Here are some Rabbis’ and other’s comments on Isaiah 53.

 Maimonides, one of the most famous Rabbis in Jewish history wrote:  “God hath from the beginning made a covenant with the Messiah and told him, ‘My righteous Messiah, those who are entrusted to you, their sins will bring you into a heavy yoke; and your ears will hear great shame; your mouth will taste bitterness, and your tongue will cleave to the roof of your mouth, and your soul will be weakened in grief and sighing.  Are you satisfied with this?’  And he answered, ‘I joyfully accept all these agonies in order that not one of Israel should be lost.’  Immediately, the Messiah accepted all agonies with love, as it is written in Isaiah 53:7, He was oppressed and he was afflicted.”

 Rabbi Moshe El Sheikh, chief Rabbi of Safead:  “Our Rabbis with one voice accept and affirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking of the King Messiah and we shall ourselves also adhere to the same view.”

 The great Jewish educator, Herz Homberg (1749‑1841):  “According to the opinion of Rashi and Ibn Ezra it relates to Israel at the end of their captivity.  But if so, what can be the meaning of the passage. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions?’ Who was wounded?  Who are the transgressors?  Who carried out the sickness and bare the pain?  The fact is that it refers to the King Messiah.”

 Moshe Kohen. a fifteenth‑century rabbi in Spain, explains the section thus:   “This passage the commentators explain, speaks of the captivity of Israel.  Although the singular number is used in it throughout.  Others have supposed it to mean the just in this present world, who are crushed and oppressed now . . . but these too, for the same reason, by altering the number distort the verses from their natural meaning . . . having forsaken the knowledge of our Teachers, and inclined "after the stubbornness of their own hearts." and of their own opinion. I am pleased to interpret it, in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah .”

Above statements are quoted from: Driver. S R and Neubauer. A. The Fifty Third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters Ktav Publishing House, New York. 1969E

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