Ascher Lemlein

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Ascher ben Meir Lemlein Aschkenasi Reutlingen (* in the 15th century, † in the 16th century; also Lämmlein , Lämmlin , Lemmlein ) was a northern Italian rabbi , Kabbalist and alleged harbinger of the Jewish Messiah .

Life

Little is known about the life of Ascher Lemlein. His nicknames Aschkenasi and Reutlingen indicate that he or his family originally came from Germany. When he first appeared around 1500, he was already an older man and lived in the Venetian coastal town of Isola ( Istria ). He had some reputation in Italy as a Kabbalist, but would go down in history as an end-time prophet . His Kabbalistic background included the teachings of Abraham Abulafia . A reference to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the end times calculations by Isaac Abravanel , who predicted the appearance of the Messiah in 1503, is not documented. Lemlein led an ascetic life and drew a sizeable following to Isola. He could sit in ecstasy and stated that he was communicating with God in visions. So he learned that the coming of the Messiah was imminent. His miracles led to Lemlein being considered crazy by some, but celebrated as the coming Messiah by others. However, he saw himself only as a harbinger of the Jewish Messiah.

He claimed that if the other Jews showed repentance and turned to charity, the Messiah would appear within half a year. Within a short time he gained some followers who spread his prophecies in Italy and Germany . His message was taken so seriously that, within the year of repentance, existing Jewish institutions were deliberately destroyed, believing that it was unnecessary to maintain it, since one would return to Jerusalem within that year anyway . When Lemlein's prophecies were not fulfilled after a year, the broad repentance movement slackened. Lemlein then fled and fled to Palestine , where his presence is documented until 1509.

Salo W. Baron suggested that the disillusionment resulting from the false prophecies contributed significantly to the fact that some Jewish intellectuals of the time, including Victor von Carben and Johannes Pfefferkorn , were later baptized.

literature

  • Heinrich Graetz : History of the Jews. 4th edition Leipzig 1907, Vol. 9, pp. 205f, 506f
  • Moshe Idel : Messianic Mystics. Yale 2000. ISBN 978-0300082883 , pp. 140ff.
  • Harris Lenowitz: The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights. New York 1998, ISBN 978-0195148374 , pp. 99ff.
  • Abba Hillel Silver: History of Messianic Speculation in Israel. New York 1927, Kessinger Publishing 2003, ISBN 9780766135147 , pp. 143ff.
  • Rebekka Voss: Controversial Redeemers: Politics, Ideology and Judeo-Christian Messianism in Germany 1500-1600. Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-56900-9 , p. 52ff.
  • LEMLEIN (Lammlin), ASHER. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 12, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865940-4 , p. 638 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In 1495 the Jews were finally expelled from the city of Reutlingen. Vlg.Voss (2007), p. 58.
  2. ↑ Idel (2000), p. 141.
  3. ↑ Voss (2007), p. 54.
  4. ↑ Voss (2007), p. 62.
  5. ↑ Voss (2007), p. 65.
  6. ↑ Andrew Colin Gow: The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200-1600 . Brill, Leiden 1995, ISBN 9004102558 , p. 135
personal data
SURNAME Lemlein, Ascher
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ascher ben Meir Lemlein Aschkenasi Reutlingen; Lammlein, Asher; Lemmlein, Asher
BRIEF DESCRIPTION alleged harbinger of the Jewish Messiah
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH after 1509