Born as a Portuguese marrano (hidden Jew) at the turn of the 16th century, Don Joseph Nasi succeeded in escaping the Inquisition with his fortune largely intact. Traveling to the Ottoman Empire, he became a court Jew and diplomat for Suleiman the Great, who later appointed him as the lord of Tiberias. There, Nasi attempted to build agriculture and industry in the first Jewish settlement in close to 1000 years. He largely failed.
The time was not right.
In his Mishneh Torah, the Rambam lays out the proper attitude toward prophecies on events yet to come, particularly those that promise the ultimate redemption from exile. He states that these predictions, in and of themselves, are not the signposts of Moshiach. The most basic, and essential, markers of human progress toward the future era are the resurgence of Jewish education, a return to mitzvah observance, and a Jewish kingdom under the auspices of a Torah-true leader—Moshiach himself. He will, subliminally at first, influence political movement toward a better, more peaceful worldview.
