what those symbols meant, Rabbi David Kaduri said they were “signs of the angel.” Pressed further about the meaning of the “signs of the angel,” he said he had no idea. Rabbi David Kaduri went on to explain that only his father had had a spiritual relationship with God and had met the Messiah in his dreams.

Orthodox Jews around the Nahalat Yitzhak Yeshiva told Israel Today a few weeks later that the story about the secret note of Rabbi Kaduri should never have come out, and that it had damaged the name the revered old sage.