Die Osmanischen 'Ulema' Des 17. Jahrhunderts. Eine Geschlossene Gesellschaft? [1., Erstausgabe ed.] 3879973377, 9783879973378

Citation preview

Mishael M. Caspi / Gerda Neu-Sokol By the Soft Lyres: The Search for the Prophet Elijah

   

ISLAMKUNDLICHE UNTERSUCHUNGEN • BAND 272 begründet von Klaus Schwarz herausgegeben von Gerd Winkelhane

ISLAMKUNDLICHE UNTERSUCHUNGEN • BAND 272

Mishael M. Caspi / Gerda Neu-Sokol

By the Soft Lyres: The Search for the Prophet Elijah In collaboration with Mohammad Jiyad

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. http://www.bl.uk Library of Congress control number available http://www.loc.gov

Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Kein Teil dieses Buches darf in irgendeiner Form (Druck, Fotokopie oder einem anderen Verfahren) ohne schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages reproduziert oder unter Verwendung elektronischer Systeme verarbeitet werden. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the Publishers.

© 2006 by Klaus Schwarz Verlag GmbH, Erstausgabe 1. Auflage Layout und Herstellung: textintegration.de Gedruckt auf chlorfrei gebleichtem Papier Printed in Germany ISBN-10: 3-87997-337-7 ISBN-13: 978-387997-337-8

Para Beatrice Rubinstein e Leizer Chusyd queridos que sempre presente no meu coracao. M. M. Caspi

To the memory of my dear friend, Dr. Helene Reeves, whose favorite part of the Seder celebrations was the singing of Eliyyahu ha-navi. G. Neu-Sokol

Acknowledgements In the course of researching and writing this work we always found friends and colleagues who supported us in finding the right resources and to gain understanding of difficult passages. They were happy to challenge us and with special wit they challenged our interpretations. They generously offered their viewpoints as supporting vehicles for this work. Professor Kenneth P. Kramer is a unique person who was always ready to listen and to offer other views. His rich knowledge served as a special ray of light. We deeply appreciate the assistance of our friend and colleague, Professor Olga Meerson for her willingness to share her wisdom and knowledge with us. She was always ready to share her ideas and understanding in the most complicated matters we faced. Elizabeth (Talbott) Santos’ editorial work made this work readable. She knew how to unbind long, complicated sentences. Our colleagues at the George and Helen Ladd Library, Thomas Hayward, LaVerne Winn, Sandra Grodeau, Jane Boyle, Julie Retelle, Perrin Lumbert, Laura Juraska, Susan McArthur, and Christopher Schiff provided unconditional assistance while conducting our research. We extend our deepest appreciation to the Dimmer-Bergstorm Fund for their generous grant supporting this study. While writing the final draft of this work our friend and mentor, John P. Dimmer, died. With his death we lost a dear friend and a great human being. This work is dedicated to his memory. Mishael M. Caspi / Gerda Neu-Sokol Bates College, 2005

Table of Content Preface ...................................................................................................................... i Prolegomenon......................................................................................................... xi Endnotes – Preface and Prolegemenon..............................................................xvi Chapter One – People’s Imagination: Imagining Peoples......................................... 1 A. Manna, Bread from Heaven............................................................................ 1 B. Among the Angels......................................................................................... 18 C. Veiling The Answers..................................................................................... 49 D. From the Realm of Miracles ......................................................................... 74 E. Elijah, Messiah: And Still No Light .............................................................. 91 F. Walking Around and Around….................................................................. 101 Endnotes – Chapter One................................................................................. 115 Chapter Two – Woe Unto Thee, Elias................................................................. 124 A. And Zeal Burning Like Fire ........................................................................ 124 B. The World Is Silent .................................................................................... 128 C. The Blessing Was Given............................................................................. 144 D. Searching for Elijah .................................................................................... 164 Endnotes – Chapter Two ................................................................................ 170 Chapter Three – They Set Down To Speak ......................................................... 173 A. The Soul of Adam....................................................................................... 173 B. Hearts Filled With Wonder ........................................................................ 180 C. Passion for Stories....................................................................................... 191 D. O Khadhr, Ever Green ............................................................................... 202 E. Fire in Your Own Land............................................................................... 216 F. Food From Paradise .................................................................................... 227 Endnotes – Chapter Three .............................................................................. 236 Appendix Chapter Three................................................................................. 241 Endnotes – Chapter Three Appendix .............................................................. 291 Chapter Four – I will Show Thee......................................................................... 292 A. For We Shall Surely Live ............................................................................ 292 B. Not By Faith Alone..................................................................................... 320 C. May Allah Have Mercy............................................................................... 334 Endnotes – Chapter Four................................................................................ 344 Chapter Five – Chariot Across the Clouds .......................................................... 347

A. I’ll Burn You With My Fire........................................................................ 347 B. Shone Through The Lilac Bushes ............................................................... 358 Endnotes – Chapter Five................................................................................. 370 Appendix Chapter Five ................................................................................... 372 Endnotes – Appendix Chapter Five................................................................. 376 Epilogue .............................................................................................................. 377 Endnotes – Epilogue ....................................................................................... 389 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 390 Index ................................................................................................................... 397

Preface God says to man, as He said to Moses, Put off thy shoes from thy feet – Put off the habitual which encloses your foot, and you will know that the place on which you are now standing is holy ground. For there is no rung of human life on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere 1 and at all times!

Jewish mystery, or the spirit of Judaism, begins in the Bible. The Torah revealed the Biblical rules and the laws given by God to the ancient people of Israel. In the revealed Torah, Jewish scholars and rabbis explained God’s recorded Biblical words. The mystery and the esoteric found in the Bible was later recorded and explained in the Kabbalah. In the Bible we can discern two types of Jewish mystery. First, let’s examine the rational or disciplined Judaic mystery that recorded the dealings of mankind with God. The first appearance of such a Judaic rational mystery appears in the first verse of Genesis: In the beginning God created heaven and earth… and the spirit of the Lord moved upon… (Gen. 1:1.). Here for the first time in the ancient world an audience meets God and his spirit. The spirit of the Lord is not a separate entity but is seen as a vital part of God. God and Spirit. Spirit and God. These two entities are seen as being one and the same. And if we examine the genders being used in these lines from Genesis, we discover that the Creator appears in the masculine form while the spirit appears in the feminine form. The second Judaic mystery type in the Bible is the practical mystery. This mystery helps believers cleave to God and to experience a profound union with him. This revelation for those chosen by God appears in various hidden forms throughout the Bible. It appears as a ‘burning bush’, for example, or in a cloud, or in the glory of a multitude of angels filling a temple and surrounding God. Angels appearing in the Bible’s first twenty-three books are not named. Those early Biblical angels appear as ‘good people’ who bring God’s tidings to Abraham, Hanoch, Elijah, and others. However, in the Book of Daniel, angels are named for the first time. Michael and Gabriel are named as highly influential angels. Michael is the great Prince assigned to protect the people of Israel. Gabriel is the angel charged with interpreting the visions and dreams of mankind. Some of the angels are among those who execute God’s will, such as destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and inflicting great tribulations on the Pharaoh.

ii Then, in the Psalms, these words appear: He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. (Psalms 78:49.). We are not told the specific acts God demanded of these particular angels, but it seems likely that they were instructed by an angry God to bring misfortune to humanity. Satan appears in the Book of Job as an evil entity who has direct contact with God. All Satan has to do to create evil in the world is to torment Job in the name of testing God’s word and in testing man’s faith in God. In 1Kings, the prophet Micaiah says: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?’ And one said on this manner and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said: ‘I will persuade him.’ (1Kings 22:19-21.). Satan is the spirit who ‘came forth’ and volunteered to ‘persuade’ mankind, and Satan is a spirit and a prosecutor of God’s court who possesses the power to manipulate human activities. This spirit has the strength to cause man to sin. God assists mankind by offering prophesies. And God’s spirit presents the words of God to mankind so that each erring human being can find his or her own way back to God. In the ‘burning bush’ the words of God are revealed in a fire. Speaking out of a small fire in a bush, God reveals to Moses that the ground all humans stand upon is holy because God alone created the earth. When God spoke through a ‘burning bush’ to Moses, God intertwined the material and the immaterial. God’s second hidden revelation occurs in the great fire in Mount Sinai. And a third hidden divine revelation occurs within fire when Elijah ascends to heaven: …behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire. (2Kings 2:11.). The prophets present the Biblical mysteries as the words of God, and they are presented to mankind with ‘the Torah of the heart’, meaning that these mysteries are presented with the spirit of the heart and reveal the inner meaning of the Law.

iii Adonde te escondiste, amado Jewish interpreters were very intrigued by the ‘voice’ Elijah heard in Mount Horeb. They wanted to understand the full meaning of the ‘still small voice’, qol d’ma-ma daq-qa. For them, this was not just a simple phrase but something with a special meaning. They also drew parallels between Moses’ experience and Elijah’s in God’s mountain. They also named Moses the redeemer of the People from Egypt and they named Elijah as the redeemer of the People from their worship of idols. But our attention is given to the intellectual struggle of the early Jewish scholars for their complete understanding of the ‘Phenomenon of the Voice’. The Midrash expresses its view that the voice is ‘a sound of gentle stillness’ but it also emphasizes that God waited for three hours for Elijah to entreat God’s mercy for the People and Elijah did not comply. One of the Sages explained that God appears to Moses with the ‘voices’, qolot, in order to remind the people that it was the might of God that saved them from slavery. For this reason, Moses is seen as being greater than Elijah. The Aramaic translation does not present any new image to the phrase. It interprets the phrase. In this translation, the meaning is ‘a voice praising God secretly.’ Indeed, the Aramaic word ha-shai means ‘secret’, as we find it in the Talmud (BPs. 56a), or it means ‘whispering’, as it is found in BZeb. 88b. It is in this early period that the ambiguity of this word first intrigued the interpreters. In the Middle Ages, the interpreters were still being overwhelmed by this phrase. Rashi follows the Targum and suggests that it was a ‘voice…(a) silence for praising’ and by using a French word, he inserts the meaning of ‘no certain voice’. Another scholar from the Middle Ages suggested that this phrase consists of ‘a voice’ and of ‘silence’. In the twentieth century, Professor Tur Sinai, followed the Targum and suggested that d’ma-ma is a ‘whispering voice’. In the sixteenth century a great poet, mystic, and theologian by the name of San Juan de la Cruz was in search for the true meaning of love and for the mystical experience of Elijah. As a member of the Carmelite Order, he was also a companion of the famous Santa Teresa, whom he met for the first time in 1567. She was also a member of the Carmelite Order. This Christian order, which was established in the thirteenth century, maintained a great attraction and interest in the Holy Land. This was probably due to the fact that the Crusaders’ kingdom at that time was centered in Jerusalem. During this century a group of monks found a cave on Mount Carmel where they settled. Yet, sometime before these monks arrived at this place, which today is the city of Haifa, this cave was known as a sacred place. The Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, all considered this place as holy. It is also known that the Roman Emperor Vesparian offered a sacrifice there. In the Hebrew tradition, the Prophet Isaiah

iv made this mountain powerful, as he presented it as a metaphor for abundance: I shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. (35:2.). In Biblical poetry this place is a metaphor of beauty, and some have interpreted it as an expression of the Messianic Era. But this mountain is also associated with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Ba’al who were murdered by Elijah. In the tradition of the Carmelite order, which traced its spiritual ancestry to the Hebrew Bible, the Muhraqa, near the village of Daliat al Carmel, is the site where this event took place. In 1868 this order built their monestary there to celebrate the victory of Elijah, as it was told in the Bible. Here we should pay attention to the sound Elijah heard, as it is described in 1Kings 18:44: And it came to pass at the seventh hour that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man’s hand and he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. He hears the sound of the rain, which begins with the little cloud that resembled a man’s hand. The mystery of this cloud, which is a sign of the coming rain, was associated for years with the Virgin Mary, who was the patron of the Carmelite Order. This association establishes the connection between the Virgin Mother and Elijah. With the fall of the kingdom of Jerusalem into the hands of the Muslims, the Carmelite monestary in Palestine was also abandoned. For the Carmelite Order, and for San Juan de la Cruz and his contemporaries, Elijah’s sufferings were interpreted allegorically. The Carmelites were thus considered a community which devoted itself to this figure. In many ways, the well-known book, Liber, was a work which continues the relationship between the OT and the NT. Here it is an important point that must be made. In his poetry, as well as in his theological essays, San Juan continues the devoted, contemplative life which originally was the life of the members of the Carmelite order. They wished to imitate the life of Elijah, according to their custom, which had been established in the thirteenth century (1210). He and Santa Teresa separated themselves from the old order and became more independent. His work, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, and his theological works, draw the focus of his readers to the ‘place’ where God does the choosing and where God selects His chosen people. As we find in David Lewis’ 1922 translation of The Ascent of Mount Carmel, San Juan says, The third kind are certain special places which God has chosen that men may there call upon Him to serve Him. Such a place was Mount Sinai where He gave His Law unto Moses. Such also was that place which He

v showed unto Abraham where the patriarch was to sacrifice his son. And such, too, was Mount Horeb whither He commanded our father Elias to go, and there He was to show Himself unto him. In his poetry he follows the main perception of the Church and of the Jewish interpretation of the Song of Songs. His commentary speaks about the ‘mystical journey’ and, within it, about the ‘spiritual marriage’. Indeed, these two traditions, Judaism and Christianity, view these Songs a bit differently, as the Jews viewed it as a relationship between the People of Israel and God, while Christians viewed it as one between Christ and the Church. And these two concepts, along with concept of the soul and God, all appear in the western mystical tradition. In Colin Thompson’s work we find, It is this tradition which explains why the poetic voice of San Juan’s verse is so often the feminine “esposa” in dialogue with her “esposo”. It is the same ‘dialogue’ found in the Book of Songs. Biblical themes appear frequently in san Juan’s poetry. The Exodus from Egypt is one of his main topics. He points out the episode where Moses speaks to himself in the cleft of the rock (Ex. 33:20.). In the Jewish tradition, the belief is that a person cannot see God and still live. But in his work he also discussed some other Biblical figures. For example, he appreciates the father Elias (Elijah) who is, as this tradition suggests, is the founder of the Carmelite Order. Elijah is portrayed as having had his own vision of God, which he experienced in the ‘still small voice’. However, the allegorical interpretations of the Song of Songs began first in the time of Philo, during the first century C.E. From this Jewish domain, we also find Origen, in the third century, had accepted the Jewish interpretation that the Songs are representative of the ‘groom’ as being God and of the ‘bride’ as being the Church, or as being the ‘New Israel’. It is clear that San Juan read these Songs, which he interpreted as being divine poetry, and which he then expounded upon in his interpretations. San Juan also tried to deal with the Jewish tradition’s concept that “no man shall see God and live”. That notion was presented in the Biblical narrative, but, in his poetry, San Juan discusses two events. One event that San Juan explored is focused on when Elijah heard “the still small voice” but then “wrapped his face and went out.” (10:13.). The second event he examines is focused on when Paul heard the “unspeakable”. Then, in his theological writings, he continues to deal with the verse of the ‘bride’ singing in her “voice of sweet” , which he interpreted as being akin to the “whisper of the amorous gales.” He suggests that readers consider two words: gale and whis-

vi per. The gale is understood to mean “to blow amorously when it strikes deliciously”, while whisper signifies “the substantial intelligence”. Elijah, in his vision, experienced God in a thin, delicate whisper of air that Elijah heard while he was in the cave. The “still small voice” is understood to be a “whispering of gentle wind”, since, Knowledge is begotten in the understanding by a subtitle and delicate communication of the spirit. The same is with Paul, when he related to the great event of the revelation that he experienced. He did not say, ‘I perceived the secret words of God’ but, instead, he said, …(I) heard unspeakable words which it is not doubtful for a man to utter. (2Cor. 12:4.). Both Paul and Elijah experienced God through the “whisper of the gentle air”. Juan concludes his presentation of the parallelism between the spiritual experience of Elijah and the one experienced by Paul by stating that, …the intelligible truth cometh by spiritual hearing. Elijah covered his face in the mountain upon hearing God’s voice, just as Moses had done. On this particular act we find Paul stating: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the thing which God hath prepared for those who love Him. (1Cor. 2:9.). These two phenomena in Judaism, the one where Moses encountered God on Mount Sinai, and the second event, when Elijah encountered God’s voice, each emphasizes that when these two prophets felt the presence of God, each had covered his face. In Moses’ case it is said: And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. (Ex. 3:8.). and Elijah is the one who covered his face only after he heard God’s voice. In both cases, there is a disconnect between the spiritual and the sublime and of what existed in the reality of the prophet. This disconnection from the prophet’s reality is shown in both cases, as Moses ‘hid’ his face and Elijah ‘wrapped’ himself inside his mantle. But the question is: What was that ‘voice’ each had heard? The Jewish and Christian perception is that the ‘voice’ these two prophets heard was a ‘whispering’. But in the narrative of Elijah, we read that after he heard the “still small voice”, And it was so when Elijah heard it.

vii So, the question becomes, What did Elijah hear? Did he hear the ‘whisper’, or, ‘susurrus’, or, ‘the spirit of God’, as it passed over him? And what had Moses heard? The ‘voice’ Moses heard tells him, …put off thy shoes… and the ‘voice’ Moses heard had trembled. If we turn our attention to Job, Eliphaz describes the ‘divine voice’ by saying, …there was silence, and I heard a voice. What is the meaning of these words? Is there a disconnection, or a break, here as we find in the episodes of Moses and Elijah? Maybe this is a very powerful, mystical experience that the ‘voice’ gives to its listeners. Perhaps this mystical feeling is related to the listener being in a disconnected state from his own world, from his own reality. This sense of disconnection is in the ‘silence’. But perhaps another view is correct in stating that the text presents a deep and great expectation. And to experience this great expectation, then one should reach the state of complete submission to God. To experience and to reach this special ‘silence’, or, d’ma-ma, one has to give up one’s essence, as it is found described in the Book of Psalms: le-kha du-my-ya te-hil-la The Aramaic text translates this verse as, Before you silence is considered praise. In Rashi’s interpretation of this verse, he shares, The silence is a praise for you since there is no limit for praising you. The same perception is shared by another interpreter, who says: Silence is considered for you a praise since there is no way to limit your praise. The King James’ version translates the Hebrew verse above as, O thou who hearest prayer. The Hebrew text, in fact, suggests that silence is equivalent to praise. Since we are examining two nouns here, then the noun du-my-ya, is the silence, or, d’ma-ma, which comes before the ‘voice’. The ‘praise’ is the ‘voice’ which comes after the ‘silence’, or d’ma-ma. But these ‘silences’ are not occurring one after the other, but, instead, they point out that sometimes a person needs to ‘keep silence’ and that this special ‘silence’ sometimes allows one to express a great excitement, or

viii to undergo the mystical experience, not through the use of words but, instead, through an absolute silence. Here we can conclude that a mystical experience is not one that is not found in noise, or in fire, or in trembling, or in any concrete image, but, instead, it is found in a special silence which has the power to make the bones of the mystic tremble. At that moment, only the person who is in the midst of this special trance is able to feel its power. Such absolute silence offers the person experiencing it a reason to accept the ‘divine light’. We are told that in early Islam, among the companions of the prophet Muhammad, that there were people who wanted to search for the religious law which was addressed by the prophet. These people were striving to pay attention to their souls and they tried to harmonize between their internal and their external experiences. It is suggested that a movement of ascetics developed and they renounced the pleasures of the earthly world and all of its luxuries. In many ways, they even imitated the earlier Christian ascetics. In their teachings they emphasized the love of Allah, as it is found expressed in the Qur’an: Allah will bring a people whom he will love and they will love him. (5:54.). The intensity of these ascetics’ relationships was expressed by using poetry and by playing music. The music and poems describe the love relationship with Allah through hearing, which also brought them to the state of ecstacy. Yet, it is important to note a very important chapter in the Qur’an, entitled al-Qadar, or, ‘the Night of Decree (Fate)’. This is the ‘night of power’, which is connected to every aspect, as we find it described in the following verse: Therein (that night) is decreed every matter of ordainments. (44:4.). The meaning of this verse, which also appears in Chapter 97, is that all earthly matters, such as death, birth, calamities, and provisions, all that is said and which will come to be in the future, is already decreed by Allah. This later chapter 97 is a model of the spiritual experience of the prophet and it made him an exemplary spiritual model for the Sufi. Early Muslim Sages did not stress the mystical experience of Elijah. He is presented in the Qur’an as being one of the ‘messengers’, who was one of “our believing servants” (37:123-132.). But, as much as Ilias (Elijah) has his name in the Qur’an, and his story therein follows, in some respects, what we find recorded in the OT, the oral tradition took the story in another direction, as we can see in the passage found in 18:60, which presents Moses as he spoke to his servant: I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two seas. This tradition named the new person, “our servant”, Khidhr. However, this

ix name does not appear in the Qur’an. It is only in the translated text of the Qur’an (18:66.) that Khidhr’s name appears inserted in parantheses, as is shown below, qal la hu musa, So Moses said to him.(Khidhr) At this point, the Islamic oral tradition not only identified al Khidhr with Elijah, but it also defined him as the ‘one who has patience’. It also defined Moses as the ‘one who lacks patience’. That notion is shared in the following hadith: Allah’s messenger said, We wished Musa had more patience so that Allah might hace described to us more about their story. (Sahih, 249.). In the work of the Sufi poet Jalalu addin Rumi, some references are made to Jesus. One example is, When someone asks you: ‘How did Christ quicken the dead?’ Then give me a kiss in his presence, ‘Thus.’ Various interpretations can be made of this. The most common one is that Christ is a ‘breath’ that grants the receiver new life. Some other poems of the Sufis view Jesus as akin to being a ‘spring’. This image plays an important role in this tradition’s developing ‘relationship’ between Jesus and al-Khidhr, where Jesus is understood to be the ‘breath of life’ and al-Khidhr is understood to be the one ‘who seeks the water of life’. This combination of images is connected to each of these two traditions’ belief in the resurrection of the dead. Sufi poets derived their imagery from the Qu’ran. They also paid attention to some episodes, as well as to some allusions, that occur in the NT. They related many sayings and statements to Jesus. For example, the Sufi poets quoted this saying that is attributed to Jesus: The world is a bridge, pass over it but do not stay on it. It is said that this saying was written on the gate of Akbar’s palace. In the hadith, there is a response to the story that appears in the Gospels when Jesus was reported to have walked on water on the lake of Gennesaret. That response shares what the prophet Muhammad stated: If my brother Jesus had had more ‘yaqin (certainty), he would have walked in the air. In the Sufi tradition, Ibn ‘Arabi (b. 1165) maintained a special relationship with al-Khidhr, who initiated him into the ‘Divine mysteries’. Indeed, in the Islamic tradition, al-Khidhr is a very important spiritual figure who was related to Elias

x (Elijah), the Biblical prophet. Because he initiated the people into a ‘spiritual life’, Ibn ‘Arabi became the discipile of al-Khidhr. In 1204, when he visited the city of Mosul, he received the ‘mantle’, or, khirqah (‘tatter’, ‘rag’, ‘polishing cloth’) from Ali ibn Jam’i, who had received it directly from al-Khidhr. The episode depicting al-Khidhr as an instructor is strongly linked to the Jewish tradition where, in the early Biblical literature, we find stories about the Jewish Sages who had studied with Elijah. The episode of the mantle is related to the transfer of spiritual power that was passed in the Jewish tradition from Elijah to Elisha. These three traditions borrowed religious and cultural values from each other. Despite their long history of animosity and conflict with each other, they were close to one another, and, in some places, their followers lived with one another as neighbors. Their conflicts never prevented these people from borrowing intellectual and religious concepts from each other. However, the process of borrowing was not restricted to assimilation and acceptance. Instead, it involved a longer process of examination and re-examination, which was completed by the Sages in each tradition. Only when the respective Sages approved were the borrowed aspects from the other traditions allowed to become accepted as a part of each of the other traditions. Yet, when these traditions are dealing with the concept of Messianism and with the concept of the Messiah, each tradition is still searching for the amado, and each tradition is still unwilling to accept the idea that this amado is an ideal. Instead, these traditions see their search for the amado as being their unique search for a ‘real’ saviour, and not as a simple search, nor as a quest for a better life, or for a more respectful relationship to be shared among all the people in God’s universe.

xi

Prolegomenon Verily, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a scientific man to pass through a door. And whether the door be a barn door or a church door, it might be wiser for him to consent to be an ordinary man and walk in the door rather than wait until all the difficulties 2 involved in a scientific ingress are revealed.

Humans use individualized viewpoints when they examine their worlds and when they share their ideas with others. A person without a worldview has no sense of the world and, thus, has no world. All genuine poets, authors, and artists are driven to present their unique and inner worlds to others. Audiences eagerly embrace creative people who openly and honestly share their worldviews in their works. A personal worldview contains many perspectives and reactions to a variety of experiences. Some of these perspectives are inherited. Some are gained by learning. Some are attained by philosophical contemplation. As one’s worldview develops, each individual must ask many questions and willingly discuss sociopolitical, moral, and cultural issues. An author, for example, needs to engage the reader in the events being described and in the viewpoints being exposed. When the author has woven philosophical contemplations with challenging, and often complex, socio-political, moral, and cultural issues, then the depth of the author’s worldview emerges. As a result, the reader feels a more complete and a more satisfying understanding of the material the author has shared. The best author-reader relationship exists when the reader has an ongoing dialectic with the author. However, an energetic dialectic between an author and a reader is not trouble-free. If the reader is searching for ‘literary truth’, then being in a dialectic with an author means that this type of reader will primarily focus on his or her disagreements with the author. That reader may perceive the author as a demagogue. On the other hand, if the reader uncritically conforms to whatever an author presents, then that reader is intellectually challenged. This type of reader feels completely unable, or is unwilling, to engage in an intellectual struggle with, or even to question, another’s worldview. An examination of these two approaches to reading another’s differing worldview suggests the following. First, the reader who clings blindly to his or her worldview creates an intellectual tension whenever he or she reads an author who has a differing worldview. That reader wants to argue with the newly presented ideas. That reader wants the author to present some, if not all, opposing points

xii of view. This type of reader, who appears to be very analytical, simply uses that posture to hide the reader’s inability to give voice to an emotional reaction the reader has had while examining an author’s unique worldview. His or her emotional excitement while reading another worldview cannot surface because its presence would mean that the reader would be perceived as someone who is unable to think critically. So, this kind of reader gets far too involved in the actual events being shared by an author to ever appreciate the aesthetic beauty of an author’s differing worldview. Second, the reader who refuses to argue with an author and simply conforms to the author’s worldview does so because it’s seen as being the ‘politically correct’ position to take. This type of reader is intellectually anemic. And being intellectually anemic, this type of reader doesn’t possess the intellectual fortitude or strength to struggle with an opposing worldview. The ‘political correctness’ position taken by this type of reader is the first step that reader takes toward intellectual stagnation. An intellectually robust reader will adopt and employ better and more balanced approaches while examining an opposing worldview. For example, such readers can ask questions about the characters being presented and about the development of the story being shared. Readers can question how important the acts of any hero really are and then determine when, or if, a hero’s quest in a story has become more spiritual. Readers can examine if any hero can truly belong to only one tradition. The boundaries of heroism can be debated. And then such talented readers can inquire about heroic virtues, analyze heroic responsibilities, and dissect the complex nature of good and evil. As we examine the history of the Jews for the past two millennia, their survival is rooted in them being a most able group of people. Despite persecution and hardship, the Jews have familiarized themselves with their own history and have consistently examined their role in world history. In their religious beliefs, the Jews sought to affirm an intellectually robust and creative relationship for themselves with the rest of humanity and with their God. Moral teachers, such as Confucius and Buddha, taught humanity that one’s moral conduct is a reliable test and it is a fundamental religious precept. The prophets of Jewish tradition also emphasized the importance of moral conduct. Many of these prophets displayed great courage when they denounced their religious and political leaders in Judah and in ancient Israel. To accuse one’s king of murder certainly calls that ruler’s morality into question. Such bravery is seen in the question asked of king Ahab, Hast thou killed and also taken possession? (1Kings 21:19.). It’s apparent, as well, in the statement directed at king David, You are the man. (2Sam.12:7.).

xiii where the prophet is openly challenging the political leader’s moral fiber and his political authority to rule because David has been such a hypocrite and he has lacked the righteousness needed to protect his people from evil. As we examine these and other statements in the Bible, we can ask ourselves: What is the origin of the moral courage first shown when the prophets confronted their leaders and then later was demonstrated by the actions of the people of Israel? In Genesis 17:10 we read that God is the God of righteousness and justice. If these are God’s highest values, then we realize that God will sustain these values. By accepting God as right and just, then believers need to see themselves as agents serving God in this world. As God’s agents of righteousness and justice, then believers must have the capacity to distinguish ‘good’ from ‘evil’. Since God is a moral entity, mankind cannot remain passively silent because humanity is part of this moral God’s world. Humanity is, therefore, a representative of morality and justice in this world. In its appeals, humanity can entreat from God and to God. In the religious and philosophical poem of Ibn Gabirol (1021-1058), the Keter Malkhut, which is recited annually on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, he stated, If I cannot hope for your mercy, who but you could protect me? Therefore, though you would slay me, I hope and trust. And were you to see my impiety I would flee from you to Thee. I would hide from your wrath in your shadow. I’ll hold to the edge of your mercy until you have mercyAnd not allow you to go away, 3 not until you’ve blessed me. Even an angry rebel who is a believer doesn’t turn away from God. In postBiblical literature we find other statements about God’s anger and about God’s mercy, such as: The Rabbis say: God may be likened to a king who had twelve sons of whom two died. He began to console himself with the ten. Two more died and he began to console himself with the eight. Two more died and he began to console himself with the six. Two more died and he began to console himself with the four. Two more died and he began to console himself with the two. When they had all died, he began to lament over 4 them, ‘How sitteth solitary?’

xiv The two prophets, Abraham and Moses, acting as God’s agents were each able to draw near to God and also to dispute with God. Abraham is more universal than Moses when he spoke in defense of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah before God destroyed those two cities. In the post-Biblical literature, Abraham also appears to confront God and to silence the Torah for having testified to God against the people. Moses sought God’s mercy in spite of his people’s transgressions against God. Other agents of God, such as Rachel, confront God. Jeremiah shares that when Rachel was trying to awaken God’s mercy, she presented her compassion to God in direct contrast to God’s zealousness. Elijah also challenges God, And he cried unto the Lord and said, ‘Oh, Lord, my God, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son?’ (1Kings 17:20.). Among the difficulties any historian faces when presenting conclusions and interpretations of past events are those conclusions and interpretations that are seen as being ones that are reflecting on the future. The old notion that history is ‘everyone’s teacher’ was based on accepting humans as historical entities. Today’s historians are creating conclusions and interpretations based on references to narrower socio-political ideologies. That means that today’s historians are using a very subjective framework in their research and writings and they are presenting readers with a very different historical perspective. Historians face other obstacles whenever they examine religion or religious ideology. Here, historians need to pay particular attention to some fundamental tendencies that are present in some religious sects. Historians and any literary critique focused on exploring the texts of religious sects must make the reader aware of the historical changes within those sects. The historical interpretations given to these diverse texts must also contain both the ideology of the followers, as well as the followers’ fundamental values and religious rituals. Caution is needed since two different fluxes are in contradiction. On the one hand, we can examine the holiness of the rituals, but, on the other hand, we must realize that within most religions human actions are seen as God’s outcomes and, as such, human actions are seen within each religion as having no identified historical timeframe. Historical and religious material discourse is complex for both historians and their readers, especially as both employ cultural theories in their historical and literary analyses. For Biblical scholars, the challenges they face are even greater than those faced by other historians. For example, today’s Biblical historians must take into consideration the historical time frame that cannot always be employed in their analyses. The Biblical historians also face unique challenges rooted in the ancient

xv languages of their texts. Additionally burdensome are the often hidden sociopolitical and economic issues of ancient times that must also be factored into their interpretations and conclusions. In some cases, Biblical historians are assisted by the discoveries made by archeologists excavating ancient sites in the Middle East.Another possible source of assistance for Biblical historians can be found in the literature of the Near East. Yet the ever-present dangers previously discussed, those of the religious domain and those of socio-political interpretations, still face the Biblical historian who examines the ancient literature of the Near East. Those scholars utilizing ancient Jewish literature must place the narratives being examined in a much larger context to demonstrate that very powerful connections existed between the ancient people of Israel and other cultures and religions being practiced in neighboring states. th Examining the socio-political context of the Near East in the 9 century, we discover that in the year 853 that Shalmaneser, The Third, (858-824 B.C.E.) began his military campaigns in the north and in the south. His motives for these campaigns were purely economical, since his primary motive was to gain control of the important trade routes in that region. Against the threat of Shalmaneser’s massive invasions, the three following regional rulers formed an opposing military coalition: Ben Hadad, the king of Damascus, along with the king of Hamath, and including Ahab, the king of Israel. The armies of these three countries battled Shalmaneser in 853 B.C.E. in Qarqar (Karkar). In this battle Ahab, king of Israel, brought not only his army to this encounter, but he also brought his famed chariots onto that battlefield. During his reign, Shalmaneser fought this military coalition a few more times following their first military encounter in 853 B.C.E. Only in 841 B.C.E. could Shalmaneser claim victory against the coalition nations that had been opposing him. In the last six years of his reign, following his battles with the coalition nations, Shalmaneser faced increasing turmoil at home and he lost the territories he had claimed in his earlier military victories. In Elijah’s narratives he reports that king Ahab was killed in the battle of Ramoth-Gilead in 852 B.C.E., and that his son, Ahaziah, continued the Omri dynasty. A year later, in 853 B.C.E., with Ahaziah’s accidental death, his brother, Jehoram, succeeded him as king. In this political context, Moab rebelled against Israel and a serious revolt broke out in 842 B.C.E. General Jehu led that revolt in ancient Israel. The prophet Elisha, who had been the disciple of the prophet Elijah, supported General Jehu. The dynasty of Omri in ancient Israel, which had lasted forty years, was destroyed by this revolt. It is the task of the prophet to listen to the voice of God. This ‘voice’ came to the people in the form of rain, which appeared right after Elijah’s successful defeat and encounter with the prophets of Ba’al (18:45). Here the voice of God

xvi appears as rain representing and proclaiming God’s forgiveness and God’s acceptance of the people’s repentance. According to the Biblical text, God had caused the drought in Israel because of the Israelites’ inclusion of the foreign and forbidden cult of Ba’al within their religious tradition. And although the Biblical storyteller in the narratives of Elijah emphasizes the greatness of YHWH, Josephus presents a different tradition in his work on this episode in Elijah’s narrative. Scholars accept Josephus’ work as a reliable source, as can be seen in the following, Now Menander mentions this drought in his account of the acts of Ethbaal, King of the Tyrians, where he says thus: ‘Under him there was a want of rain from the month Hyperberetaeus till the month of Hyperberetaeus of the year following. But when he made supplication, there came great thunders’. (Ant. 8.8.2.). The task in this work is quite complicated, not only because of the different sources presented by these three religious traditions, but also because within each of these three traditions sources exist which sometimes contradict one another. Also, some of these sources were allowed to be more imaginative in their development than the original story itself. The narratives of Elijah found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and in the literature of that ancient time, will be examined in this study in the light of the events presented by these three traditions. The three most important questions that this work will endeavor to answer are:  Why is Elijah such a revered character in the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions?  Why did Elijah become a favorite hero who overshadowed the Biblical story of the murdering of 450 prophets of Ba’al, along with the killing of one hundred soldiers?  When did the stories depicting Elijah as a favorite hero first appear? The third question listed above may prove to be the most difficult one to answer.

Endnotes-Preface and Prolegemenon 1 2 3 4

Buber, Martin, Tales of the Hasidim: The Later Masters, Olga Marx (tr.), Schocken Books, New York (1961), 214. Arthur, Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World, New York (1919), 342. Selected Poems of Soloman Ibn Gabriol, Peter Cole (tr.), Princeton University Press (2001), 188. Lam. Rab. Prom.

Chapter One People’s Imagination: Imagining Peoples Sleep my child, beloved son may your sleep be filled with dreams of Zion, holy land Jerusalem where the shepherds kept their watch. Angels now your cradle guard and they keep you from all harm. Two bright angels hover close1 Angels Raphael and Gabriel.

A. Manna, Bread from Heaven For He who heeds the raven’s cry will care in His good time for me. Whether upon the ocean tides, or the water brook I go, 2 I’ll take the bait the Lord provides. Two long narratives are found in the fourteen episodes of Elijah, which are a part of 1Kings. The first of these long narratives could be titled, “Elijah and the Prophets of Ba’al” and the second long narrative could be titled, “Naboth’s Vineyard”. The story of Naboth is ambiguous. Its location is in question because it takes place far from the palace of the king of Samaria. From Elijah’s narrative, it seems that the king of Israel had a palace in the town of Jezrael and that Naboth’s vineyard was located close to king Ahab’s palace. In this story, we learn that the kings of the Omri dynasty unfairly and brutally confiscated the productive land from the peasants and awarded that confiscated land as a reward to ancient Israel’s successful ministers. King Omri, who was king Ahab’s father, began this practice, which was then used by each succesive king of the Omri dynasty. This narrative may also be accepted as a parable on the socio-political and economic conditions of ancient Israel that began during the reign of king Omri, who had formed a strong alliance with Phoenicia. King Omri also arranged a marriage between his son, Ahab, and Jezebel, the daughter of the king Ethbaal (Ittobaal) of the Sidonians.The prosperity that resulted from this important marriage was

2 never shared with the common people of ancient Israel. Although the peasants continued to supply the rulers of ancient Israel with their labor, the commoners were awarded no part in the prosperity of the upper classes. These peasants were eventually driven to despair and a rebellion eventually emerged destroying the Omri dynasty forty years after it had been established. Elijah’s narratives are found in this socio-political ambience of ancient Israel. These stories can be accepted and studied as simple tales that reflect the sociopolitical atmosphere of the Northern Kingdom. But that simplistic approach is incomplete since Elijah’s narratives also contain some stories that include short episodes detailing miracles and supernatural events. While the story of Naboth doesn’t contain any miracles or supernatural events, the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al does include a supernatural phenomenon, as it’s described in the following verse: Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt Sacrifice, and the wood and the stone, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1Kings 18:38.). The differences between these two narratives present a question. How should we study these texts? If we accept the miraculous events as they are presented, then we are relating to the texts on an exclusive, religious, and instructional basis. If we simply read but don’t believe the miracles included in the text, then we can treat the narratives as a great cluster of stories, poems, legends, songs, and proverbs which are intertwined, from time to time, with some historical events and, periodically, with some mysterious events, these works can also be used for religious instruction. We also know that as we study these ancient narratives that we can’t ignore the fact that Jews and Christians have used these same narratives, as the words of God, for religious instruction for many centuries. So, what we’d like to suggest here is that in God’s apparent act of sharing these stories with mankind, that God appears to be using humanity to herald His greatness, even 3 when He appears merciless, as in the story of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22) and in other Biblical stories, such as those shared in the Book of Numbers, chapters 11, 14, 25 and in the First Book of Samuel, chapter 24, to name just a few examples. Since some of Elijah’s tales involve elements of a supernatural power, then the stories of Elijah appear to fall into the category of a collection of great legends. As we study Elijah’s narratives, it’s important to realize that while these stoth ries reflect the interaction between king Ahab and the prophet Elijah in the 9 century, these same tales could serve as a paradigm for another time and for another king. After all, common people can and do suffer under any unjust ruler. The miracles in these narratives can also be seen as representing the commoners’ belief that deliverance and salvation can be expected and will come from God.

