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| | Messianism |
 | | Rooted in Kabbalistic doctrine, which gained ascendancy following the catastrophic Spanish Expulsion, when the political leverage of the Spanish Jewish aristocracy proved powerless, this doctrine deflects messianic energies from the political arena, deemed pointless, to the internal regions of the Jewish soul. |
 | | In contrast stands the historical perspective of the process view, according to which the prophetic promise of "the end of days" is, ideally, the ultimate consequence of resourceful, down-to-earth national initiative. |
 | | Rather than view the Messianic Age as a supersession of the historic Jewish drama, when the frustration and futility of our centuries-old galut experience is suddenly set straight with one sweep of the Divine Hand, this position perceives the Messianic Age as the crowning achievement of that grueling historic saga. |
| www.wzo.org.il /en/resources/view.asp?id=1436&subject=181 (4659 words) |
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