current that "only when the
one is destroyed, will the other arise."(1089) Particularly after the
Christian Church had become identified with Rome, all missionary endeavors
by the Jews were considered dangerous and were therefore discouraged as
much as possible. In their place arose the hope for a miraculous
intervention of God. In Hellenistic circles the Messiah was believed to be
the future founder of the kingdom of God,(1090) which assumed more and
more of an other-worldly nature, such as the Church developed for it later
on.

10. The more the harsh oppression of the times forced the Jew to isolate
himself and to spend his life in studying and practicing the law,--which
was tantamount to "placing himself under the kingdom of God,"(1091) the
more he lost sight of his sublime mission for the world at large. Only
individual thinkers, such as Jehuda ha Levi and Maimonides, kept a vision
of the world-mission of Israel, when they called Jesus and Mohammed, as
founders of Christianity and Islam, messengers of God to the idolatrous
nations, divinely appointed to bring them nearer to Israel's truth,(1092)
or when they pointed forward to the time when all peoples will recognize
in the truth their common mother and in God the Father of all
mankind.(1093) A most instructive Midrash on Zechariah IX, 9 gives the
keynote of this belief. "At that time God as the King of Zion will speak
to the righteous of all times, and say to them, 'Dear as the words of My
teaching are to Me, yet have ye erred in that ye have followed only My
Torah, and have not waited for My world-kingdom. I swear to you that I
shall remember for good him who has waited for My kingdom, as it is said,
Wait ye for Me until the day that I rise up as a witness.' "(1094)

On the other hand, it was owing to the sad consequences of the missionary
endeavors of the Church that the idea of the mission of Judaism was given
a different direction. Not conversion, but conviction by teaching and
example, is the historic task of Judaism, whose maxim is expressed in the
verse of Zechariah, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts."(1095) It is not the creed, but the deed, which tells.
Not the confession, but conduct, with the moral principles which govern
it, counts. Such a view is implied in the well-known teaching of Joshua
ben Hananiah, "The righteous of all nations will have a share in the world
of eternal bliss."(1096) Judaism does not deny salva