3 We are introduced to Elijah as a possible citizen of the city of Tishbite. Elijah’s name consists of two theophoric elements in their abbreviated forms: Eli, meaning ‘My God’, and Yah, meaning ‘Lord’. And Eli is short for Elohim and Yah is the shortened version of Yahweh (YHWH). Eli is considered by Biblical scholars to mean ‘the God of justice and severity’, while Yah is considered to be ‘the Lord of mercy and grace’. By combining these two holy names of God into one name, Elijah represents love and hate, as well as mercy and tolerance that are counterbalanced by zealotry. Although other theophoric names appear in the Bible, Elijah’s name is unique because it’s the only name in the Bible containing two theophoric components. Because of the unique nature of his name, Elijah is understood as a person, and as a name, that is associated with miracles, with a desire to help poor people, and as a common denominator in the realm of religious tales and folklore. In the Jewish tradition, Elijah is also expected to have a ‘second coming’ and in that reincarnation it is believed that Elijah will appear as the forerunner of the Messiah. Elijah’s narratives open with this verse: And Elijah, the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, ‘As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall be no dew or rain these years, but according to my word.’ (1Kings 17:1.). The Hebrew text of this verse begins with the verb Va-yo-mer, using the stem AMR, along with the conjunctive waw, which accentuates the fact that this verse is actually the continuation of an earlier dialogue. This verse opens in the middle of a discussion. This style is found in very few passages in the Bible. Another rare example of this style is found in the Book of Genesis with the use Va-to-mer haisha, which means ‘and the woman said’ , which also appears with the conjunction waw, again indicating that we have been placed in the middle of a conversa4 tion. In the verse that opens Elijah’s narratives, we can surmise that the words that are missing from the dialogue are part of the prophet’s earlier conversation with king Ahab. The conversation appears incomplete because the missing beginning of that conversation was, most likely, deleted ages ago by an individual redactor. As Elijah introduces himself to king Ahab, he uses the words the Lord God of Israel, which can cause us to wonder if Elijah was using those words as the components of his own name. He makes no mention in his narrative of an earthly father, nor does he talk about having a human family. However, the Midrashic literature claims that Elijah belonged to the tribe of Levi, as in, You find of two prophets (who) serve the people of Israel who were from the tribe of Levi. The first is Moses and the last is Elijah and both of them 5 redeem the people by a mission (of God).

4 After this short introduction to Elijah’s narratives, three short episodes are presented: (1) In 1Kings 17:2-7, Elijah hides in the brook of Cherith and ravens sustain him. (2) In 1Kings 17:8-16, Elijah meets a widow and he commands her to care for him in her house. (3) In 1Kings 17:17-24, Elijah performs a miracle when he resurrects the widow’s son. In this second episode, Elijah commands a widow to serve him. The Hebrew verbs used to accentuate his demand are: he called her (1Kings 17:10.), he called to her (1Kings 17:11.), and he said unto her (1Kings 17:13.). The narrative also tells us that these demands spoken by Elijah were actually initiated by God, who had told Elijah to: … dwell there, behold I commanded a widow there to sustain thee. (1Kings 17:9.). We know that God’s chosen widow is poor because she has gone outside the city to gather a few sticks for her cooking fire. A wealthy woman would not leave her city to collect firewood. And the fact that this woman is a widow also accentuates her vulnerable social position. As the story unfolds, initially this widow doesn’t converse with Elijah. She acts in silence as she obeys Elijah’s demands. Only when Elijah requests some bread does she respond orally to him, and she does that to point out to him her desperate social and economic conditions: …As the Lord, thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse. And, behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. (1Kings 17:12.). Her long oral reply to Elijah appears only after the prophet had requested a “morsel of bread”. Her response demonstrates her poverty when she tells Elijah that she is gathering a bit of firewood to use to fix the meager and last meal that she plans to prepare for herself and her son. Here we expect Elijah to take pity on the poor widow. Instead, Elijah demands that she use the “meal” stored in the barrel to prepare a cake and he also commands the widow to bring the cake to him before she eats it with her son. Although we think Elijah is being cruel, we learn later that Elijah was simultaneously preparing to perform his first miracle. Before this miracle is shared, the storyteller creates tension between the widow and the prophet, as well as between the storyteller and his audience. And Elijah’s miracle doesn’t occur during his first meeting of the widow. It

5 occurs in the second episode, demonstrating that Elijah had become a regular visitor to this widow’s home. In this second episode, the widow’s son falls sick and we learn that soon there was “…no breath left in him...” The widow angrily berates the prophet: What have I to do with thee, O man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? (1Kings 17:18.). The widow’s words in Hebrew are very strong when she says, Mah li va-lakh, which can be translated as, What do I have (in common) with you? The widow is saying that although she has obeyed the prophet’s commands and has sheltered him, she and the prophet have nothing in common. The chosen Hebrew words accentuate the tone of her accusation. She states that although the prophet is in 6 her house, he didn’t act to prevent her son from falling sick. Her accusation provokes the prophet to act. When the prophet revives her son, Elijah shares the anger of the widow in his spoken challenge to God: O Lord, My God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? (1Kings 17:20.). Only at this point in the narrative, as Elijah works a miracle to revive her son, does the widow acknowledge that Elijah is … a man of God and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth. (1Kings 17:24.). In an Armenian Apocrypha, a text from the 1500’s, we discover a significant change in this narrative. Elijah’s demanding tone, so evident in the original Hebrew text, is absent in the later Armenian text. In the newer text, Elijah is quoted as saying, Albeit he was ashamed to ask from her both water and bread. The widow’s anger toward the prophet is emphasized in this later text as she is quoted as stating: Let rain desolate the house of the father of Elias since he shut up heaven, 7 we, men and beasts, are perishing from (the) earth. In the Armenian text, this is the point when Elijah introduces himself to the widow and we learn that he then stays with her for the next six months. In this version of events, the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil were like (a) rapidly flowing spring, indicating that while Elijah stayed with the widow her poverty was starting to diminish. The opposite is shared in the Hebrew version of Elijah’s narrative. And in the Armenian text, following the miracle reviving her dead son, the widow is quoted as having said:

6 Thou hast entered my house to call to remembrance my wickedness.

8

But, in the Bible, the widow is quoted as saying: What have I to do with thee…Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? (1Kings 17:18.). And then, in Midrashic literature, this is what we discover the widow had said to Elijah: You have come to me in sexual intercourse and you mentioned my transgression, and my son died because of it. Take what you have given me 9 and give me (back) my son. When we examine the Midrashic interpretation of this section of Elijah’s narrative, we see much has been added and we should question why these additional details were placed in this later version of the episode. In this later version are we being told that the widow is sorry, or regrets, that she had intercourse with Elijah? Probably not. In the Talmud we find that it was the standard custom for any single, unattached man to take any unattached woman as his partner since it was believed then that no man should live without a woman. Knowing that custom, we realize that Elijah had singled out this widow to be his partner in this 10 new place. Earlier, when we briefly reviewed the socio-political conditions in the kingdom of ancient Israel under the Omri dynasty, we learned that no attention was ever given by wealthy rulers to, nor was wealth from wars and treaties ever shared with, the common person. This custom of ignoring the commoner resulted in widespread poverty and widowhood. When we look at the Shunamite woman in the prophet Elisha’s later narrative, and then we examine the plight of the widow of Zarephath in the prophet Elijah’s narrative, we discover that these two widows can serve as paradigms for the deplorable economic conditions faced by the comth moners in the 9 century in ancient Israel. Although the author of Elijah’s narrative stresses that Elisha was the legitimate successor of the prophet Elijah, we aren’t completely sure about the truth of that assertion. However, we can be fairly certain that, at the very least, Elisha did inherit the legacy of Elijah, as he, too, performs miracles, such as feeding a hundred men with twenty loaves of barley bread. It is in the spirit of Elijah that Elisha began his mission as a prophet. In one of the Midrashic pieces of literature we can read: The mantle Elijah cast upon Elisha was in secret of embracing light, and these are Nadab and Abihu as it is written, ‘I pray thee, let a double portion…Na…(I pray thee) is the abbreviation of Nadab and Abihu, and it is

7 for the three lights Elisha held, one, the inner light, one, the external 11 light, and the embracing light… In the Bible a prophet was seen as a “king-maker” as well as a “king-breaker”. In this Midrashic piece of literature quoted above, we can see the introduction of the dramatic transition of Elijah’s power to his faithful disciple and successor, Elisha. Later we see Elisha use this same power when he appointed General Jehu, the king of Israel, after the Omri dynasty was defeated. In the narrative of Elijah, the reader has no clue about who this supernatural prophet is, nor is the reader informed about where this prophet originated. The fact that Elijah is mentioned in “these historical texts” doesn’t make Elijah an historical figure. The Biblical stories present this prophet as a person devoted to tales of wonder and to miracles. Elijah also moves from place to place. In one episode, the ravens feed Elijah, even though ravens were known to the Jews to be unclean fowl and seen as unfit for human consumption. As the narrative was shared from one generation of readers to the next, some problems are “resolved” by the authors of each “newer” version of the Biblical narrative. An example of this is found in the Armenian text of the 1500’s which was attempting to solve the problem of Elijah being sustained by unclean fowl: But Elias who was zealous for the Law transgressed the Law himself; for he was fed by the unclean raven. However, the Law-giver is not under the Law; for as it was done by the command of God, it was clean and right, 12 and it was not accounted unto him for sin. In Midrashic literature we find other references and teachings about ravens. On the verse from Genesis 8:7, we read: …and he sent forth…and it went forth, to and fro.. and the Midrash says, …a righteous man will arise and dry up the world and I will cause him to have need of them (the ravens) as it is written. And the ravens (orbim) 13 brought him bread and flesh. This “righteous man” is Elijah who vowed to bring drought to the land ‘…(to) dry up the world…’ and in the same chapter we discover that God had com14 manded the ravens to find and sustain Elijah. In another Midrash, the Jewish Sages attempt once again to interpret God’s use of the ravens to sustain Elijah. There we are told that God was so pleased with Elijah’s study of the Torah, that he rewarded his prophet by sending ravens to supply him with water and food,

8 …Even as it is written, ‘Who will provide for the ravens his food?’ (Job 38:41.). Learn from (the experiences of) Elijah. As a reason for his having occupied himself early and late with the Torah, have I not appointed ra15 vens to serve him?… The problem in this episode is that a sin was committed when the unclean fowl fed Elijah. Over the ages, in an attempt to be certain that Elijah didn’t commit any transgression by being sustained by ravens, some Jewish Sages have tried to present differing points of view on the use of unclean fowl, trying to avoid the possibility that Elijah may have transgressed or sinned by eating food delivered by an unclean creature. Another attempt that seems to reflect the view expressed in the Armenian text of the sixteenth century which offers the following explanation or interpretation: It is written, ‘And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening’; and Rab Judah explained this in the name of Rab that [the ravens brought the flesh] from Ahab’s slaughterers. Being a Divine command, it is different.What it means by the ravens (Orbim), Rabina said, it means actually ravens. R. Ada b. Manyomi, however, suggested (to him), ‘May it not mean that two men whose names were “Oreb”, as we find it written? And they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb?’ He replied, ‘Could it have happened that both were 16 named Oreb?’… The text here suggests that the meat, or flesh, given to Elijah was slaughtered in the house of king Ahab of Israel, and as such, it was allowed in spite of a possibility that idolaters had slaughtered the meat given to Elijah. Or, as was pointed out earlier, as the act of feeding Elijah any meat via a raven may have been a forbidden act, if God had commanded it to happen, then it was allowed to occur. If we accept the narrative’s episode as it’s presented in the Bible, then we will see this episode as a divine miracle. But before we drop this issue, we should ask ourselves why Elijah had been hiding in the first place in the brook of Cherith. This brook is commonly identified as Wadi Kelt. It runs south of Jericho, from west to east. In this wadi is found the spring called Ein Qilt. The best and most plausible answer to why Elijah was hiding in the brook of Cherith is that Elijah’s life was in danger of being taken. Later in the narrative we learn that, …he is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not… (1Kings 18:10.). Another hint occurs when Obadiah gives Elijah’s message to Ahab that, I will surely show myself unto him… (1Kings 18:15.).

9 This encounter between Elijah and Obadiah is very confusing. From what we can gather in this narrative, Elijah had taken an oath that the sinful king, Ahab, would not be able to find Elijah, who was the only one appointed by God to end Israel’s drought, as in, …he is not there… (1Kings 18:10.). After seeing Elijah, Obadiah returns to Ahab to tell him that Elijah will see the king. And it appears that Elijah will only see Ahab when Elijah is ready to do so. By acting this way, Elijah is defying the power that Ahab should have had over him as his king. Ahab should have been able to demand that Elijah appear before him whenever the king so ordered this to occur. The eventual encounter that occurs between Ahab and Elijah was not an easy one. Their encounter serves to demonstrate the uneasy state of mind of the king, as well as to demonstrate the king’s pent up anger toward this defiant prophet. The king calls Elijah Okher Yisrael, or, The one who troubleth Israel(1Kings 18:17.). By addressing Elijah this way, the king points out the fact that as ‘The one who troubleth Israel’ Elijah risked forfeiting his life. Such an angry and threatening greeting from the king doesn’t encourage Elijah to immediately act to end the drought that he had imposed on Israel. Two miracles come to light in this episode of Elijah’s narrative. One miracle centers on Elijah drinking water from a riverbed where he hides. In Hebrew the brook where Elijah hides is named Na-hal ke-rith. The Hebrew noun is derived from the stem KRT, which also means, to cut off. This could be interpreted to mean that the brook of Cherith where Elijah hid was one where its water had been cut off. Since we also learn that Elijah drank water while he hid in this brook, then we have to assume that God must have worked a miracle to provide Elijah with drinking water while he hid in a dried-up brook. The second miracle that occurs in this section of the narrative is the one where ravens feed Elijah. Ravens are mentioned in a few places in the Bible. These birds are considered scavengers and God provides them with their food, as 17 in Book of Psalms where young ravens cry from hunger. In the New Testament, Luke talks about the ravens that are protected by God: Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse or barn and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? (Luke 12:24.). How Elijah was fed as he hid in the brook was long debated by the Jewish Sages. The Talmudic literature also initially presented a long ‘discussion’ that examined the relationship that was shared by Ahab, king of Israel, and by king Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. According to the rabbis, Ahab was a Jewish ruler

10 whose faith demanded that he reject the worshipping of idols. To then learn that Jehoshaphat apparently had agreed to share a meal with king Ahab, that is seen as troubling information to the rabbis because Jehoshaphat was not an idol worshipper. The Sages considered several possible explanations. One such explanation was the possibility that Ahab ate only the meat that he, or his people, had slaughtered. Another possible explanation was that each of the two kings’ own servants had separately slaughtered the meat that was then consumed at the kings’ shared feast. A third explanation stated the possibility that the seven thousand Jews who had not bowed to the idol Ba’al were the ones who had slaughtered all of the meat used at this shared meal. After considering many possible explanations for king Jehoshaphat’s feast with an idol-worshipping king of Israel, the Jewish Sages rejected each and every explanation. From this long discussion, the Jewish Sages moved on to argue about the problem of the ravens, or the Or-bim, feeding Elijah. Rabina acknowledged that the ravens sustained Elijah. However, R. Ada b. Manyomi disagreed with the majority of Jewish Sages on this point. He argued that Elijah wasn’t fed by ravens but that he was fed by two men, one named Oreb, since that name appears in Judges 7:25, along with the name of another man, Zeeb. Manyomi also suggested that these two men came from a town called Oreb. His suggestions were later discarded because if these two men had come from a town named Oreb, then the Hebrew text would have contained the phrase Or-bi-yim, meaning from the town of Oreb, and that phrase was not used in the Hebrew text. This narrative has other problems, beside those connected to the perplexing miracles of how Elijah was given water and food. The first problem greets us in the opening verse that introduces us to Elijah: And Elijah, the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, ‘As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, but according to my word.(1Kings 17:1.). This text is unclear. It uses the Hebrew verb Va-yo-mer and it uses the Hebrew conjunction, waw, suggesting that Elijah’s first spoken words in these narratives were uttered in response to something that had been said to him beforehand by king Ahab. What was said to Elijah beforehand is missing in this narrative. These Hebrew words are translated as, And (he) said, which suggests that as this narrative opens we are plunged into the middle of a dialogue. Another perplexing issue from the opening of this narrative is rooted in the use of the Hebrew noun mi-to-sha-ve, or of the inhabitants of. The stem YShB used here means ‘to dwell as a sojourner, a traveler, a stranger, someone from another country who has no rights of citizenship in this new place’. The position or definition of a traveler, or a sojourner, is explained more fully in Leviticus and in the Book of Psalms:

11 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing, a sojourner of the priest’s or a hired servant shall not eat of the holy thing… (Lev. 22:10.). and in: And if a stranger or a sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or the sojourner with you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, then after he is sold he may be redeemed… (Lev. 25:47-48.). and in: Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. (Ps. 39:13.). So, it appears that Elijah was a sojourner, or toshav, as a stranger in Tishbe, in the area of Gilead. So, where did Elijah come from? Which Tishbe is being used in this narrative? We know that one Tishbe is the place from which a captive was once taken, as in: He, in the days of Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, was carried away captive from Tishbe, which is south of Qadesh-Naphtali in upper Galilee above Asser but following the direction westward, it is to the north of Phogor. (Tob. 1:2.). Another city named Tishbe may have existed in Gilead, too.

18

Either way, we do know that Elijah had to walk a great distance from the brook of Cherith to either Wadi Kelt, or to somewhere in the eastern part of Jordan, in order for Elijah to reach Zarephath of Sidon. The narrative doesn’t explain why Elijah moved to Zaraphath. Although it’s not stated explicitly, the reason may be connected to his stay with the widow so that he could then perform the preordained miracle of resurrecting her dead son. The widow makes us aware of Elijah’s position as a traveler, or as a sojourner. She does this when she reminds Elijah that despite staying at her home, that Elijah cruelly let her down when he did nothing to prevent the illness that killed her son. It is in this place, and after the widow’s harsh rebuke, that Elijah works a miracle. He revives the widow’s dead son in a loft where he abode (1Kings 17:19.). This loft where Elijah performed the miracle was somehow connected to the widow’s home, or it was located somewhere on her property. As this narrative develops, the storyteller described king Ahab as the one who

12 did evil in the sight of the Lord above all who were before him. (1Kings 21:25.). After Elijah accuses the king of his terrible sin against God, king Ahab repents of his sin in a very powerful way, as in, When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly… (1Kings 21:27.). As he repented of his transgression, king Ahab acted as if he had been overcome by a heavy sorrow. His acts were likened to those grief-stricken acts often performed by mourners. Ahab’s repentance is much more profound in this narrative than the later repentance of king David, as it was expressed in the Second Book of Samuel. There we are told that king David very simply acknowledged his transgression against God: I have sinned against the Lord. (2Sam. 12:13.). In Ahab’s tormented repentance shared in Elijah’s narrative, we are shown a king who has had a true change of heart. He rejects his sinful worship of Ba’al. This section of the narrative presents another perplexing problem. Here we read that this important encounter between king Ahab and Elijah happened after many days, and after Elijah had been hiding in the brook of Cherith. Some scholars suggest that after many days meant that it took up a full year for this encounter to occur. Other scholars suggest it took up to three years for this meeting to happen. The Hebrew text doesn’t state a specific time frame, but va-yehi ya-mim rab-bim can be translated to mean, …there were many days. However, the Hebrew noun ya-mim can also mean years, as it does in the story of Jephthah (Jud. 11:4.), and as it does in the story of Elkanah (1Sam. 1:3.). The Hebrew nouns, ya-mim and mi-ya-mim ya-mi-mah, can denote an indefinite space of time, and these two Hebrew nouns can also denote years. We learn several things about king Ahab and about Elijah prior to their encounter. First, king Ahab is ready to meet with Elijah, and we learn that he has been searching for Elijah for a long time, from village to village. Second, Ahab’s foreign wife, Jezebel, is defined as an evil woman. Third, we learn that Elijah has been hiding in the brook of Cherith because he is a fugitive from justice. However, we aren’t sure why Elijah is a fugitive. Also, despite being a fugitive from justice, Elijah is very blunt when he denounces king Ahab for his sin of abandoning one of God’s commandments when Ahab worshiped Ba’alim (1Kings 18:18.). When king Ahab tells Elijah that he knows that the prophet is the one who is “troubling” Israel, we begin to wonder if Ahab is also suggesting that he is aware, even subconsciously, that his own evil deeds are at the root of Elijah’s forceful but true accusation. A possible interpretation is that king Ahab is trying to find ways he can ask Elijah to pray to end the drought. This encoun-

13 ter is very intense. The king calls the prophet Okher and the prophet accuses the king of abandoning God’s commandment. In their exchange, the prophet mentions only Ba’al and he does not mention the golden calf. Elijah emphasizes his opposition to the cult of Ba’al that had been imported by Ahab’s queen and at the same time he is probably hinting of his opposition to the king’s marriage with Jezebel. This is one way of understanding their forceful accusations against each other. This king and this prophet are moving in opposite directions. One of them, the king, seeks economic and political gain and the other, the prophet, seeks to establish justice and morality the way he understood it as the way of God. The storyteller accuses Ahab of having done “evil in the sight of the Lord”. But what terrible ‘evil’ did Ahab actually commit against God? After all, this king of Israel had named his sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, and both of these names include the theophoric name of the Lord, YHWH. The naming of his sons using the theophoric name proved that Ahab had once acknowledged and recognized the Lord as the God of Israel. So, Elijah tells us that the terrible ‘evil’ that Ahab is guilty of committing is his worship of Ba’alim, the false idols of his wife’s family. Ahab had wrongly adopted a part of Jezebel’s way of life as she was the daughter of Ethba’al, the king of the Sedonians. This encounter between king Ahab and Elijah comes to a climax when Elijah demands and creates a competition between YHWH, the Lord, God of Israel, and the “Ba’alim” of Sedonia. The Lord of Israel wins and we learn of Elijah’s merciless killing of the 450 prophets of Ba’al, And Elijah brought them down to the brook of Kishon, and slew them there. (1Kings 18:40.). Following these cleansing events, Elijah is able to end the long drought of Israel: And Elijah said unto Ahab, ‘Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of the abundance of rain…and it came to pass at the seventh time (when Elijah’s servant had looked); that he said, ‘behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man’s hand’. And he said (to the servant), ‘Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.’(1Kings 18:41-44.). As this episode ends, we are reminded that Jezebel is a strong-minded and cruel woman. She saw her mission in Israel, as the wife of its king, as two-fold: first, to establish her family’s religious views and practices in Israel, and, second, to replicate in the Omri dynasty in Israel the ruling methods that had been practiced by the kings of Sedonia. After Ahab tells Jezebel that the 450 prophets of Ba’al had been slain at Mount Carmel by Elijah and by the twelve tribes of the twelve sons of Jacob, she sends a threatening message to Elijah, saying,

14 So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life (Elijah) as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. (1Kings 19:2.). Was Jezebel’s message sent to Elijah with king Ahab’s knowledge? Or did her message to Elijah indicate that she alone was plotting to kill Elijah? We aren’t told directly that Jezebel was acting on her own in this threat, without Ahab’s knowledge or assistance, but it’s probably save to assume that she was. After all, in these narratives recorded in the tale about Neboth, the king was not involved and Jezebel had acted in that event on her own initiative. As this narrative begins to draw to a close, we see that although Elijah won the battle against the prophets of Ba’al at Mount Carmel, this prophet is troubled. Once again, Elijah is on the run and he escapes to another solitary place in the desert. His spirit is in deep despair. Here the storyteller used the same expression to describe Elijah’s deep despair that had earier been used in the Book of Jonah. In 1Kings, Elijah is quoted as saying, And he requested for himself that he might die. (1Kings 19:4.). And very similar words had been used in the Book of Jonah to describe another’s deep despair, And he wanted in himself to die. (Jonah 4:8.). In both texts, the Hebrew idiom used is va-yish-al et naf-sho la-mut. Other Biblical words, concepts, and expressions are repeated and reused in this narrative. For example, the concept of a prophet being alone in the desert ‘for forty days and forty nights’ appears in this narrative and it was used earlier in the Bible in the story of Moses. In fact, this formula of forty days and forty nights appears nine times in the Bible: twice in the story of the flood recorded in the Book of Genesis (7:4, 12); six times in the narratives of Moses (Ex. 24:18, 34:28 and DT 9:9, 9:10, 9:11, and 9:18), and this phrase appears once in 1Kings. Elijah journeyed ‘forty days and forty nights’ to receive the word of God in a cave, which was located in the desert “at the mount of God” at Mt. Horeb. Moses spent the same amount of time obtaining the Law from God atop Mt. Sinai, as a “cloud covered the mount”. When he was on the mountain, Moses had no food. However, Elijah was sustained by the food given to him by God’s angels when he journeyed his ‘forty days and forty nights’ unto (Mount) Horeb. Mt. Horeb and Mt. Sinai are each defined by the Jews as ‘the mountain of God’. When we learn about Moses receiving the Law from God in Exodus, the dominating Hebrew noun used in that story is qo-lot, or voices, where the noun appears five times in this tale in Exodus. The repetition of this one noun has a profound effect on the people listening in the tale,

15 On the third day in the morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. (Ex. 19:16.). There is still some room for interpretation on this tale from Exodus and the issue is based on the Hebrew words that were used to relate this section of Moses’ story. The Aramaic Targum Onklos translates the Hebrew words ve-ha-vah ka-lin u-varkin, as meaning voices and lightning, but the Yerushalmi translates the Hebrew as being ke-lin de re’im uv-ra-kin, which means voices of thunders and lightnings. In these two Biblical stories, when “the people” encounter “the voice”, they recognize God’s power. In Exodus, the people hear God’s voice in the desert and it is ikn that same desert that the people willingly made their first covenant with God, And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. (Ex. 19:19.). The Aramaic translation, Yerushlalmi, ends this verse by saying, U-min qo-dam yhwh ha-vah mit-‘a-ne be-qal na-‘im u-me-sha-bah u-ne‘im-ta tal-ya. meaning, And God answered with a pleasant and tender praise. In this later Biblical narrative in 1Kings, Elijah heard the same voice of God when he completed his pilgrimage to another of God’s mountains, Mt. Horeb. In Moses’ story, esh, or fire, is explicitly used and Mt. Sinai is described as being covered with smoke: Because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of the furnace, and the whole mount quake greatly. (Ex. 19:18.). In Moses’ narratives, three important words are used in that story as it’s presented in Exodus: esh, or fire; ha-rad, or earthquake; and qol, or the voice. In the narrative we are examining, Elijah encounters these same three words when he invokes and faces God on Mount Horeb, And he said, ‘Go forth, and stand upon the Mount before the Lord and, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in

16 the fire, and after the fire, a still, small voice …and behold, there came a voice unto him… (1Kings 19:11-13.). In both of these Biblical texts, the storytellers accentuated the presence of the earthquake, the fire, and then the voice. In both stories, God spoke to man through a prophet, as in, Moses spoke and God answered him by the voice. (Ex. 19:19.). and in, And behold, there came a voice unto him. (1Kings 19:13.). But the ‘voice’ heard by Elijah reminds us of another form of revelation that is first seen in the Book of Job, I stood still, but I could not discern its form. An image was before mine eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice. (Job 4:16.). In Elijah’s narrative, and in the Book of Job, we find the same reaction to God’s revelation. Elijah says, qol de-ma-ma daq-qa, or, and Elijah heard a still small voice, and Job says, de-ma-ma va-qol Esh-ma’, or, silence and voice I heard. In his interpretation, Ibn Ezra said it is ‘a still small voice’, or ‘a form of prophecy’. Rashi, however, elaborates on this verse and says that “voice I heard comes from the still small voice, from the silence but I could not hear, the silence since de-mama is when the angels sing, as in 1Kings19, as it is translated ‘(the) voice of those who praise in silence’.” The Aramaic Targum Onklos translates ha-shash ve-qol sag-‘in esh-ma’ as fear and (a) great voice I heard. Both texts are speaking about the fear and the anxiety caused by the voice, which is not actually heard but is strongly felt. The texts share the anxiety felt by Elijah and by Job when each one realizes that there is a mysterious voice present which is incomprehensible. The early Biblical interpretations written by the Jewish Sages try to establish a relationship between Moses and Elijah. They focused their attention, first, on one of the more perplexing verses in the Bible. In the Book of Hosea we read, And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. (Hosea 12:13-14.). The Jewish Sages stated that the first hemistich was Moses from the line, And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. and that the second hemistich was Elijah from the line, …and by a prophet was he preserved. They support their thesis by pointing out that these two prophets came to the

17 people and both came from the tribe of Levi. These two prophets had a mission to redeem the people. Moses redeemed the people from hardship and slavery in Egypt. And Elijah redeemed the soul of the people by confronting the people’s sinning king and by creating the challenge between God and the prophets of Ba’al at Mt. Carmel. Elijah’s redemption is stated to be the second, and the Jews see Elijah’s redemption as an eternal one. The Sages saw the two acts of redemption performed by Moses and Elijah as being of equal importance. They also noted that the Lord took Moses and Elijah into heaven, as in, And it shall come to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by the whirlwind. (2Kings 2:1.). The Sages understood the verses in Deuteronomy 34:6-7, …but no man knoweth of his sepulcher, unto this day… his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. as suggesting that Moses did not die but was taken to heaven. They also pointed out that Moses had killed the offending Egyptians and that Elijah had killed Hiel, of Bethel, who had rebuilt Jericho, and that Elijah had also killed all the prophets of Ba’al at the contest of Mount Carmel. Each of 19 these prophets heard voices and each encountered God on a mountain. And each prophet was focused on acting as a messenger from God to the people, who, first, had been persecuted by the Egyptians and who then, secondly, had been wrongly led and ruled over by a sinful king of ancient Israel. Their king Ahab had chosen to worship Jezebel’s idols, knowing full well that he was deliberately breaking one of God’s cardinal commandments, which had been given directly to Moses by God. Moses recorded God’s laws for the people, but the Jewish Sages also saw Moses in the role of “law giver”, or “prophet/teacher”. Moses played the role of “prophet/teacher” because he was a special prophet deliberately ordained by God to explain and to teach the Law to the people. Elijah also saw his role with the people, and even with their king, as a “prophet-teacher” who was acting to save the people, and their king, from their evil ways, as we see in this verse, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; And I, even I only, am left… (1Kings 19:10.). The storyteller of Elijah’s tale even appears to suggest that the contest that Elijah proposed on Mount Carmel, between the twelve tribes of Jacob’s twelve sons and the prophets of Ba’al, was an educational exercise created and used by the prophet to teach the people about the absolute power of their God.

18

B. Among the Angels

Who is a scholar? He who collects from all places. One can argue that the story of Elijah shared in 1Kings is a story of the contest between Elijah, as a true prophet and messenger of God, vying against the false prophets and messengers of Ba’al. This story may have been written to prove that Ba’al doesn’t exist and that YHWH is the one, true God. This idea was first presented in the Book of Samuel, as in, …behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.(1Sam. 5:4.). In this verse the storyteller wasn’t interested in glorifying the name of God but in accentuating the futility and complete destruction of Dagon by the Lord who 20 punished him for stealing the arc of the Lord. Martin A. Cohen has written that Elijah’s narrative accentuates the struggle this prophet faced dealing with a sinful king Ahab. The primary goal Elijah is determined to attain is to prove beyond a doubt to Ahab and to the 450 prophets of Ba’al that the Lord is the only God, and that this one God alone should be worshipped. Yet, when Elijah attains this goal, he doesn’t change the focus of Ahab’s kingdom. Instead, by attaining his initial goal, Elijah has angered Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. Fearing for his life at the hands of Jezebel, Elijah is then forced to flee and hide in the desert. Does this turn in events mean that Elijah represents God and that Ahab and his followers represent Ba’al? Does this story focus on the question of which deity, YHWH or Ba’al, would rule over the people of Israel? Immediately after winning the contest and the battle on the Mount Carmel, Elijah kills 450 of the false prophets of Ba’al. King Ahab does nothing to prevent this massive massacre, even though he possessed the power to do that in his role as the king of Israel. Cohen observes, “Ba’alistic Ahab continues to rule over the apparently Yahawis21 tically-oriented populace.” Elijah claimed that Ahab did “halt between two opinions”, meaning Elijah felt he hadn’t completely redeemed Ahab from his sin of worshipping the false idols of Ba’al. While the Biblical narrative doesn’t produce a story stating exactly where Elijah and Ahab first met each other, the Midrash does provide that story, one that also connects Ahab with the deaths of the sons of Hiel. In the Bible the verse telling us Ahab and Elijah met states, In his days. This is usually translated

19 to mean, in Ahab’s lifetime, or when Ahab was alive, because the possessive pronoun, his, is believed to be a reference to king Ahab. In the Midrash Eliyyahu zuta, we find, instead, Now Ahab doubted that the death of Hiel’s sons was indeed the result of Joshua’s curse that Jericho be not rebuilt, arguing, ‘If the words of Moses concerning rain remain unfulfilled for in spite of my idolatry, there is so much rain that the roads are impassable, it is likely that the words of Joshua have come true?’ At once, Elijah who was then with Ahab in Hiel’s home was filled with 22 great wrath… Here we see in the Midrashic text, in the post-Biblical story, that Elijah met Ahab in Hiel’s home following the deaths of Hiel’s two sons. In the Biblical narrative where Ahab and Elijah met is of less importance than the reason for their meeting. In the Biblical narrative, two sides compete at Mt. Carmel for the faith of the people of Israel: the prophets of Ba’al, who are being worshipped by king Ahab, and, the one and only Lord, God, whom Elijah believes is the only true God. It is obvious to the readers of this religious text that the way of Elijah is the right way. These readers aren’t concerned with “historical fact”. For them, this story manifests the power of God in heaven. This story demonstrates the overwhelming power of the creator of the universe. When historical details appear in the story, the reader sees those details as illustrations used by a creative storyteller who knew the importance of using cultural details to transmit important values to his readers. The reader knows that a good storyteller adds color to his story, much like an artist uses different hues in a painting. The storyteller’s ‘colors’ can take the story beyond its existence as a sacred story. During Elijah’s arduous journey in Cherith creek, ravens bring him food. This food that Elijah receives is part of his priestly food ration that was given to the priests in the temple in Jerusalem. The fact that Elijah was a priest is found in Jewish and Christian sources. For example, in the Talmud BBMez, Elijah is 23 identified as “a priest but not with Phinehas”. Phinehas is described as an early priest who had fought idolatry, which occurred in ancient Israel because of the unseemly and evil influence of foreign nations. Elijah fought these same evil, foreign influences when he battled the cult of idolatry promoted by the cult of Jezebel. Ps. Philo describes Phinehas, the early priest, as the enemy of idolatry, in much the same way that Elijah is defined as the enemy of idolatry in 1Kings, And in that time Phinehas laid himself down to die, and the Lord said to him, Behold, you have passed 120 years that have been established for every man. And now rise up and go from here and dwell in Danaben on the mountain and dwell there many years. And I will command my eagle

20 and he will nourish you there and you will not come down to mankind until the time arrives and you (will) be tested in that time; and you will shut up the heaven then and by your mouth it will be opened up. And afterward you will be there until I remember the world. Then I will make you all come; and you will taste what is death. And Phinehas went up and 24 did all the Lord (had) commanded him. The identification of Phinehas with Elijah is also found in PRE, as follows, There the Holy One, blessed be He, was revealed unto him, and He said to him: What doest thou here, Elijah? He answered Him saying: I have been very zealous. He said to him: Thou art always zealous. Thou wast 25 zealous in Shittim on account of the immorality. In another part of PRE we find, Rabbi Eliezer said: He called the name of Phineas by the name of Elijah, Elijah of blessed memory, of those who repented in Gilead, for he 26 brought about the repentance of Israel in the land of Gilead. In Exodus 6:18 we read, And the sons of Kehath: Amram, Izhar… The Targum Yerushalmi (TY) says of this verse, …And the years of life of Kehat the righteous were one hundred thirty and three years until he saw Phinehas who he is Elijah the high priest which in the end of the days will be sent to Israel who is in exile. Phinehas (Elijah) is identified as the one whom, …will be made an angel and shall live forever to bring the tiding of re27 demption at the end of the days. In another text we again find Elijah mentioned as the ‘high priest’ who will 28 gather ‘the exiles’. In a long passage in the Midrash, we find Elijah named as the one who was in Shittim (Phinehas), and we learn that there is also an angel by the name of Elijah: Who can count the dust of Jacob, from this verse the sages taught to cover the foreskin and the blood with sand. They were compared to sand as it is said: And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth. The people of Israel were conducting the circumcision until the division of the kingdoms and Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom) prevented the people of Israel to conduct the circumcision. And Elijah, remembered to good, stood

21 up and was very zealous, and said, I have been very zealous. Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He: You were very zealous in the Shittim for the care of incest (harlotry) and you were zealous here. On your life that Israel will conduct the circumcision in your presence. Thus the Sages taught to make a seat in honor of the angel of the covenant whose name is Elijah, remembered to good, the angel of the covenant as it is written: The mes29 senger (angel) of the covenant, whom ye delight in. In another passage, we find the following teaching, Said R. Simeon b. Lakish, Phinehas is Elijah. Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He, you have established peace between Israel and me in this world, thus in the future to come you are the one who will bring peace between me and my sons, as it is said: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord… R. Eliezer said: the Holy One, blessed be He, changed the name of Phinehas to Elijah, remembered to good, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, and who made Israel to repent. In the mount of Gilead as it is said: Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace. My covenant was with him, life and peace, he gave him life in this world and he gave him the reward, for him 30 and his seed after him, a covenant of everlasting priesthood. Josephus also uses the name of Phinehas when he sees him as the one that God had commanded to stay in seclusion for a long time. For obeying God’s command, we can safely assume that Phinehas was granted everlasting life: After the death of Joshua and Eleazer, Phinehas prophesied that according to God’s will they should commit the government to the tribe of Judah, and that this tribe should destroy the race of the Canaanites; for then the 31 people were concerned to learn what was the will of God. The author of PRE identifies Elijah with Phinehas in two stories. The first story is the one discussed above and found in Yalkut. The second story is given in the name of R. Eliezer, R. Eliezer said, he called the name of Phinehas by the name of Elijah. Elijah of blessed memory, who was of those who repented in Gilead, for he brought about the repentance of Israel in the land of Gilead. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave him the life of this world and the life of the world to come, as it said: ‘My covenant was with him of life and peace.’ He gave to him and to his sons a good reward in order that (he might 32 have) the everlasting priesthood. The Hebrew text of PRE states,

22 ha shav (ha-kabah) Sh’mo shel Phineas ki-sh’mo shel Eliyyahu. In this phrase, a question arises about the use of the word ki-sh’mo, or, like (the name). What did the author mean by like? In the story of the war between the Medianites and the Hebrews, the name of Phinehas b. Elazar the Priest appears among the warriors. In this war, the Hebrews killed Balaam, the son of Beor. In two sources, we are told that Phinehas and Elijah invoked the name of God and then each of them was able to fly. In both stories, Phinehas reaches the Holy 33 Throne while chasing Balaam. Few other sources maintain the idea that Elijah lived forever. In the Talmud we find Resh Lakish agrees with R. Yohanan when 34 he states, “Elijah lives on.” In the PRE, we find the same idea when R. Eliezer states, The Holy One, blessed be He, gave him the life of this world and the life 35 of the world to come. In the Zoharic literature, we discover an extension of the idea that Phinehas was given everlasting life and the role of priest, Observe that if a man is jealous for the Holy One, blessed be He, the angel of death has no power over him as he has over other men, and to him is given the covenant of peace, as it is said regarding Phinehas: Wherefore 36 say: Behold, I give unto him My covenant of Peace. Yet, in another Midrash, we discover that Elijah is called by four distinct names, but he is not called by the name of Phinehas, Elijah was called by four names, for thus it is written, and Jaareshiah, and Elijah, and Zichri were the sons of Jerohan. Why was he thus called? Because when God desires to shake the world, he reminds him (mazkir) of 37 the merit of the fathers, and God has mercy (me-rahem) on his world. These teachings demonstrate the strong attempts that were made by the Sages to establish a connection between Phinehas and Elijah. They chose to go beyond simply elaborating on the Biblical verse, My covenant was with him of life and peace… from which they had drawn the notion of everlasting life being given to each prophet. These Sages also chose to examine the concept of zealotry as it, too, appears in both texts. This concept is found in the Book of Numbers, as in, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the Priest… while he was zealous for my sake among them… (Nu. 25:10). Then, in the Yerushalmi Targum, we find the verse,

23 Ve-a’av-di-neh Mal-akh qe-yem ve-ye-hi le-‘alma lim-vas-ra ge-ul-ta be-sof yo-ma-ya, And I shall make him a living angel who shall live forever to bring the tiding of redemption at the end of days. The spirit of “jealousy/zealotry” is a manifestation of life, as it is expressed in the Book of Job, In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:10.). In the narrative of Elijah, the expression on jealousy/zealotry appears in the following construction, Qan-no qin-neti, I have been very zealous, and in the text of the Book of Numbers, we find, …Ta-hat asher qin-neh …because he was zealous. The same stem QNA appears, as well, in the story of Elijah. Here we find it in the line, Va-yo-mer qan-no qin-ne-ti, or, I have been very zealous. What we have 38 in both Biblical stories above is the spirit of jealousy or zeal , which is a power that moves a person to act for a great cause and that act forces the person forward. Since we suggest that Ruwah is a manifestation of life, we also find Ruwah, 39 used as an expression of bitterness, especially in modern Hebrew. Another connection between Phinehas and Elijah is found in the Sages’ attempts to explain this verse found in Psalms, Bless the Lord, ye his angels. (103:20.). This quoted verse from the Book of Psalms, as it is interpreted by one of the sages, R. Yishmael, states in the revelation on Mount Sinai when the people of Israel preceded “we will do” over the words, or act of, “we will obey”, or, Na‘aseh ve-nish-ma’, then the divine voice of God asked them, “Who revealed to you this mystery that the angels are using?”

