This thesis discusses the role of the "false Messiah" in modern Yiddish Literature. / The figure of the Messiah in Jewish religious imagination signifies the prophetic yearning for redemption at the end of days, but it also provoked hopes in a strong leader who will bring about social and political redemption. Based on historical models, literature from the twelfth to the twentieth century addressed these "false Messiahs" and in the modern period used them to define and illustrate contemporary catastrophe. / Shlomo Molcho by American Yiddish poet Aaron Glanz-Leyeles and Prince Reuveni by Soviet Yiddish author David Bergelson are two twentieth century poetic historic dramas based on two messianic figures of the sixteenth century. These two modern works are compared in relation to the respective authors' life and times, political and aesthetic outlook, and dramatic powers. The comparison shows the usefulness of the "false Messiah" in dramatizing and expressing difficult contemporary issues.

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