‘The word Messiah isn’t in the Old Testament . . . just the Hebrew word for anointed. He’s not a savior; he’s a king or a priest with a special purpose. But the Midrash – well, it mentions the moshiach a lot, and he looks different every time. Sometimes he’s a soldier, sometimes he’s a politician, sometimes he’s got supernatural powers. And sometimes he’s dressed like a vagrant. The reason I gave that bum a quarter,’ he said, ‘is because you never know.’