40

The noun mala’khim refers to ‘celestial messengers’. Is that what the Biblical text here was referring to? And, if it is, then the next verse of the same psalm, Bless ye the Lord, all ye His host. (Ps. 103: 21.), is also speaking about the celestial ministers. In post-Biblical literature we discover the suggestion that the adjective

24 mal’akh is also used to describe messengers on earth, or the prophets, who serve as the human messengers of God. This teaching is derived from this part of the verse, And sent an angel

. 41

and Hath brought forth out of Egypt. (Num. 20:16.), where the Sages argued that Moses, and not an angel, was present. They also tie their interpretation of Moses being present in this story from the Book of Numbers with another verse from Judges, as in, And an angel (mal‘akh) of the Lord came up from Gilgal... (Judges 2:10.). In this verse the use of the noun mal’akh, or, angel, we discover the following teaching: Was it then an angel? Surely it was Phinehas. Why then does it call him mal‘ahk? The truth is, said R. Simon, that the face of Phinehas, when the 42 Holy Spirit rested upon him, flamed like a torch. In another teaching, the relationship of Phinehas with Elijah is shared, I found in a manuscript of the book of Ashkenaz where there is a midrash (saying) that Phinehas is Elijah. It is written (there) and made an atonement for the children of Israel. (Nu. 25:13) He goes on and atones (for the people) till the resurrection like Elijah (he) accepts to suffer for every righteous person, to be judge for the transgressions of the weak. This is 43 why the custom is to mention Elijah on the conclusion of the Sabbath. Finally, in 1Macc. we discover that the language used there to describe Phinehas and Elijah is very similar, even though Phinehas is not directly identified with Elijah in that text. In 1Maac., for example, Phinehas is described as zealous for the laws (2:26) and Elijah is described as being exceedingly zealous for the Law (2:58). From this text and from the text of TY, we can conclude that the identification of Phinehas with Elijah began in the Hasmonean period, because these two prophets had each expressed a similar ideology of zeal for the sake of the people. The Sages writing the post-Biblical literature were intent on discovering what Elijah’s relationship had been to certain tribes and to certain teachers. The Sages asked whose ‘seed’ created Elijah. Some Sages suggested the ‘seed’ came from Leah and others suggested the ‘seed’ was from Rachel. There is a tradition that supports that Rachel was the ‘seed’ from which Elijah came. It is stated that the nation of Edom would be surrendered by one of the sons of Jacob. The Sages

25 focused their attention on Jacob’s sons, Joseph and Benjamin. According to 1Chro. , Elijah is identified as a descendant of Benjamin (8:27). In Eliyyahu Rabbah (ER), we find the following teaching, One time our Masters sat and inquired from whose seed Elijah came. Some said: from the seed of Rachel. Some said: From the seed of Leah. As they sat discussing the mother, Elijah came and stood before them. He 44 said: My masters, I come from the seed of Rachel. Here we also find an interesting discussion between Elijah and the Sages. According to the Sages’ perception, since Elijah had asked the widow for a morsel of cake, then it meant that Elijah had descended from the ‘seed’ of Leah, and that meant that Elijah was of the tribe of Levi, and, therefore, a priest. Hearing the Sages’ perception, Elijah answers, The Son (I was referring to) was Messiah the son of Joseph, and by asking for a little cake first, I was intimating that first I would go to Babylonia 45 and that afterward the Messiah would come. The Midrash Rabbah argues that Gad, the son of Leah, is from the tribe of Elijah, And Leah said, Fortune is come (Ba Gad), the Fortune of the house has come, the fortune of the world has come; he (Elijah) has come who will 46 overthrow (gadad) the foundation of the heathen. Here we encounter the concept of the Messiah being the son of Joseph. The concept of the Messiah was a primary focus of the Sages writing in the Gaonic Period. It is not clear if these Sages were writing out of apocalyptic speculation, or if their writings were attempts to establish theological doctrine. One such Sage, Hai Gaon, discussed the concept of the Messiah at great length. According 47 to him, a ‘new’ heaven and earth would be created when the Messiah appeared. The Messiah will appear, according to these Sages, with his follower. He will conquer Jerusalem and will assume the title of the king of Israel. Hai Gaon stressed that the majority of the Jews of the Diaspora will not follow the Messiah. As a result, the nations of the world will question the loyalty of the majority of Jews and the Jews will be persecuted. Fleeing persecution, these Jews will seek safety in the desert, where they will long dwell and greatly suffer. There are interesting verses about the Jewish Exodus written in the poetry of the Jews who lived in the Islamic world. Other interesting verses in Jewish poetry of that time focus on coming to Jerusalem with the Messiah, son of Joseph, which draws parallels with Moses having led them at the time of their Exodus from Egypt. The tragic end of the Messiah, the son of Joseph, occurs when he dies in the war fought with the anti-Messiah leader, Armilus. Hai Gaon stresses

26 the extreme suffering of the Exiles, stating that it was so harsh that some men left the Jewish faith, and that Armilus used sorcery to attract these Jews to become his followers. And it is by magic that Armilus is finally able to kill the Messiah, the son of Joseph. The Jews who remained faithful to their tradition, are prophesied to experience ‘the Pangs of the Messiah’. It is predicted that at this point God will listen to their cry and that Elijah will appear before them to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, the son of David. This Messiah will then resurrect the Messiah, the son of Joseph, and that resurrection will be a prologue to other miracles. It was predicted that God will then heal the sick and the disabled and all will become young. Hai Gaon clearly states that only those who were righteous, or those sinners who repent before their deaths, will be resurrected. Those 48 resurrected will be led by seven shepherds and by eight princes. Sa’adiah Gaon gives his account of Messiah, son of Joseph. He also shares the 49 legend of the Messiah’s death at the hands of the anti-Messiah named Armilus. 50 However, in reading the works of Maimonides , we begin to see some reactions to the extreme exaggeration of the Messiah’s life, as it had been written earlier by Hai Gaon. In fact, Maimonides (Moses b. Maymun) argued the notion that the Messiah will resurrect the dead. Reflecting on the question of prophetic visions, Maimonides (Moses b. Maymun) argues that sometimes the prophet sees God speaking to him, and sometimes the prophet sees an angel speaking to him. At other times, the prophet hears someone speaking directly to him but the prophet can’t see the speaker. Maimonides suggests that when someone is in a trance, that person sometimes thinks that a human is speaking and it is only later that it becomes apparent to the person who has been in a trance that the speaker was actually an angel. He shares many examples from the Bible where this observation is shared. He shares the verse found in Judges 2:1 where we find, And the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. Then, The sages have already literally stated that the angel the Lord mentioned here was Phinehas. They said: This was Phinehas who, when the Indwell51 ing descends upon him, resembles an angel of the Lord. Maimonides explains the term HAY as being alive or living. He states that this term’s use denotes a living being which grows, like the one we find in Genesis 9:3, Every moving thing that liveth. Maimonides writes,

27 It is also the term denoting recovery from a very severe illness….Similarly death (Ma-veth) is a term denoting both death and severe illness. Thus, and his heart died within him in 1Sam. 25:37, which refers to (the) severity of his illness. On this account Scripture makes it clear with regard to the son of the woman of Zarephath – that his sickness was so sore, that 52 there was no breath left in him. In an attempt to explain the verse, Arise sing out in the night. (Lam. 2:19.). Tana Debe Elliyyahu commented and said, Singing here refers to a song of gladness, as in the verse, There saith the Lord: Sing with gladness for Jacob (Jer. 31:6.). Sing all kinds of songs and rejoice in all sort of gladness. Why? Because I come and I dwell in the midst of thee… and sing because in time the Lord will take away thy judgment…indeed the ‘Lord showed me four craftsmen’…Messiah, the son of David, Messiah the son of Joseph, Elijah and the Righteous 53 Priest. In Midrash Tehillim we find a teaching that describes the appearance of the two Messiahs. The verse in Psalms 60:9 is, Ve-Ephraim maoz roshi, yehuda me-ho-qe-qi, Ephraim also is the strength of mine head, Judah is my Lawgiver. Here the Midrash shares, The Messiah, the son of Ephraim, will be the first to take upon himself the yoke of kingship: but Judah is my scepter, that is the Messiah, son of David (will finally rule). This is a teaching of the Messianic Era because it accentuates the idea that the 54 Jewish people will be delivered through the Messiah, the son of Ephraim, and through the Messiah, the son of David. The Midrash also presents the teaching of R. Judah bar Simons on Psalm 90:2. According to this rabbi, all nations will bring gifts to the Messiah, son of David. He emphasizes the verse, Le-Ziyon Ye-amer ish ve-ish yul-lad bah. And of Zion it shall be said this (man) and that was born in her. He states that this quoted verse refers to the two Messiahs of the Lord: the Messiah, son of Ephraim, and to the Messiah, son of David,

28 And as soon as the nations of the earth come to the King Messiah, he will ask, ‘Are there children of Israel among you? Bring them as gifts to me.’…R. Aha said this verse (96:7) also implies that the Messiah will say to the nations of the earth, “When you bring the families of Israel to me 55 bring them not in contempt but in honor”. We pointed out in the first section of this chapter that Elijah had hidden himself from the king’s persecution. We have mentioned that while Elijah hid to save his life, that the ravens sustained him. The Sages debated about from whence the goods to sustain Elijah came. In the Talmudic teachings, we find a position taken by Rab Judah, in the authority of Rab, that the food used to sustain Elijah 56 had been taken from the slaughterers of Ahab. There we also find the statement, He prayed and the key of rain was given him upon which he rose and departed. In Zarepath, where God commanded Elijah to stay in the house of the widow, we learn that the widow’s child fell sick. Based on the widow’s pleas, we learned that, Elijah prayed that the key of resurrection might be given him, but was answered. Three keys have not been entrusted to an agent: birth, rain, and resurrection. Shall it be said, Two are in the hands of the disciple and one (only) in the hand of the Master? Bring me the other and take this one, as it is written: Go, show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the 57 earth. Biblical narratives don’t present us with much background information on what kind of person Elijah was. However, the narratives share Elijah’s activities and from those activities we can create valid notions about him. For example, Elijah was obviously very zealous. Sometimes he was impatient, as in 1Kings 17:18. He was also a murderer, as in 1Kings 18 and in 2Kings 1. In some post-Biblical literature we discover some more information about Elijah. Although God gave him the key of rain, Elijah was free to lock up that key but he could not then unlock the key. This suggests that Elijah had great power but that his power was also limited. Another teaching is, R. Jose taught in Sephoris: father Elijah was a hot tempered man. Now Elijah used to visit him, but after this he absented himself three days and did not come. When he came on the fourth day, he (R. Jose) said to him, ‘Why didst thou not come before?’ He replied, ‘Because thou didst call me hot tempered.’ He retorted, ‘Temper’. But before us thou master hast 58 displayed thy temper.

29 Another aspect of the narrative that is not explained in the Bible is the relationship that Elijah had with the widow. In the Bible, we find the verse, And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with thee. O, Thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?(1Kings 17:18.). Rashi, in his interpretation of Genesis 19:19, says, The woman of Zarephath said to Elijah that ‘you had come upon me to call my sin to remembrance until you came to me (my place) the Holy One, blessed be He, observed my deeds and the deeds of my people, and I was considered among them to be the righteous one. Now that you are here, in return to your deeds, I am the sinner.’ Rashi goes forward comparing the verse used by Lot to his people, as in, …Lest some evil take me, and I die… 59

to the position of the widow in Zarephath. In the Midrash we encounter another interpretation that is focused on the narrative’s use of the verb bata. The stem of this verb is BWA, which means to come in, or, to enter. It is also used in its abstract form, like, va-ta bo, bi ru-wah (Ez. 2:2.), or, the spirit entered me. We find the same stem used for coition, as in, Bo na el shif-ha-ti… …go in, I pray you, unto my maid… (Gen. 16:2.). where the verb is used in a phrase as an euphemism for sexual intercourse. In PRE we find the following teaching, The woman said to him (Elijah): Thou didst come unto me for coition and thou wilt bring my sin to remembrance against me, and my son is dead. Now take away all that which thou hast brought to me and give me my 60 son. This story appears in one Midrashic text as, And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman … the woman approached Elijah and told him: You have come unto me and brought my sin to remembrance and my son is dead. Take back what you 61 have brought me and give me (back) my son. In this text the phrase, You have come unto me, is interpreted as meaning that the widow had stated that she and Elijah had sexual intercourse during the time that he had stayed with her. This statement creates questions. For instance, how is it possible for a right-

30 eous woman, who is the widow of Zarephath and the mother of the prophet Jonah, to approach Elijah in such a vulgar manner? In this verse, the widow not only states that Elijah had come unto me for coition, but she then demands that he Take back what you have brought me and give me back my son. Some Sages interpreted what the widow said to Elijah as being very similar to what Eve had said after the serpent had injected his impurity into her, as in, hit-til bah zu-ha-mah.

62

This interpretation suggests that when the serpent spoke to Eve, it was akin to coming unto her. Some Sages argued that it was improper for any widow to bring a learned man into her home because that would have caused gossip and caused others living in her town to claim that some kind of relationship had developed between Elijah and the widow. When the widow tells Elijah to take back all that he has given her and to resurrect her son, she is also telling Elijah something else. She is telling Elijah that, …when people see that you have revived my son and you have taken back your blessings that you brought to this house, two things will be known to the public. One, that you did not come unto me for coitus, and second, that your purpose to be in my house had been to bring blessing into 63 it, thus I did not commit any sin by letting you sojourn with me. The widow is proposing that Elijah take back his miracles of the meal and the oil and, in return, he can give life back to her son. The post-Biblical writers suggest that this is the same moment when Elijah asks God for the “key” to resurrection. In PRE we find this teaching, …Now let all generations learn that there is a resurrection of the dead, and restore the soul of the lad within him; and He was entreated of him 64 as it is said, ‘And the Lord hearkened unto the voice of Elijah’. The Sages argued about many aspects of Elijah’s life. They tried to follow his footsteps as he carried out his mission, and they tried to understand his activities throughout that time. But the Sages never pointed out Elijah’s cruel action when he killed the 450 defeated prophets of Ba’al at Mt. Carmel. These Sages try to suggest, using a very creative form called ‘the fantasy of the rabbis’, that the widow of Zarephath is the mother of the prophet Jonah. In Yalkut, we find R. Simon stating that from the act of righteousness (charity), the resurrection of the dead will happen in the future. He concludes this statement with, We conclude it from Elijah, remembered to good, that the widow wel65 comed him with a great honor and she was the mother of Jonah.

31 This teaching is found in other sources. PRE states that a woman who was a widow had welcomed Elijah with great respect and that she was also the mother 66 of Jonah. In other Midrash, such as the writings by R. Levi, we find that he thought that Jonah was descended from Zebulum. However, R. Johanan argued against the teachings of R. Levi and he suggested that Jonah was descended from the tribe of Asher. In this dispute we find the following, R. Levi then entered and said: Although R. Johanan taught us last Sabbath that Jonah was from Asher, in truth his father was from Zebuluh while his mother was from Asher, for the verse ‘And his flank (yar-ka-to ) shall be upon Zidon’, means, the thigh (Ye-rekh ) whence he was sprung 67 from Zidon. The Midrash emphasized the following facts: that the widow of Zarephath was a righteous woman and that she had welcomed Elijah. And, compared to the other people in her city, she was a ‘righteous one’ and that was why Elijah had been sent by God to her house. Yet, we do find a teaching where she is said to have also been a sinner. Examining the verse, And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from a place of the holy…(Ecc. 8:10.). The Midrash states, R. Judah b. Simon said: “If this speak of the dead mentioned by Ezekiel (37), does it not say here that they were wicked, whereas those (referred to be Ezekiel) were righteous? If the text speaks of the son of the woman of Zarephath, does it not say here buried, whereas he had not been buried…’ R. Levi said: (buried refers to the wicked who are accounted dead 68 even when they are alive…) This teaching is contrary to the teaching found in the NT. There we read that Israel had many widows at this time because the rain had ceased, and that Elijah had been sent to be with the widow of Zarephath. This text first emphasizes that this widow was not a Jewess. The second emphasis in this text is that the widow of Zarephath was seen ‘as fit’ by God to accommodate Elijah, the prophet of God, so she was a righteous woman. When the widow cried to Elijah that because he had come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, the Sages stated that the widow felt that Elijah and God were abandoning her because she had copulated with the prophet. It is at this point in the narrative that Elijah prayed to God to revive the widow’s dead child. At this point, Elijah is able to exercise his Godgiven resurrection powers and the child comes back to life. In the Midrash we find the following teaching regarding Elijah’s resurrection of this child. This teaching is a comparative text, where the relationship between

32 Moses and Jethro are compared to the relationship between Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. This teaching is based on a verse from the Book of Proverbs, A friend loveth at all time…(Prov. 17:17.). The Midrashic text shares that when Moses fled from the Pharaoh, he was received by and cared for by Jethro, who loved Moses as a son. But from his house arose a woman called Jael, and she received the enemy, Sisera, and killed him. (Judges 4:20-22.). Since Jethro had become the friend of Moses, then his descendents would also be the friends of Moses’ descendents, as in, As one undertakes to perform a good deed, that good deed will never cease to appear in his house. In this Midrash, the writers then relate this teaching from Moses’ experience to the one shared by Elijah and the widow, So you find in the case of Elijah when he went to the house of the widow in Zarephath. When her son died, he began to supplicate and say, ‘Hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn’…and it is written: ‘And the Lord hearkened..’ Moreover, a man must respect one by whom he is hospitably received even more than his father or mother. You thus find that when Elijah was taken from Elisha, and he received a double portion of his spirit, as it says: ‘And let a double portion of my spirit be upon me’, he should have gone first to his father and mother to receive them, as he revived the son of his host. Also, Elijah should have revived his parents as he had revived the son of Zarphathite; only he risked his 69 own life for that of his host. In the Zoharic literature, the Sages tried to compare the death of Rachel in Genesis (35:18.) with the death of the widow’s child in Elijah’s narrative. With the death of Rachel, it is written, Va-yehi be-set naf-shah ki me-ta …as her soul departed, because she died. When we read of the child’s death, however, it is written, lo no-te-rah bo ne-sha-mah …there no soul (was) left (remained) in him. The Zohar goes on to explain: R. Abba said: What need is there to state that she died, after it says her soul departed? The object is to make it clear that her soul did not return again to her body, as sometimes happens with some people. Thus we

33 read, ‘and his spirit returned unto him, again;’ until ‘there was no soul left in him.’ But when Rachel’s soul passed out, it did not return, and so she 70 died. Ginzberg states the following in his magnum opus, Now God had the prophet in His power. He could give heed unto Elijah’s prayer only provided the prophet released Him from the promise about a drought, for resurrection from death is brought about by means of dew, and this remedy proceeded so long as Elijah kept God to His word, withholding dew and rain from the earth. Elijah saw there was 71 nothing for it but to yield. The Sages argue in this text that when Elijah asked God for the key of resurrection to revive the child, God only agrees to provide that miracle if Elijah will simultaneously give back to God the “key” of rain. In this teaching, the rain is 72 seen as the means to revive the dead. The Sages accentuate that “three keys” were not entrusted to the hands of human, so it is found in the teaching of R. Bibi, on the verse: And God remembered Rachel…and opened her womb. (Gen. 30:22.). And as it is seen in, R. Menahema said in R. Bibi’s name, Three keys are in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He: the key of burial (resurrection): ‘Behold, I will open your grave…(Ez. 37:12.). The key of rain, ‘The Lord will open…to give the rain’. (Deut. 28:12.). The key of the womb:‘And …opened her . 73 womb.’ (Gen. 30:22.). In a more detailed teaching, we find the Sages created a long explanation of two verses of the Psalms and of one verse from Genesis, as in: For the Lord harkeneth unto the needy…(Ps. 69:34.). where it says , These are women whose wombs are locked up. This verse has also been interpreted in Midrash Gen. R. 71:1, where it states that the Lord harkeneth to His needy. In their explanation, the Sages interpreted the needy as being the people of Israel. In the second hemistich, And despiseth not His prisoners.

34 the Sages argued that the writer was alluding to childless women who feel disgraced in society and, feeling ashamed, these women become prisoners in their own homes. The teaching in Midrash Tehillim contradicts the teaching of R. Bibi, as in, R. Nehemiah stated the following as an anonymous teaching, but R. Aha stated it in the name of R. Jonathan: There are three keys which the holy One, blessed be He, does not give over into the hand of His emissary: The key to the womb, for it is said, ‘And the Lord ... opened the womb.’ (Gen. 29:31.); the key for the graves at the resurrection of the dead, as it is said, ‘I have opened your graves.’(Ez. 37:13.); and the key to the rain, as is said, ‘The Lord will open…His good treasure.’(Deut. 28:12.). Nevertheless, when it pleased the Holy One, blessed be He, to do so, He gave the keys over to righteous men. The key to the womb of a barren woman, God gave over to Elisha…(2Kings 4:16-17.). The key of resurrection for the child of the widow of Zarephath, God gave over to Elijah (1Kings 17:21,23.). The key of resurrection for the child of the Shunammite, God gave over also to Elisha… (2Kings 4:34, 36.). The key of resurrection God gave over also to Ezekiel in the plain of Dura…(Ez. 37:1.). Hence it is 74 said, ‘The Lord harkeneth unto the needy.’ In another teaching, Elijah’s limited power is discussed. Although Elijah had obtained the “key” of rain after he had prayed, As the Lord God of Israel liveth.., and after Elijah had then used that key to “lock up” the rain that a sinning Israel needed, then Elijah could not use the “key” of rain again to unlock the rain. We learn of Elijah’s limited power with the “key” of rain in, Go, shew (show) thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth… Here we see that God alone has the power to use the “key” of rain after Elijah had used that key only once. So, when the widow implores Elijah to revive her son, we read in this teaching, Elijah prayed that the key of resurrection might be given him, but was answered, ‘Three keys have not been entrusted to an agent: of birth, rain, and resurrection. Shall it be said, two (keys) are in the hands of the disciple, and one in the hand of the Master? Bring (me) the other (key for rain) 75 and take this one. According to this teaching, we are told that God controls the three ‘keys’ and that God can, from time to time, decide to entrust one key at a time to certain of His ‘angels’. In Aggadat Breshit we read a teaching that is focused on the verse, Ve-ha-yah She’erit ya-‘akov … ke-tal me-et yhwh,

35 And the remnant of Jacob shall be like dew from the Lord… (Mic.5:6-7.). The people of Israel said to God, then, “Are you comparing us to the dew?” And God answered, Said He, ‘If you have merit…and why like the dew? Because even the righteous one among all righteous has no control over the dew but the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself (does). If you wish to know when Elijah took a vow and said, ‘As the Lord God of Israel liveth…shall not be dew nor rain.’ But the Holy One, blessed be He, did not listen and the dew was coming down. From where (we learn this)? Indeed He said to Elijah, ‘Go shew thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth.’ The dew is not mentioned but ‘…and I will send rain’ (is). From here (we learn) that the dew was coming down all the days, since no man controls 76 the dew but the Holy One, blessed be He.’ This teaching instructs us that we can safely assume that Elijah, as a righteous man, returned the “key” of rain to God, and that God, in exchange, gave Elijah the “key” of the grave, or of resurrection, which Elijah then used to revive the widow’s child. The “key of rain” is known as the “good treasure”, according to the verse in Deutoronomy where we read, The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure. (Deut. 28:12.). The PT for this verse is written, Ar-ba-‘ah maf-te-hin bi-de de-ma-re ‘al-ma… Four keys are in the hand of the Master of the World which are not to be carried in the hand of a dignitary: the key of the womb, the graves, the 77 sustenance, and of the rain. In search of Elijah’s biography in the Biblical text, the Sages tried to examine every detail they found in his story. For example, the Sages wanted to know how he was sustained while he hid in the wadi Cherith and the Sages wanted to know how Elijah had received food. The Sages searched for a meaning to the life of the prophet while he sojourned in the house of the widow. They wanted to discover that Elijah was a teacher while he stayed with the widow. This subject was important to the Sages because the Biblical text provides no information on Elijah’s family. In the Talmudic literature, we find the following, R. Hananel said in Rab’s name, The Righteous one (is) destined to resurrect the dead. For here it is written, ‘Then shall the lambs feed Kedab-

36 ram.’ While elsewhere it is written, ‘Shall Bashan and Gilead feed as in the days of old.’(Mic. 7:14), while it is written Elisha, the son of Shaphat, 78 is here (the one) who poured water on the hand of Elijah… From this quoted text, Elisha, as the disciple of Elijah, was present at the test Elijah performed at Mt. Carmel. But who was Elijah’s teacher? In the Tosefta we find an interpretation of 2Kings 6:5-6 that states: Now if Elisha, disciple of Elijah, disciple of Moses, could do things in such a 79 way, Moses, master of Elijah, master of Elisha, all the more so. In this literature, we discover another, longer discussion on the relationship that was shared between Elijah and Moses. This discussion seems primarily focused on the identity of the mam-ze-rim, or, bastards, since one of Elijah’s duties as a prophet to the people of Israel was to help the people maintain purity in their families, Now the matter yields an argument a fortiori: Now if Moses, who is the master of Elijah, did not want to reveal the identity of those who were mam-ze-rim (bastards), until they themselves had showed who they were, Elijah, the disciple of Moses, all the more so would not reveal the identity of those who were mam-ze-rim, until they themselves showed who they 80 were. In the early times, the prophets were responsible for writing about the good deeds of the people of Israel. In the Messianic time, Elijah and the Messiah were appointed to record these good deeds and then God would affix His seal to that written record. In the Talmudic literature, we discover an important teaching regarding the role of Elijah in his duties of overseeing family purity and also of Elijah overseeing the institution of marriage: Rabbah son of R. Adda also said-other state, R. Salla in R. Hamnura’s name; He who marries a wife who is not fit for him, Elijah binds him and the Holy One, blessed be He, flagellates him. And Tanna taught, concerning all these. Elijah writes and the Holy One, blessed be He, attests; ‘Woe to him who disqualifies his seed, blemishes his family and him who takes to wife one who is not fit for him, Elijah binds and the Holy One, blessed 81 be He, flagellates.’ According to Rashi’s interpretation of this Talmudic text, the passage, Woe to him who disqualifies his seed is a part of the Talmudic text, but Rashi claims it is not about Elijah. In a strong, descriptive way, we find the following teaching on the meaning of that line in this Talmudic text

37 Who marries a wife fitting for him Elijah kisses and the Holy One, blessed be He, loves him; but who takes a wife not fitting for him, Elijah 82 binds and the Holy One, blessed be He, lashes him. But if we pay careful attention to the text, according to Rashi, we discover that some of the words from this verse, hai Eli-yahu lav Eli-yahu, state that we are reading about Elijah, the angel, and not about the prophet Elijah. A traditional belief exists that there was an angel named Elijah and there was also a prophet with the same name. In a long teaching, referring to Moses and Jonah and in relation to the prophet Elijah, we read about the prophet and the angel who share the same name of Elijah: ‘What is his name?’ (Prov. 30:4.) refers to Elijah ‘and what is his son’s name?’ (Prov. 30:4.), refers again to Elijah. ‘His name’ refers to Elijah when he ascended on high, and ‘his son’s name’ refers to Elijah when he comes down to earth and becomes a messenger to perform miracles; he 83 bears, then, the same name of Elijah. But in the Zoharic literature, we read a very different interpretation on this issue. In this literature, we learn the Sages believed that the prophet Elijah became the angel Elijah. The text suggests that the prophet Elijah departed this world not as people depart the world. By leaving the world in a special, non-human way, the prophet Elijah became a heavenly being, and in his new role, the angel Elijah was 84 charged with carrying God’s messages to the world. In another text, we find a teaching that states Elijah was one of the angels who had objected to the creation of Adam. In the Midrash, we discover a belief that there were two groups of angels when Adam was created. One group wanted 85 Adam to appear and the other group of angels had “urged him not be created.” As it is written, God cast the angel Elijah out of heaven and sent him to earth as in, ..and it cast down the truth (Elijah) to the ground. (Dan. 8:12.). God cast Elijah to earth so that Elijah could experience some pleasure with the tah-to-nim, or translated, the human on earth, and so Elijah could learn how good the humans’ share in the world is, and learn how pleasant man’s experience is on the earth. According to the Midrash, Elijah was later returned, in a whirlwind, to 86 heaven where he once again took on the role of an angel. When we read, And it came to pass) after many days, (1Kings 18:1.), we can ask if there were many days that had passed. The Hebrew noun used in the Bible, ya-mim, refers to years. So, is it possible that many years had passed? In the Midrashic literature, we find a teaching explaining this noun as referring to ‘the days of tribulation’, as in,

38 va-ye-hi ba-ya-mim ha-rab-bim ha-hem …and it was in the course of those many days (Et. 2:23.). In Esther we find, va-ye-hi ya-mim rab-bim she-mo-nim u-me-at yom …many days, hundred and eighty days (Est. 1:4.). In the narrative of Elijah in the Bible, it is written as: …and it was many days (1Kings 18:1.) and the days are not numbered. The Sages in Esther Rabbah teach, as in, Many days, they were days of tribulation…scripture reckoned them as many days. Similarly we find (in 1Kings 18:1.). Now were they really many days? No. Only because they were days of tribulation, Scripture calls them many days. How many days? R. Berekiah says…One month in one year, and one month in another and twelve months in the middle, 87 making altogether fourteen months. The confrontation between Elijah and king Ahab takes place at long last in this Biblical narrative, but that confrontation only occurs after there was a meeting between Obediah and Elijah. Obediah was a servant of the king. Without the king’s knowledge, Obediah hid and sustained 100 prophets of Israel in order to protect them after king Ahab began to worship the idols of Ba’al. In the Midrash, we come across a teaching that discusses why the prophet Obediah had prophesized and spoke against Edom or Esau. This teaching states that the reason Obediah did this was because he had grown and lived among wicked people, who were named Ahab and Jezebel, and despite living among evil-doers, Obediah had maintained his righteousness and had maintained his fear of the Lord. Esau, however, had grown up with two righteous people, Isaac 88 and Rebecca, but he did not learn to be righteous. Another teaching claims that in Ahab’s generation all were idol worshippers but then discussed the fact that the storyteller had mentioned bread and water. The writer in the Midrash was interested in understanding why these two particular items were mentioned. He concluded that water was scarce and more 89 difficult to obtain than was bread. It is suggested in the Midrash that upon his return from Zarephath, that Elijah realized that the sinfulness of the Israelites had reached unprecedented levels. At this point, too, Elijah realized that he was, as he claimed, I, even I only, remain the prophet of the Lord.(1Kings 18:22.).

