 Berger argues that the assertion a person could begin a messianic mission, die, and posthumously return to complete his mission has been unanimously rejected by the Sages and Jewish polemicists for nearly 2,000 years.An example of Berger's proof-texts is the passage in the Talmud which shows that Rabbi Akiva set aside his previous assertions of Simon bar Kokhba's presumed messiahship after bar Kokhba was put to death.To Berger, the Messianists' viewpoint on this issue is outside the pale of accepted Orthodox Jewish belief.