That's tempting for me! There is one question (well more than one but this is the biggest) I've always had about Judaism but the few times I've asked it of Jews I've either been scorned or ignored. If this is in any way offensive tell me please but it is ultimately a question out of ignorance.
I do believe Jews are waiting for the Messiah to come yes? Since I believe this is correct this is my real question: how will you know who is the Messiah when he is born? Will he be born into a particular family or is there some test he will have to pass when he reaches the age of reason?
Or will be simply he known "after the fact" so to speak, that is, after he saves all the Jewish people and restores the Kingdom of Israel? (Which is I believe what his function is to be although I'd appreciate correction there too if needed)
Thanks in advance. Again, it's always something I've wondered about your religion.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1188356/jewish/Melachim-uMilchamot-Chapter-11.htm
...If a king will arise from the House of David who diligently contemplates the Torah and observes its mitzvot as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law as David, his ancestor, will compel all of Israel to walk in (the way of the Torah) and rectify the breaches in its observance, and fight the wars of God, we may, with assurance, consider him Mashiach.
If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach.
He will then improve the entire world, motivating all the nations to serve God together, as Tzephaniah 3:9 states: ‘I will transform the peoples to a purer language that they all will call upon the name of God and serve Him with one purpose.’
If he did not succeed to this degree or was killed, he surely is not the redeemer promised by the Torah.
Rather, he should be considered as all the other proper and complete kings of the Davidic dynasty who died.
God caused him to arise only to test the many, as Daniel 11:35 states: ‘And some of the wise men will stumble, to try them, to refine, and to clarify until the appointed time, because the set time is in the future’...
Third temple rebuilt, every single person left standing is a Jew or righteous Gentile, all exiles return to Israel, the world resets to Garden of Eden status.
Mashiach will be from the House of David and completely human, and we’re forbidden from worshipping or praying to Mashiach. The action is one of redemption.
I would be sitting next to Golda Meir right now and having a conversation with her if that happened. That’s the resurrection of the dead.