39 It is at this point in the narrative when Elijah goes to finally meet Ahab and he challenges the king and the prophets of Ba’al to a contest on Mt. Carmel. This contest, Elijah’s greatest miracle, involves having the prophets of Ba’al and their helpers, the prophets of Asherah, compete with Elijah in order to prove to the Israelites which deity is real. Two altars are set up for each side. After both sides had slaughtered their sacrificial bulls and the meat had then been placed on the two separate altars, then the opposing sides each prayed for fire to consume their sacrifice. The prophets of Ba’al receive silence and no fire for their prayers. But when Elijah prayed to his Lord God, we are told that, Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1Kings 18:38.). While this episode is short in the Bible’s narrative, and it primarily relates Elijah’s encounter at the contest on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Ba’al, in the Midrashic literature it is a longer story. Using the verse from Job, Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth? (Job 35:11.). the storyteller in the Midrash expands on that verse and tells us: The Holy One, blessed be He, tells Israel: Learn a lesson from the bullock of Elijah. When Elijah said to the worshippers of Ba’al: ‘Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many,’ the four hundred and fifty prophets of Ba’al and and the four hundred prophets of Asherah gathered… but they could not move the bullock’s feet from the ground…What did Elijah do? He said to them, ‘Select two bullocks equal in all respects, coming from the same mother and reared in the same pasture, then cast lots for them, one to be for the Lord and one for Ba’al, and choose for yourselves one bullock’. Elijah’s bullock followed him immediately, while as regards the bullock assigned for Ba’al, though all the prophets of Ba’al and the prophets of Asherah gathered around it, 90 they could not move its foot. A shorter version of this story appears in Yalkut. In this version. Elijah tells the prophets of Ba’al to cast lots, but he also instructs them not to try to move their allotted bullock until Elijah can say, “Go with them.” Here the bullock responds, ‘I and my friend came out of the same womb and were reared on the same pasture and (had) the same feeding trough (crib). He is to be for the Holy One, blessed be He, and the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, sanctifies him and I am to be sacrificed to the name of Ba’al and to anger

40 my creator.’ Said Elijah to him, ‘Go with them and do not let them find an excuse. The same way the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is 91 sanctified by this one who is with me, so it is sanctified by you, too.’ A similar teaching on this topic appears in Num. Rab. The two texts interpreting the verse in Job 35:11 go forward to include the second hemistich, where the text states, …and maketh us wiser than the fowl of heaven. The Holy One, blessed be He, teaches us how to shun the idol-worshippers from the ravens who brought food to Elijah while in wadi Cherith. Here we learn that the food the ravens had brought to Elijah came from Johosephat’s table and not from king Ahab’s table, as in, The ravens would not enter the house of that wicked man, Ahab, to take anything from his table for that righteous man, because there was idolatry 92 in the house. Pesikta Rabbati (PR) does not tell the story of the bullocks being sacrificed in the contest at Mount Carmel. Instead, the teaching of what is found in Deuteronomy 12 is the focus of this teaching. We learn that in Deuteronomy 12 that only God can choose where a sacrifice can be made. The author of PR states, So in explanation of the fact that at a time when sacrifices on high places were already banned, Elijah offered sacrifices (every day on Mount Carmel), R. Simlai said that the word of God commanded Elijah to do so, for 93 he declared: ‘I have done all these things at Thy word.’(1Kings 18:36.). So, another question can be asked about this event. Why was Mount Carmel chosen? There are some interpretations that compare the power of God’s presence on Mount Carmel to be the same as His presence was on Mount Sinai. In one of the Midrashim, we can read the teachings of R. Simeon b. Lakish. He is discussing the verse in Deuteronomy where the text presents God’s presence in the following way, These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly in the mount and in the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and added no more. (Deut. 5:19, 22.). In the Biblical narrative of Elijah, the power of God’s presence on Mount Carmel is also described as being equally powerful but it is also described very differently, as in,

41 And it came to pass, when the midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the terrible sacrifice, that there was neither voice nor any answer, not any that regarded.(1Kings 18:29.). Here are two events presenting the power of God’s presence. In one, the whole world is reported as trembling when God’s word to Moses is heard emerging 94 from the fire, the cloud, and the mist. The voice of the Lord was heard then and ceased not, as we find it translated in PT. It is the divine voice, which is so 95 great and forever exists. In contrast to this great voice that was heard on Mount Sinai, God is silencing the whole world when He presents His powers on Mount Carmel. As in the teachings of R. Simeon b. Lakish, we read, What is the meaning of ‘And it went on no more’? When a man calls his friend, there is no echo to his voice, but there is an echo to the voice that proceeded from God. Should you wonder at this, then remember that when Elijah came on Carmel, he gathered all the heathen priests and said to them: ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god.’ So what did God do? He silenced the whole world, both those in heaven and those on earth, and the whole world became waste and void, as if no creature was in the world…Had He spoken, they would have said: ‘Ba’al has answered us.’ How much more natural was it then that when God spoke on Mount Sinai know that 96 there is none beside Him. The bullock assigned to the prophets of Ba’al and which Elijah slaughtered is said to have spoken to Elijah, saying, “I shall not move from here unless you will deliver me to the hands of the priests of Ba’al.” And, indeed, Elijah did so. Another miracle in this narrative occurs with the igniting of the sacrificial fire on Mount Carmel. In the Midrash, we read that Hiel hid himself under the altar in order to ignite the fire for Ba’al. When Hiel hears the priests of Ba’al crying, ‘Ba’al! Ba’al!’ and before he can light the fire for Ba’al, God intervenes and causes Hiel’s death, as in, Hiel, who hid himself for the sake of Ba’al on Mount Carmel in order to 97 put fire to the wood, did I not smite him? On the hemistich found in 1Kings 18:26, And they leaped upon the altar which was made… the Hebrew text offers us a different reading of this translated line above by focusing our attention on the Hebrew words which were used in that line, … a-sher ‘a-sah… … that he (Elijah) made…

42 By reading the Hebrew choice of words, we can ask if Elijah built the altar used by the prophets of Ba’al at the contest conducted by Elijah at Mount Carmel. Since Hiel hid under the altar assigned to the prophets of Ba’al, then perhaps the prophets of Ba’al built that altar since it contained a hollow place where Hiel hid. The prophets of Ba’al had instructed Hiel to ignite the sacrificial fire when he heard ‘the voice’. As Hiel hid beneath the altar to Ba’al, God sent a serpent 98 and that serpent bit and killed Hiel. The Midrashic literature tries to tie this contest held on Mount Carmel to the miracle that happened to Joshua in Gibeon. Joshua had commanded the sun and the moon to stand still, as in, …and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still upon Gibeon and throw (the) Moon in the valley of Ajalon…’ (Josh. 10:12.). In the Elijah narrative, it is written: And it came to pass at the time of offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah…(18:36.). When did he build the altar? When did he arrange the wood? And the stones and the water which are in the trench? Yet, most importantly, when did he pray? Thus it’s said: At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, so you should know that Elijah commanded the sun to stand still that day…For Joshua you did stand still for Israel to win over their enemies as it is written, ‘And the sun stood still’, now stand still not for me, but for Israel and for sanctifying the name of the Holy One, blessed be He; since he (Elijah) said so, immediately the sun stood still as it is written, ‘For the Lord shall rise up in the Mount Perazim, he shall be 99 worth as in the valley of Gibeon.’ (Jes. 28:21.). The Sages also taught that Elijah was considered an ‘established prophet’. That unique status allowed Elijah to claim, I, even I only, remain the prophet of the Lord. And that special designation as an ‘established prophet’ allowed Elijah to offer a sacred sacrifice outside the Temple, as in, For should you not admit this, how could Israel listen to Abraham at Mount Moriah or the people hearken to Elijah at Mount Carmel and sacrifice without (the Temple)? Hence the case, where the prophet is well es100 tablished, is different. In Elijah’s narrative, we encounter another miracle, which is the miracle of the fire descending from heaven to consume not only the sacrifice to God on the altar but to consume, as well, the water in the trench that surrounded the altar. This miracle teaches that God is near everyone who knows how to properly call

43 upon his help, but God is not close to those who do not know or use the proper way to call upon him for his assistance. The prophet must pronounce the words of truth and through these words the prophet is able to place in motion the power from above. The prophets of Ba’al could not set the divine power in motion because they had no knowledge of the proper manner. Elijah, however, had that knowledge and he called God twice, as in, ‘a-ne-ni YHWH, ‘a-ne-ni. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. The Zohar explains that the use of the noun truth in Elijah’s narrative can be explained in the following way, It is written ‘who is this that cometh of the wilderness like pillars of 101 smoke?’ This smoke symbolizes the crown which is the Zoth. The Sages argued that Elijah knew the proper way to approach God for help because Elijah said these words as he asked for God’s help, …let it be known this day that Thou art God of Israel and that I am Thy servant. (1Kings 18:36.). And the Sages contend that God granted his divine help to Elijah, as we read in, …he drew near… which the Sages said meant that God had told Elijah, 102

Come and wage war for me, come and offer public sacrifice . The Sages also emphasized the fact that the Israelites were not permitted to offer sacrifices on high places. In Deuteronomy we find it written that there should not be a burnt offering in every place (Deut. 7:13.), and, yet, in this narrative Elijah does offer a ‘burnt sacrifice’ on Mount Carmel, a high and forbidden place. According to R. Simlai, The Holy One, blessed be He, told him to do so, as is proved in the text, ‘That I (Elijah) have done all these things at Thy word.’ (18:36.), that is 103 to say, ‘At Thy command I did it.’ Another Midrashic text used the same verse from Deuteronomy, verse 7, to suggest that the prophet had the power to temporarily suspend the law forbidding sacrifices on high places. The prophet is allowed to do this either by adding to the law or by diminishing from it, as in,

44 R. Hainna said: From this (Deut. 7:13.) it is seen that a high place was not permitted except by a prophet, yet (so) Elijah stood and offered (a 104 sacrifice) at the top of Carmel. Another text connects the sacrifice of the prophet from a high place with the miracle of the water. According to this text, in Elijah’s time, Israel became, in truth, men in awe of heaven. The happy reward of Israel was that they became men who stood in awe of heaven. At the time on Mount Carmel, Elijah rose up, built an altar and made a trench around it 105 big enough to contain two measures of seed. The miracle of water is based on the verse, …fill four barrels (jars) with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice. (1Kings 18:34.). Here we can read an interesting commentary, Can you possibly suppose that from only twelve jars of water the entire trench could have been filled? Nevertheless, it was, for Elijah said to his disciples, ‘He who has some water left in his jar, let him come and pour it over my hands.’ And Elisha said, ‘I have some water left in my jar.’ To which Elijah replied, ‘Come and pour it over my hands.’ Forthwith Elisha poured it over Elijah’s hands. Whereupon from this water ten springs 106 gushed until the entire trench was filled. Surely that is the end of the story of the contest on Mount Carmel, for when the people of Israel saw the springs of water miraculously come out of Elijah’s ten fingers, right away they abandoned their worship of Ba’al and became men in awe of heaven. Min-ha, the evening prayer, is the most loved of God. Since Elijah used this special prayer as his request for divine help at Mount Carmel, Elijah’s prayer request was granted. The fire for the burnt sacrifice came down from God in heaven and the miracle of the water filling the trench around the altar was granted, as well. In Agg. Br. we find a teaching that stresses the importance of the min-ha prayer. This teaching shares that this verse in Psalms, Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense and the lifting up of my hand as the evening sacrifice. (Ps. 14:12.). means that there is no prayer more beloved by God than the min-ha. This importance of this prayer is also stressed in the Book of Daniel. In that book, we learn that Daniel had prayed unsuccessfully for twenty-one days and that his prayer was only accepted when Daniel had prayed the min-ha, or the prayer, as in,

45 Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. (Dan. 9:21.). The same was with Isaac in Genesis (24:64.), when Elijah realizes that the min-ha is the beloved prayer, before the contest at Mount Carmel, Elijah lifts up his hand in prayer at the time set aside for the min-ha. It is after these two events, praying the evening prayer and the miracle of the waters, as they are presented in post-Biblical literature, that Elijah is seen as addressing God as, Hear me, Oh, Lord, hear me. (1Kings 18:37.). There is a question about why the writer chose in this quoted line to twice repeat the verb ‘a-ne-ni, or translated as answer me. One possible interpretation is that we read the first ‘a-ne-ni in his request that Elijah was asking to be answered on his own merits and for his own righteousness, and when we read ‘a-ne-ni for the second time, then Elijah is asking for an answer for the sake of his disciples and based on their merits. In the Talmudic literature we read, Hear me, O Lord, hear me. R. Abahu said: Why did Elijah say twice: ‘Hear me’? This teaches that Elijah said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Lord of the Universe, ‘hear me’, that the fire may descend from heaven and consume everything that is upon the altar; and ‘hear me’, that Thou mayest turn their mind that they may not say that it was a work of 107 sorcery. For it is said, ‘For Thou didst turn their heart backward.’ But in another Midrash we find another explanation, …you have already said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet” (Mal. 3:23, 4:5.). If you do it now, they will also believe of what you are planning to do with me in the future, ‘and that I have done all these things at Thy word’ (18:36.), all these people have done it for the sake of the Ba’al, and I have done it for yourself, for your name, but please do not bring shame upon me, answer me quickly. “Hear me, O Lord, hear me”, answer me by the fire, answer me by the water, answer me in this world, answer me for the world to come, answer me (not) the prophets of Ba’al and answer me (not) the prophet of Asherah and if you do so, we sing songs before you, and as David says: ‘I will praise Thee: for Thou 108 hast heard me and art my salvation’. So, why was ‘a-ne-ni used twice? Does the storyteller want to emphasize the power of the miracle. Or is the storyteller emphasizing the absolute power of God? Here we witness an important way that the Jewish Sages related to this call of Elijah. For the Sages, ‘Hear me’ was a prayer that the fire will come from

46 heaven and that the people gathered at Mount Carmel will know that the fire wasn’t the result of witchcraft. The prayer was that the people would view the miracle as an act of God in heaven and not as an act of magic. Josephus himself reacts to this event in the narrative calling it a ‘trial of power’. He presents the events almost the same way the Biblical storyteller of Elijah’s narrative presents them. For example, the prophets gathered on the mountain are the prophets of the king and of his wife, but in Josephus’ version the prophets only number about four hundred. The Biblical narrative claimed there were 450 prophets. Post-Biblical literature uses an increased number of prophets, claiming 450 prophets of Ba’al and 400 prophets of Ashera, placing 850 prophets on the mountain. According to Josephus, Elijah commanded these people to fill their barrels, or jars, with water and to pour the water onto the sacrificial altar. Then Josephus says, When he (Elijah) had done this, he began to pray to God, and to invoke Him to make manifest His power to a people that had already been in error a long time; upon which words a fire came on a sudden from heaven in the sight of the multitude, and fell upon the altar, and consumed the 109 sacrifice, ‘till the very water was set on fire and the place became dry. The Israelites reacted immediately; they fell down upon the ground and worshipped One God, the only true God. The Midrash shares this by stating that the Israelites abandoned their idols and became ‘in truth men in awe of heaven.’ The post-Biblical literature expanded its view of this miracle by comparing Elijah’s actions with those of Moses. In his prayer, for instance, when Elijah mentioned the patriarch, then his prayer was immediately answered. In the Book of Psalms we find this verse, Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt… (80:9.). The Sages interpret this line to mean this vine had three branches, which were Moses, Aaron, and Mirian. This vine was seen as a symbol that Israel had blos110 somed. In another Midrash, we discover yet another interpretation of this line in the Psalms, And the vine is propped up by dry stakes and is itself fresh, so Israel (may) 111 rely upon the merit of their forefathers, although these are asleep. The Sages pointed out that as soon as Elijah had mentioned his forefathers in his prayer on Mount Carmel, that his prayer was answered. A similar event, the Sages emphasized, occurred to Moses when the Israelites created the golden calf. At that point, Moses prayed to God,

47 (He) stood forty days and forty nights pleading on their behalf, but he was not answered; but as soon as he made mention of the dead (the fore112 fathers), he was immediately answered. The Zohar discusses the notion of the truth. It claims that when the praise of the people is true, then they can influence the powers above. It had happened to the Israelites when they had praised the well and had recited a song to the well (Nu. 21:17.), then God was close to those who spoke the words of truth and they were thus able to influence the powers above them. On the hemistich, …they dressed it and called on the name of Ba’al…(v. 26.). the Zohar says, …yet they availed nothing, for one thing because it was not permitted to them to bring fire down from heaven, and for another because they did 113 not use the right invocation, since God confused them. The ‘fire coming down from heaven’ was discussed in some Midrashic literature. In Tractate Yoma, the Sages discuss the difference between the ‘fire that comes down from heaven’ and the fire that ‘comes from outside’. The fire from heaven is described as, …lying like a lion, it was as clear as sunlight… This fire from heaven consumed wet wood as if it had been dry wood and it produced no smoke. These Sages shared the notion that there are different kinds of fire, as in, Our Rabbis taught: there are six kinds of fire. Fire which eats, but does not drink; fire which drinks but does not eat; fire which eats and drinks; fire which consumes dry matter as well as moist matter; and fire which pushes fire away; fire which eats fire. Fire which eats but does not drink, that is our fire, which eats but does not drink, the fever of the sick; eats and drinks, that of Elijah, for it is written ‘And licked up the water that was in the trench’; eats both dry and moist matter, the fire of the pile of wood; fire which pushes other fire away, that of Gabriel (this in reference to Dan. 3:27.), and fire which eats fire, that of the Shechinah (Shekhinah), for a 114 master said: He put forth His finger among thee and burned them. The ‘fire that eats fire’, the last in the list above, refers to the burning of those angels who had objected to the creation of Adam. These angels are of fire, as we find them discussed in Talmudic literature,

48 Rab Judah said in Rab’s name: “When the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to create man, he created a company of ministering angels and said to them: Is it your desire that we make a man in our image?” They answered, “Sovereign of the Universe, what will be his deeds?” Such and such will be his deeds, He replied. Thereupon they exclaimed, “Sovereign of the Universe, what is man that Thou art mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:5.). Thereupon He stretched out His little finger among them and consumed them with fire. The same thing happened with a second company. The third company said to Him: “Sovereign of the Universe, what did it avail the former that spake to Thee? The whole world is Thine and whatsoever that Thou wishest to do therein, do it.” When He came to the men of the age of the flood and of the division (of tongues)whose deeds were corrupt, they said to Him: “Lord of the Universe, did not the first (company of angels) speak alright?” Even to old age, I am the same, and even to hoar 115 hairs will I carry, He retorted (Is. 46:4.). At one point the Midrash speaks about the fire that Hiel had planned to use to ignite the sacrifice to Ba’al, and which God prevented him from using, punishing him with a deadly bite from a snake. In another Midrash, we read, God sends down fire, and Elijah brought down fire (from heaven) as it is 116 said: ‘Then the fire of the Lord fell…’ In the verse from Deuteronomy that states, For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. (4:24.). the Sages of Zohar explain that there is a fire that consumes fire and destroys it. In the flame of this fire, there are two lights. One light is white and the other is black, which sometimes turns to red. The black, or red, light is beneath the white light, which never changes color. However, the black/red light is the one that consumes everything beneath it, while the white light above it never consumes anything and it never changes. In a very esoteric way the Sages of the Zohar suggest that the blue light which comes out of the white light attached itself to it. This light is coming out of Israel. When these Sages relate their interpretation of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, they state that the second He of the Tetragrammaton is black light, but that it is attached to the Y,H,W (Yod, Vav, He) and that all of them are the white, shining light. When they relate their interpretation to the case of Elijah, they say: ‘The fire of the Lord descends and consumes the burnt offering’, this being a manifestation that the chain is complete, the blue light both cleav-

49 ing to the white light and consuming the fat and flesh of the burnt offer117 ing beneath it.

C. Veiling The Answers

It has been transmitted by the traditions of the prophets that God would cause misfortunes and disasters to befall us that would compel us to re118 solve upon repentance so that we would be deserving of redemption. And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Ba’al, let not one escape and they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook of Kishon and slew them there. (1Kings 18:40.).

Although we can find few explanations for the murder of the 450 prophets of Ba’al, no objections to that act can be found in Biblical or post-Biblical literature. The number of prophets killed in this instance needs careful examination, however, since the post-Biblical literature claims that 450 prophets of Ba’al and 400 prophets of Asherah were killed in this incident. Whether or not the postBiblical literature exaggerated the number of prophets killed, the fact is that Elijah murdered people who did not follow his teaching. The horrible description of his act is presented in the Hebrew text as, va-yori-dem Eli-yya-hu….Va-yish-ha-tem sham… And Elijah brought them down... And he slaughtered them there. No matter what their transgression was, Elijah acts as a zealous person and, as an act of zeal. he committed the horrid act of murder. In fact, we can view this event as the first religious war. In post-Biblical literature, as we stated above, there are few explanations to be found for these murders, but no writer of postBiblical literature ever labels Elijah as a murderer. On the verse in Ecclesiastes, Dead flies cause the ointment of a perfumer to send forth an evil odor. (10:1.). the Midrash states, It speaks of the generation of Elijah. Yesterday they used vile language against Him saying, “O, Ba’al answer us.” but today they make declara-

50 tion saying, “The Lord, He is God, the Lord He is God. More precious than wisdom and honor”, i.e., Elijah’s prophesy: A little folly (of the priest of Ba’al brought it about that) Elijah brought them down to the 119 brook (of) Kishon, and slew them there. In another Midrash, in a long list comparing Elijah to Moses, we find, Moses exterminated idolaters: “Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh.” (Ex. 32:27.) and Elijah exterminated idolatry when he seized the 120 prophets of Ba’al and slew them. Since we cannot find any objection to the murders of these prophets by Elijah, it seems that the Biblical and the post-Biblical writers accepted these murders. In fact, in some texts the act is even praised as an act taken by Elijah to reestablish the covenant between God and His people. Yet, of all the post-Biblical texts, there is one Tanna, that gives some indication of an objection or interpretation to these killings. Since this one exists, it is possible that others objecting to these murders existed but were not included, or were lost, as the post-Biblical literature became focused on praising Elijah and making him the harbinger of the Messiah. As we can read as follows, A Tanna from the school of R. Ishmael taught, it is written ‘And he shall slaughter, ve-sha-hat, means nothing else than ‘And he shall draw’ as in 121 the verse, ‘Beaten (sha-hut) gold’ and as it is also written, ‘Their tongue is a sharpened (sha-hut) arrow…’ Why the second verse? You might have 122 said that ‘gold, sha-hut’ really means ‘gold woven in threads’ therefore come and hear, it is written, ‘Their tongue is (a) sharpened (sha-hut) ar123 row’, draw along. From this teaching, the Tanna is attempting to imply that the words ‘and slew (slaughtered)’, written as, va-yish-ha-tem, does not mean ‘to slaughter’ in this Biblical narrative, but instead, it means ‘to draw them to the water of Qishon (Kishon)’. This is the only post-Biblical attempt to ease the cruel action of Elijah, or let us say, to soften the perception that the Biblical narrative creates of Elijah’s cruel act. However, Josephus doesn’t mention this event at all. But, if we remember that his writings were aimed at the Romans, it then becomes understandable that this episode was not included in Josephus’ work. The rest of this Biblical narrative does appear in Josephus’ writing. According to Josephus’ text, Elijah was from Thesbon in Gilead and was sent by God to king Ahab. In this version, Josephus includes such details as Elijah being fed by ravens and that Elijah then went to Zarephath. In Josephus’ version, as well as in many Midrashic texts, God tells Elijah who the widow is in Zarephath.

51 However, Josephus inserts a new story between Elijah going to Zarephath and the death of the widow’s son. This new tale is a story about Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians, who built the city of Botrys in Phoenicia. He credits Menander for 124 the information in this tale. In Josephus’ version, the confrontation between Elijah and the widow in Zarephath is as full of ambiguity as it is in the Biblical version. According to Josephus, the widow approached the prophet as she beat her breasts with her hands and said, That he had come to reproach her for her sins, and that on this account it 125 was that her son was dead. Josephus’ version of this confrontation is very similar to the notion expressed by the Sages, which was that the widow’s son was not yet dead when the widow confronts Elijah. Josephus claims, …(the child) was fallen into a distemper till he gave up the ghost and ap126 peared to be dead. When Josephus describes the content of the confrontation of Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al, we read, …and when these prophets had done so from morning till noon, and cut themselves with swords and lancets according to the custom of their 127 country… and discover that Josephus’ description above doesn’t exist in the Biblical narrative. So, as Josephus could delete details from the Biblical narrative of Elijah, he could also add details to that narrative’s story. As another example, in the Biblical narrative the writer stressed that Elijah killed 450 prophets of Ba’al, as in, Elijah brought them down… And slew them there. (1Kings 18:40.). Josephus, however, writes, …and at the command of Elijah slew them. The fact that Josephus’ audience were Greeks and Romans, when Josephus deleted Elijah’s personal involvement in the killings of the prophets of Ba’al, he did that to prevent any criticism that the Jews opposed any other religious beliefs. By deleting Elijah’s participation in the actual murders of the prophets of Ba’al, Josephus shared that Elijah had commanded the victors of the contest at Mount Carmel to kill the prophets. By commanding their deaths, Elijah would be understood to have sentenced the perpetrators. Either way, whether Elijah personally killed the prophets of Ba’al or had simply acted as an accessory by ordering his followers to kill the prophets, Elijah is a murderer.

52 However, when Josephus describes queen Jezebel’s reaction to the murder of the prophets, he states that, She understood what signs Elijah had wrought and how he had slain her 128 prophets. Those words demonstrate that Josephus was familiar with the Biblical notion that Elijah had slain the prophets. At this point in both versions of this episode, Elijah realized that his life was in danger, so Elijah fled to Beersheba and, from there, into the desert. The Biblical narrative is very explicit when it states, “an angel touched him” (v. 5.) and again, “And the angel of the Lord came again the second time.” (v.7.). Josephus, however, wrote, that “Somebody awakened him” and that for the “second time” when Elijah was contacted that neither an angel nor did “a somebody” appear to Elijah. Instead, Josephus wrote that Elijah heard “a certain voice come to him.” We find uncertainty and hesitation on the part of Josephus to follow the view expressed by the Biblical storyteller, who had shared that twice the angel of God had touched Elijah and had said, “Arise and eat.” About twelve centuries later, Maimonides disputed the same encounter in a long chapter where he discussed the notion of a vision. Maimonides suggests that, for him, the dictum of the story of Elijah is the very common statement that most of the prophets had declared from time to time: that God has commandedthe prophets to do ‘so and so’. This notion is found expressed in the phrase, “And the Lord 129 said unto me.” Maimonides examines the philosophical aspect of ‘the vision’, while Josephus tries to simplify ‘the vision’ by removing the divine involvement in it. In the long pis-qa, passage, that compares Elijah to Moses, we find a short comparison of the two prophets in regards to the angel, as it’s written, Moses: God spoke to him through an angel, as in, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him.”(Ex. 3:2.). Elijah: God spoke to him, also, 130 through an angel, as in, And behold an angel… (1Kings 19:5.). The episode is a short part of the whole narrative of Elijah in the Biblical narrative and it is reminiscent of what is found in the Book of Jonah, as the chart below illustrates, Elijah And he sat down under a juniper-tree, and he requested for himself that he might die, and said it is enough now, O Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my fathers. (1Kings 19:4.).

Jonah And the Lord prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah. And the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted and wished in himself to die. (Jonah 4: 6-8.).

53 Here Elijah is beginning to suffer a spiritual and emotional breakdown. He is suffering fear of the queen’s sword. The aftermath anxiety he feels, and his wandering in the desert, bring Elijah to the point where he wishes to die. Here we should ponder the meaning of ‘take away my life’. The noun, naf-shi, is translated as, ‘my life’. The human being is composed of two elements, body and soul, as we see it presented in the story of creation, where we read, ‘And man became a living being’, which we understand as the emergence of the psyche, or ne-fesh. Thus, when Elijah claims that ‘people’, or the ‘queen’s messengers’, seek his life, was that statement included in the narrative to accentuate Elijah’s anxiety when he realized that, indeed, people wanted to kill him? In the Zohar, we read the teaching of R. Jose stating, I have heard a special exposition of this matter as follows. When Jezebel threatened Elijah, it is not written that he feared (va-yi-ra) but he saw (vayar). What was it that he “saw”? He saw that the angel of death had followed him for a number of years, and he had not been delivered into his hand. Then the verse continues, va-ye-lekh el naf-sho (‘and he went for his life’), which literally means ‘and he went to (el) his soul’, that is to say, ‘he 131 resorted to the foundation of his soul…’ Unlike the version of Elijah’s narrative found in the Bible, where that storyteller describes the food brought to Elijah as, ….a cake baked on the coals and a crust of water. Josephus’ version simply states, …food set by him and water. The Hebrew words for cake baked on the coals are u-gat re-tza-fim. The noun retza-fim is derived from re-tzef, or a heated stone, (See Is. 6:6) or re-shef, which means flame (song of songs). The Midrash discusses the noun ritz-pah as we discover in Is. 6:6 and suggests that the noun means ruz(Rutz)peh, or, break the mouth. In response to God’s question, What doest thou here, Elijah? Elijah says, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant. R. Samuel examines Elijah’s response to God’s question and says,

54 Said God to him, Is it my covenant or thy covenant? He then said, ‘They have thrown down Thy altars.’ Said God to him: Are they my altars or thy altars? He then said, ‘And slain Thy prophets with the sword.’ Said God to him: They are my prophets, what concern is it of thine? He then said, ‘And I, even I only, am left and they seek my life to take it away.’ See now, what is written there: And he looked, and behold there was at his head a cake baked on the hot stone- re-za-fim. What is meant by reza-fim? R. Samuel b. Nahman said ruz-Peh (break the mouth): Break the 132 mouth of all who caluminate my sons. But the problem of determining if Elijah was running away from the wrath of Queen Jezebel is not really interpreted here. Even in the teaching of R. Jose in the Zoharic literature, he does not offer a full interpretation of that fear felt by Elijah as he fled to the desert after the prophets of Ba’al were slain. Elijah appears unable to correctly answer God’s question, What doest thou here? Elijah’s answer, I have been very jealous for the Lord, does not answer God’s question. The Midrash suggests that Elijah’s response to God’s question should have been made as a request to God for the pardon of Israel, Elijah should have responded with an entreaty for mercy, saying, Master of the Universe, Israel are Your children, the children of those who have been tested by You, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who have done Your will in the world. But this was not what Elijah said. Instead he 133 dared to say to God: I have been very jealous… Here the text emphasizes the notion of Elijah as being jealous and it is here that we are introduced to the notion that Elijah was blinded by his religious fervor. This criticism of Elijah may be hidden in the teaching of R. Jose, who shared that God attempted to have Elijah reduce his zeal when God stated that the slain prophets were “My prophets” and that Elijah had no real “concern” with them. Another Midrash emphasizes that as a jealous prophet, that Elijah had beseeched heaven to lock up the dew and the rain, and it was for that act that the queen sought to slay him, as in, Elijah, may be remembered for good, arose and was zealous with a mighty passion, and he abjured the heavens to send down neither dew nor rain upon the earth. Jezebel heard, and sought to slay him…Elijah arose and 134 prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He. In the Midrash, we can find a list of dialogues between God and Elijah. Some of these dialogues are found in other works. The issue of Elijah’s “jealousy”, or zeal, is mentioned in the Midrash with a tone of criticism. These questions relating to Elijah’s zeal began with a strong question,

55 Art thou better than thy fathers? The storyteller in the Biblical narrative never states that Elijah was told to be jealous or to carry out the word of God. Elijah’s narrative begins with the statement, And Elijah the Tishbite…said unto Ahab. (17:1.). It is only in the second verse of the Biblical narrative that the storyteller states, And the word of the Lord… had commanded Elijah to hide in the Wadi of Cherith. Then God commanded Elijah to go to the Zarephath, and in the third year Elijah was commanded to, Go shew thyself unto Ahab. In this narrative, Elijah is never commanded to be jealous. The killing of the prophets of Ba’al was Elijah’s idea. The Sages viewed Elijah’s jealousy as an expression of his struggle to attain the honor of God. As such, Elijah was even ready to appear as the accuser of the people of Israel. In another teaching, we discover that Elijah also had a great love for the people. A short statement by R. Eleazer says it all, R. Eleazer also said, Elijah spoke insolently toward heaven, as it says, ‘For 135 thou didst turn their heart backward.’ Elijah’s struggle for the honor of God is presented in his answer, I am very jealous. Yet, Jonah was also a jealous prophet, but his jealousy was for the honor of Israel and less for the honor of God. When Elijah is commanded to have a successor named Elisha, the Sages remind us that this happened because Jeremiah had been jealous for the honor of Israel and for God, whereas Elijah was interested only in the honor of God. So, the Sages teach, Jeremiah was a prophet all of his life but Elijah was commanded to have a successor. It is possible to suggest that the Sages’ perception points to their admiration of Jeremiah vis-à-vis Elijah. If this is the case, then the Sages viewed Elijah’s zeal for the honor of God as myopic when it is compared to Jeremiah’s zeal for the honor of Israel and for the honor of God. A famous Hebrew poet and a philosopher, Judah b. Samuel ha-Levi (Yehudah ha-Levi), who was born in 1080 in Toledo, discussed his defense of the Jewish faith in his book, Kitab al khazari or, Sefer ha Kuzari. This work is a defense of the religious thought of Judaism and of its culture, including its language and history. In his work, he presents the word of al-khazari, ha-kuzari stating,

56 …I have been very jealous for the Lord the God of Israel. The party of Jeroboam considered itself belonging to the Lord, the God of Israel, also all their actions, their prophets were the prophets of God, whilst the prophets of Ahab were Ba’al’s prophets. God appointed Jehu to destroy the work of Ahab. He proceeded with much zeal and cunning, saying: 136 “Ahab served Ba’al a little, Jehu will serve him much.” (2Kings 10:13.). In the Zohar, we find an interpretation on the following verse from Genesis 1:2: And the earth was without form, and void. This interpretation explains form as being ‘snow on water’. Then we are told that a mighty fire came next to transform the earth and it created to-hu, or chaos. The formlessness, which was sifted from the to-hu, was bo-hu, or darkness which covered the to-hu. In this interpretation, the darkness is viewed as ‘the spirit of God’, which comes from Elo-him ha-yyim, or the spirit we hear as it was hovering over the waters. The purified to-hu produced a strong wind, which broke the earth’s rocks into pieces, while an earthquake came out of the bo-hu, Then what we call ‘darkness was sifted, and there was contained in it fire, just as to Elijah there appeared after the earthquake, fire.’ When what we 137 call ‘spirit’ was sifted, there was contained in it a still small voice. Chapter 19 of 1Kings presents a story that invites a comparison of it with the events that had occurred on Mount Sinai. Indeed, Jewish Sages have compared Elijah to Moses in several works, even counting the events with Elijah vis-à-vis Moses. The narrative in chapter 19 of 1Kings invites a comparison with the events that had occurred on Mount Sinai. As was mentioned earlier, the Jewish Sages indicated there was a parallel between Moses and Elijah and they point out the events that both of these prophets encountered. Although the Biblical text suggests that Elijah ran away from facing the wrath of Jezebel, the post-Biblical literature suggests that Elijah did not have any such fear and that his escape to the desert was not Elijah flying from the queen’s wrath but it occurred so Elijah could acquire a definite knowledge of his fate at the holy mountain, Mount Horeb. Said R. Jose, Further: I have heard a special exposition of this matter, it is 138 not written that he ‘feared’ (va-yi-ra) but he ‘saw’ (va-yar)… Elijah wanted to know what was expected of him. Here again, he is compared to Moses. Josephus writes, …so when he had eaten and recovered his strength by that his food, he come to that mountain which is called Sinai, where it is related that Moses received his laws from God; and finding a certain hollow cave, he

57 entered into it, and continued to make his abode in it. But when a certain voice came to him, but from whence he knew not, and asked him why he 139 was come thither and had left the city? Here Josephus is comparing both Elijah and Moses in a very different way than the Sages did. He wanted to present the two experiences in the light of his own time as a way of presenting the history of his people to his gentile audience. Thus, he tries to eliminate any textural ambiguity. The still small voice found in the Biblical narrative is presented differently by Josephus, who used very simple language, as we read, A certain voice came to him…(that) he knew not. Here it is important to note that, in this instance, Josephus simplified the Biblical text and reduced the still small voice to be ‘a certain voice’. Yet, when Josephus describes the voices that the people had experienced in the revelation at Mt. Sinai, he says, So they passed two days in this way of feasting, but on the third day, before the sun was up, a cloud spread itself over the whole camp of the Hebrews, such as one as never had before, and encompassed the place where they had pitched their tents; and while all the rest of the air was clear, there came strong wind, that raised up large showers of rain, which became a mighty tempest. There was also such lightning as was terrible to those that saw it, and thunder with its thunderbolts were sent down, and declared God to be there present in gracious way to such as Moses desired He should be gracious. This is a very creative description of the revelation to the people at Mt. Sinai. Here, Josephus emphasizes that God is present and that Moses is there in harmonious ambience, very unlike the (revelation) event of Elijah, which is followed by the divine command to Elijah, Go, return to thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. (1Kings 19:5.). It seems that the Sages were looking for aspects from the story of Moses to compare with the Biblical narrative on Elijah. The Midrash contains some long teachings on those comparisons. Pesikta Rabbati includes a discourse of R. Tanhuma Berabbi, which contains a list of these comparative aspects. For example, in this work we read that Moses and Elijah were both from the tribe of Levi. Moses is the first of the prophets and Elijah is the last. Both prophets were commissioned to redeem the people of Israel, first from their slavery in Egypt and then from their worship of the idols of Ba’al. Below in the chart are more comparisons made between the two prophets:

58 Moses He was called ‘man of God’. Went up to heaven. Slew the Egyptian.

Elijah He was called ‘man of God’. Went up to heaven. Slew Hiel.

Was sustained by a woman (daughter of Jethro). Flew from the presence of the Pharoah. Fled and came to a well. Gathered the people around Mt. Sinai. Went to Horeb.

Was sustained by a woman (widow of Zarephath). Flew from the presence of Jezebel. Fled and came to a well. Gathered the people around Mt. Carmel. Went to Horeb.

This listing of comparisons is long and detailed and contains almost all the ac140 tivities of both prophets. Although Moses and Elijah appear to have some common characteristics, Moses had entreated for the people of Israel any time they had provoked God’s anger, while the Midrash states that Elijah was not like Moses on this issue, The Holy One began to utter words meant to placate Elijah, saying to him, When I revealed Myself to give Torah to Israel on Mount Sinai, only ministering angels who desire Israel’s good revealed themselves with Me. The Holy One went on to say, ‘Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord.’ And behold the Lord passed by, a great wind…an earthquake…a fire…a sound of gentle stillness.’ For three hours the Holy One waited for Elijah (to come and entreat mercy for Israel), but Elijah persisted in the words he had uttered previously, ‘I have been very jealous…’ Thereupon the Holy Spirit said to Elijah, ‘Go and return on the way to the wilderness of Damascus…for what you have in mind for Me to do 141 (mainly to destroy Israel), I cannot do.’ The ministering angels mentioned above in the Midrashic text were the ones who came down from heaven and put two crowns upon the head of each one of the people at Mt. Sinai. These two crowns were bestowed upon the people, one for their response to, We shall do, and the second for their answer, We shall 142 obey. At the point when God commanded Elijah to go forth and stand upon the mount, God revealed himself through the fourth phenomena: the still small voice. Each phenomenon has its own meaning.

