After some discussion, someone brought up that the Ohr Hachaim (Rav Chaim Ben Attar) made a claim that he was the messiah. If so, would anyone know where the Ohr Hachaim writes, regarding himself, that he was Moshiach?
Thank you in advance!
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I think there is story on how the Ohr Hachaim and the Arizal or possibly the Baal Shem Tov didn’t meet in Israel otherwise they could have brought the Moshiach.– Daniel RossCommented Apr 22, 2020 at 23:49
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possibly related: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/30144/170– msh210 ♦Commented Apr 23, 2020 at 7:00
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The ohr hachaim does write that he expects moshiach to come in his time. 1696-43. Must be at the end of his life. That the jewish year 5500 would be the start of the moshiach era. Because 1000 years is 24 hours of hashem. So the last day starts at 5500.– interestedCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 13:08
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Love all the comments this question brought, but not a single upvote :)– The Thinking YidCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 15:27
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@TheThinkingYid Please remind what the upvotes do.– Daniel RossCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 17:57
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1 Answer
Possible answer brought by the BaisMoshiach.org. http://www.beismoshiach.org/Moshiach/moshiach355b.htm
The Ohr HaChaim believed that he was Moshiach. There’s a tremendous story told about the Ohr HaChaim HaKodesh, who had to reprint his book. The printer’s name was Asher. In the book, the Ohr HaChaim wrote clearly that the name of Moshiach is going to be Chaim. The printer happened to be a very simple person, and when he came across this statement, he felt it was pompous to make a statement like that, so he omitted the statement.
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The way I heard the story, it's not that the printer was a "very simple person," but a maskil, who didn't really believe in Moshiach at all. The upshot, continues the story, is that his name, Asher, ended up being inadvertently (mis)printed in the expression אמן מאיש אחר in connection with the Sotah, and eventually it was discovered that in fact he was guilty of adultery. That version is here.– MeirCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 0:48
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With that said, in a discussion on Chareidim Ladaas (chl.co.il/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13468&start=50), some posters cite opinions that with that phrase the Ohr Hachaim was actually referring to his namesake, R. Chaim Abulafia, rather than to himself.– MeirCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 0:51
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Can anyone identify/link a copy of this alleged misprinted edition? How do we even know that a phrase was omitted?– Double AA ♦Commented Apr 23, 2020 at 2:53
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@DoubleAA The first link I gave is actually to a bibliographical description of the edition (the writer, R. Chaim Liberman, was a rather careful bibliographer). Whether a scan of it is available online, I don't know.– MeirCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 10:55
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@DoubleAA Also, a variant version of the story is quoted in Dvar Yom Beyomo, 10 Elul, and the author, R' Chaim Knoller, writes that he saw a copy of these chumashim with both of these, the deleted ושמו חיים and the mistaken מאשר.– MeirCommented Apr 23, 2020 at 13:00