Wednesday 24 August 2016

women - Could Mashiach be a Woman?



Are there any sources that say explicitly that the Mashiach will NOT be a woman?



I am specifically asking about the person who is to be crowned Mashiach (either ben Yosef or ben David) at the end of days.


I am not referring to people who embodied attributes of mashiach in their respective times. As the students of the Vilna Gaon in Kol HaTor (2:8) have already suggested that women such as Queen Ester manifested MBY in her generation. (They also include other women such as Shifra and Puah (see Kol HaTor 2:2) Devorah (ibid can't remember where…) , Chuldah (ibid 2:75),



Answer



The Moshiach is considered a King and the Halacha is as stated in the Rambam (Melachim 1:5):



אין מעמידין אשה במלכות שנאמר עליך מלך ולא מלכה וכן כל משימות שבישראל אין ממנים בהם אלא איש.‏


We may not appoint a woman as king. When describing the monarchy, the Torah employs the male form of the word king and not the female.


This principle also applies to all other positions of authority within Israel. Only men should be appointed to fill them.



(Translation from Chabad.org)



Although this may not appear to directly answer your question of whether there are explicit references to a woman not being moshiach. However, the point is that a woman may not be crowned, so it is a halachic impossibility, and thus there would be no need to state it explicity.


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