In this book, Harris Lenowitz explores the fascinating history of Jewish messianic movements. Looking in detail at all of the Jewish messiahs about whom anything is known, he introduces each of these figures in turn, and offers extensive excerpts of the original texts that tell their stories. The messiahs whom we meet in these pages range from the inspiring to the tragic and bizarre. By examining the messianic idea in the tradition which gave birth to it, Lenowitz both sheds new light on this engrossing aspect of Jewish history and provides a firmer basis for understanding contemporary messianic groups.

"The Jewish Messiahs is a detailed academic work that will be most useful to students of Jewish history and thought."

"This is the first text in English that focuses on primary texts relating to messianism as an active force in Jewish history...Lenowitz's study enriches the material available in English documenting messianic activism in Jewish experience. This material, and the provocative interpretation framing it, may point the way to studies comparing Christian and Muslim millenarian movements, and to further probing of the Jewish sources."

"Rare sources are translated here, providing new insights into figures known primarily from the work of Gershom Scholem. Lenowitz has synthesized and presented in an accessible and reliable form many such texts, making this volume the standard English-language handbook on the subject."

"Whereas we deal mostly with Jesus as Christian Messiah, theological entity, artistic representation, etc., Harris Lenowitz, professor of Hebrew, provides a different and thought-provoking context to messianism and the concept of messiah...In addition to the academic merits of the book, Lenowitz produces genuine pleasure for the reader with his choice of translations by others and his own rendering of messiah texts. These translations evoke the emotion and mystery surrounding these mythical figures with their hazy beginnings and seemingly futile ends."

Harris Lenowitz, Professor of Hebrew in the Department of Languages and Literature and the Middle East Center, University of Utah