59 The post-Biblical literature deals with these phenomena in an interesting way. In an attempt to relate to the different kind of winds, the Midrash shares a dispute between R. Hunna and R. Judah, as we see below, R. Hunna said: Through three winds the world would have been rendered desolate because they went forth with unmeasured force; these are they: One in the days of Jonah, another in the days of Job, and the third in the days of Elijah. R. Judah said: (The wind in the days) of Jonah was directed against that ship only, for it says, ‘But the Lord hurled a great wind…’(1:190.). Hence of these (three), only that of Elijah was worldwide, for it says, ‘And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong 143 wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks.’ (1Kings 19:11.). In another piece of post-Biblical literature, we discover a teaching accredited to R. Joshua b. Levi, who stated that the Torah was given on Mount Sinai, with “fire, voices, thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, a blast (voice) of a horn”. Only then, “God answered him (Moses) by a voice.” And all the people perceived, roim, the thundering voices, qolot. These are the ‘voices’ that the people of Israel 144 experienced before the revelation in Mt. Sinai. This is a different experience compared to Elijah’s experience. Here, God appears with his might, as the one who liberated the people from slavery, as the one that shakes the natural phenomena, before He imposes his laws on the people. And with Elijah, God reveals himself to an individual who ought to maintain his place with the people in spite of difficulties and dangers. Indeed, here the Sages emphasize the fact, that in this respect, Moses is greater than Elijah, as it is presented by the divine reaction. God says to Moses, But as for thee, stand thou here by Me. (Deut. 5:28.). whereas in this narrative, God says to Elijah, What doest thou here, Elijah? (1Kings 19:9.). Here it is also important to pay attention to the fourth phenomenon in the revelation to Elijah, qol d’ma-ma daq-qa , which is translated as, the still small voice. But for commentators in the Middle Ages, this phrase was not so simple as they tried to understand the complete meaning of the phenomenon. In this search, they looked for support in Biblical texts, as well as in other texts, mainly in the Aramaic translations. So, Rashi (R. Solomon ben Isaac, 1040-1105), a famous Biblical commentator, interpreted qol d’ma-ma daq-qa, the still small voice, by using two different texts. He examines the Aramaic translation that suggests that: qal de-mash-be-him ba-ha-shai, as was mentioned earlier, is related to ‘the angels of God’. The second comment

60 that Rashi makes is on the meaning of this phrase, as it appears in Job 4:16, d’ma-ma ve-qol esh-ma’, and he expands on this phrase and writes, … there was a silence, and I heard a voice, there was silence for praising, but I have heard a voice coming out of the silence as it is in a foreign language. (La’az) retentissment, hearing no certain voice. Radak, (R. David Kimhi, 1160-1235), who is known for his grammatical and philological work, Mikhlol, explains this expression and says, He went out and stood by the hollow of the cave. He covered his face as the Word told him, ‘Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord.’ (19:11.). It is to say when the Glory passes through and from the same still voice, or, qol d’ma-ma , comes out of the voice which tells him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And the meaning of qol d’ma-ma is a whispering voice. Jonathan translates: And the mountain of God is revealed and facing it the ministering angels of wind separating the mountains and breaking the rocks… and after the ministering angels of wind, ministering angels of tumult…and after the ministering angels of tumult, the ministering angels of fire…, and after the ministering angels of fire, a voice praising silently (a voice whispering), and a question there to ask, why all this thing since He did not tell him what to do until He brought him to Mt. Horeb and showed him all the glory. And I understand it that all this was to reward him for the good deed he had done on Mt. Carmel, where he sanctified the name of God among the people of Israel and directed them to the right path, all of them, until they all said, ‘The Lord, he is God; the Lord, He is God.’ (18:39.). And for killing the prophets of Ba’al, God rewarded him for his righteous act and brought him to the place of Glory by a great miracle and showed him all this Glory. Thus let us observe (here the phenomena of) the wind, the earthquake, the fire, and the still small voice… Unlike the long commentary of Radak, Ralbag (Levi ben Gershom, 1288-1344), a mathematician, philosopher, and commentator of the Bible, wrote a very short interpretation to the phrase qol d’ma-ma daq-qa, saying, A whispering voice from the Name (God), blessed be He, as if it consists of voice and silence. In his interpretation of the Book of Job, Professor Tur Sinai suggests a relationship of this phrase to the description found in Num. 12:6-8. In his interpretation, he offers the reader a picture of a dream. The wind passes through the dreamer and, as long as it passes, the dreamer cannot see the wind. The dreamer also cannot understand or recognize the wind, but the only thing is that the still

61 voice, or, d’ma-mat qo-lo, is heard. d’ma-ma is a whispering voice, a kind of silence as we find it written in the Book of Psalms, He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. (107:29.). To better understand how the Sages were able to compare these two prophets, we need to pay close attention to some verses taken from Malachi, Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statements and judgment. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. (3:22-23; 4:4-5.). In the Book of Malachi the two prophets, Moses and Elijah, are mentioned and each holds a special role. One is the Law Giver and the other is the forerunner of the Messianic days. In their creative reading of these verses, the Sages view both prophets as redeemers. Moses is seen as the first redeemer because he delivered the people of Israel from slavery, and Elijah is seen as the second redeemer because he will announce the Messianic Era. It is very important to search for the divine command that is invoked in the text, and to discern the principal teaching that is derived from that text. Does the text present the divine will and thus reveal a true faith? Does this divine will in the text continue to communicate with us in our time? It is clear that we are dealing with different texts, which were written in different eras, yet these texts can provide us with a clear understanding of the original text and of the reality of those past times. These texts exhibit an extraordinary knowledge of Jewish law, while their authors simultaneously possessed a common knowledge of their environment. These authors were also able to read and employ their own creative minds when interpreting the original text of the narrative. Throughout the many religious texts of different eras, we read of certain Sages who heard the ‘divine voice’ and we read that some of the Sages were taught by the ‘divine voice’. So, this raises some questions, such as, did they experience or hear the ‘divine voice’? Is it possible that God spoke to them? These are legitimate questions. But it hard to answer these questions since we do not possess the mystical knowledge that these Sages of ancient times possessed. So, the only way we can answer these questions is to suggest that they may have been able to perceive the hidden and sometimes obscure meanings presented in the texts because they knew how to read these particular texts. For that reason alone, we may say that the Sages had indeed “experienced” God’s voice. The Sages believed that when the people of Israel returned from their exile in Babylonia that prophecy ceased to exist and that the authority previously held by the prophets was passed along to the Sages, who became the custodians for the religious affairs of the people in the absence of the prophets. At that time the

62 Sages were the onhes who pointed out the direct avenue for living a righteous life. Through their interpretations of the holy text, the Sages possessed the word of God and their teachings were accepted as being divinely inspired, as had the words of the prophets from earlier times. Accepting the Sages’ belief in their divine inspiration, today we can understand and accept their roles as teachers in the Jewish community, as well as their roles as religious leaders. The Sages interpreted the Holy Scriptures while simultaneously maintaining the community’s moral values and sense of justice. We can understand that they came to hold the same roles that Israel’s prophets had previously fulfilled. In his philosophical work, Yehudah ha-Levi tells us that the Sages allowed themselves to promote certain rules and practices as commandments. Although he speaks specifically about the Sanhedrin, in fact, Yehudah ha-Levi views the Sages as those who held the power that the prophets had previously held. This philosopher perceived the Sages as a new authoritative body that could add and legislate commandments, …In a similar manner arose the duty of reading the Book of Esther on Purim, and the ordination of Hanuccah and we can say: He who has commanded us to read the ‘Megillah’ and to kindle the light of Hanuccah’ or ‘to complete’ or ‘to read’ the Hallel, ‘to wash the hands’, ‘the ordination of the Erubh’ and the like. Had our traditional custom arisen after the exile, they could not have been called by this name, nor would they require 145 a benediction, but there would be a regulation or rather, custom. The appearance of God to Elijah in Chapter 19 of this narrative is very similar to the way God appears in other Biblical episodes. In fact, the way God appears in all of the literature of the Near East is strikingly similar. Each culture in this region used similar literary conventions to share God’s involvement in the world, whether that involvement was related to wars, or related to God giving laws to mankind, or related to demonstrating God’s unique power and control of the entire universe. For example, a very interesting description of the appearance of the Egyptian god, Amon, states that his appearance caused the earth to trem146 ble. We can read a very similar description in Jeremiah of the appearance of Istar, as in, When your name is mentioned heaven and earth tremble. The description of God’s appearance as it appears in Isaiah 2:6-22 echoes the later Biblical descriptions of God as He revealed himself to Moses and to Elijah. When God presents himself to these two prophets, each prophet is in a cave or by ‘the rock’. In the case of Moses, we read,

63 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon the rock. And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock and will cover thee with My hand 147 while I pass by. (Ex. 38:21-22.). When God reveals himself in the case of Elijah, we are told that Elijah is on Mount Horeb. When Elijah hears the voices, through which God presents himself, we read of the prophet’s reaction in, When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle. We discover that Moses also covers his face when he first encounters God, as in, And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. (Ex. 3:6.). This description is also found in the Book of Job, Hast thou an arm like God? Or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him? (40:9.). The revelation of the God of Israel in the future is also described in the following passage as it is related to the Day of Judgment, when God’s name will be sanctified and evil will be unable to escape God, the king of the universe. When Ezekiel describes God’s appearance, we read, And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that My fury shall come up in thy face…in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel…and I will call for a sword against him…and I will rain upon him and upon his bands (hordes) and upon the many people that are with him…rain and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (Ez. 38:18-22.). This verse demonstrates how the prophets of Israel viewed the future coming of the Lord. From this hemistich in Isaiah, …and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness (5:16.). the notion of the sanctification of God’s name became very important and it attained a commanding presence in the prayer book. In the concluding prayer, the ‘a-le-nu, which was probably composed in the time of the Second Commonwealth, this verse appears, Therefore we put our hope in you that we may soon see your mighty splendor to remove detestable idolatry from the earth. This is a declaration of faith in the future and this faith is proclaimed and announced by the believer whenever this verse is spoken.

64 The notion of the sanctification of God’s name is also found in the Gospels, as seen in, …therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name… (Matt. 6:9.). and in Luke’s gospel, …When you pray, say Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name…(11:2.). Along with the notion of hallowing God’s name, we also find the expectation that in the future God will establish His heavenly kingdom on earth. This idea was very well developed in the prophesies of Joel, Ezekiel, and Zephaniah. However, positive and negative images are intertwined in these prophesies. When Zephaniah declares, The great day of the Lord is near. he also states that this event will arrive with a …thick darkness… (Zeph. 1:11-17.). When Ezekiel shares that, The time is come… for the heavenly kingdom to appear on earth, he adds that when that event occurs that …the day of trouble is near. (Ez. 7:7.). The Hebrew word, me-hu-mah, is translated as ‘confusion’, and it also appears as me-hu-mat ma-vet in 1Samuel 5:9, where it is translated as meaning ‘deadly consternation’. Obadiah emphasizes that this future day being discussed is the day when the kingdom of God will be realized on earth, as we read in, For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (2:3.). These eschatological descriptions can also be found in the liturgy, in the a-le-nu, and in the qad-dish, as well as in the post-Biblical literature. In the Targum, for the verse ‘and God created great whales and every living creature’ (Gen. 1:21), the following translation is offered, Ubra YHWH yat tan-ni-ni rav-re-va-ya yat liv-ya-tan u-bar zu-geh de-mit-‘at-te-din le-yom ne-he-ma-ta… (Job 3:8.).

65 And God created the great tan-nin (sea monster) and the liv-ya-tan, (a large serpent, great whale) and its mate, for the future day of ne-he-ma-ta (this day, the future day). The future day is probably understood to be the “festive day” which was predicted to take place in the Messianic Era. In the Gospels it is described as that day in the future when, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. (Luke 14:15.). Or, as we find in the following passage, Our Rabbis taught, seven things are hidden (covered) from men: These 148 are they: The day of death, and the day of comfort, the depth of judg149 ment and a man does not know what is in his neighbor’s heart, and a man does not know from what he will earn, and when the Davidic dy150 151 nasty will return and when the wicked kingdom will come to an 152 end. The day of comfort, or, yom ha-ne-ha-mah, is the sum of all the hopes that any Jewish person possesses. This ‘hope’ is for better conditions, and for a better life, either in this world or in the ‘world to come’. In the Jewish tradition, this ‘hope’ is perceived as ‘future progress’. The Jewish tradition also stresses that when God created man, that God gave mankind the power to reason. This reasoning allows a person to see that development is possible, and that progress is something that is highly important, because God promised ‘progress’ to humanity. If man couldn’t possess the power to reason, then he would not be able to appreciate the Torah, and without the Torah, then man cannot possess the power to reason. We read in the Midrash, …with all your heart, I do not know in what side (we) love the Holy One, blessed be He, thus…place these things (that I command you today) upon your heart and you shall know the Holy One, blessed be He, 153 and cleave to Him. God’s word is not seen as being antiquated, di-ya-tag-ma, but God’s words are seen as being ever new and fresh, so a person can easily read and understand these words. As the words of God are ever fresh, the interpretations and the understanding of these words are always being renewed and new meanings are constantly being discovered. The Torah should be viewed as being similar to a Jewish person’s life and as such the Torah can grow and develop. Throughout Jewish tradition, the Torah extended its influence when it needed to correspond with the development of humanity. This Jewish tradition never stagnated, like we find it doing today with

66 the rise of hoz-rim bit-shu-vah, ‘the born again Jews’, and of the extremists now present in Jewish orthodoxy. Moses, as was mentioned in Section B of this chapter, appealed to God in the name of his forefathers when he requested forgiveness for his people at a moment of crisis. However, once Moses had gained God’s forgiveness for the people of Israel, and he realized that there was no sign of progress in the behavior of the Israelites, then Moses said, Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?’…Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own self, and didst say unto them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven…’ (Ex. 32:12-13.). Then Elijah made a similar request following the events of the test at Mount Carmel, It is enough, now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. (1Kings 19:4.). Should this strong statement be interpreted as meaning that Elijah felt that life without a sense of progress is not worth living? When Elijah says, …I am not better than my fathers.. he uses the words a-vo-tai , ‘my forefathers’, which means that Elijah can’t see any progress being made by the Israelites, despite Elijah’s efforts for them, so he questions why he should bother to continue to struggle or to live. With this one statement, Elijah creates an incalculable effect and he becomes the harbinger of the Messiah. Here, too, we see an attempt by the storyteller in this narrative to accentuate the importance of the notion of human progress and of a future redemption. In this narrative, Elijah, who had struggled to clean Israel of its idol worshippers and to re-establish God’s covenant with the people of Israel, becomes the one who is assigned a very special role to play in the future, as we read, And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers…(Mal. 3:24; 4:6.). In this narrative, Elijah wished to speak to God directly and he personally sought out contact with God. As Elijah awaited that desired contact with God, he wandered the desert, which in many ways is similar to what Moses had done. There is a mountain where God had earlier manifested Himself to Moses and to Israel, and likewise, Elijah hopes to meet God on a mountain for his special commun-

67 ion. However, on that mountain, God criticized Elijah, and it is on that same mountain that God gives Elijah’s role to Elisha. God’s manifestation is obvious in all of Elijah’s actions and it demonstrates both the cruelty of Elijah and it demonstrates the bewilderment that Elijah felt in his dealings with God. In an attempt to sum up the activities of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, the following chart can help us. Elijah and Elisha each performed eight miracles: Elijah 1. He causes drought and famine. 2. He feeds the widow and her son. 3. He resurrects the widow’s son.

4. He causes fire to descend from heaven. 5. He brings rain and ends the famine. 6. He destroys groups of soldiers using fire. 7. He divides the waters of the Jordan River. 8. He ascends to heaven.

Elisha 1. He divides the waters of the Jordan River. 2. He provides water to Jehoram’s and to Joshaphat’s soldiers. 3. He feeds many from twenty loaves of bread and two fresh ears of corn. 4. He promises a son to a barren woman. 5. He resurrects the son using the dew. 6. He cleanses Na’aman of his leprosy using the waters of the Jordan River. 7. He blinds the Syrians with chariots and horses of fire. 8. He ends the famine in Israel.

It is remarkable to see that each prophet ended a famine and that each resurrected the dead. Also, each feeds others, although Elijah doesn’t feed a multitude as Elisha does. Each prophet used water to perform some miracles. So, the question arises: Why is the storyteller so intent on presenting each prophet performing the same number of miracles? Does the storyteller in 1Kings, and again in 2Kings, tell us that each prophet had the same power? Twice the storyteller shares that Elijah’s ad-de-ret, ‘the mantle’, was passed down to Elisha. So, does the passing of Elijah’s mantle indicate that both prophets possessed the same power? Is it possible that the two prophets belonged to the same school of prophecy, and thus each had acquired the power to perform miracles? Or, since Elijah’s ad-de-ret was passed to Elisha, is that why Elisha was then able to perform miracles that were similar to Elijah’s? These questions can’t be definitively answered today but we can assume that by sharing these prophets’ miracles, the storyteller was emphasizing the power that God maintains over the universe. In

68 Rabbinic teaching, most of the Sages stressed the point that the people of Israel will be severely punished. Yet, that just punishment coming from God is seen by the Sages as an act of love, much like the love that a father shows to his children whenever he corrects the children’s errors. The Sages suggested that God somehow maintained a parental relationship with the people of Israel. The Israelites are defined as God’s children, yet the prophet Isaiah claims, Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters. (Isa. 1:4.). The prophet

154

tells us that he gave back to the smithers and that,

…I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (50:6.). The Sages teach that in this verse the prophet does not see himself as fit to carry the divine message. However, with Elijah it is different. The Sages explain that since the Israelites had willingly abandoned their covenant with God, that Elijah tells God, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts… and that God responds to Elijah by saying, …Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus and thou comest... Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy stead. (19:15-16.). It is a very clear message that God gives to Elijah in these lines. God tells Elijah that He has no desire in Elijah’s prophesy. Instead, God tells Elijah that He has chosen Elisha as His new prophet because Elisha is not as zealous as Elijah had been, and Elisha is less harsh in his dealings with the people of Israel. The Sages did not value zealotry in humans. Instead, when creating the law, the Sages chose to include the attributes of mercy and grace. The Sages taught that humans should not imitate God in the following aspects: jealousy/zeal, revenge, exaltation, and acting in devious ways. God rebuked Elijah after Elijah told God that he “alone” had been “very jealous” for God, and God replaced Elijah with Elisha because zeal belongs solely in God’s domain and not in the human domain. It can be argued that the text of this narrative antagonizes the teachings of the Sages when Elijah shares with God that he has been “jealous”, as then God demonstrated his own jealousy/zeal when God rejects Elijah and commands him to, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness…(19:15.). and then God tells Elijah, Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all knees which have not bowed unto Ba’al, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (19:18.). God and Elijah had each been trying to establish justice and righteousness in the world. Both acted in very angry and jealous ways, killing many all in the name of

69 their understanding of God’s covenant with the people of Israel. Elijah claims he is the only remaining prophet, the only one left. God, however, denies this claim by telling Elijah that God still has the 7,000 Israelites who haven’t bowed to Ba’al. God manifests himself to Elijah in a still small voice, even though the killings of so many people by God and by Elijah really can’t be a still small voice but instead it is a bitter and powerful sobbing. Many scholars interpret the manifestation of God to Elijah by the still small voice in its superlative form. This interpretation is found in the Talmudic literature, as we find it discussed in the dialogue recorded between R. Sheshet and a certain Sudducean. This passage shares that first the troops had passed by proclaiming the coming of the king. The Sudducean then followed the troops. When the Sudducean proclaimed the king’s arrival, R. Sheshet replied, “He is not.” The third time this sequence of events played out, R. Sheshet finally replied that, indeed, the king was coming, and the Sudducean asked him, How did you know this? He replied: Because the earthly royalty is like the heavenly, for it is written… but the Lord is not in the fire, and after the 155 fire, the still small voice. A supreme revelation of God appears earlier in the Bible when God gives the Law to Moses and to the people of Israel. God speaks to them on Mount Sinai. In this place, that is also known as God’s Mountain and Mt. Horeb, the Israelites received the Law. Here He speaks to them through voices and lightning. The two phenomena, voices and lightning, in this story correspond with the two phenomena, earthquake and fire, as the manifestation of God as it is described in the Elijah narratives. Let’s try to understand the experience of Mt. Sinai. Theocracy allows visible phenomena. It is here, then, that we can claim that in this theocratic society the storyteller has no problem emphasizing that the people “see” the voices, qo-lot, and the lap-pi-dim. In two places describing the revelation on Mt. Sinai three phenomena are presented to us: qo-lot, be-ra-qim, and lap-pi-dim. The verse in Ex. 19:16 presents us with two phenomena: qo-lot u-be-ra-qim, or ‘thunderous voices and lightning’. The LXX translates these phenomena as fo-nai kai ast-rapai, or, ‘voices and lightning’. The second time we read of such phenomena, the Biblical storyteller tells us, And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet…(20:18.). The Hebrew test says, …ro-im et ha-qo-lot ve-et ha-lap-pi-dim …see the voices and the torches.

70 The LXX translates this verse as, fo-nen kai tas lam-pa-das. Jastrow explains that this is, a pot in which light is carried. He also points out that lap-pid is used as a metaphor for To-rah. Thus the noun means ‘flashes of light’. We find the same thing in BDB where the noun ba-raq is translated as ‘flashes of light’. The Greek word, lam-pa-das, means ‘torch’, and from this noun we have many idioms and a few of them mean ‘to shine’, or, lampo. In the early works of Philo, this noun means ‘torch’, but it is also viewed as meaning ‘celestial phenomena that resemble burning ‘torches’. Other texts translate this noun as ‘brightness, brillance, shining radiant’. In fact, the difficulty in discerning the real meaning of this noun points out the necessary question: Is this noun an original Hebrew word or is a word that penetrated the Hebrew language, as did many other words? If, indeed, this is a Greek noun, then we need to ask when it penetrated and joined the Hebrew language. Next, we need to examine the Biblical story and ask what noun was used before the noun lap-pid was inserted into this story. Elijah went to Mount Horeb after his defeat. The text presented in this narrative is similar to the text devoted to the prophet, Jonah, because in that narrative (Jonah 4:3.) and in Elijah’s narrative, each of these prophets wishes for death to come. In these episodes we encounter the profound powerlessness of any person, even a prophet devoted to God. In this narrative, we discover that Elijah is in a state similar to the state Moses was in when Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp (Ex. 33:7.). Here, as God is manifested, Elijah hides himself by wrapping his face in his mantle (19:13.), but unlike Moses, Elijah chooses to remain in his community. It is at this point that a voice comes to Elijah asking him, What doest thou here? In fact, we can elaborate and state that this voice is really asking Elijah why he has come to God’s mountain claiming to be the only Israelite still maintaining God’s covenant, since God knows that there are 7,000 devoted Israelites who had never worshipped Ba’al and who had maintained their covenant with God. However, it is still possible to state that the still small voice is not a supreme revelation or manifestation of God, but, instead, it is a lower level of God’s revelation, like the one we find in the phrase, de-ma-mah ve-qol esh-ma’. …there was silence and I heard a voice. (Job 4:16.).

71 or, as we find in the Piyyut for the New year’s Eve, u-ne-ta-ne to-qef. A blast in the great Shophar, (a) still voice will be heard. In the Sepharadi Mah-zor, a prayer book for the High Holidays, the verse above appears as, e con shophar es tanyado e voz de akayadora se olei. Yet, in the Midrash, we have the following story, Said R. Abahu in the name of R. Johanan, when God gave the Torah, no bird twittered, nor fowl flew, no ox lowed, none of the ophanim stirred a wing, the seraphim did not say, ‘Holy, Holy’, the sea did did not roar, the creature spoke not, the whole world was hushed into breathless silence 156 and the voice went forth, “I am the Lord thy God.” The description of God appearing in thunder and lightning is not a rare description in the Bible. The origin of this description is rooted in the early belief that man can feel a special closeness to God in a revelation that includes the presence of thunder and lightning. These theophanies are very old and are found in the revelation shared with Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex: 19.) and they are also found in Deut. 33:2-3. The motif of such a revelation also appears in Jud. 5:4, in 1Kings 19:11, in Mic. 1:3-4, in Joel 2:2-3, and in Ps. 50:1, ff and 97, and all suggest a connection to God’s revelation on Mount Sinai, as it is given to us in Isa. 29:6, Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake, and great noise with storm and tempest and the flume of devouring fire… Yet in the theophany in Sinai, we encounter the verb HRD twice, So that all the people that was in the camp trembled.(v. 16.). and, …and the whole mount quaked greatly. (v.18.). This verb does not appear in any other theophany. Instead, we find the verb R‘ASh, which is translated as, ‘to shake’, and we also find HWL, which is translated as, ‘to tremble, to shake’. In Psalm 98, we find many descriptions of the manifestation of God that could imply, on one hand, a mythological war, and on the other hand, it could imply a cosmic war was taking place during each revelation. In Near Eastern literature, as was mentioned earlier, we find gods who make the heavens and the mountains tremble. For example, Istar is described as a goddess whose appearance makes the earth tremble. Simply by mentioning this god-

72 dess’ name, we learn that both heaven and earth are moved and will shake in her presence, and that the quake of the world is not a reaction to the goddess’ wars but they occur as praise for her being a righteous judge. In God’s revelation to Elijah in the Biblical narrative in 1Kings, Chapter 19, this revelation is very similar to God’s revelation as it is described throughout the Bible, and as the presence of other gods is presented in Near Eastern literature. To announce the involvement of divine beings in the earthly domain, a similar motif is employed in all Near Eastern literature, including the Bible, especially when a narrative is describing a divine being’s involvement related to wars, or when divine laws are being given to man, or when divine beings are demonstrating a supreme power which controls everything in the universe. For example, we can read that when157 ever the Egyptian god, Amon, appeared that the earth trembled , which is very similar to what we just read above concerning the descriptions of the earthly appearances of Istar. Yalkut Me’am lo’ez examines the question concerning Elijah’s encounter with the angel of God. This encounter occurs twice in this narrative, with the angel appearing the second time (19:7.) in order to give Elijah food, and as the angel tells Elijah, Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for you. With this statement the angel hints that he knows where Elijah wants to go. This, according to the verse, Rav mim-kha. with mim-kha translated as, from you which suggests that the wish to go on living is coming out of Elijah and is not a commandment given to Elijah by God. With the food given to Elijah by this angel of God, then Elijah is able to walk for forty days and forty nights to reach the cave. Elijah wanted to be in that cave to hide from the wrath of Jezebel, Ahab’s angry wife, but also because Elijah wanted to receive God’s emanation there once again since God had taken that gift away from Elijah. When Elijah fled to the desert of Beer Sheba, where he knew no food would be found, he states that he hopes to die. Then, once he’s in that desert, the ‘bread’ given to Elijah by the angel, is a divine food that nourishes and sustains Elijah’s life in the desert and on his long journey to Mount Horeb, and Elijah then realizes that the ‘bread’ is also as a divine food because it gives Elijah enormous spiritual strength. The recognizable motif of a journey lasting “forty days and forty nights” is a formula that appears throughout the Bible, so its use in this narrative doesn’t state the exact, but the figurative, time it took Elijah to reach Mount Horeb.

73 When Elijah does reach Mount Horeb, Yalkut Me’am lo’ez, suggests that the journey that God then orders Elijah to take to Mount Horeb and then on to Damascus, would take “forty days and forty nights”. Mount Horeb was the same mountain, called ‘the rock’, that Moses had previously visited. In this cave in Mount Horeb, Elijah did not sleep there, but, instead he was lodged there. The Hebrew stem LWN means to lodge and its use is also found in Jer. 4:14, Ps. 25:3, and in Job 19:4. In this narrative, its use tells us that Elijah was contemplating while he was in this cave, and that was when Elijah heard the voice of God. The Yalkut Me’am lo-‘ez states, The Holy One, blessed be He, caused him a deep sleep and showed him the events with Moses who set there for forty days and forty nights, and there he set till God forgave the people of Israel the sin of the golden 158 calf. In Elijah’s narrative we find this verse, And He said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord and, behold the Lord passed by…(19:11.). In the story of Moses, we encounter this verse, And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. (Ex. 34:6.). The voice tells Elijah in this manifestation of God that the voice he’s hearing is not located in the wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire. Instead, this time the voice of God that Elijah hears is the stillsmall voice, and when Elijah is told this, he understands that the glory of the Lord has passed by him. According to the Yalkut, from the phrase stating that God’s manifestation is ‘not the wind’, Elijah thinks that phrase is implying that that God will inflict a punishment but that God will want the people of Israel to repent, At first God said to Elijah (while he was in the cave), ‘Elijah, what are you doing in the cave of Moses? Do you wish to be Moses? He is the defender 159 of the Israelites, and he gave himself for their sake, but you are not so.’ And then God showed Elijah the great wind and said, “not in the wind.” God wanted the prophet to perceive the idea that there is no need to prove the reality of God by using a powerful phenomenon, as we find in Psalms, The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness…(29:8.). but also God speaks in a small voice that comes to the prophet while he is contemplating. In this Yalkut, it is stated that a human being has four qualities. When man is angry, he can use the first quality and act with wrath, which is like

74 the ‘great wind which rents the mountain’. And when man acts like this, then God does not let His divine presence dwell among such people. When man uses the next quality, that ‘of the quake’, that man is moved in his heart but that man takes no action based on what’s in his heart. Then, once again, God chooses not to dwell among such people. When man uses the third quality, which is like ‘the glow of fire’, then that man doesn’t utter anger with his lips. Then, once again, God chooses not to dwell with these people. When man uses the fourth quality, ‘the still small voice’ that does not show any anger, then God chooses to dwell 160 with these people.

D. From the Realm of Miracles Separate souls vanish, separation vanishes. Time that has been lived by the soul vanishes with the soul. We know no duration in time. Only the “rock” in which the heart is concealed, only the rock of the human heart does not vanish. For it does not stand time. The time of the world disap161 pears before eternity as into the perfect existence.

Religious experience is described in one of two ways: on the one hand, some see it as hell, and on the other hand, others see it as a utopian tranquility. But either point of view is much too simplistic, even though these points of view are readily found in Jewish Orthodoxy, in Christianity in the writings of the Evangelists, and in Islam. Every human being is intellectually curious, and, in an effort to know the world, humans examine the “known” world. Such an intellectually perceptive person may, indeed, wish to also discover the “secret” of the world by facing the world and observing it carefully. This careful observation, however, only emphasizes the mystery of the world. Usually, when a human reaches this stage, then he or she begins to search for God’s revelation. When this deity revealed himself to Moses, we read, And He said, Draw not nigh neither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. (Ex.3: 5-6.). When God reveals himself to Job, God appears with a definite request,

75 Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me. (Job 38:3.). And right after God makes this request of Job, God begins to ask questions which no human can ever answer. Since Job could not understand these questions, Job replies, …Therefore have I uttered that I understand not: things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. (Job 42:3.). When God appears to Elijah, that divine revelation is presented as a series of phenomena: the great strong wind, the earthquake, the fire, and then, the still small voice. (19: 11-12.). In this narrative, twice the divine voice asks Elijah, What doest thou here? (19: 9,13.). Elijah does not respond to the phenomena that God sends, but he tells God, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts. (19: 10, 14.). In these three revelations of God, we discover that none of these three individuals presented a curious desire to know or to comprehend the world’s mystery, but each presented his willingness to accept the world’s mystery as the divine authority chose to share it in His revelation. The deity in His revelation shares His perception of the world and its mystery. This deity relates to His world in a way that no human can understand. This inability by humans to understand the way of God in this world is what theologians term mysterium tremendum. After God had shown Elijah the three phenomena of the great wind, the earthquake, and the fire, then the mysterious silence of the still small voice that reached Elijah next must have shook the prophet and greatly frightened him. The still small voice had a huge impact on Elijah. An unheard voice shakes the bones of the listener. This is the voice that comes to a human who is experiencing an ecstasy. So, was Elijah in an ecstasy when he heard the still small voice? There is no way to answer this question, but as we search for an attempt to begin to answer this question, we can examine some early literary works to gather clues. For example, the Sages asked, ‘What was the cave that Elijah comes to?’ The Sages teach that Elijah used the same cave that Moses had used, R. Hiyya b. Aba also said in the name of R. Johanan: Had there been in the cave which Moses and Elijah stood, a chink no bigger than the eye of a fine needle, they would not have been able to endure the light, as it says, 162 ‘for man shall not see Me and live.’ (Ex. 33:20.). According to the Sages, no human can endure the power in which God appears in this world. So, according to the Sages, Moses and Elijah were in the cave for

76 God’s revelation because the prophets needed the protection of the cave when 163 God appeared. Some scholars suggest that Moses acted as a zealot when he killed the Egyptians, especially since this killing spree caused Moses to flee. But others point out that Moses becomes the shepherd for his father-in-law’s flocks, suggesting that Moses had passed through the earlier stage of jealousy or zeal. However, the victory he won on Mount Carmel did not calm the jealousy or zeal of Elijah. He, too, fled to escape the vengeance of the cruel queen. He fled to the same place that Moses had received The Law and where the Israelites had proclaimed their acceptance of The Law. Elijah rested under the ro-tem tree, and like Jonah had done, Elijah then requested his own death. Miraculously, an angel answers Elijah. This angel offers Elijah food and then God manifests himself to Elijah, as He had to Moses and the Israelites, on a mountain. In Moses’ experience of God’s revelation, Moses and the Israelites experienced the ‘smoke of the furnace’ and ‘the quake of the mountain’, and a ‘voice’ that ‘sounded louder’ (Ex. 19.), but in Elijah’s narrative, God appears not in the ‘great wind renting the mountains’, nor ‘in the quake’, nor ‘in the fire’, but He appears instead only to Elijah in ‘the still small voice’. Elijah has been glorified in Jewish tradition because he was able to perform miracles and because he ascended into heaven in a whirlwind. Philo had noted that Elijah did not die, Following a certain widespread Jewish tradition, Philo includes Moses among those who, like Enoch and Elijah, did not die but were translated 164 to heaven during their life time. Ben Sira, who lived in the third century B.C.E., speaks about the restoration of the ‘tribes of Jacob’, Who wast ordained for reproofs in their ties, to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgment, before it broke forth into fury and to turn the heart of 165 the father unto the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. Already in the third century B.C.E. we find stories of Elijah’s miraculous deeds and his ascending into heaven. But Elijah held another very special role, as we see it in the last verse of Malachi, And he (Elijah) shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Ben Sira, in eleven verses, sums up the whole narrative of Elijah presented in the Book of 1Kings and in the Book of 2Kings, Then stand up Elias the prophet as fire and his wood burned like a lamp. He brought a sore famine upon them and by his zeal he diminished their

77 number. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven and also three times brought down fire. O Elias, how wast thou honored in thy wondrous deeds and who may glory like unto thee. Who didst raise up a dead man from death and his soul from the place of the dead, by the word of the Most High. Who broughtest kings to destruction, and honourable men from their bed. Who heardest the rebuke of the Lord in Sinai, and in Horeb the judgment of vengeance. Who anointed kings to take revenge, and prophets to succeed after him. Who was taken up in a whirlwind of fire and in a chariot of fiery horses. Who wast ordained for reproofs in their times, to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgment, before it broke forth into fury and to turn the heart of the father unto the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. Blessed are they that saw thee, and slept in love, 166 for we shall surely live. This tale of Elijah, as a miraculous person who was able to perform miracles and who ascended into heaven in a whirlwind, was already well established in the third century B.C.E. Ben Sira probably used the prophecy of Malachi on the coming of Elijah. If so, then it suggests that by the third century B.C.E., or even earlier than that, that the prophet Elijah had attained the status as the prophet who would proclaim the coming of the Messiah, because he was the one who will “restore the tribes of Jacob” and the one who was responsible for “the resurrection”, and the one who will make it possible “so surely we will live.” In the first century C.E., early Christians revered Elijah. In fact, at first, Jesus was believed to be the second coming of Elijah. It is only when Jesus revealed his Messianic claim, that John the Baptist is then understood to be the second coming of 167 Elijah (Matt. 11:10 ff; Mark 9:11 ff). In Jewish tradition, Elijah plays a very important role. This occurs in the last two verses of Malachi where Elijah becomes the harbinger and the one who will proclaim the coming of the Messiah. Elijah is known as the messenger of hope and as the one whose role it is to deliver the people from their hardship. As a zealous prophet who fought for God’s covenant (1Kings 19:10.), Elijah is also present in the Jewish tradition in the brit milah, or the circumcision, or, as it is known as the covenant of Abraham. He is also present in the Jewish tradition because in that tradition every male child had the potential to be the Messiah. Elijah also sits on the right of the godfather, the san-daq, and the mo-hel, or the circumciser, announces: This is the chair of Elijah. At the conclusion of every Sabbath day, in the evening Elijah’s name appears in the evening songs as, He will come soon to us with the Messiah, the son of David. This repetitious song, that is sung every Sabbath evening, can be seen as a synonym for progress because Elijah is expected to come at the end of another week of hard work. Elijah’s name also appears as Phinehas in Numbers, where, by virtue of his

78 act, he stopped the plague (21:7-8.). So, how did Elijah’s name become associated with the name of Phinehas? Both of them were zealots for the sake of God and/or for the sake of the people. In spite of Phinehas’ unauthorized use of zeal, the Jewish Sages awarded him a place in Jewish history. Elijah’s name also appears as Phinehas, who by the virtue of his act, had stopped the plague (Num. 21:7-8.). The Sages explained that Phinehas was chosen to accompany the Hebrews in their war against the Midianites, and that Phinehas completed his good action by slaying the Midianite woman named Kazbi, the daughter of Zur, who was the daughter of the prince of Midian (Num. 25.). The Sages also argued that Phinehas avenged Joseph, his maternal grandfather, who had been sold into slavery by the Midianites, Thus it states, And Moses sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas. Them refers to the Sanhedrin. Phinehas was the (priest) anointed for (the) battle, with the vessels of the sanctuary, (i.e., the ark and the tablets…) A Tanna taught: Nor for naught did Phinehas go to the battle (against Midian) but to exact judgment on behalf of his mother’s father (Joseph), as it is said, ‘And the Midianites sold him into 168 Egypt.’ As was pointed out earlier, Phinehas was the one who slew Bal’am. In the Talmud, we find the following, A certain min (heretic) said to R. Hanina, “Hast thou heard how old Bala’am was?” He replied: It is not actually stated, but since it is written ‘Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out all their days’(Ps. 55:24.), he was thirty-three or thirty-four years old. He rejoined, “Thou hast said correctly. I personally have such Bala’am’s chronicle, in which it is stated, ‘Bala’am was thirty years old 169 when Phinehas the Robber killed him.’ Phinehas was said to have been one of the spies sent by Joshua to Jericho. There he made himself invisible like an angel. In fact, Phinehas was identical with the angel sent to Bo-chim. It is here, when Phinehas is identified as an angel, that he becomes identified as Elijah. The zeal and the power of peacemaking distinguished both Elijah and Phinehas. The transformation of Phinehas into an angelic being is found in Exodus, in the verse PS. Jon., stating, …ush-ne ha-yo di-ke-hat ha-si-da…ad de-ha-ma Pinhas hu Eliyyahu ka-hana rab-ba de-atid le-mish-tal-ha li-glu-ta de-yis-ra-el be-sof yo-may-ya (6:13.). … Kehat the pious was…until he beheld Phinehas who is Elijah the high priest, which will be sent, in the future, the end of the days, to the people of Israel in exile.

79 In the Book of Numbers 31:8, PS. Jon. describes the killing of Bal’am by Phinehas as in, ….(Bal‘am) avad mil-ta d-qus-min uf-rah be-aver she-maya min yad id-kar pinehas she-maya rab-ba ve-qad-di-sha uf-rah bat-roy. (Bal‘am) made his magic and flew to the sky, immediately Phinehas mentioned the Holy One’s name and flew after chasing him. The interpretation of Elijah as ‘progress’ is found not only in the Sabbath evening song, but it is also found in Arabic literature, where Elijah is called al khidhr, or, ‘the green one’, meaning ‘the evergreen one’, which emphasizes that Elijah represents hope in the future. He is also known as ‘the one to explain any difficulty’. Thus, when the Sages declared a problem that could not be solved, they called it Teku, which, literally translated means, ‘it stands’. But it is also abbreviated as, Tish-bi ye-ta-retz qush-yot u-be-a-yot . The Tishbite (Elijah) will solve all doubts and perplexities. In Jewish tradition, Elijah is known to wander the earth. His journey is never ending. This aspect of Elijah’s identity may be connected to the well-known image of ‘the wandering Jew ’. Elijah appears for both the Tanna-im and to the Amo-ra-im. In one of the stories, we are told, R. Kahana was selling baskets, when a certain matron made (immoral) demands upon him. Said he to her: I will first adorn myself. He ascended and hurled himself from the roof towards earth, but Elijah came and caught him. ‘You have troubled me four parasangs’, he reproached him. 170 ‘What caused me (to do it),’ he retorted, ‘is not poverty?’ So he (Elijah) 171 gave him a shifa full of dinarii. It seems that the story suggests that the ‘evil inclination’, or, ye-tzer ha-ra’, has nothing to do with ‘sexual desire’. It could also be argued that this ‘evil inclination’ could be identified as ‘sexual passion’, since, after all, without its presence the human race could not continue. These stories present the notion that in the time of the Sages the people weren’t overly impressed by miracles, since miracles were seen then as ordinary, common occurrences. In a very interesting story concerning a dispute between R. Eliezer and the rabbis, R. Eliezer used almost every possible argument to substantiate his opinion. At one point, R. Eliezer states, If the halakha (ruling) agrees with me, let this carob tree prove it. Thereupon the carob tree was torn a hundred cubits of its place.

80 Another natural phenomenon occurred when the stream of water flowed backwards. These phenomena proved that R. Eliezar was correct, although the rabbis had disagreed with him. Then, we read that a heavenly voice cried out saying, Why do ye dispute with R. Eliezer, seeing that in all matters halachah agrees with him? But R. Joshua arose and exclaimed: It is not in heaven. What did he mean by this? Said R. Jeremiah, That the Torah had already been given at Mount Sinai. We pay no attention to (a) heavenly voice… R. Nathan met Elijah and asked him: What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do in that hour? He laughed (with joy) he (Elijah) replied, saying: 172 My sons have defeated me, my sons have defeated me. In another story we are told, Elijah said to Bar He-He and others said to R. Eliezer: What is the meaning of the verse, ‘Behold I have refined thee but not as silver, I have tried (chosen) thee in the furnaces of affiliation (Isa. 48:10.). It teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, went through all the good qualities in order to 173 give to Israel, and he found only poverty. Almost any Jewish prayer consists of the aspirations for redemption and the coming of the Messiah. Yet, sometimes the noun ‘Messiah’ is not mentioned out of fear of the powers that could be exerted upon the Jews by the nations where they lived. Instead of ‘Messiah’, we find the following words or phrases in the prayers: ‘Temple’, or the noun, tse-mah, or, tse-mah David, or, tse-mah sad-diq, which is translated as ‘branch’, or ‘branch of David’, or ‘righteous branch’. In the sid-dur nu-sah sefarad, translated as ‘the prayer book according to the Sepharadic custom’, in the section devoted to saying grace after a meal, we find, The merciful, He will break off the yoke from our neck and He will lead us upright to our land. The merciful, He will send us Elijah the prophet remember to good to bring us good tidings of salvation and consultation. The merciful, He will attain us the merit to the advent of the Messianic age, even the life of the world to come. These themes found in the main section of this prayer book are also found in the book’s section devoted to blessings, where we find the special prayers for rebuilding Jerusalem, for the coming again of Elijah, for the coming of the Messiah, and for ‘life in the world to come’. The most important prayer for the coming of the Messiah, and for redemption, is the qad-dish. This verse appears in this prayer, be-hay-ye-khon u-biy-yome-khon u-be-hay-ye de-knol bet yis-rael ba-‘aga-la u-biz-man qa-riv ve-im-ru amen.

