Editing The Faith in Moshiach (section)

== Foundation of Faith ==
The foundation of faith in the coming of Moshiach is in the verses of the Torah and in the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu, and this is the language of the Rambam:<blockquote>"Anyone who does not believe in him, or who does not await his coming, is not only denying the other prophets, but is denying the Torah and Moshe Rabbeinu. For the Torah testifies about him, as it says: (Devarim 30:3) 'And Hashem your G-d will return your captivity and have mercy on you, and will return and gather you, etc.' (Devarim 30:4), 'If your dispersed ones are at the edge of the heavens, etc.' (Devarim 30:5), 'And Hashem will bring you.' These words that are explicitly stated in the Torah encompass all the things that were said by all the prophets. Also in the section of Bilaam it states, and there he prophesied about the two Moshiachs... Also regarding the cities of refuge it states... But regarding the words of the prophets, the matter needs no proof, as all the books are full of this matter."

— Mishneh Torah of the Rambam, Laws of Kings, Chapter 11, 1-3.</blockquote>There are poskim who learn that faith in redemption is derived from the first utterance of the Ten Commandments, "I am Hashem your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" - "thus we must believe that Hashem will gather us and save us through Moshiach Tzidkeinu."

It emerges that faith in the coming of Moshiach is founded on the prophecy of the prophets, on the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu, on the testimony of the Torah, and it is also part of the 'mitzvot' of the Torah (the mitzvah of cities of refuge, whose completion will be with the coming of Moshiach). The reason that the coming of Moshiach was written and transmitted in each of these ways is because there is validity and virtue in each of them. The advantage of Moshe's prophecy and the Torah's testimony over the prophecy of the prophets is that the verification of the prophets' prophecy for us is based on the signs and wonders they performed, unlike the Torah and Moshe Rabbeinu, whose prophecy was definitively verified by all Israel, "for all Israel are witnesses" to his prophecy when they themselves saw him at the giving of the Torah ascending and speaking with G-d.

A prophet's prophecy in itself is subject to change, such as in the case where sins can cause the nullification of the prophecy (even when the prophecy was said to the public and is not nullified, this is only Hashem's decree that it not be nullified in order to distinguish between a true and false prophet, but the prophecy itself is not eternal). But the words of the Torah are not nullified because the Torah is Hashem's wisdom which is beyond time, and just as He is eternal, so His Torah is eternal. And the promise of Moshiach, in addition to its prophecy, is part of the testimony of the Torah. However, there is a stringency in the words of a prophet over the Torah, for one who transgresses the words of a prophet is liable to death regardless of the content of the prophecy. This is not the case with the words of the Torah, where there are differences between severe and light transgressions, and the punishments for them are different.

The coming of Moshiach is also a detail in the mitzvot of the Torah - the eternality of the mitzvot is the strongest, for in the Torah, even though it is eternal (unlike prophecy, which "in itself" is subject to changes as mentioned above), we still find that it is possible to interpret the words of the Torah spiritually, not according to their plain meaning. However, one who interprets the 'mitzvot' of the Torah not according to their plain meaning is a heretic and an apikores. Therefore, a person who denies the redemption and interprets the promises of redemption not according to their plain meaning is an apikores (for he denies the mitzvah of the Torah to allocate additional cities of refuge in the future).

In addition to faith from the testimony of the Torah and the prophets, the content of faith in redemption is faith in the eternality of the Torah - that one believes that a time will come when the fulfillment of the mitzvot will be perfect, because the eternality of the Torah is not only that its commandments will not change, but also that a time will come when its actual fulfillment will be perfect.