Donkey of Moshiach

The donkey of Moshiach is the donkey upon which the King Moshiach will ride, if the redemption comes at its designated time and not before.

Source

The donkey of Moshiach is first mentioned in the book of Zechariah, where it states that the King Moshiach will come riding on a donkey:

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you: he is righteous, and victorious; humble, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey." — Zechariah, 9:9

According to Rashi's commentary on the verse: "And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon the donkey," this donkey is the same donkey upon which Abraham rode when he went to the binding of Isaac, and upon which the King Moshiach will ride when he comes to redeem the Jewish people.

However, in the book of Daniel it states, "And behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man came." This means that the King Moshiach will come upon clouds. Regarding this, it is told in Tractate Sanhedrin that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked this question, and they answered him that if Moshiach comes before his time—"zachu" (they merit)—due to the merits of Israel's deeds, then he will come on the clouds of heaven, but if he comes "b'itah" (in its time), then he will come riding on a donkey.

The Legend About the Donkey Being White

Later in the Gemara, it states that King Shapur said to the Amora Shmuel that if Moshiach comes on a donkey, he will give him a fine horse. In response, Shmuel answered him, "Do you have a donkey of a hundred colors, like Moshiach has?"

A popular legend claims that the donkey of the King Moshiach will be white, apparently because Shmuel answered King Shapur in the king's language, Persian, in which a donkey is called 'khar,' a word that was later corrupted to 'khivar' (white), and thus the legend of the donkey being white was born.

Its Purpose

Rashi explains that "riding on a donkey" symbolizes the humility of the King Moshiach, and other commentators explain similarly. Some interpret "riding on a donkey" to mean that he will come when least expected, since the generation is not worthy of Moshiach, and the Satan will delay his coming. Therefore, he diverts the Satan's attention and comes on a donkey, as Satan does not think it fitting for Moshiach to come on a donkey rather than a horse.

The Shach explained that "donkey" refers to Torah scholars, meaning that King Moshiach will come in the merit of those who study Torah.

The Maharal of Prague explained that because the donkey is the simplest animal, the fact that the King Moshiach rides upon it demonstrates Moshiach's greatness, showing that he is elevated above all. The Rogatchover wrote that this donkey is the same as Bilaam's donkey, because Bilaam prophesied about the days of Moshiach.

In Chassidic Teachings

The Rebbe explains in a sicha the concept of "the donkey of King Moshiach." In this talk, the Rebbe quotes Rashi's words and raises several questions: Why did Moses specifically take Abraham's special donkey for his wife and children rather than just a horse or camel? And why doesn't he mention what is stated in the Midrash that this is the donkey that was created during twilight? The Rebbe explains that Moses took the donkey to Egypt because this donkey has a decisive role in the process of bringing the redemption, and therefore he brought the Midrash that this is the donkey upon which King Moshiach will be revealed.

At first, Moses refused to take on the role of redeeming the Jewish people from Egypt, claiming to Hashem that he was not qualified or worthy, saying "Please send through the one You will send" – send through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. Hashem's answer to this is hinted at in Moses's arrival with the donkey, indicating that the redemption from Egypt and the future redemption are not two separate redemptions but one continuous process of the complete redemption. And regarding Moses's thought that he wasn't worthy, the answer to this is also hinted at by sending him with Moshiach's donkey, since the donkey symbolizes Moshiach's quality of humility. With this, Hashem hints to Moses that precisely because of his self-nullification, he is worthy to be the savior of Israel.

With Abraham it says he "saddled the donkey," with Moses "he placed them on the donkey," and with Moshiach it is written "destined to be revealed upon it." These differences point to three stages and levels in drawing down holiness into the world, in the periods of Abraham, Moses, and Moshiach.

This donkey hints at the materiality of the body and the world. This is the connection between redemption and the donkey, because the essence of redemption is to reveal Hashem's light and thereby refine and nullify materiality.

In another talk, the Rebbe explains Jacob's words "I have acquired ox and donkey," that with Laban he dealt with physical and material matters, and specifically through this work Moshiach will come on the donkey, which is an even greater level than the "heavenly clouds". The Rebbe explains elsewhere that every Jew can reach this level of "poor and riding on a donkey".

External Links

• Moshiach's Donkey The perfection of subjugating physicality to holiness through Moshiach. A talk by the Rebbe. Hiskashrus Issue 1013
• Rabbi Menachem Brod, A King Riding on a Donkey Will Moshiach really appear riding on a white donkey? On Tzeirei Chabad website
• Rabbi Shneur Ashkenazi, Moshiach's Donkey on Chabad House website
• A Donkey 5000 Years Old and More
• R' Yosef Abramovitz, Change of Plan: Moshiach Is Not Coming on a White Donkey, Geulah Newspaper No. 41 Page 12