81 May He manifest His kingship within your lifetime in your days, even within the lifetime of all the house of Israel speedily and soon, and say ye: Amen. Whether these prayers appear to be calling for the coming of the Messiah, or for the expectation of redemption, or for strengthening the heart of the people, the main idea of all these prayers is the desire to find an escape in the hope of the coming Messiah. The Jewish Sages stressed that hope for the Messiah is the only measure that remains. In his search for the Messianic Era, a Jew is not allowed to search for external signs, such as astral or celestial bodies. The only thing a Jew can do while waiting for the Messiah is to pray. Yet, the Jew does not pray for the Messiah, but instead he or she prays for Elijah to come to point out the Messiah, the savior. The Jewish Sages developed this idea of hope to explain that their suffering now is because they are under the rule of other nations but that their long suffering will end upon the coming of the Messiah. The Sages taught that this suffering will continue until the nations of the world cease to enslave other people, stating, Between this world and the days of the Messiah, there is none but oppression (of Israel) by (other) kingdoms. When the Messiah comes, then all nations will come to welcome him, and all nations will regret the evil they inflicted on Israel, and all nations will then be ready to follow the mits-vot ma’a-si-yot, or as it is translated, ‘the practical commandments’. A remnant of such a teaching is, R. Jose says, In the time to come, idol worshippers will come and offer themselves as Proselytes. But will such be accepted? Has it not been taught that in the days of the Messiah, Proselytes will not be received; likewise were none received in the days of David or Solomon… and will place phylacteries on their foreheads and on their arms, fringes on their garments and the me-zu-zah on their doorposts, but when the battle of Gog-Magog will come about they will be asked, ‘For what purpose have you come?’ They will reply, ‘Against God and His Messiah’…Then each 174 of the Proselytes will throw aside his religious token and get away… This perception contradicts Maimonides’ view, as he stated, The sages and the prophets did not desire the Messianic day to control the whole world nor to subdue the idol worshippers…nor to eat, drink, and to be merry, but to have the leisure for (to study) the Torah and wisdom…At this time there will not be there famine nor war, nor jealousy 175 and strife…but only for knowing God.

82 The Messiah was compared to Moses and the Sages alluded to all the writings of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, as well as the divine lights, are for him and that redemption will come with the Messiah. The expectation of the Messiah’s appearance probably increased following the destruction of the Temple by Ti176 tus. With the expectation of the Messiah’s coming was the expectation for the fall of the fourth kingdom. The Midrash states, R. Eleazar b. R. Abina said: When you see the powers fighting each other, look for the coming (feet) of the King Messiah. The proof is that in the days of Abraham, because these powers fought against each other, great177 ness came to Abraham. This passage could also be considered as the beginning of the Messianic speculation among the people of Israel, of the hishu-ve ha-kets, translated as ‘reckoning the ‘End of the days’. It is possible that the first Messianic speculation appeared at the time of the Bar-kokhba’s rebellion, as the nations of the Middle East attempted to put an end to the rule of the Roman Empire. In PRE, following a long discussion of the verse, we find, And He said unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old and a she-goat of three years old (Gen. 15:9.). R. Eleazar b. Azariah taught, …From this incident thou mayest learn that the rule of these four kingdoms will only last one day according to the day of the Holy One, blessed 178 be He. In the teachings of the Sages, the apocalypse is discussed in ‘the days of the Messiah’. This apocalyptic teaching was, in some aspects, the summary of another teaching that had focused on a discussion of the Messianic Era. In tractate Sanhedrin, we find the story about R. Nahman, who had asked R. Isaac if he knew the origin of Bar Nafle. The response was that Bar Nafle is the Messiah. R. Issac then said, Do you call Messiah Bar Nafle? Even so he rejoined, as it is written, ‘In that way I will rise up the tabernacle of David, ha-no-fe-let, that is 179 fallen.’ The Sages continue their teaching about the Messiah stating that in the generation when the Messiah comes that there will be few scholars and much trouble, and that evil decrees will be proclaimed. The Sages state that the cycle of the Messianic era to unfold will take seven years. The first year, described in Amos 4:7, will be fulfilled when the rain will arrive, as in, … ‘I will cause it to rain upon one city but not to rain upon the other.’

83 In the second year, arrows of hunger will be sent which won’t be an actual famine, but ‘a sign for it’. In the third year, a great famine will occur when many men, women, and children, as well as pious people, will die. In the fourth year, the world will experience a ‘partial plenty’. The fifth year is the year of great plenty. In the sixth year, heavenly voices will announce the coming of the Messiah, as in, …that the blast of the great shofar will be heard… (Isa. 27:13.). And on the seventh year, the Messiah, the son of David, will come. nd

R. Nehori, who lived in the 2 century C.E., presented a gruesome picture when he predicted the conversion of Rome to Christianity (150 C.E.). In his teaching he said: The kingdom will be converted to heresy, with none to rebuke them. This statement is supported by R. Isaac who taught that the Messiah will not come until the whole world is converted to heretical belief. According to R. Kattina, the world will exist for six thousand years and in the seven thousandth year, the world will be ‘desolated’. This is an apocalyptic teaching. The Tanna dve Eliyyahu teaches, The world is to exist six thousand years, in the first two thousand there 180 181 will be desolation. Two thousand years the Torah flourished. The 182 next two thousand years are the Messianic Era. But through all our in183 equities, all these years have been lost. The Sages were interested in the Messianic Speculation. One of the most interesting of these apocalyptic speculations is found in the epistle sent by Rav Hanan b. Tahlita to R. Joseph. It is about the man who possessed a scroll written in 184 Hebrew but with Assyrian characters. This is important because it was a custom to write Hebrew using foreign characters. Most Biblical and post-Biblical narratives belong to the sub-genre of biographical legend. These are the stories about the patriarchs and the matriarchs, about the kings, and about special people who had a special power to perform miracles. Among these narratives we find Elijah’s narratives, where the miracles he performed are also included in the sub-genre of the literature of the Near East. However, it is hard to prove that a direct borrowing from these cultures is found in the Biblical and post-Biblical literature. What we can note, however, in this regard, are the common folklore motifs, which crossed all cultural borders. Oral tradition doesn’t recognize political borders, so the motifs of this genre, as well as the motifs from legends and parables, travel from one culture to another. Elijah’s narratives belong to the genre of legends of holy people and it is difficult to suggest that these narratives were developed from mythical stories or have theological messages. While the narratives found in the Book of Genesis, and in

84 Exodus, and in parts of the Book of Numbers, have ‘historical implications’, the shift is from the universal dimension (Gen. 1-11.) to the early historical epics of the Hebrews, first as a family, and then as a tribe, and finally, as a nation. Elijah’s narratives have no such ‘historical implication’. That is, so to speak, the meaning of Elijah’s struggle against the worshippers of Ba’al is a cultural struggle. Oral tradition played an important role in the Jewish curricula of the early time. Teachers and Sages passed on this tradition by word of mouth from one generation to the next, keeping in mind the socio-cultural commandment. They were commanded before the Decalogue was given to them. This commandment is: And thou shalt show (tell) thy son in that day saying… (Ex. 13:8.). The commandment to tell the story, to pass it from father to son, had a great effect on this tradition to preserve and cherish this culture. Telling the stories of their past was their most effective contribution given to the generations yet to come. In our time, we are witnessing a growing interest in the oral tradition. Scholars are trying to trace the tradition and the cultural values of the tradition. They wish to understand the meaning of certain customs, which throughout past generations and history became a way of life, and to understand the substance for the existence of these traditions. Let’s examine an example of an observed custom that is a teaching of Elijah, or derived out of his tradition. From the nouns ug-gat re-tz-fim, translated as ‘ a cake baked on coals’, we learn about another teaching which emphasizes how bad it is considered when someone maliciously speaks against the people of Israel. A hint for this interpretation is found in the Midrash Rabbah’s explanation of the verse, And there came one that had escaped…(Gen. 14:13.). This pa-lit ,one, was ‘the one who escaped’ from the war and was named Og, and who brought the tiding to Abraham while he was baking ug-got, cakes. There is also a teaching that points out that the origin of the custom in Jewish tradition, practiced even in our time, known as the Chair of Elijah, is also derived from these two nouns. According to this tradition, Elijah participates and, at the same time, observes how many covenants the Israelites conduct and observe in each generation. Yalkut Me’am lo-‘ez presents a dialogue between God and Elijah as follows, The Holy One, blessed be He, told him, Are you zealous for me? You have shut the door so the angel of death cannot control you. But the world cannot stand by you. He responded: They have left your covenant. Said He, In your life, any place they will conduct the holy covenant, you will be invited there. The author of Yalkut suggests that here we find the

85 reason for the custom of the ‘Chair of Elijah’. When the people celebrate the covenant of Abraham, involving the circumcision of an eight-day old male child, they ‘invite’ Elijah to participate by stating, ‘This is the chair of Elijah ’. The custom also involves decorating this ceremonial chair and the circumcised child is seated on this chair as the following is recited, This is the Chair of Elijah, remember for good. Another reason for the ‘Chair of the Covenant’ is that God appears to Abraham on the plains of Mamre when God made a covenant with this prophet. The custom of ‘Elijah’s chair’ probably originated from this event when a circumcision was 185 conducted. It is a tradition that is considered to honor the Divine Presence. Today it is still believed that Elijah is present at any circumcision. In BBMe. 104, the Sages claim that Elijah is a priest, a kohen. The Sages then ask what will happen if there is a corpse present in another room of a house where a circumcision is taking place. In a response from R. Soloman Kluger (b.1785) in Galicia, we find that Elijah ‘is obliged’ to ‘keep the law” only when Elijah appears on earth as a human. In the circumcision ceremony, however, Elijah appears as ‘an angel of the covenant’ and appearing as ‘an angel’, so then Elijah isn’t obliged to keep the law. In my small village in Israel, for example, the rue (sha-dab) and basil (re-han) were spread over ‘the Chair’ and beside the infant. It was explained that this custom is preserved in honor of Elijah and as a remembrance of the keto-ret (incense), which was offered in the Temple. My teacher, to whom I owe my love for reading and learning, Sa’adya Arikha, blessed be his memory, said that the Jews in the Diaspora lived in very smelly places and, as a result, they used to burn incense to honor their guests. This was, indeed, an unorthodox explanation that came to me at a very early age from a teacher who was working and living in an orthodox village. Elijah became known in Jewish tradition as a helper who came in times of need, especially at the end of the Sabbath day, when the worries about the family’s needs grow. Elijah became known as one who helped the persecuted. It is told that he appeared before the Roman Emperor disguised as one of his ministers and that was able to save Nahum of Gamzu and Eliazer b. Perata from being executed. Elijah was revered as the savior of the Jewish people in the days of the Roman Oppression and on into the present day. Another story tells us that in the ninth century a decree was issued against the Jews of Baghdad. Elijah appeared and revealed himself to the Khalif, warning him of a punishment for having issued this decree. In the two Jewish communities of the Sepharadic and of the Ashkenazi, there is a shared traditional belief that Elijah will appear on the Sabbath evening. In both communities, a custom emerged that involves singing songs on the Sabbath evening and those songs are about the redemption.

86 On Passover eve, the fifth cup of wine, that is traditionally left for Elijah is called ‘the Elijah cup ’, is connected to Elijah’s role as a harbinger. The custom was discussed in the following way, Now since there is the great Hallel why do we recite this one? Because it includes the following five things. The exodus from Egypt, the dividing of the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah, the resurrection of the dead, and the pangs of the Messiah…R. Johanan said: ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us’ refers to the war of Gog and Magog. R. Nahman b. Isaac said, ‘Because it contains (an allusion to) the deliverance of the souls of the righteous from the Gehenna, as it is said: ‘I beseech thee, O Lord, deliver 186 my soul’… The legends about Elijah describe him appearing sometimes as a person and sometimes as an angel. As a human, Elijah deals with rabbis, as he studies with them and teaches them as if they were his friends and colleagues. As an angel, Elijah helps the needy and the oppressed. When the Sages search for a refuge place from their tribulations, they view the Galilee as this place. They consider this part of the country as the place where the Messiah is about to reveal himself. The reason for this teaching is probably connected to the fact that this region enjoyed semi-autonomy during the rule of the Romans, while Judea was dominated by the Roman administrative authorities. Through the teachings of R. Hiya, we read that the only place where the Jewish people can find refuge from a shameless king, Me-lekh ‘az panim, is located in Galilee and that this is where the Messiah will reveal himself. The redemptive motif, which is emphasized in the Sages’ teachings, is not emphasized in the oral tradition. There is an interesting difference between the homiletic and the folkloric literature. In the folkloric tradition, Elijah is the one who will establish justice in the world and who will struggle against any type of injustice. In folkloric literature, Elijah is the one who punishes those who are greedy and he rewards those who are generous toward the poor. His actions can be viewed in this tradition as being focused on easing and narrowing the social gaps, as is seen when Elijah punishes esteemed communal leaders and even a 187 rabbi. An example of such a story is found in the collection of ‘Oseh Pele’. In this story, Elijah rebukes a rabbi who collected money for charity but then distributed it according to his own will. Elijah tells this rabbi that ‘the cry of the needy reached heaven’. Stories like this one were probably told to ease the suffering of the people and as a solace to the poor. Elijah’s revelation occurred usually on the eve of the Passover, when he punishes the greedy and, simultaneously, when he provides whatever the poor need to celebrate Passover. This explains the custom of a cup being left for Elijah at the Seder. However, the sharing of Elijah’s acts, as well as the sharing of his per-

87 formance of miracles, extends beyond the Jewish canonical texts (Bible, Talmud, Midrashim). He appears also in the songs and legends, as well as in the practical Kabbalah, where the theme of hope is emphasized. Earlier we noted that some Sages suggested that Elijah was the disciple of Moses and that he never died. This perception of Elijah is also found in the works of some Jewish thinkers in the Middle Ages. Meir Ibn Gabbai (b. 1480) is the Jewish thinker who observed that the teachers of Ramban (Nahmanides) were Ezra and Azriel, who were the disciples of R. Isaac Sagi Nahor, R. Isaac the Blind, who was the disciple of his father, Abraham Ibn Daud, who had received his learning from his father, R. David. In Jewish tradition, it is known that Elijah visited these three men and that he taught each of them the lessons of the Kabbalah. According to Ibn Gabriol, the meaning of kabbalah is a tradition that is handed down from teacher to disciple, and it is a tradition that reaches back to Moses. Jewish tradition emphasizes that all the teaching, interpretation, and, ideas to be revealed in the future yet to come, were given to Moses on Mount Sinai.Since the wisdom transmitted in the kabbalah is a new wisdom for the Rabbis, they were looking for and expecting a great teacher to arrive. Elijah is known in this tradition as that great and expected teacher the Rabbis were waiting to arrive to explain the perplexities of this new wisdom. In fact, Ibn Gabirol emphasizes here the early teachings of the Sages concerning the frequent meetings between Elijah and certain Sages and pious people. Elijah, who never died, is considered to be the disciple of Moses. Elijah’s frequent visits to earth occur to introduce an interpretation of an implicit and unclear early teaching. th th In the 12 and the 13 centuries, in the circle of Jewish Sages, we discover an esoteric literary work where they argued for the preservation of teaching the secret of the Torah. We know of R. Abraham Ibn Daud, an authority on the Jewish laws, who played an important role transmitting what was known, in his circle of scholars, as ‘secrets’. He also claimed that this ‘circle of scholars’ had the revelation of Elijah, which meant that Elijah the prophet used to reveal himself to them in order to share ‘secrets’ and to explain difficult passages of the Law. These mystics claimed to benefit from a divine revelation because of their contact with Elijah. At a much later time, we can read R. Hayyim Vital, who shared that Elijah constantly revealed himself to him and had instructed him on the matters of ‘secrets’. 188 In the book of Zohar , we read that R. Simeon bar Yohai was the one who, according to tradition, wrote the book, and that he experienced and practiced what is called ‘the posture of Elijah’, which was Elijah’s attitude and his ability to weep at the same time. This technique is also recorded within some of the Hasi189 dic communities. On this traditional technique, handed down from teacher to disciple, we have the following story,

88 A Jew met Elijah the prophet and asked him: I have two loves in my heart. One is a great love to the study of the Torah and the other is great love to the people of Israel. Which one ought to have greater attention? Elijah then responded and said: Most of the Sages will say the study of the Torah deserves greater attention, but I say, the people of Israel need greater attention because, for the sake of this people, the Torah was given to humanity. The Hasidic tradition developed two main thoughts. One is that Elijah is the herald of the Messiah, a teacher, and a performer of miracles. The second is that Elijah embodies the idea of ‘Justice for all.’ This perception became the core of Herman Cohen’s thinking. Cohen (1842-1918), a Jewish-German philosopher, was one of the leading German philosophers of his day. His approach to Jewish tradition and to Judaism as a faith was a simultaneous search for the ethical idea of one God and for God as the Father of mankind. Cohen taught that man’s love of God corresponds to man’s love of his fellow man. This perception is a result of Cohen’s interpretation of the verse in Lev. 19:2, which reads, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, Ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord your God, am holy. In his teaching, Cohen proposed ‘that the man who became Christian of every nation, despite the enmity among them, his salvation is through the one Christ’. Cohen viewed the notion of God’s punitive judgment as the purification of Israel and, from that purification, comes God’s guidance and the education of man emerges. But this ‘guidance’ requires development, which is expressed by the Biblical term ‘the way of the Lord’, which is the symbol of the Messiah. And according to the prophesy of Malachi, Elijah becomes the forerunner and the herald of the Messiah. When the prophet Joel prophesized the pouring out of the spirit ‘upon all flesh’, Cohen views that act as a symbol anticipating the rejuvenation of the spiritual and the moral worlds. Messianism is a belief directed toward the future and, as such, it distinguishes itself from the ancient world, which viewed life as ‘now’ or ‘in the present time’. Messianism is the ideal life and it contradicts reality. Here, in the Messianic ideal, ‘past and present submerge, time becomes future only.’ The Messiah has two tasks. One is to present the ideal morality. The second task is to unite all of humanity. These two tasks are included in the Messianic idea. In his interpretation of the verses in Zech. 9:9-10, …Thy king cometh unto thee…and riding upon an ass… Cohen goes on to say,

89 Although the Messiah is here called King, he is at the same time humble and riding upon an ass. Following this interpretation quoted above, Cohen presents the exact translation of the verse to prove his presentation that the scripture’s description introduced the picture of poverty more than having introduced a picture representing humanity, …Behold thy king cometh unto the righteous and victorious poor and riding upon an ass. This ‘king’, so Cohen suggests, was a prelude to ‘God’s servant’. Along with his interpretation of the verses from the Book of Zecheriah, which Cohen used to support his perception of the Messianic idea, he suggested that the verse in Zech. 2:15, And many nations shall join themselves to the eternal in that day and shall be my people… he presents the idea that those nations and people who join the people of Israel will become part of it and, like Israel, will become God’s people. Cohen viewed this verse as a nationalistic idea of the election of Israel as a nation when he wrote, …Perhaps Zerubbabel might have been the cause, is introduced by Malachi; he lets Elijah precede the Messiah…It is as if the preliminary mission of the first restoring concord among the families allotted to Elijah before 190 the Messiah can restore concord among the families of the Earth. Cohen then emphasized that the Messiah is an idea, and not a person, as seen in, The oneness of God is proven by the fact that realms of nature and the morality are keyed to each other. The task of the Jew is to strive for a world where perfect Moral action is Universal and it is all combined in the Messianic Idea in the future. Judaism gave the world the idea of One God, which in fact, is spirit and the Messianic Idea which he perceived is not as a personal Messiah, but as God for all humanity, a figure of a loving father embracing all with compassion. When Cohen eliminated the idea of the personal Messiah, he embraced the idea that the Messiah as an idea is a powerful lever in history and it’s a very significant Judaic contribution to mankind. The true Messiah is not a hero or a personal savior, but is the profound idea of justice for all. In orthodoxy, however, the Messiah is a personal savior, a figure who is about to arrive, and the one who will be proclaimed by Elijah. This Messianic idea sus-

90 tained the Jewish people in times of persecution and trails, during periods of oppression and annihilation. This idea of the ‘coming Messiah’ encouraged the Jewish people to look for ‘better times to come’ for themselves, as well as for others. Orthodox Jews today present us the same expectations and hopes that we find in the Bible and in the post-Biblical literature. The major difference separating the Orthodox Jews from the Christians is rooted in defining the time and identity of the Messiah. It is commonly accepted that the Jews continue to wait for the Messiah to appear and that the Jews do not believe that the Messiah is the Son of God, while the Christians are seen as awaiting the second coming of the Messiah, that they also identify as being God’s only Son. Within the Sage’s circle, there was a long dispute about ‘the days of the Messiah’ and about the Messiah’s identity. Here we find a hint that the Messiah had arrived and that there is an expectation for this Messiah’s ‘second coming’, Rab said: The World was created only on David’s account (that he might sing psalms to God). Samuel said: On Moses’s account (to receive the Torah). R. Johanan said for the sake of the Messiah. What is his name? The School of R. Shila said his name is Shiloh, for it is written until Shiloh come. (Gen.49:10.). The School of R. Yannai said, his name is Yinnon, for it is written, this name shall endure for ever, e’er the sun was, his name is Yinnon.(Ps. 72:17.).The School of R. Haninah maintained: His name is Haninah as it is written: When I give you Haninah (Jer. 16:13.). Others said: His name is Menahem, the son of Hezekiah, for it is written: 191 Because Menahem that will relieve my soul…(Isa. 53:4.). Yet, the ‘coming of the Messiah’ is not the expectation of all Jews. Some are not waiting for their personal Messiah, but instead, are hoping for the arrival of the Messianic Age, which includes a better life, the potential establishment of true justice and spirituality, and a time of transformation to good and righteousness. We should emphasize that this hope for such a state is also a belief and a hope held by other denominations. This hope is a spark given to us from somewhere. It’s a messianic spark that unites all of humanity with the shared aspiration that this spark will ignite itself and that its light will then establish this perception of the long awaited Messianic Age.

91

E. Elijah, Messiah: And Still No Light

You are praised, O Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, fashioner of light and creator of darkness, maker of peace and creator of all, in mercy you give light to the earth and to those who dwell upon it. In your goodness you renew the work of creation every day, perpetually. How manifold are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. 192 The earth is full of your creation.

In a long discussion, the Sages state that the role of Elijah is to clarify some halakhic doubts and difficulties. In their teachings, we find two forms of such clarifications. In the Talmudic literature, it is said: Rabbah b. Abah met Elijah standing in a non-Jewish cemetery. Said he to him, ‘Is a means test to be applied in favor of the doubter?’ He replied, ‘We deduce (the law of) poverty (written here) from that valuations.’ In respect of ‘valuations’ it is written, ‘But if he be poor than thy valuation’…whilest of a debater it is written, ‘And if thy brother be waxen 193 poor…then thou shalt relieve him.’ Elijah’s clarification will be by the means of a syllogism, or g’ze-rah sha-vah, and by the reconciliation of disputed matters. From the verse in Hosea, …till he come and rain righteousness upon you.(10:12.). The Sages taught that when Elijah comes, then he will teach whether something is permitted or forbidden. The phrase the Sages used to describe this was Tequ, which is an abbreviation for, Tish-bi (Elijah) Ye-ta-retz qush-yot u-be-a-yot. The Tishbite (Elijah) will solve all doubts and perplexities. According to a teaching in Malachi 3:23, Elijah will appear one day before the 194 coming of the Messiah. The Sages taught that Elijah won’t appear on the Sabbath, nor on the eve of any holiday, in order that the required preparations for these events can be completed and not be neglected by the commotion that will

92 surround his appearance. It was taught that if Passover eve should fall on the Sabbath, then leaven of the te-ru-mah of doubtful ha-metz, or translated as un195 clean, may be burned before the Sabbath. The meaning of this teaching is that the ha-metz, which is to be burned on the eve of Passover, should already be burnt in case Passover falls on the Sabbath day (Friday), as the Law states, Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day. (Ex. 35:3.). What will Elijah clarify? From the Talmudic literature, we learn that the Sages taught that Elijah will rule on matters of piety, as we read of the teaching of R. 196 Jose praying in the ruin. When we have doubt about whether te-ru-mah was ha-metz, or not, the Sages taught that this is when Elijah will give his ruling. Similarly, in the case of wine and oil for the altar in the Temple, which was prepared in Galilee, Elijah will come to show the path, which is not located in the 197 heathen territory, and he will also rule in the case of a pregnant woman bound 198 to the ya- bam, brother-in-law. The Sages went on to list the following cases: 199 200 the case of the priest and a slave; the case of the meal of wine; and the case of 201 the skin of a clean fish and te-fil-lin, phylacteries. There was a disagreement between the Rabbis of Jerusalem and the Rabbis of the city of Safed over the issue of whether Elijah will confer the s’mi-kha, the ordination of the rabbis, from man to man, or, from rabbi to disciple. According to the Sages’ teaching, Elijah was ordained by Ahijah the Shilonite, which some claimed was Moses. Some Sages taught that Elijah was an angel and, as an angel, that Elijah could not ordain rabbis. In the end, all the scholars and Sages agreed that when Elijah appears, that he will confer s’mi-kha. The Sages taught that when Jezebel learned about the killing of her prophets, then she sought to kill Elijah. As was just pointed out, God had promised Elijah that no Israelite would perform circumcision without Elijah being present. Thus, the Sages taught that a ‘special chair’ must be prepared for the angel of the cove202 nant, or, for Elijah. As the Sabbath day concludes, songs are recited in honor of Elijah because Jews pray for Elijah to come now, for the second time stating, ‘as we kept the Sabbath, for its merit, come!’ Another interpretation is that the Jews mention Elijah in the hav-da-lah, which was a benediction occurring at the conclusion of the Sabbath and festivals, and that symbolizes the separation of the holy day from the weekdays, just as Elijah will separate the legitimate from the illegitimate. In another teaching regarding the hav-da-lah, the Sages stated, ‘We kept the Sabbath, now send us Elijah.’ There is a custom of preparing a cup of wine for Elijah on Passover eve. It is connected to the teaching that because the Jews had been liberated in the first month, Nisan, then the Jews will be liberated again by Elijah’s coming which will be in Nisan. As a tradition, doors are also opened for Elijah in order to speed

93 his coming and to welcome him with the phrase, ba-rukh hab bah, ‘Welcome, blessed be the One who comes’. Another traditional saying at Passover is, Shefokh ha-mat-kha, ‘Pour out thy fury upon the heathen’, which is said in remembrance of the redemption and in remembrance of Elijah’s well-known jealousy for God. Elijah is not the Messiah, but he is the messenger who will come for the second time to mankind to announce the coming of the Messiah. According to legend, the child resurrected by Elijah is the Messiah, the son of Joseph, as we find it written in Shimoni: I have given a sign to the world that first I go down to Babylonia and 203 only afterward the Messiah will come. For centuries Jews have celebrated Passover as a memorial to freedom and as deliverance from slavery. But, in fact, Passover is not looking back to the history of the Israelites, but, rather, Passover is pointing instead to the future. When the glass of wine is put aside at Passover for Elijah, symbolically it is a reminder that Elijah will be the messenger for the coming Messianic Era. The door is opened for Elijah to bring freedom in the future to all mankind. In the works of Josephus, we discover that in the reign of Jehoram, king of Israel, that Elijah 204 disappeared and that no one knows where Elijah is. Many legends were told about Elijah. Some shared that Elijah tries to better the lives of the righteous people and that he reveals ‘hidden’ secrets. Sometimes Elijah is described in the legends as descending from heaven to be the guest of a pious and learned person and that Elijah teaches the Torah at such times. R. 205 Jose, according to legend, was a disciple of Elijah. Among R. Jose’s teachings, we find instances where Elijah criticizes the Sages. An example can be found described in the Talmudic literature where we learn that Elijah criticized R. Ishmael b. Yose for doing police work on the behalf of the Romans. Elijah is also described in Talmudic literature as meeting constantly with and criticizing R. 206 Joshua b. Levi. For example, Elijah discovered that R. Joshua had persuaded a Jew to surrender himself to the Roman authority in order to save the Jewish community of Lydda from destruction by the Romans. To punish R. Joshua, Elijah avoided him scrupulously, hiding from him for thirty days, and that Elijah 207 commented that, “This should have been done by others.” Another story, which stresses the importance of the readiness of the people for the Messianic Era, shares that the Messiah is to be seen among the beggars by the gates of Rome. He is there ready to redeem the people if they all repent. 208 In another story in the Talmudic literature, that is contrary to this one, it emphasizes that only when Elijah appears in public will the people of Israel repent. In a late, post-Talmudic period, Elijah became not only the herald of the Messiah, but Elijah is said to have shared a very active association with the Messiah. Both Elijah and the Messiah, it is told in this legend, were busy recording

94 the good deeds of the people in order to hasten the arrival of the day of redemp209 tion. In the Zoharic literature, Elijah belongs to the cast of angels advocating for 210 the creation of Adam. In this literature, Elijah is an angel who temporarily dwelt on earth in the form of a human being and then had ascended to heaven. Cordovero compares the life of Elijah to the life of Enoch, since each had ascended to heaven. Enoch was consumed by fire as he ascended to heaven and in heaven he became Metatron, the highest angel in the heavenly hierarchy, while Elijah ascended to heaven and he retained his human form there. By maintaining his human form in heaven, Elijah maintains his association with the world inhabited by mankind. Although Elijah retains his human form in heaven, this literature teaches that Elijah wasn’t created from the dust of the earth but, instead, that he was created from the Tree of Life. This allows Elijah to carry out 211 the commandments of God and to perform miracles. Enoch is known simply as the archangel Metatron, but Elijah is known as the one in heaven who periodically intervenes in the earthly life and fate of the Jewish people. This literature teaches that Elijah constantly wanders upon the earth and that his journey here is constant. In some way, this constant journeying of Elijah can be linked to the 212 concept of the ‘Wandering Jew’. He appears for both the Tanna’im and for the 213 Amora’im. In one of the stories in the Talmudic literature, we read, One day when they came to a teaching of R. Shimeon bar Yohai, R. Yehoshua had some difficulties to understand it. Elijah then asked him, ‘Do you wish to ask R. Shimeon bar Yohai? Come and I shall raise him up for you.’ They went and Elijah called R. Shimeon Bar Yohai, he answered right away. Elijah then said: ‘R. Yehoshua has come to ask you ha-la-kha’. But R. Shimeon bar Yohai did not want to answer him. Elijah then said: R. Yehoshua b. Levi is worthy of seeing you. He is a tsad-diq.’ R. Shimeon bar Yohai said, ‘Were he a tsad-diq the rainbow would not ap214 pear in his days.’ In the Book of Esther, Haman sought to destroy the house of Israel. His attempt, according to legend, was tied to him tempting the people of Israel to sin, …for Haman said to Ahasuerus the king, ‘The God of this people hates libidinousness. Arrange for them harlots, and make for them a banquet, and bid them to come to eat and drink and (to) do as they please.’ When Mordecai heard of this, he bade them not to go to the banquet, to which he said, ‘The king has invited you only in order to destroy you and to find an opening with the attribute of Justice to accuse you before God.’ The story goes on to share that the people paid no heed to Mordecai and went, instead, to the banquet, where they proceeded to get intoxicated and they acted

95 sinfully. This story shares that Satan, as the accuser, came before God and denounced the sinful people and again, in accordance with the story of the creation and the angels’ initial objection to the creation of humankind, Satan said to God, Let heaven suffice thee. The story reveals that God himself wanted to destroy the people, but the heavenly hosts, weeping, interceded saying, If Israel is destroyed of what use are we in the world? At that moment, Elijah went in haste to the patriarch and to Moses and said to them, ‘How long will you be sunk in sleep and pay no heed to the trouble which has befallen your children? The angels of service, and the sun and the moon and stars and planets, and earth and heavens and all the hosts on high are weeping bitterly and you remain afar and pay no heed!’ Elijah then proceeded to tell the forefathers that the Israelites had enjoyed the forbidden banquet of Ahasuerus and that act had caused a divine decree to be issued for the destruction of the Israelites. Elijah reminded the forefathers that they could not do much since Israel’s people had committed such a terrible transgression. Then Elijah went to see Moses, and told him, ‘You, faithful shepherd, how many times did you stand in the breach for Israel and cause the decree to be annulled so that Israel was not destroyed. What say you in this present trouble?’ Moses said: ‘Is there no upright man in this generation?’ Elijah said: ‘Yes, there is, and his name is Mordecai.’ Then Moses said: ‘Go tell him, let him stand in prayer there, and I 215 will stand here and we will beseech God for mercy upon them… 216

R. Shimeon bar Yohay, who was freed from the cave by Elijah, discussed the 217 law with Rabba b. Abbahu in a non-Jewish cemetery , Scripture said: behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet… and Elijah surely did not come on a previous day. If so, in the case of the weekdays (the drinking of wine) should be permitted on any day, since Elijah did 218 not come on the previous day. This passage is related to the teaching that a Jewish man is permitted to drink wine during the Sabbath and the Festival, because Elijah will not appear on the Sabbath or on the Festival, but drinking wine on weekdays, when Elijah could appear, is not permitted:

96 For it was taught: If the fourteenth falls on the Sabbath, everything must be removed before the Sabbath and te-ru-moth (sin. te-ru-mah, an offering or gift) whether unclean or in suspense, (It’s doubted whether it is clean or unclean) or clean, are burnt, and of the clean (te-ru-mah) food for the meals is left over, as so to eat until the four hours (one meal) for Friday 219 evening and one for Saturday morning. R. Eliezer said: They teach, ‘Hallowed things are not protected (from defilement) by a close bound covering’. But as it is taught: The purification is not protected by a close bound covering. Surely this implies that hallowed things are protected.’…But Ulla said: ‘The Associates prepare (their hallowed thing) in purity in Galilee and when Elijah comes he will 220 purify them.’ Come and hear: R. Mesharsheya has said: If the child of a priestess has become interchanged with the child of her female slave, both may eat teru-mah and must take their portion together from the threshing floor. When the changelings grow up, they emancipate one another. Are these two cases parallel? In the latter case, should Elijah come and declare one 221 of them to be a slave… Mar, Son of Rabina asked R. Nahman b. Isaac: ‘May te-fil-lin be written upon the skin of a clean fish?’ ‘If Elijah will come and declare,’ he replied. ‘What does if Elijah will come and declare’ means shall we say whether it has a (separate) skin or not- but we see that it has a skin?…Rather (he meant) if Elijah comes and tells (us) whether its foul smell evaporated or 222 not.’ Hence the Sages, …instituted the custom of the people of Israel creating a seat of honor for Elijah because of his special role as the ‘messenger of the covenant’ for Elijah may be remembered for good, is called the Messenger of the covenant, as it is said, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, 223 behold, he cometh. (Mal. 3:1.). All the stories mentioned here stress the involvement of Elijah in the life of people on earth. The rabbis bring into light the teachings of Elijah to emphasize both his importance in understanding the laws in the future, as well as the merit some needed to learn from him. The most important teaching we can gather from these stories is the aspiration and hope for Elijah’s second coming. In the following story the rabbis try to show Elijah and other celestial hosts carrying their duties,

97 A tanna taught, Michael (reaches his goal) in one (flight). Gabriel in two, Elijah in four, and the Angel of death in eight. In the time of the plague, 224 however, (the Angel of death reaches his goal) in one. To ‘reach the goal’ means ‘to cover the distance in one non-stop flight.’ So, Michael does it in one flight. Gabriel makes two stops for rest. This interpretation is derived from the fact that the word ‘fly’ appears twice in Daniel 9:21, about Gabriel in Daniel’s vision. In the Midrash On Psalms, we find the stem of the word ‘fly’ related to Elijah in the following story, In saying “the fowl of the air” (Ps. 8:9.), they were alluding to Elijah who 225 flies about the world like a bird. In the Zoharic literature, on this particular teaching, we find the following, There was no other man whose spirit ascended to heaven and then descended to earth except Elijah. According to another interpretation, “Who hath ascended up into heaven” is an allusion to Elijah, whereas ‘and descended’ alludes to Jonah, whom the fish caused to sink into the nethermost depth of the sea. Jonah was only made possible by Elijah. Elijah ascended and Jonah descended, and the one as well as the other 226 ‘requested for himself that he might die’. While some Sages suggest that Elijah will solve ‘the problem’ and solve all ‘perplexities’, we discover the teaching that the Messiah will teach the nations of the world thirty precepts, R. Tanhuma said: The King Messiah will come for no other purpose than to teach the nations of the earth thirty precepts, such as those of the booth, the Palm Branch, and the Te-fil-lin, but the children of Israel will be taught precepts of the Torah by the Holy One Himself, blessed to He…Why not the Messiah. Because of the Messiah, it is said, unto him 227 shall the nations seek. In another text, we read a similar teaching, He washeth his garments in wine, intimates that he (the Messiah) will compose for them words of the Torah. ‘And his vesture in the blood of grapes’-that he will restore to them their error. R. Hanin said: Israel will not require the teaching of the royal Messiah in the future, for it says, ‘unto him shall the nations seek’ (Isa. 11:10.) but not Israel. If so, for what purpose will the royal Messiah come, and what will he do? ‘He will come to assemble the exiles of Israel and to give them (the nations) thirty 228 precepts…’

98 Yet, Elijah is the one with whom the Sages studied. R. Joshua b. Levi, when he was engaged in studying the Torah and the Mekhilta of R. Simeon bar Yohai, states that Elijah is known to the Sages as ‘the Light’. The Midrash points this out by sharing the verse, Oh send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me. (Ps. 43:3.). According to the Sages’ interpretation, the ‘light’ in this verse was referring to 229 Elijah the Prophet. On some occasions Elijah posed questions, as we find in the case of R. Nehorai when Elijah asked him, Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, create animals and reptiles that 230 are forbidden as food? If the Sages could not answer Elijah’s questions, then Elijah used to command his own interpretation. On another occasion, Elijah asked R. Nehorai a question, “Why do earthquakes come?” R. Nehorai answered, ‘Because of the neglect of the tithes which the children of Israel do not set aside as ordained.’ Elijah said to him, “Although things appear to be as thou sayest, yet this is not the reason. The reason is that the Holy One, blessed be He, looks upon the theaters and the circuses of the nations of the earth, they 231 sitting unperturbed, and the Temple in ruins…” Elijah’s teaching sometimes points out that even the Sages periodically tried to find ways to escape the severity of the religious laws. In Midrash Tanhuma an example of such an attempt is discussed, A demon in the form of a woman came to a righteous man in the Day of Atonement, and she made love to him. After this event the man was very sad and worried. Elijah the Prophet came to him and requires why he is so distressed. The man told him of what happened to him. Said Elijah, ‘You are free of the sin since it was a demon.’ The man, then, told the Rabbi and he replied: ‘Indeed, this is the true judgment of Elijah, since he 232 would not come to a guilty person.’ The Rabbis of Jewish tradition also claimed that Elijah was the teacher of Maimonides. Elijah revealed to Maimonides all the mystery of the Torah, as well as the secrets of two books dealing with the creation of the world and with healing. Using these texts, Maimonides was able to understand how to cure all sickness 233 and diseases. In Nahmanides’ interpretation of Lev. 13:4, he explains that those who ‘cleave to God with their soul shall live forever, both (in) soul and (in) flesh’, as it was with Elijah and Enoch. This perception is also found in Hasidic teachings,

