Every year on Sukkot, Jews around the world read the prophet Zechariah’s vision of a future in which all the nations of the earth come up to Jerusalem. Not on Passover. Not on Yom Kippur. On Sukkot — the holiday Jewish tradition identifies with the Messianic era itself.

So what is the Messiah? For an idea this central to Judaism — woven into the daily prayers, enshrined as the 12th of Maimonides’ 13 Principles of Faith, built into the structure of Jewish history and Jewish hope — most Jews would struggle to say what Mashiach actually is, what he has to accomplish, or how anyone would recognize the real one.

In part one of this two-part Sukkot and Simchat Torah special, Justin Pines sits down with Rabbi Ken Spiro — historian, author, and senior lecturer at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem — for an hour that turns a vague idea into something you can actually hold.

👉 Watch Ken Spiro’s earlier series, “All of Jewish History in Two Hours”: Part 1 — Rise of a Nation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CrSSwp0Nhk Part 2 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqS-LIYB6k8&t=5s

Jewish Insights with Justin Pines airs on JBS (Jewish Broadcasting Service), available on Comcast, Spectrum, DirecTV, and Verizon. Watch more episodes at jbstv.org.

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