Rabbi Kaduri Reveals Name of the Messiah

Monday, April 30,
2007

Rabbi Reveals Name
of the Messiah

Shortly before
he died, one of Israel’s most prominent rabbis wrote the name of the Messiah on
a small note which he requested would remain sealed until now. When the note was
opened, it revealed what many have known for centuries: Yehoshua, or Yeshua
(Jesus), is the Messiah.

A few months before he died, one of the nation’s most
prominent rabbis, Yitzhak Kaduri, supposedly wrote the name of the Messiah on a
small note which he requested would remain sealed until now. When the note was
unsealed, it revealed what many have known for centuries: Yehoshua, or Yeshua
(Jesus), is the Messiah.

With the biblical name of Jesus, the Rabbi and
kabbalist described the Messiah using six words and hinting that the initial
letters form the name of the Messiah. The secret note said:

Concerning the letter abbreviation of the Messiah’s
name, He will lift the people and prove that his word and law are valid.

This I have signed in the month of mercy,
Yitzhak Kaduri

The Hebrew sentence (translated above in bold) with the
hidden name of the Messiah reads: Yarim Ha’Am Veyokhiakh Shedvaro Vetorato
Omdim

The initials spell the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yehoshua.
Yehoshua and Yeshua are e ectively the same name, derived from the same Hebrew
root of the word “salvation” as documented in Zechariah 6:11 and Ezra 3:2. The
same priest writes in Ezra, “Yeshua son of Yozadak” while writing in Zechariah
“Yehoshua son of Yohozadak.” The priest adds the holy abbreviation of God’s
name, ho, in the father’s name Yozadak and in the name Yeshua.

With one of Israel’s most prominent rabbis indicating
the name of the Messiah is Yeshua, it is understandable why his last wish was to
wait one year after his death before revealing what he wrote.

When the name of Yehoshua appeared in Kaduri’s message,
ultra-Orthodox Jews from his Nahalat Yitzhak Yeshiva (seminary) in Jerusalem
argued that their master did not leave the exact solution for decoding the
Messiah’s name.

The revelation received scant coverage in the Israeli
media. Only the Hebrew websites News First Class (Nfc) and Kaduri.net mentioned
the Messiah note, insisting it was authentic. The Hebrew daily Ma’ariv
ran a story on the note but described it as a forgery.

Jewish readers responded on the websites’ forums with
mixed feelings: “So this means Rabbi Kaduri was a Christian?” and “The
Christians are dancing and celebrating,” were among the comments.

Israel Today spoke to two of Kaduri’s
followers in Jerusalem who admitted that the note was authentic, but confusing
for his followers as well. “We have no idea how the Rabbi got to this name of
the Messiah,” one of them said.

Yet others completely deny any possibility that the
note is authentic. Kaduri’s son, Rabbi David Kaduri, said that at the time the
note was written (September 2005), his father’s physical condition made it
impossible for him to write.

KADURI’S PORTRAYAL OF THE MESSIAH

A few months before Kaduri died at the age of 108, he
surprised his followers when he told them that he met the Messiah. Kaduri gave a
message in his synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, teaching how to
recognize the Messiah. He also mentioned that the Messiah would appear to Israel
after Ariel Sharon’s death. (The former prime minister is still in a coma after
suffering a massive stroke more than a year ago.)

Other rabbis predict the same, including Rabbi Haim
Cohen, kabbalist Nir Ben Artzi and the wife of Rabbi Haim Kneiveskzy.

Kaduri’s grandson, Rabbi Yosef Kaduri, said his
grandfather spoke many times during his last days about the coming of the
Messiah and redemption through the Messiah.

His spiritual portrayals of the Messiah—reminiscent of
New Testament accounts—were published on the websites Kaduri.net and Nfc:

“It is hard for many good people in society to
understand the person of the Messiah. The leadership and order of a Messiah of
flesh and blood is hard to accept for many in the nation. As leader, the
Messiah will not hold any office, but will be among the people and use the media
to communicate. His reign will be pure and without personal or political desire.
During his dominion, only righteousness and truth will reign.

“Will all believe in the Messiah right away? No, in the
beginning some of us will believe in him and some not. It will be easier for
non-religious people to follow the Messiah than for Orthodox people.

“The revelation of the Messiah will be ful lled in two
stages: First, he will actively confirm his position as Messiah without knowing
himself that he is the Messiah. Then he will reveal himself to some Jews, not
necessarily to wise Torah scholars. It can be even simple people. Only then he
will reveal himself to the whole nation. The people will wonder and say: ‘What,
that’s the Messiah?’ Many have known his name but have not believed that he is
the Messiah.”

FAREWELL TO A ‘TSADIK’

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri was known for his photographic
memory and his memorization of the Bible, the Talmud, Rashi and other Jewish
writings. He knew Jewish sages and celebrities of the last century and rabbis
who lived in the Holy Land and kept the faith alive before the State of Israel
was born.

Kaduri was not only highly esteemed because of his age
of 108. He was charismatic and wise, and chief rabbis looked up to him as a
Tsadik, a righteous man or saint. He would give advice and blessings to
everyone who asked. Thousands visited him to ask for counsel or healing. His
followers speak of many miracles and his students say that he predicted many
disasters.

When he died, more than 200,000 people joined the
funeral procession on the streets of Jerusalem to pay their respects as he was
taken to his final resting place.

“When he comes, the Messiah will rescue Jerusalem from
foreign religions that want to rule the city,” Kaduri once said. “They will not
succeed for they will fight against one another.”

THE RABBI’S FOLLOWERS REACT

In an interview with Israel Today,
Rabbi David Kaduri, the 80-year-old son of the late Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, denied
that his father left a note with the name Yeshua just before he died.

“It’s not his writing,” he said when we showed him a
copy of the note.

During a nighttime meeting in the Nahalat Yitzhak
Yeshiva in Jerusalem, books with the elder Kaduri’s handwriting from 80 years
ago were presented to us in an attempt to prove that the Messiah note was not
authentic.

When we told Rabbi Kaduri that his father’s official
website (www.kaduri.net) had mentioned the Messiah note, he was shocked. “Oh no!
That’s blasphemy. The people could understand that my father pointed to him [the
Messiah of the Christians].”

David Kaduri confirmed, however, that in his last year,
his father had talked and dreamed almost exclusively about the Messiah and his
coming. “My father has met the Messiah in a vision,” he said, “and told us that
he would come soon.”

Israel Today was given access to many
of the rabbi’s manuscripts, written in his own hand for the exclusive use of his
students. Most striking were the cross-like symbols painted by Kaduri all over
the pages. In the Jewish tradition, one does not use crosses. In fact, even the
use of a plus sign is discouraged because it might be mistaken for a cross.

But there they were, scribbled in the rabbi’s own hand.
When we asked what those symbols meant, Rabbi David Kaduri said they were “signs
of the angel.” Pressed further about the meaning of the “signs of the angel,” he
said he had no idea. Rabbi David Kaduri went on to explain that only his father
had had a spiritual relationship with God and had met the Messiah in his dreams.

Orthodox Jews around the Nahalat Yitzhak Yeshiva told
Israel Today a few weeks later that the story about the secret
note of Rabbi Kaduri should never have come out, and that it had damaged the
name the revered old sage.