99 as is found in the work of R. Ya’akov Yosef’s, Toldot Ya’akov Yosef. At the end of the Parashat B’har, he states, The purpose of man is to purify his things (body?) and thus he becomes 234 the chariot for the Sh’khinah in body and soul as Enoch and Elijah. Nahmanides, however, had a different perception. He wrote, Those who have the matters of the world and do not pay attention to them as if they do not have body form, but their thought and intention are directed to their creator, as it was the case with Elijah, and then their soul cleaves to the honored name, ba-shem ha-nikh-bad, they shall live forever in their body and soul. Nahmanides did not speak about a ‘chariot for the Sh’khinah’, which Ya’akov Yosef had included in his work, most likely as a perception borrowed from Lurianic or post-Lurianic mysticism. In Midrash ha-Gadol, we find an interesting interpretation of this verse below, And Enoch walked with God. (Gen. 5:24.). which states, Every seventh is likeable. Above the seventh firmament is likeable. On earth the sabbatical (seventh year) is likeable. In generations, the sevenths is likeable (Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam), ‘And Enoch walked with God’…with the forefathers the seventh is likeable (Moses is 235 the seventh)…And Moses went up unto God. (Ex. 19:3.). There are many references to Elijah and to the Messiah in the Zoharic literature. A selected few support the notion transmitted throughout the history of Jewish tradition that Elijah is the teacher whose role is to solve the perplexities, R. Hiya and R. Hizkiah were once sitting underneath a tree in the field of Ono. R. Hiya fell into a slumber and beheld Elijah. He said to him: ‘The whole field is illumined with your presence.’ Elijah answered: ‘I am come to tell you that Jerusalem is about to be laid waste together with all the towns of the Sages, for the reason that Jerusalem is the embodiment of judgment, and is preserved by judgment, and now judgment demands its destruction; and Samuel has already been given power over it and over its 236 mighty ones…’ In another teaching in the Zohar, we find the following story, R. Abba said: I remember a certain thing which I heard from the sacred lamp, which he said it in the name of R. Eliezer: One day a certain clever

100 non-Jew asked three questions of you. One is, how can you maintain that another Temple will be built for you, whereas only two were destined to be built…You maintain that you are nearer to the king than all other people… but you are ever in sorrow and oppression and anguish…You do not eat nebelah and terefah (flesh of animals killed not according to the Jewish Law) in order to protect your health… These questions which that wretch put to me. I, also, one day asked Elijah and he told me that they had been raised in the celestial Academy before the Holy One, blessed be He. The answer given was as follows: When Israel left Egypt, God desired to make them on earth like ministering angels above and to build for them a holy House which was to be brought down from the heaven… The Holy One, blessed be He, will send down for us the first House and the second House together, the first in concealment and the second openly. As for the second question, assuredly we are nearer to the Supernal King than all other peoples. God has made Israel as it were the heart of all mankind… Similarly in regard to the third question, Israel being the heart which is tender and delicate and the king of the members, takes for its food only the most purified part of all the blood, and (it) leaves the 237 remnant for the other members, which are not particular. The other major issue that the Zoharic literature examines is the notion of Elijah’s ascension to heaven. This literature emphasizes that Elijah possessed a special vitality and, as a result, Elijah did not die as other humans must die. The storyteller of Elijah’s narrative tells us, When the Lord would take Elijah unto heaven by a whirlwind… (2Kings 2:1.). and then the storyteller shares, Behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and separated them and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.(2Kings 2:11.). The Zohar states, …Which indicate that Elijah’s spirit was stripped of its body, so that he departed not life in the manner of other men, but became a holy angel like other heavenly beings carrying out divine messages in this world; for it is well established among us that the miracles which God performs in 238 the world are carried out by his agency. It has also been transmitted from generation to generation that R. Moshe Hayyim Luzzato (1707-1746), a poet and a mystic, was taught by Elijah the Prophet, and that this rabbi received an eschatological message from Elijah. Some said

101 that Luzzato had also been addressed by ‘Metatron, the archangel, (by) Moses, and even by Abraham.’ R. Hayyim Vital’s interesting work, Sefer ha-Hezyonot, states that Elijah presented himself to this author on different occasions. In a remembered dream, for example, Elijah takes R. Hayyim Vital to the top of a ladder where he can see a woman as beautiful as the sun. The woman calls R. Hayyim Vital ‘my son’ and he calls her ‘mother’. It becomes obvious from the text that this beautiful and honorable woman that Elijah reveals in a dream to R. Hayyim Vital is the Divine Presence. In another dream that is shared in this book, R. Hayyim Vital is taken by Elijah to a special garden where he encounters 239 all the souls of pious people who are studying the Talmud. Elijah plays an important role in the Messianic Era. This notion of Elijah’s role is very strong in the Jewish tradition, where Elijah is not simply the herald of the Messiah’s coming, but he is appointed to anoint the Messiah. This notion of the anointment of the Messiah by Elijah was thoroughly debated in the disputation of Barcelona in 1263. In this famous disputation, Nahmanides emphasized that although the Messiah had not yet been born, that the Messiah was expected to come. Nahmanides also suggested that the Jews believed that Elijah was still alive and that Elijah will, obeying God’s command, be the one to anoint the king Messiah, and that it is only after this anointment from Elijah will the king then be called Messiah.

F. Walking Around and Around… In my youth when I was fired up with the love of God, I thought I would convert the whole world to God. But I soon discovered it would be enough to convert people who lived in my town, and I tried for a long time, but did not succeed. Then I realized that my program was still much too ambitious, and I concentrated on the persons in my own household. But I could not convert them, either. Finally it dawned on me. I must work upon myself, so that I may give true service to God. But 240 I did not accomplish even this. In Jewish tradition there is a general perception that prophetic experiences ceased following the prophecy of Malachi. Although that perception was strongly accepted during the Middle Ages, some Jews, especially the mystics of that time, claimed to have had prophetic revelations. One well-known mystic of the time was the kabbalist, Abraham Abulafia, who was convinced that he had experi241 enced prophetic revelations.

102 Although some accepted his views, there were Rabbis in Spain who were suspicious of his claims. Abulafia claimed that the Spirit of God came upon him during his sleep and that his work, Pe-li-ot Ha-hokh-ma, or, The Wonders of Wisdom, was written under the influence of an angel that had appeared to him. 242 Abraham Aderet wrote a strong condemnation of this book, and even cursed Abulafia by stating, “May the name of this wicked man rot.” He refused to accept the belief that Abulafia was a prophet. However, Aderet did accept the notion that it is very likely that some people possessing a special gift and imagination can have visions. He claimed to know such an individual by the name of Abraham of Cologne, who had changed his name to Nathan. When this individual stood in the synagogue, a mysterious voice came out of the ark and such a voice had never before been heard. Abulafia claimed that voice was Elijah’s voice. Mystics in the Middle Ages examined the story of Elijah. They could not accept the idea that Elijah revived the dead child, since, as a priest, he was not allowed to touch a corpse. Also, they did not seriously consider or accept the notion that he lived with a gentile woman. Radbaz, R. David Ibn Zimra (14791573), discussed these notions that had been examined by the Sages. Some sages had suggested that Elijah, in fact, was a gentile and the son of a gentile woman. Maimonides and other sages argued that Elijah did not revive the dead child. Some Sages declared Elijah hadn’t even touched the dead child, while others 243 argued that the child was actually the prophet Jonah. All these conflicting teachings raise some other questions. Is it possible that Elijah, as a priest, would remain in the same house with a corpse? Or, is it possible that a gentile child would grow up to become Jonah, the son of Amitai? Would God perform a miracle on the behalf of a gentile woman? Radbaz suggests that within the teachings of the Kabbalah no problem exists concerning the identification of Elijah with Phinehas. In this work, Elijah is accepted as the reincarnation of Phinehas, as the body of Elijah possesses the soul of Phinehas. But another problem emerges. When Radbaz discusses Elijah’s journey of forty days to Mount Horeb, he argues the mountain can only be a holy place when the divine Presence dwells there, as it is written, And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai. (Ex. 19:20.). Yet this mountain possesses holiness throughout Elijah’s time. God did not convey His message to Elijah in Israel because God felt Elijah was too harsh accusing the people of Israel of wrongdoing. Earlier, Moses had pleaded for the people of Israel at Mount Horeb. Thus, Mount Horeb becomes the chosen place for Elijah to encounter God and to receive the message that his own actions are not for the sake of God. The journey of Elijah to Mount Horeb lasted forty days corresponding to the number of days that Moses had dwelt on Mount Horeb. Here,

103 according to Radbaz, is where Elijah was taught a great lesson. At Mount Horeb, Elijah learned about the power of the ‘still voice’. In Moses’ case, God had said, And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly. (Ex. 19:18.). God appears to Moses in the thunder in order to show His greatness. He appears, as the Ps. Jonathan translates be-esha m’tsal-ha-va, or, ‘radiant and polished 244 fire’. But for Elijah, God appears in the 'still small voice’ to demonstrate to Elijah God’s power in thunder and within that ‘still small voice’. Radbaz argues that when Elijah did not heed God’s lesson, then God decided to ascend Elijah to heaven. There are two possible reasons for Elijah’s ascent to heaven. One is that God chose not to have an accusing prophet on earth. The second possibility is Elijah’s close identification with Phinehas, as God had promised Phinehas, …the covenant of everlasting priesthood. (Num. 25:13.). whereby God meant that since Phinehas would never die, God took Elijah to heaven. R. Jose, in the Zoharic literature, began a discourse on the subject of Elijah. According to his interpretation, there were only two men who had dared to expostulate with God. One was Moses and the other was Elijah. Moses had dared to say to God, Wherefore hast Thou so badly treated this people. (Ex. 5:22.). while Elijah said to God, Hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son? (1Kings 17:20.). Both Moses and Elijah used the verb ha-re-‘o-tah, or, ‘committed an act of evil/. R. Jose’s interpretation states, Both used the term ‘evil’ with the same recondite meaning. Moses said in effect, “Wherefore hast thou given license to the side of evil to take the soul of this people?” Similarly, Elijah said in effect, “Whoever preserves one soul in the world merits life and is worthy to lay hold to the tree of life, yet now the tree of death, the side of evil, has obtained power over 245 the widow whom thou hast commanded to sustain me.” In fact, R. Jose himself asks: Is it possible that Moses and Elijah will claim so, acknowledging that such evil should never be committed upon man by his Creator? R. Jose argues,

104 The truth is that when a man walks on the right side, the protection of the Holy One, blessed be He, is constantly with him, so that the other side has no power over him, and the forces of evil are bowed before him, and cannot prevail over him. But as soon as the protection of the Holy One is withdrawn from him by reason of him having attached himself to evil, that evil gains, the mystery advances to destroy him, being given au246 thorization to take his soul. In 1Kings 19:3 we read, “And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life.” The Zoharic literature asks what va-yar, or, what ‘he saw’. In a long discussion, the Sages share their interpretation that va-ya-lekh-el naf-sho,or, ‘he saw the angel’, which meant that Elijah saw the Angel of Death, who followed him for some years. The Sages came to this interpretation because they had learned it from the other part of the verse, where it states, va-ye-lekh el naf-sho which, is literally translated as, …and he went for his soul… but, its meaning is, …and he went to (el) his soul. That is to say, he resorted to the foundation of his soul: In the connection with the phrase el Naf-sho (‘to his soul’) I have heard (so R. Jose proceeded) the following recondite doctrine from R. Simeon. All the souls of mankind emerge from the everflowing celestial stream, from which they are received into that ‘bundle of life’ …Hence Elijah, to whose birth that desire had contributed in a special degree, was gifted with a special vitality and (he) did not die like other men. For his whole being was derived from the Tree of Life not from the dust. He, therefore, without suffering death, as is the lot of other men, went upon high… which indicated Elijah’s spirit was stripped of its body, so that he departed life, not in the manner of other men, but (he) became a holy angel like other heavenly beings, carrying out divine messages, in this world; for it is well established among us that the miracles which God performs 247 in the world are carried out by his agency. In the same verse quoted above (19:3.), it is written, va-yar va-ya-kom,or, ‘he saw…he rose’. This episode deals with the message Jezabel had sent to Elijah and his understanding of the obvious danger he is facing. R. Jose’s argument is that the text does not use the verb va-yi-ra, ‘he feared’. But the text uses the va-yar,

105 ‘he saw’. As suggested above by R. Jose, Elijah actually ‘saw’ the angel of death that had followed him for many years. The Lives of the Prophets (LP), dated probably to the first century C.E., briefly summarizes the lives of various prophets. In its Chapter 10, we read about Jonah, who went to Ninevah, and on his return, he took his mother and went to Saur. At the same time, Elijah was prophesizing against the house of Ahab and had invoked famine on the land. Then Elijah ‘flew’ and found a widow and her son, where he stayed, since “he could not stay with the uncircumcised people”. When the widow’s son died, God roused him from the dead “through Elijah”. The work’s Chapter 21 is devoted to the life of Elijah. In this text, we discover the traditional belief that Elijah is from a place that is in the land of the Arabs and that he belongs to the tribe of Aaron. This tradition is also found in the 248 Rabbinic tradition. According to the tradition presented in The Lives of the Prophets, we learn that, When he was born, his father Sobacha saw that men of shining white appearance were greeting him and wrapping him in fire, and they gave him 249 the flames of the fire to eat. The text suggests that God only raised the widow’s dead child after Elijah had prayed to Him. There is a strong relationship with the story of Elijah in the Biblical narratives. All the events, like raising the widow’s dead son from death, and the struggle with the prophets of Ba’al, and the death of Ahaziah, are mentioned in this chapter, which ends by sharing, Finally he was taken up in a chariot of fire. (21:15.). Despite all the power given to Elijah to perform so many miracles, Elijah was never deified. The Rabbis rejected the deification of man, as we read in Ex. 7:1, where God said, “I have made these a god to Pharaoh” and the storyteller concludes by stating, “I am the Lord.” (v.4. See also 6:1.). When the prophet speaks of the Prince of Tyrus, we read, “Because thine heart is lifted to God in the midst of the seas, yet thou art a man, and not God…” (Ez. 28:2.). In Midrash Tanhuma for Genesis 7, there is this response to the Rabbis: Did Elijah, despite of the fact that he revived the dead, brought rain, and made the fire come down from heaven, ever made claim to be God? In the Sages’ perception, no human being, not even one who could perform miracles, can ever value himself as being equal to God. In Ecc. Rab it states that ‘the first redeemer was and the latter shall be’, the ‘first’ redeemer was identified as Moses, who set his wife and sons on an ass, so 250 the ‘latter’ redeemer will also ride on an ass. According to the Sages, Moses is the typology of the later redeemer, as they shared,

106 …the daughter of Pharaoh brings up him who was destined to extract retribution from her father, the Messianic king, too, who will one day punish Edom, dwells with them in that Province, as it is said: There shall the 251 calf feed and there shall he lie down. (Isa. 27:10.). In a long interpretation of the verse, And Boaz said unto her at meal time: Come hither and eat of the bread, dip thy morsel in the vinegar…(2:14.). the Sages view it as relating to the Messianic era. Some interpreted the first hemistitch as referring to the ‘bread’ of royalty and the second as referring to the sufferings of the Messiah, supported by the verse, “but he was wounded because of our transgressions.” (Isa. 53:5.). But, R. Berekiah said under the authority of R. Levi: The future Redeemer will be like the former Redeemer (Moses) just as the former Redeemer revealed himself and later was hidden from them and how long was he hidden? Three months, as it is said, “And they met Moses and Aaron (Ex. 5:20.). So the future Redeemer will be revealed to them, and then hidden from them. And how long will he be hidden? R. 252 Tamhuma in the name of the Rabbis said: Forty-five days… This discussion of the Messiah as the typology of Moses is also presented in the Targum, where we read, Your two deliveries whom we destined to deliver you, the Messiah, the son of David, and the Messiah, the son of Ephraim, are like Moses and 253 Aaron. It is very important to note that the Rabbis emphasized that there were three prophets who were punished by God because these prophets had condemned their own people harshly, R. Simeon opened with the text, ‘Slander not a servant unto his master (Prov. 30:10.). Israel are called servants… The prophets are also called servants…Thus said the community of Israel to the Prophets: “Look not (contemptuously) upon me because of my swarthiness. No one rejoiced more in my sons than Moses. Yet because he said, ‘Hear now ye rebels’ (Num. 20:10.) it was decreed that he should not enter the promised land. Another explanation: No one rejoiced more in my sons than Isaiah, yet because he said, ‘And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips’ (Isa. 6:5.), God said to him: Isaiah of thyself thou art at liberty to say… Similarly it is written of Elijah: ‘And he said, I have been very jealous… for

107 the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant (1Kings 19:14.), said 254 God to him: ‘Is it My covenant or thy covenant?’ It is argued and stressed by some scholars, like R.A. Carlson, J.M. Kastner, and F.M. Cross, that there is Messianic ambience in Elijah’s narrative. In Carlson’s 255 Elie a l’Horeb , he suggests that Elijah is the ‘second Moses’. This work also argues that the role of Elijah was to uphold the law and the tradition of Moses which is emphasized by the the struggle Elijah had with the prophet of Ba’al. Similar ideas are found in the work of G.W. Coats, where he describes Elijah as the ‘New Moses’. In other writings, other scholars call Elijah the ‘second and new Moses’. That raises this question: Why were such comparisons made by these scholars? These comparisons are apparently the outcome of the view that Elijah struggles to uphold the covenant between God and the people of Israel. The covenant is the set of laws that God gave to Moses. Finding support from the narratives of Moses and of Elijah, when Elijah flees to the desert out of fear of Jezebel, it is compared to Moses fleeing to Midyan. In an attempt to see a strong connection to Mosaic tradition, some scholars emphasize the verse in 1Kings where the role of Elijah was to uphold the tradition of Moses, which is emphasized by the struggle between Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al, Le-hem-u-basar ba-boqer ve-le-hem u-basar ba-‘erev Bread and flesh (meat) in the morning, and bread and flesh (meat) in the evening. (17:6.). This miracle is compared to the miracle that the Israelites had experienced in the desert, …The Lord shall give you in the evening flesh (meat) to eat, and in the morning bread to the full. (Ex. 16:8.). The gathering of the people at Mount Carmel (1Kings 18:19.) is like the gathering of the people at the bottom of Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:17.). Both Moses and Elijah had their invocations in isolated locales. Moses went up to Sinai, while Elijah went to Horeb, the same mountain of God. However, Moses had the divine call on Mount Sinai and Elijah had his in the cave. Yet, one can argue that the cave was on a mountain, while Moses encounters the Divine as he is hiding behind a cliff, as in, …I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. (Ex. 33:22.). Elijah was in Horeb, or Sinai, in a cave, and the Divine phenomena he experienced were the wind, earthquake, fire, and then, the voice. Coote suggests that

108 kol-dema-mah daqqa, ‘the still small voice’, is an echo to the description of the manna and even is an allusion to it, as in, …there lay a small round thing as small as the hoar frost on the ground (Ex. 16:14.). Here is the adjective DAQ that appears twice describing the manna. Indeed, Coote’s interpretation is very creative, but the idea of the allusion to the still 256 small voice should be reexamined. Both Moses and Elijah are each struck by a body of water. Moses parted the Red Sea and Elijah, the Jordan River. The scholars mentioned earlier have collected the following parallels between the events in the narratives of Moses and those of Elijah: Moses He ran away from the Pharaoh to Midyan. (An exile?)

Elijah He ran away from the wrath of Queen Jezebel to the desert. (An exile?)

He and the people were given meat in the evening, bread in the morning. He spoke in his own name, saying ‘Hear O Israel.’ (Deut. 5:1.).

He was fed bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. He spoke in his name, ‘As the Lord God not be dew nor rain…upon my word.’ (1Kings 17:1.). He called down the fire and it consumed the prophets of Ba’al. He parted the Jordan River. He gathered the people on Mount Carmel.

A fire fell from heaven and it consumed the rebels. (Nu. 16.). He divided the Red Sea. He gathered the people by Mount Sinai.

These parallels strongly accentuate the relationship between Moses and Elijah. As J.T. Walsh has commented, “The events on Mt. Carmel are a new beginning 257 for the Sinai covenant.” Yerahme’el Bar Shelomoh, an anthologist and copyist who lived, most likely, th 258 in southern Italy around the 11 century , strongly emphasizes that in any compilation of books one should write the “naked truth”. In his book, The Chronicles of Jerahme’el, we find resemblances to PRE, to Josippon, and to some 259 Arabic chronicles. In his chronicles, we read about the Ark in the Temple, But the ark was not there because Jeremiah took the ark with all the curtains, which Moses, the servant of God, made in the wilderness, and he carried them up to Mount Nebo and placed them in a cave. The priests of that time pursued him to find out the place of the ark, and of the tab-

109 lets, of the curtains of the tabernacle, and of the tent of the congregation. When Jeremiah looked behind him, he saw the priests. He became angry with them and swore to them, ‘You shall never discover the place you desire to know until I and Elijah appear. Then we shall restore the tabernacle and the tent, as well as the ark of the testimony, and the two tablets of 260 stone which it contains.’ This story is found in an early text belonging to the books of the Apocrypha, most probably written by Jason, who was a contemporary of Judah Maccabee. In this text, we find the episode narrated as follows, It was also contained in the same writing that the prophet being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the Ark to go with him as he went into the mountain, where Moses climbed up…And when Jeremy came…, he found a hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the Ark, and the altar of incense…As for that place, it shall be unknown until 261 the time that God gathers His people, again together. In the text above, we do not find the name of Elijah or of the Messiah, but read that, in time, that God will ‘gather his people’ once again. In fact, there are three people mentioned in this text: Jeremiah, Moses, and Solomon. In this text, Jeremiah is the one who found the cave, where he brought the holy objects from the temple. Yet, in The Book of Josippon, we find the story where it shares that an old man, about one hundred years old, showed Ezra and Nehemiah where Jeremiah had hidden the sacred fire that is mentioned in 2Macc. This fire had 262 come down from heaven and it consumed the burnt offerings. A long passage in the Chronicles is devoted to Mordecai, Esther, and Haman. Here, too, we find the Sages stating that the Israelites were at Haman’s ban263 quet. In all sources, Satan appears to be the accuser before God. In these mentioned sources, Satan brings God a scroll to write “the doom of extinction” upon it. At this point, Elijah begins his role to save the people by involving Moses. In the Chronicles we read, The Holy One said, ‘I hear the voices of kids and goats.’ At which Moses replied, ‘O Lord God of the universe, father of the fatherless, and judge of the widows, these are not kids and goats, but the young of Thy people of the house of Israel who sit fasting for three days and three nights, bound in chains of iron, but tomorrow they are to be slaughtered like kids and 264 goats, while the heart of the enemy rejoiceth.’ In the Yorde Merkaba mysticism, the mystics developed a special technique on how to ascend to heaven. Prior to this ascent, they fasted and bathed as a form of purification, and when they felt that they were ready to ascend, they recited cer-

110 tain hymns and invoked the name of God or of the archangels. In the narratives of Elijah, we read, …and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees. (1Kings 18:42.). So, the Yorde Merkaba did likewise, while reciting hymns. In this pseudepigrapha literature we find some interesting passages dealing with Elijah. For example, in these texts we read of three tents indicating Elijah’s coming. In some other parts of these texts, we also find an extension to Elijah’s narratives found in the Bible. In the Sibylline Oracles 2, which is generally accepted as a Jewish work, there is a description of the ‘coming of Elijah’. At first, there is a sign in heaven, and then there is the second sign, the sound of the trumpet, and the third and final sign is the resurrection of the dead. Then the Thesbite, driving a heavenly chariot at full speed from heaven, will come to earth and he will display three 265 signs to the whole world as life perishes. In Ecclesiasticus, which was probably written in the era of 180 B.C.E., we find a description of Elijah, which is a hymn of praise, Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire and his word burned like a lamp. He brought a sore famine among them, and by his zeal he diminished their number…O Elias, how wast thou honored by thy wonderous deeds! And who may glory like unto thee…who heardest the rebuke of the Lord in Sinai and in Horeb the judgment of vengeance…Elias it was, who was 266 covered with a whirlwind and Elias was filled with his spirit… Elijah’s role according to the author of Ecclesiasticus is to restore the tribes of Jacob and ‘to turn the heart of the father unto the son.’ In 4Q382, among some references to Elijah, they speak about the rise of ‘a mighty man’, which could be a reference to Elijah returning at the end of the days, …to give them into power of all the nations […] […] at the end shall arise a mighty man […] The Jewish oicotype of rescuing the Jewish community from oppressors, is very well known in Jewish tradition. It is found in the Book of Judith and in Holophernes, in the Book of 3 Maccabees, where we learn of Ptolemy’s decree to arrest all the Jews living in his kingdom. Such miraculous rescues are found in Biblical narratives, as in the story within Judges 4 the episode of Ya’el and Sisera, and in the Book of Esther. This oicotype of rescuing Jews is a continuing motif in the stories of Elijah that are shared in the Jewish oral tradition. In the Hasidic tales, we find stories where Elijah is manifested. In these stories, Elijah appears in disguise to rescue the individual rabbis and the community, as well as to punish the evil ones. At this point, Elijah is considered as ‘one

111 of the righteous’, the lamed vav, or, ‘one of the thirty-six hidden righteous people’. In this tradition, anyone, be he beggar, pauper, or an ignorant person, could actually be either Eiljah, the Prophet, or one of the lamed vav in disguise. This motif of a person appearing in a disguise is found in rabbinic literature, as well as in Medieval Jewish literature. In Ibn Yahya’s Shalshelet ha-Qabbalah, we find a tale about a mysterious man who gave R. Menahem Recanati a cup of water to drink. While the rabbi drank the water, the mysterious man disappeared. Salvation, or redemption, is not dependent on anyone following whole commandments, nor is it connected to the number of commandments that one observes. A person can inherit, or have ze-khut, or ‘merit’, in the world to come, by conducting an extreme act of justice, as we find in the following text, It is written, ‘He that doeth these things shall not be moved.’ Whenever R. Gamliel came to this passage he used to weep saying, ‘One practices all these shall not be moved, anyone falling short in any of these (virtues) would be moved.’ Said his colleagues to him, ‘It is written, ‘He that doeth all these things.’ (shall not fall)? It reads, ‘He that doeth all these things’ 267 meaning ‘even if only he practices one of these things’. The one who shall not escape punishment is the one who has not accomplished a single law, as we find explained in the self-imposed restriction made by R. Johanan, I shall remain fasting until I reach home. Rasag (Sa’adya Gaon) stresses that in order for a person to be considered pious that person adheres to the law for himself alone, stating that he will never transgress the law or fall short of it. An example of following such a law is to accept the commandment to, Honor thy father and thy mother. (Ex. 20:12.).

268

Maimonides held a similar belief that the essential tenet of the Torah is to keep and fulfill only one of the tar-yag, the six hundred thirteen commandments. Yet, only if he does this for the sake of God in a perfect manner, will he be worthy of the ‘world to come’. Maimonides based his explanation on the story found in the Talmud about R. Hanina b. Tradion and the executioner, …he swore upon him. He hereupon raised the flame and removed the tufts of wool from over his heart, and his soul departed speedily. The Executioner then jumped and threw himself into the fire. And a bath kol (divine voice) exclaimed: R. Hanina b. Tradion and the Executioner have 269 been assigned to the world to come. God created the world and, in due time, God will establish order. However, for

112 the time being, evil will have its own course in the world. The end of evil will be shown through certain signs. Those signs are described in 2Esdras, …and the day shall come that they which dwell upon the earth shall be taken in a great number, and the way of the truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith. But iniquity shall be increased above…But if the Most High grant thee to live, thou shall see after the third trumpet that the sun shall suddenly shine again in the night and the moon thrice in the day. And blood shall drop out of the wood and the stone shall give 270 his voice and the people shall be troubled. In this description we find the theophanies, natural phenomena, and the appearance of the Messiah from the seed of David, who will overthrow the kingdom of Rome. With that, the supremacy of Israel shall be established. It is then that for four hundred years the righteous shall reign and men’s hearts will change, and evil will come forth and corrupt the world. The Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom will die and silence will be on the earth for seven days (7:30). Then the earth will be renovated and the resurrection will occur. In the Book of Jubilees, the emphasis is placed on the Messianic Kingdom and not on the Messiah as a person. This Messianic event will happen with no catastrophic event but, instead, through a gradual restoration of the earth, as well as the ethical renewal of mankind. There is a very well known legend about Elijah. He came to a city where the Sages wanted to know who can be worthy of eternal life. Elijah pointed to two men. When the Sages approached these two men to learn about their outstanding merit, these two men said that they made people laugh and that they brought gladness in place of grief and sadness. Throughout history there were some differences among the Sages concerning who would be the Messiah, what his role in the world would be, and what he would look like. There were differences of opinion between different schools of thought and there were ideological differences, too. Maimonides, considered a rationalist, approached the discourse of this subject in a strict, rationalistic way. He ignored the apocalyptic perception and interpreted it, and the prophetic vision of the Messiah, as poetic imagery. For him, the Messiah will be a great political ruler who will restore the life of the people. The Messiah’s appearance, for Maimonides, will be a step in the process of the redemption of mankind and the reestablishment of the Kingdom of God. 271 According to professor Klausner , the apocrypha and the pseudepigrapha literature created a complete chain of Messianic speculation that reappeared in the rabbinic literature. The connection is found in the concept of the ‘pangs of the Messiah’, in the proclamation of the Messianic Era by Elijah, by the shophar, ‘the voice of the Messiah’, by the gathering of the Exiles, by Gog and Magog, by

113 the days of the Messiah, by the Day of Judgment, and by the resurrection. In all these literary waves, Klausner claims there is no mention of the Messiah’s personality, and that while the house of David is mentioned, there is no mention of the son of David. In rabbinic literature, the speculations on the Messiah were the cause of a great amount of mystical teachings on the Messiah. R. Hillel explained, There shall be no Messiah for Israel because they have already enjoyed him in the days of Hezakiah. R. Joseph said: May God forgive him for 272 saying so. It is important to pay attention to Rashi’s teaching that there is denial of the Messianic hope here, but the belief in a personal Messiah continues. It is important to hold on to this idea of Rashi because the hope for the Messianic Era is truly what has held the Jewish people together. The hope for spiritual resurrection, and the vital (divine) power to sustain the people, was manifested throughout the history of the Jews. It is well known that R. Akiva recognizes Bar Kokhba as the Messiah, even 273 though Bar Kokbba did not perform any miracles. In another source, we find a rd similar teaching in Lam Rab. 22:2. This teaching is also found in the 3 century C.E., where Samuel of the Academy of Babylonia taught that there is no differ274 ence between the ‘days of the Messiah’ and the present days. However, in Malachi’s prophecy there is a distinction made between these two times, as Elijah is mentioned as the one who will herald the coming of the Messiah (Mal. 3:23;4:5.). In Medieval Jewish thought concerning the Messianic days, there appears to be two distinct trains of thought. One is naturalistic and the other is super- naturalistic. Maimonides claims that the king Messiah will reestablish the kingdom of David, build the temple, gather the exiles, and restore the Laws of the Torah. He also states that whoever believes in the Messiah, and does not hope for him, denies all the teachings of the prophets and what is recorded in the Torah. This 275 strong belief became a part of the thirteen principles. Also, there was no need, according to Maimonides, for the Messiah to perform a single miracle in order to establish his identity. Bar Kokhba didn’t perform any miracles and it was only 276 when he was defeated that it was understood that he was not the Messiah. According to Maimonides, the Messiah can be identified this way, If the King arises of the house of David meditating in the Torah and performing precepts like his father David, in accordance with the written Torah and the oral Torah, and if he will compel all Israel to walk in the way of the Torah and repraise its branches…it will then be established beyond doubt that he is the Messiah who will perfect the whole world to serve 277 God together…

114 In fact, we have no idea what spiritual bliss to expect during the Messianic Era. Moreover, all visions of this bliss are not sufficient signs for a person to actually follow them. However, we are still hoping to be emanated with this bliss and, as long as we are hoping for this spiritual bliss, then our life has meaning. Political mysticism borrows from Biblical allegory, as well as from neoplatonic theory. The story of R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanis and his dispute with the Sages suggests that miracles cannot be employed to establish laws on earth. In the mysth tical movement, as well as in the Hasidic movement in the 12 century in Germany, the mystics trained themselves to ascend to a certain level called the darga, which is known, among the Sufi Muslims, as maqam. In Judaism, people entertain a hope for the coming of the Messiah. Throughout the ages, as many stepped forward claiming to be the Messiah, these individuals faced intense objection to this claim and always their appearance ended in a disastrous time for the people. The intense objections probably have two roots. One objection may be rooted in the hope for the coming of the Messiah being the ideal. That one strong hope united them as one people. The second root is that the hope was inspiring but it was hopeless in reality. The Messiah was always the unrealized and unfulfilled dream but the belief in that hope stressed the coming of a better time for the people. A strong objection to this idea was presented by R. Hillel, as can be seen in BSan 99a. R. Hillel was not the only one to object to the Messianic idea. R. Samuel also refuted the Messianic idea by stating that there is no difference, except for the current freedom of the 278 people from foreign domination , between the present time and the Messianic time. This idea of the Messianic time or era has always emphasized that ‘the end of times’ is not in the hands of men but it is solely in the hands of God. Elijah, the one who has become the legendary figure in later Jewish tradition, is described in Chapter 19 of 1Kings as the one who is hiding on the cliff of Mt. Horeb, which is akin to being on Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, where Moses had his divine revelation, and where the people of Israel received the Law. Was Elijah awaiting divine revelation, also? Was he awaiting God’s call or direction for his next mission? Here Elijah experienced the still small voice as a divine call, as a message from heaven, one that was given to him in a beautiful, poetic manner. This voice is Sui Generis, an original voice possessing a special power that engulfs the whole world. It is here that the question that dangles between these two opinions is solved by Elijah’s faith and moral challenge, both of which had been eloquently invoked by God.

115

Endnotes – Chapter One 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28

“Elijah Lullaby” in Peninnah Scharm’s Tales of Elijah the Prophet, Jason Aronson, Inc., Northrale (1997), 257. Field, Eugenia, Sag Harbor. See Caspi, M., Take Now Thy Son, Bibal (2001). See Gen. 3:2. Shimoni, 209. For similar tone see: Josh 22:24; Jud. 11:12; 2Kings 3:13; and 2Chro. 35:21. The Un-canonical Writings of the Old Testament, Rev. Jacques Issaversens (tr.)., “A Short History of the Prophet Elias”, Venice (1934), 173-184. Ibid. Shimoni, 209. See, “Zayit Ra’anan”, interpretation for Shimoni. Midrash Tapliyot, Lublin (1889), 76. “I pray thee” is the translation of the interjection Na in Hebrew. The Midrash suggests that here is found the abbreviations of the names of the two sons of Aaron who Died while they offered strange fire before the Lord. (Num. 26:61). The Un-canonical Writings of the Old Testament, Op.Cit., 175. Gen.Rab. 33:5. Ibid, 5:5. Lev.Rab. 9:1. B.Hul. 5a. See Ps. 147 and Job 38:41. In the northern part of the kingdom of Jordan, in Jabal ‘Ajlun, not far away from a place known as al-Istib, there is a shrine called Mar Elias. In fact, northwest of ‘Ajlun there are two places. One is called khirbat Mar Elias (the ruin of Mar Elias or Elijah). The second one is known as khirbat Listis, which probably the city of Tishbe in the Gilead. Both places are northwest of the town of Jarash. For a more detailed comparison see Yalkut Shimoni for 1Kings 209. Cohen, Martin, “In All Fairness to Ahab: A Socio-Political Consideration”, Erats-Yisrael, Vol. 12 (1975), 87-94. Ibid, 89. EZ 185 in Tanna Debe Eliyyahu, W.G. Baude and I. J. Kapstein (trs.), JPS. Philadelphia (1981) See also BSan. 113a. This idea is also shared in some Christian sources. See Epiphanius’ Haereses 55:3. This source does not identify him with the family of Phinehas. However, contrary to these sources, we find that for the first time Elijah is identified as is found in Ps. Philo. : “Like Elijah, Phinehas goes to a distant mountain where he spends some time, he returns to be tested, he shuts up heaven.’ See Ps. Philo. 48:1. Ibid. PRE, 29. PRE, 47. TY For Num. 25:12. See TY for Deut. 30:4. Note here that in the New Testament John the Baptist is identified as Elijah in Mtt. 11:14: “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias.”

