Asher Lämmlein

Asher Lämmlein^[1] was a Jew who appeared in Istria, near Venice, in 1502 and, encouraged by the works of Isaac Abrabanel,^[2] proclaimed himself a forerunner of the Jewish Messiah.^[3] His place of birth is unknown, but his nicknames Ashkenazi and Reutlingen indicate that he or his family originally came from Germany.^[4] Notably, Lämmlein was mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses.^[5]

Lämmlein declared that if the Jews showed great repentance and charity, the Messiah would not fail to appear in six months.^[3] He gained a troop of adherents who spread his prophesies though Italy and Germany, and his message met with such acceptance that the year became known as the "year of penance."^[3] Existing institutions were willfully destroyed in the belief of coming redemption and a return to Jerusalem.^[3] However, Lämmlein died or suddenly disappeared, and his followers’ extravagant hopes came to an end.^[3]

Salo W. Baron suggests that disillusionment over the failed prophesies Lämmlein helped lead to the conversion of a few Jewish intellectuals to the Christian faith, including Victor von Carben and Johannes Pfefferkorn.^[6]

References

^ also Lämmlin, Lemmlein
^ Greenstone, Julius Hillel (1906). The Messiah Idea in Jewish History. The Jewish Publication Society of America. p. 189.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Graetz, Heinrich; Philipp Bloch (1894). History of the Jews. Jewish Publication Society of America. p. 482.
^ The Jews were finally expelled from the city of Reutlingen in 1495. Vlg. Voss (2007), S. 58.
^ Joyce, James (1998). Ulysses. Oxford University Press. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-192-83464-5.
^ Gow, Andrew Colin (1995). The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200-1600. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 135. ISBN 90-04-10255-8.

Asher Lämmlein

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