116 29 30 31 32 33

34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

49 50 51 52 53

Yalkut. Gen. 71. Yalkut. Num. 771. See the end of this passage. Ant. VII. 2:1. Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer (PRE), Gerald Friedleander (tr.), Sepher-Hermon Press (1981), Chapter 47. See Palestinian targum for Num. 31:8; Yalkut Num. 785 for Ch. 31. Num.Rab. contains another version where Moses speaks to Phinehas: “If you see that wicked man practicing witchcraft and flying in the air, show him the plate upon which it is inscribed the phrase ‘Holy to the Lord’, and he will fall down and you will kill him.” BMo. Qat. 26a. PRE 47. Also see BMo. Qat. 26a. Zohar, 1:209b. Ex.Rab. 40:4. See Num. 5:14, 30. See Ez. 3:14; Prov. 15:13; 17:22; 18:14; and Job 7:11. See Yalkut II, 880. In BShab. 88a we find this story: “R. Eleizar said, When the Israelites gave precedence to ‘we will do’ over ‘we will hearken’, a Heavenly voice went forth and exclaimed to them, ‘Who revealed to my children this secret which is employed by the ministering angels, as it is written, ‘Bless the Lord, ye Angels of His…(Ps. 103:20)…first they fulfill and then they hearken.’ In the Hebrew text the noun is ‘mal-‘akh’, an ‘angel’. Lev.Rab. 1:1. Midrash Ralpiyot (MTl), Eliyahu b. Shlomo ha-kohen (ed.), Lublin (1889), 76. ER. 97. See also EZ. 199. Ibid. Gen.Rab. 7:9. Otzar ha-Geonim 6, Sukkah (1934), 72-75. The seven shepherds are Adam, Seth, Methuselah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David. The eight princes are Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Hezekiah, Elijah, and the Messiah. Emunot Ve-De’ot, Chapters 7 and 8. Yad ha-Hazakah, Melakhim. 2. Moses Maimonides (Rambam), The Guide of the Perplexed, Shlomo Pines (tr.), University of Chicago Press (1963), II, Ch. 3, 390-391. Ibid. ER. 96. It’s important to note here that the two Messiahs are known as craftsmen because of their role to build the Temple. Elijah is called a ‘craftsman’ because he built an altar on mount Carmel. So, who is the fourth craftsman, who is also known as the Righteous Priest? Lev. Rab. contains the following teaching: “It was taught at the school of R. Ishmael: The Holy One, blessed be he, sought to make Shem the progenitor of the priesthood; for it says, ‘and Melchizedek king of Saklem…was the priest of God. But when he blessed Abraham before blessing the Omnipresent, and Abraham said to him, ‘Should the blessing of the servant be given priority over the blessing of the Master…(Lev.Rab. 25:6.) Melchizedek is identified here for the name of Shem. In BSuk. 52b. we find the following teaching: ‘R. Hama b. Bizna citing R. Simeon Hasida replied: The Messiah, the son of David, the Messiah, the son of Joseph, and the righteous priest’, which according to Gen. Rab. 43:6, he is identified as Melki-Zedek, meaning the whole of the King of Righteousness:

117

54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77

78 79 80 81 82

83 84 85 86

(Melki-Zedeq Melekh Shalem). The seven shepherds are David in the middle, Adam, Seth, and Methuselah (non-Jews) on the right, and Abraham, Jacob, and Moses on the left. Who are the eight princes among men? Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zedekiah, the Messiah, and Elijah. In Yalkut Elijah is placed ahead of the Messiah. “Midrash on Psalm 60:4”, Midrash on Psalms (MP), William G. Broudei (tr.), Yale University Press: New Haven (1959). Ibid, 87: 6. BSan. 113a. BSan. 113 a. The ‘key of rain’ was in Elijah’s hand; now Elijah asks for the ‘key of resurrection’. BSan. 113b. See Yalkut, Vol. 2, 209. PRE 33. Yalkut, Volume 2, 209. See Zohar Gen. 54a. See MTl. 77. PRE. Op. Cit. Yalkut. Op. Cit. PRE. Op. Cit. Gen.Rab. 98:11. R. Levi’s argument is based on the verse in Jonah 1:3 when he fled the divine command and fled to Nineveh. Ecc. Rab. 8:10. Ex. Rab. 4:2. Zohar. Gen. 175a. Ginzberg, L. The Legends of the Jews, IV, JPS, Philadelphia (1936), 197. Deut. Rab. 7:6. Gen. Rab. 73:4. MP.8:5. BSan. 113a. Aggadat Breshit (Agg. Br.), S. Buber (ed.), Vilna (1925), 44 (43). PT. Deut. 28:12. The same teaching is found in PT. Genesis 30:22 on the verse: ‘And God remembered Rachel’ it states, ‘Four keys are possessed by the Master of the world, the Lord, and He did not give them to an angel nor to a seraph, (they are) the key of rain, the key of sustenance, the key of the grave, and the key of barreness…’ BPes. 68a. Tosefta Sotah 4:7. Jacob Neusner (tr.), KTAV Publishing House, New York (1981). Eduvot 3:4, Op. Cit. BQid. 70a. BDer.Er.Rab. See the end of Chapter 1. In fact, the text here suggests, ‘And the Holy One, blessed be He, Se-ne-oh’, which is translated as ‘hates him’. Yet the text in BQid. 70a. suggests: ‘Elijah binds him and the Holy One, blessed be He, ro-se- oh’, which is a synonym of ‘ko-fe-to’, translated as ‘binds him’. Rashi, however, interprets ‘ro-se-oh’ as ‘flagellates with a strap of leather’. Zohar. Ex. 1976. Zohar.Gen. 2086. See Gen. Rab. 8:5. See MTl. 76.

118 87 Est. Rab. 2:2. According to R. Berakiah, the account of ‘many days’ comes to about 420 days more than the ‘many days’, the 180 days, as we find in Est. 1:4. 88 Agg. Br. 59. 89 See Lev. Rab. 26:2; and Num. Rab. 19:2; and Deut. Rab. 5:10. In Deut. Rab. we do not find the teaching that it was hard to obtain water. Instead it says, ‘…He hid them in caves…and there was not a man to tell Ahab.’ 90 Num. Rab. 23:9. 91 Yalkut. 214. 92 Num. Rab. 23:9. In Yalkut this version is much shorter. Yehoshphat is the son of Asa and the king of Judah. On him it is written: “And he walked in all the ways of Assa his father…doing which was right in the eyes of the Lord.” (1Kings 22:43). 93 PR. 24:3. 94 The Hebrew noun ‘arafe’l is translated here as ‘darkness’ but it could also be translated as ‘fog’ or as ‘mist’, as well as ‘darkness’ and ‘vagueness’ . We are inclined to see it translated here as ‘a thick fog’. 95 See Ramban. Nachmanides for this verse. 96 Ex. Rab. 29:9. 97 Ex. Rab. 15:15. 98 Yalkut. 2, 214. 99 See Yalkut. Ibid. and MTl. 79 and Agg. Br. 76. 100 BSan. 89b. 101 Zohar. Ex. 37b. The meaning of Zoth is, ‘this, which is the kabbalah is Sefirat Malkhut kingdom.’ 102 Gen. Rab. 39:8. 103 Lev. Rab. 22:9 and 36:6. 104 Ecc. Rab. 3:14. 105 E.Rab. 87. The two measures of seed are based on 1Kings 18:34. 106 Ibid. 107 B.Bra. 9b. 108 Agg. Br. 76. 109 Josephus, Antiquities (Ant.) 8.13, 5. In The Works of Flavious Josephus, W. Whiston (tr.), Baltimore (1836). 110 See Gen. Rab. 80:5. 111 Lev. Rab. 36:2. 112 Ex. Rab. 44:1. 113 Zohar. Num. 184a. 114 BYoma. 21b. 115 BSan. 38b. 116 Deut. Rab. 10:3. 117 Zohar Gen. 51b. 118 Saadia, Gaon, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, Samuel Rosenblatt (tr.), Yale University Press, New Haven (1948). 119 Ecc. Rab. 10:2. 120 PR. 4:2. The same teaching is found in Yalkut 1Kings, 209. The Hebrew text uses the verb ‘bi’er’, which means ‘to annihilate’. 121 1Kings 10:16, which means ‘draw out.’ 122 Derived from the Hebrew noun ‘hut’, which is translated as thread’.

119 123 BHul. 30b. 124 He is Meander of Ephesus. From native chronicles he compiled the history of the Phoenician kings, as he stated, from among both the Greeks and the barbarians. Josephus drew information about the kings of Phoenicia from this work. 125 Ant. 8.13, 3. 126 Ibid. 127 Ibid, 4. 128 Ibid, 7. 129 Rambam, Op. Cit. 130 PR. 4:2. 131 Zohar Gen. 209a. 132 S. of S. Rab. 1:6. 133 EZ. 8,186. 134 PRE. 29. 135 BBera. 31b. 136 Judah, ha-Levi, Book of Kuzari, Hartwig Hirchfeld (tr.), Pardes Publishing House, New York (1946), 4:14. 137 Zohar Gen. 16a. 138 Zohar Gen. 209a. 139 Ant. Op. Cit. 140 See PR. 4:2. 141 EZ. 186. 142 For more information on this story and its relationship to the verse in Ex. 33:7, ‘And Moses took the tabernacle’. Ohel is interpreted as derived from shine. See BShab. 88a; EZ. 183; Legends, Vol. I, 61. 143 Gen. Rab. 24:4; in Lev. Rab. 15:1 there is a different version, for R. Judah claims that the wind in the case of Job was the same as in the case of Jonah, as in that of Elijah. 144 BBera. 6b. 145 Kuzari 3:39. 146 J. Jeremias, Theophanie (1965), 81-97 147 The literal translation of verse 22 is, ‘And when my glory passeth by, I will put you on a cleft of a rock.’ This is the response of God to Moses’ request to see the glory of God who had said, ‘…for there shall no man see me and live.’ 148 One interpretation suggests that, ‘No one knows when he shall be relieved of his anxieties.’ Another one suggests, ‘No one knows the day of the resurrection.’ Which is called ‘the day of comfort’, or, ‘yom- ha-ne-ha-mah’. 149 Rashi suggests it is ‘the day of Divine Judgment’. 150 This statement was made to discourage people from calculating the advent of the Messiah. See BSan. 97a. 151 According to Rashi this is a covered allusion to Rome. 152 BPes. 54b. 153 Sifre. Va-et-ha-nan. 37. Sifre. A. Jellinek (ed.), Wien. (1864). 154 We are not interested in examining the problems of composition or of authorship here. We are interested solely with the literary aspects. 155 BBer. 58a. 156 Ex. Rab. 29:9.. 157 Jeremais, J., Theophanie (1965), 81-97

120 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168

169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180

181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192

193

Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez, H. Vegshel, Jerusalem (1978). Ibid, 293. Ibid, 294. Buber, M., On the Bible, Nahum N. Glatzer (ed.), Schocken Books (1968), 209-210. BMeg. 19b. See Chapter 1, Section E, “Elijah- Messiah And Still No Light.” See Philo, Moses II, 51 in Harry A. Wolfsan, Philo., Harvard University Press (1948), 408. Apoc. Ecclesiasticus, 48:10. Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach Ecclesiasticus, (1820 ?) 48:1-11. See Chapter 2. BSot. 43a; Sifri Num. 157. The Sages continue to argue the genealogy of Phinehas where they discuss whether his mother’s father was descended from Joseph and whether his mother’s mother was descended from Jethro, or vice versa. The name Putiel, the fatherin-law of Eleazer Aaron’s son, could be identified either with Joseph or with Jethro. BSan. 106b. He was forced to hawk baskets among the women. Elijah appears before people very frequently, especially among the righteous people who were privileged to know him. See BGit. 70 a ; BSan. 113a.; and BYoma. 19a. BBab. Me. 59b. BHag. 9b. BAv. Zar. 3b. Mishne Tora, Hilkhot Melakhim, 12 (end). Captor of Jerusalem, 70 C.E. and later Emperor of Rome. Gen. Rab. 42:4. PRE. 28. ‘Bar nafle’ derived from the Greek, ‘i-yos ne-fe-len’, or ‘ the son of the cloud’. It means ‘without the Torah’, so in the counting of the generations done by the Sages, from Adam to Abraham, who is considered to be the one who began to convert the world and to be the herald of one God. So the Sages view the time from Abraham until 172 C.E. It means that the Messiah will come within this time. All quotes are from BSan. 96b-97b. See BSan. 97b. Yalkut Me’am Loez, 292-293. BPes. 118a. Vol. 2 (1954), 114. Vol. 3: 166 b. See D. Ben-Amos and J.R. Mintz (eds.), In Praise of Ba’al Shem-Tov, Bloomington, Indiana (1972), 53- 54. All quotes are taken from Hermann Cohen, Religion and Reason: Out of the Sources of Judaism, Simon Kaplan (tr.), Fredrick Unger Publishers, New York (1972), 287-288. BSan. 98b. Jacob J. Petuchowski, “Jewish Prayer Texts of the Rabbinic Period” in The Lord’s Prayer and Jewish Liturgy, Jacob J. Petuchowski and Michael Brocke, (eds.), Crossroads Books, New York (1978), 21. BBMe. 114a.

121 194 BEru. 43b. 195 BPes. 13a. 196 BBer. 3a. 197 BHag. 25a. 198 BYeb. 35b. 199 BGit. 42b. 200 BBer. 35a. 201 BShab. 108a. 202 PRE, 2; Zohar 1, 93a. 203 Shimoni II, 209. 204 Ant. 9.2.2. 205 BShab. 10a; BYeb. 63a. Also see the following sources where Elijah appears in different forms: BShab. 33b; BBer. 6a; Bav.Za. 17a; PR. 22:5. In the text of PR 25 we find the discussion from the proselyte, the te-fil-lin, and the man who trusted his money to him. BShab. 33b tells us about R. Simeon bar Yohai who was freed by Elijah from the cave. Bar Yohai was an opponent to the Roman rule of Palestine. His freedom happened with the good tiding that the Roman emperor had died. From this story we can also conclude that Elijah himself became the antithesis of Rome. 206 See BBab.Mez. 83b-84a; BSan. 98a; BMak. 11a; Gen. Rab. 32:2. 207 See BTer. 46b; Gen. Rab. 94:9, end. 208 PRE. 43, end. 209 Lev. Rab. 34:8; Ruth Rab. 5:6. 210 Cordovero, M., Pardes Rimonium, n.d., 24:14. 211 Zohar. 1:29a; 2:197a. 212 Tana’im, ‘teachers’, a title given to the Sages of the Mishnaic period. 213 Amora’im, ‘interpreters’, a title given to the rabbinic Sages after the Talmudic period. 214 See BKet. 77b; Gen. Rab. 35:2. 215 Est.Rab. 7:13. 216 BShab. 33b. 217 BBMez. 114a. 218 BEru. 43b. 219 BPes. 13a. 220 BHag. 25a. 221 BGit. 42b. 222 BShab. 108a. 223 PRE. 29, end. 224 BBer. 4b. 225 M.Ps.1:8. 226 Zohar 2, 197a. 227 M.Ps. 21:1. 228 Gen. Rab. 98:9. 229 MPs. 43. Here again we find the teaching that Elijah is of the house of Aaron, of which it is written, ‘The seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.’ 230 MPs. 18:12. 231 MPs. 104:25. 232 Tanhuma 1:20; Midrash Tanhuma, Buber, Solomon (ed.), Vilna (1981). See Howard Schwartz (ed.), Lilith’s Cave, Oxford University Press (1988).

122 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

See Howard Schwartz (ed.), Lilith’s Cave, Oxford University Press (1988). Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, Warsaw (1881). Midrash ha-Gadol, Gen. 5:24. Zohar. Gen. 151a-151b. Zohar. Num. 331a-b. Zohar. Gen. 209a. For this particular description we suggest reading Zohar Exodus 210b-212a where the author describes the rivers and the souls in the celestial world, interpreting the verse from Gen. 2:10:‘And a river went out of Eden to water the garden.’ 240 “The Rabbi of Zans” in Martin Buber’s, Tale of the Hasidim: The Latter Masters, Olga Marx (tr.), New York, Schocken Books (1961), 214. 241 See Scholem, G., Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, (1955), 119-155; A. Berger, “The Messianic Self-Consciousness of Abraham Abulafia: A Tentative Evaluation”, in Essays on Jewish Life and Thought Presented in Honor of Salo Wittmayer Baron, J.L. Blou, et al (eds.), (1989), 55-61. 242 It was said that he wrote an approval to this work of Abulabia, but Aderet denied that. 243 BSuk. 55a. 244 See Ez: 1;7; Dan. 10:6. In three places the interpretation is related to the color of the brass. Rasag for Dan. 10:6 says, “His feet like the brass, yellow brass when the sun shines upon it.” 245 Zohar Gen. 208b. 246 Ibid. 208b-209a. 247 Ibid. 248 See Ginzberg. Legends, 6:316. 249 LP 21:2. 250 In the LXX an ass is not mentioned in 4:20 but we read of a beast for the yoke, ta ipozigya (pl.). The Sages claim that this is a place where the translators of the Torah for Ptolomy Philadelphus, the King of Egypt, changed the text to avoid using the word ‘ass’. 251 Ex.Rab. 1:26. See note there on page 33. 252 Ruth Rab. 5:6. 253 T. Cant. 4:5. 254 Song of Songs Rab. 1:6. 255 R.A. Carlson, “Elie a l’Horeb”, VT 19 (1969), 416-439. 256 See R. B. Coote, “Yahweh Recalls Elijah”, in Traditions in Transformation, B. Halper and J.D. Levenson (eds.), Eisenbrouns, 1981. 257 See J.T. Walsh and C.T. Begg, “1-2 Kings”, NJBC 171 and G.W. Coats, “Healing and the Moses Tradition”, in Canon, Theology, and OT Interpretation, G.M. Tucker, et al (tr.), Fortress, 1988. 258 See B. Dinur, B. Yisrael ba-Golah, I, IV. (1962), 522. 259 The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, M. Gaster (tr.), KTAV House, New York. 1971. 260 Chroniciles, 77:9. 261 2 Mac. 2:4-9; Apocrypha, n.d. 262 This is an historical narrative written in Hebrew by an anonymous author in southern Italy during the 10th century. 263 According to the teaching of R. Levi there were 18,560 men there who “…ate and drank until they were intoxicated.” The same number is used in Est.Rab. 7:13, where R. Isaac Nappaha said: “The wicked Haman found a very serious accusation to bring against Is-

123

264 265

266 267 268 269 270

271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278

rael…Make a feast for them and set harlots before them…” R. Ishmael said: “Eighteen thousand and five hundred went the banquet and ate and drank and became drunk and misconducted themselves.” In Shimoni Est. 1057 it says, “R. Isaac b. Nappaha said Haman came with a serious accusation and said: ‘Their God hates lewdness…’ He made a feast and brought harlots…Mordecai proclaimed against it but they did not listen and eighteen thousand five hundred forty-four went to the feast.’ Chroniciles, 82:8. SibOr 2. Although we mentioned above the general view that this is a Jewish text, in some part of SibOr we do find a reference to Christ in the passage dealing with the Resurrection of the Dead. An examination of this issue will be discussed in Chapter Two of this book, “Elijah in Christianity”. Ecc. 48: 1-12. BMakk. 24a. Rasag, Op. Cit. 5:8. BAvo.Zar. 18a. See 2Esdras 5:1-13; In 6:17-24 the author speaks about the sound of many waters and “the books shall be opened before the firmament, and they shall see altogether…” These signs end in a troubling description saying, “At that time shall friends fight one against another like enemies and the earth shall stand in fear with those that dwell therein, the springs of the fountains shall stand still, and in three hours, they shall not run.” After all these signs, the author in 9:14 describes the coming of the Most High: “Then shalt thou understand, that it is the very same time, wherein the Highest will begin to visit the world which He made. Therefore when there shalt be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people in the world. Then shalt thou well understand that the Most High spake…” Klausner, J., The Messianic Idea in Israel, W.F. Stinespring, London, 1956. BSan. 99a. Rashi interprets this statement saying, ‘There shall be no Messiah to Israel, but the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself will redeem them.’ PTaa. 4:5. BBer. 334b. Num. 24:17-18; Deut. 30:3-5; Zech. 9:10 are quoted to emphasize his teaching. see Yad ha-Hazaka, Mela., 11:1. Ibid,11:3. Ibid,12:11. BBer. 34b.

Chapter Two Woe Unto Thee, Elias This is what messianic belief means, the belief in the real leader, in the setting right of the dialogue, in God’s disappointment being at the end. And when a fragment of the apocryphal gospel has God saying to Jesus, ‘In all the prophets have I waited for thee, for thou art my rest.’, this is 1 the late elaboration of a truly Jewish conception.

A. And Zeal Burning Like Fire Elijah was secretly taught that state of being, beyond any speech or demonstration, which is, by utterance of reason and by forms of life and conduct, divine, untroubled. Peaceful, completely immaterial, simple and 2 free from every phrase or form. The question is: Does the belief in the coming of Elijah have a different perception in the mind of the Sages of the Second Commonwealth? Is it connected to the perception that Elijah is the Prophet of the End of Days? In the literature of the Sages we discover that Elijah is not characterized as a prophet found in the literature of the Second Commonwealth. It was an accepted notion among the Sages that prophets would present new perspectives and new interpretations of the Law. But Elijah is not perceived by these Sages as being such a person or of being a prophet. The Sages never indicated that Elijah would busy himself with interpreting the Law, or that he would reinterpret the Law, or that he would bring new insight to the Law. Indeed, the role of Elijah was understood that he would neither add to the Law nor would he delete any aspect of the Law. Maimonides understood the role of Elijah in that manner, too. In the Mishnah there is a strong statement concerning the role the prophet would play: R. Joshua said: I have received as a tradition from Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai, who heard it from his teacher, and his teacher from his teacher, as a Halakah given to Moses from Sinai, that Elijah will not come to declare unclean or clean, to remove afar or to bring nigh, but to remove afar those brought nigh by violence and to bring nigh those that were re3 moved afar by violence…

125 Elijah’s role was to bring families who were far from each other closer to one another. Elijah was destined to bring everything back to its own and proper place, meaning that he would bring peace to the world. All these varied aspects of Elijah’s role are included in the verse on the prophecy of Malachi: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. (3:24; 4:6.). Judaism emphasizes the messianic figure as someone who is descended from the house of David. But in the Bible we find others who are also anointed. In Isa. 61 we find that prophets, as well as the priests, were anointed: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek… but ye shall be named priest of the Lord: men shall call you the Minister of our God. (1-6.). The Book of Leviticus contains the explicit statement that the priests were understood to be anointed. (Lev. 8:12.). In the Testament of the Twelve we read: It is for this reason that I command you to give heed to Levi, because he will know the Law of God and will give instruction concerning justice and concerning sacrifice for Israel until the consummation of times; he is 4 the anointed priest of whom the Lord spoke. In the Testament of Levi we discover: And then the Lord will raise up a new priest to whom all the words of the Lord will be revealed. He shall effect the judgment of truth over the earth for many days and his star shall rise in heaven like a king kindling the 5 light of knowledge as day is illuminated by the sun. nd

These texts of the 2 century B.C.E. illustrate the spiritual condition and expectation for a messianic redemption. The same expectation is found recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls and that text speaks about the Messiahs of Aaron and of Israel. G. Jeremias points out in his work that the Messiahs of Aaron are the priestly messiahs who took precedence in Judaism over the Messiah of the house 6 nd of David. That suggests that the Judaism of the 2 century B.C.E. was, in fact, a pluralistic tradition containing several sects, with each sect expressing diverse religious positions on theological concepts, such as the messiah. Within some of these sects the teaching was that Elijah would come. This teaching is also contained in the ancient texts found in the Nag Hamadi Library, in the Pseudepigrapha, and in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In those scrolls we find:

126 What then, is the resurrection? It is always the disclosure of those who have risen. For if you remember reading the Gospel that Elijah appeared and Moses with him, do not think the resurrection is an illusion. It is no illusion, but it is truth! Indeed it is the most fitting to say that the world is an illusion than the resurrection, which has come into being through our 7 Lord the Savior, Jesus Christ. As was pointed out earlier, one purpose for the coming of Elijah is for him to herald the great and terrible day of the Lord. But, as the prophet Malachi emphasizes, the coming of Elijah serves a second important function: Elijah is directed by God to ‘turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.’ In many ways, the coming of Elijah is to reverse the distressful conditions at the End of Days, which are described in the Gospel of Mark: Now brother shall betray brother to death, and the fathers, the son, the children shall rise against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved. (13:12-13.). A similar description is found in the Mishnah. However, in the Mishnah we find that Elijah’s coming at the End of Days is also linked to the coming of Moses. There are two possible interpretations for linking the coming of Elijah to the coming of Moses. One interpretation is that Moses may never have died, but, like Enoch and Elijah, that he is still alive, as the Talmudic literature implies: No one knoweth of his (Moses’) sepulcher to this day… lest at that time Israel should come to the sepulcher of Moses and stand there, weeping and beseeching Moses, saying: ‘Our teacher, rise up for prayer on our be8 half.’ Then Moses rises and nullifies the decree. The other interpretation points out that Elijah, like Moses, is sent by God to teach the people. This perception of the coming of Elijah with Moses is also found in the NT and it probably had some influence on this Jewish sect in its early days. In John we find: And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water… (1:31.). Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, ‘This is of a truth that the Prophet that should come into the world…(6:14.). The ‘truth’ and the ‘Prophet’ alluded to in this Gospel of John is stating the Jewish belief that Elijah will come with Moses in order to interpret the Torah. In 1Maccabees we read:

127 And stored away the stones in a suitable place on the Temple hill until there should arise a Prophet to give a decision about them. (4:46.). As was previously pointed out, Elijah will appear to solve all the perplexities and 9 all the disputed issues. But since Elijah is also believed to be the embodiment of the zealous Phinehas, it is no great surprise that both John and Jesus were identified in the Gospels as being the manifestations of Elijah. In Mark we find: And king Herod heard of him, for his name was spread abroad; and he said that John the Baptist was risen with the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. Others said that it is Elias. And others said it is the Prophet, or as one of the Prophets, but when Herod heard thereof, he said, ‘It is John, whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead.’ (6:14-16.). As the early Christian sources point out, John the Baptist played an important role in the early stages of Jesus’ teaching. The early Church that emphasized that reality, as we can see below: The word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. (Acts 10:37.). And in, When John had first preached, before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel… (Acts 13:24.). It appears that the NT portrays John as an eschatological prophet, or as Mark shares, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to swoop down and loose. (Mk. 1:7.). This raises a question. Did John perform eschatological baptisms where one was baptized with the Holy Spirit? We find it discussed in Luke: John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of his whose shoes I am not worthy to loose; he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Luke 3:16.). This perception found in Luke is most likely discussed in the Psalms of Solomon: He will gather a holy people and he will judge the tribes of the people, 10 that have been made holy by their Lord their God. Moreover, Josephus shared the idea much earlier that the baptisms John and 11 Jesus performed contained significant eschatological elements. Indeed, when we

128 carefully examine what was recorded by Matthew and by Luke, we become aware that they explicitly identified John the Baptist with Elijah, as it is ex12 pressed twice in Malachi.

B. The World Is Silent Think not of the substance of this world, its joys and pleasures for as in a dream thou art satiated and when thou wakest up thou findest thyself with an empty belly, even so are the joys (of this world). Like a shadow that passed away yesterday, even so is the substance and glory of this 13 world. The liturgy of the Church emphasizes how far removed Christianity was from Judaism. The Torah did not play an important role in the lives of the early Christians. Although some early Christians emphasized the importance of the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue), other important Judaic concepts, like the liberation from the House of Bondage, the Sabbath day, and the dietary laws, were not put into practice in the new tradition. For centuries the rift between these two traditions grew with the lack of dialogue and the rift eventually turned into hostility. In many ways, that deep hostility caused the two traditions to separate completely, as Christianity cut itself completely loose from its Jewish memory. It can be argued that Paul was the first to divert the teachings of Jesus away from Jewish perceptions. By loosening the ties of Jesus’ teachings from its Jewish roots, Paul was instrumental in introducing these teachings as a new religion. In the second century C. E. we find a dialogue between Justin and a Jewish person named Trypho. In this dialogue, the Christian Justin strongly supports the Christian interpretation of the Bible and claims its interpretation is the one that 14 is bona fide. Some readers feel that Justin acts out of his hatred for the Jews because the dialogue contains some strong statements that Justin made against Jews. But this dialogue emphasizes that Justin had a strong conviction in this new tradition and that the dialogue demonstrates that Justin was one of this new tradition’s early interpreters. However, we can easily suggest that the NT presents the teachings of Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises found recorded in the OT. As it is written: For the Scripture saith whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jews and the Greeks, for the same

129 Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom. 10:11-13.). This particular notion in Romans is an echo of the idea delivered in the OT by the prophet Amos, Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopian unto me, O children of Israel? Saith the Lord, Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? (Amos 9:7.). Scholars have pointed out that in the first century there was no separation between Judaism and Christianity. The Christian texts of that time contain evidence of Jewish beliefs. What became the most significant difference between the Jewish and Christian sources was the ultimate importance of the resurrection of Jesus, which became a central part of the Christian doctrine. The notion that there was no separation between Judaism and Christianity in the first century accentuated the notion that Christianity was not the only Messianic movement at that point in time. From the works of Josephus we learn that messianic ambience was very common. Thus, we can conclude that throughout the first century that Christianity was not in conflict with Judaism. That conflict began well into the second century. What probably existed during the first century was a conflict between those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and those who did not ascribe to this notion. In the teaching of Paul, the deviation of Christianity from Judaism becomes evident when Paul claims that no one should deny the messianic role of Jesus. This doctrine was not accepted by Rabbinic Judaism, so, at this point, it became easy to distinguish between a Jew and a Christian based on this one doctrine. But there were additional ways that characterized a Jew from a Christian in Palestine and throughout the Roman Empire, such as the observation of the Sabbath, and the rites of dietary laws, and the practice of circumcision. The Christian belief that the Messiah had arrived was a very disturbing idea to the Jews. However, if we examine the text in JTa’anit we discover that R. Akiba pointed out that Simon bar Koseba is the Messiah and he claimed he was 15 the star of Jacob, Bar Kokhba. Was this a Jewish response linked to the Christian perception that the Messiah had already arrived? Or was this a demonstration of the strong Jewish belief in the endurance of people for redemption? The messianic idea related to Bar Kokhba was rejected by some of R. Akiba’s contemporaries. In the NT there is also an echo of rejection of anyone who would claim to be the Messiah: Then stood there up one of the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a teacher of law, held in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space…For before these days rose up

130 Theudus boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves; who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to nothing. (Acts 5:34-36.). Examining the dispute between the Christian messianic movement and the Jews, the dominant idea of the early Christians was their belief that Jesus was a special emissary from God (the Father). This doctrine is found in the teachings of the Gospel of John and it was at the center of the growing tensions between the 16 Christian Jews and the non-Christian Jews of that day. Some will argue, however, that the teachings of the Gospel of John were directed to those who already believed that Jesus was an emissary of the Father and that this notion is in accordance with the Jewish tradition: And the Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:37-39.). Or, as Bultman posits in his work, Jesus alone was merited to see the Father and he points out that Jesus is a revealer who descended from heaven as the true one 17 to make God known ‘in his own person’. Toward the end of the first century, and the beginning of the second century, there are apocalyptic texts relating to the Messiah, or in the NT as ‘the anointed one’, or, Christos. In the Syr. Baruch a few verses are found that deal with the appearance of the ‘anointed one’: And it will happen that when all that which should come to pass in these parts has been accomplished, the anointed one will begin to be revealed. (29:3.). And it will happen after these things when the time of the appearance on the Anointed One has been fulfilled and he returns with glory, that then 18 all who sleep in hope of him will rise. (30:1.). But who is this ‘Anointed One’? We know merely a little about him and his activities. Both here and in 4Ezra we are introduced to a character that is unknown. However, in other writings the Messiah is described as being human and a descendant of the House of David. In Jewish sources, such as the first century B.C.E. text, in the Psalms of Solomon, we read that the Lord promised that the House of David will be forever and that its king will be the Messiah of Yahweh and that he will lead his people: …there will be no more arrogance among them that any should be oppressed.

131 and that the role of this Messiah will be: …to raise him over the house of Israel to discipline him.

19

However, this text contains no trace of the Christian notion that the Messiah will be a heavenly figure. A text containing no reference to any Jewish text, nor to any Qur’anic literature, The Lives of the Prophets, does contain Christian material. In that work’s Chapter 21 we discover: Elijah the Thesbite from the land of the Arabs…(21:1.). From the geopolitical perspective, the author of this text records that Elijah came from the area of present day Jordan, an area the author informs us was under Nabatean rule until the beginning of the second century C.E. This text also shares information about people mentioned in the Biblical narrative of Elijah. Obadiah, mentioned in 18:3 as the governor of the house of king Ahab, is presented in this text as the disciple of Elijah who was the third captain of the fifty (2Kings 1:13-15.). Also included in this work is the notion that Elijah is from the 20 tribe of Aaron and, as was mentioned in Chapter One, that he was a priest. However, this text shares that the city of Thesbe in the Gilead was given to the priests, even though Tishbe (Thesbe) doesn’t appear in the Biblical list of the 21 thirteen cities given to the priests. The list of Elijah’s miracles in this work ends with this statement, Finally he was taken up in a chariot of fire. This text differs with the account in the Bible on the killing of the prophets of Ba’al. In this text we read: And all blessed God and kill(ed) the four hundred and fifty (prophets) of Ba’al. (21:10.). while in 1Kings it states: And they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. (18:40.). Another text, Apocalypse of Zephaniah (Ap. Zeph.), was written at the beginning of the Christian era. In this text, Elijah appears as one of the exemplary holy people who were able to escape the god ruling the underworld. This text describes this event: Then he (the angel) ran to all the righteous ones, namely, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Enoch and Elijah and David. He spoke with them as friend to friend speaking with one another. (9:4-5.).

132 Of the six prophets named in this quote above, only two are recorded in the Bible as having been taken to heaven by God: Enoch in the Book of Genesis (5:24.) and Elijah in 2Kings 2:11. In the Book of Jubilees we also discover: Enoch bore witness against all of them. And he was taken from among the children of men, and we led him to the Garden of Eden for greatness and honor. And behold he is there writing condemnation and judgment of the world…(4:23.). We are clearly informed of the deaths of the Patriarchs and the death of King David in the OT but in some later literary works we discover that although they had been buried, that God had removed their souls, Then God turned and drew out the soul of Abraham as in a dream, and 22 the commander in chief Michael took it into heaven. In the Testament of Isaac (TIS) we read: Blessed is everyone who manifests mercy on the memorial day of the fathers of fathers, our father Abraham and our father Isaac, for each of them shall have a dwelling in the kingdom of heaven, because our Lord has 23 made with them his true covenant forever… From this passage we can conclude that although the body of each patriarch was buried, each soul was taken up into heaven. It’s important to note here that in the Gospel of Matthew we read something quite different: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living. (22:23.). Concerning David, we find in the Book of Psalms: For thou will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou permit thine Holy One to see corruption. (16:10.). The Psalmist also presents the idea that God is the God of the living, as in: The dead praise not the Lord; neither any that go down in silence. (115:17.). The notion that David was not among the living ones in Paradise is found in another early Christian work where David’s name is not mentioned: And the Prophet said: ‘Lord, reveal to me the punishments and Paradise.’ And the angels lead me away to the east and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there Enoch and Elijah and Moses and Peter and Paul and Luke and 24 Matthew and all the righteous and the patriarch.

133 Another text, which derives some of its themes from the Jewish apocalypses, belongs, so it seems, to the early Christian Church because it emphasizes the importance of prayers. According to this text, by means of prayer a person may have, or can attain, the power to release one’s soul from the domain of Satan. The author mentions the prayers of Moses and of Elijah: For if your prayers were such as Moses wept for forty days and spoke with God mouth to mouth, likewise also Elijah was taken up to heaven in a 25 fiery chariot, likewise Daniel also pray(ed) in the li(ons’) den. Silence. And after the silence, the voice. This silence is a temporary break between man and God. And yet this period of silence is connected to a great expectation of excitement that exists before the voice is heard. Here we witness a mystical experience through this period of absolute silence and the important presentation of the notion that this mystical experience is not the outcome of noise, or din, or an ‘earthquake’, nor of a fire, nor of an image. Instead, it is a very special silence that causes humanity to tremble. All the visions one sees during this mystical experience are as if one is within a trance. It is a power that wakes the body to respond to these visions. This absolute silence allows one to see the divine light and to accept the divine voice. This is the way we are supposed to understand the command given to Abraham, ‘Get thee out of thy country.’ and to understand the divine voice in, ‘I am the Lord thy God.’ The world was silent and then the voice came out saying, ‘I am thy Lord.’ In Judaism, the coming of the Messiah is proclaimed as a kind of race as the Messiah is described as riding a donkey or riding a cloud. We submit, however, that every human being is part of the ideas and ideals embracing his or her life. Each person has an allegiance to all aspects of life, the religious, the moral, and the cultural. In the Bible there is a verse stating these allegiances using simple words, ‘Walk before me and be whole.’ The text uses the noun tamim, which translates as ‘whole’ and ‘innocent’. The fact that man can become ‘whole’ and ‘innocent’ implies that humankind possesses demonic powers rather than possessing a divine spirit that it longs to be have. The Messiah is expected to come and establish the world on the foundations of divine justice. In some ways the Messiah is expected to reveal the dual divine spirit that humanity carries. With this coming, other wonders are predicted to occur, such as the resurrection and the Day of Judgment. Every human being believes that the Messiah will come in his or her lifetime. The hope for the salvation by a Messiah is linked to the human will to endure despite suffering. The most common belief in these two traditions is that a dramatic event, such as a war, or the destruction of the world, will precede the coming of the Messiah. Even as catastrophic events occurred throughout human history, no messiah had appeared. However, some took advantage of these terrible calamities

134 to claim their divine mission. Such an event happened at the beginning of the Common Era. In the second century, in the prophecy of Justin Martyr known as The Prophecy of Hystaspes, such a claim was made. He records that the Romans had decreed capital punishment for ‘those who read the book of Hystaspes or (of) the Sybil or (of) the Prophets.’ Justin Martyr claimed the Romans viewed these 26 writings to be the work of demons. It had been claimed that Clement of Alex27 andria had stated that Paul had recommended that the Oracles be read. The Oracles of Hystaspes was a very popular book among Christians in the second century. History records that Augustus burned prophetical books that foretold the destruction of the Roman Empire. This historical fact doesn’t suggest that the Oracles of Hystaspes was known in Augustus’ time. It was probably written as a letter at a later date. The Oracles speak about a war between two wicked kings who were two dragons. Professor Flusser compares these dragon kings depicted in the Oracles with the two dragons that appear in Mordechai’s dream, as that was included in the Greek edition of the Book of Esther. In both of these texts, the Jews cried out to God and they were saved. Does this suggest that the author of the dream of Mordechai adapted and used the dream found in the Oracles? Some scholars suggest that the anti-Roman attitude of the Oracles doesn’t point out the exact time it was written. In Professor Flusser’s translation of the fourth century work Lactanitus Divinae Institutione, which includes verses from the Book of Revelation and from the Oracles, we find: But the king will not be most disgraceful in himself but he will also be a prophet of lies and he will constitute and call himself God and will order himself to be worshipped as the Son of God…Then he will attempt to destroy the Temple of God and persecute the righteous people and there will be distress and tribulation such as there never has been from the be28 ginning of the world. Pointing out the problem of composition for the Oracles, Professor Flusser suggests: It was a Jewish apocalypse written in the Roman period before the destruction of the Temple, evidently in Greek and probably in Asia Minor, 29 as it is connected by its Persian hero Hystaspes with Zoroastrianism. If we accept Professor Flusser’s thesis, then this work was very important among the people in early times and it’s considered a Jewish eschatological work. The prophet mentioned here is the one who is mentioned in the work of Philo. He is identified with Elijah, who is mentioned in Mal. 3:23-24. According to the Biblical narratives, he is the only prophet who does not die. This tradition was so strong among the people that the followers of the new messianic movement in the first century C.E. embraced it in their identification of John the Baptist with

135 Elijah, who is mentioned in Mal. 3:23-24. He is the only prophet according to the Biblical narrative who doesn’t die. …They answering said John the Baptist; but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old Prophets is risen again. (Luke 9:19.). When we examine certain passages from the Book of Revelation, it is hard not to see those passages as connected to Elijah’s narrative. Here are two miracles mentioned in the Book of Revelation which are similar to two miracles found in Elijah’s narrative: Book of Revelation And if any man will hurt them with fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies…(11:5.). These have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy…(11:6.).

Elijah’s Narrative …If I be a man of God, then let fire come from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty…(2Kings 1:9-12.). As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word. (1Kings 17:1.).

The fire mentioned in Elijah’s narrative is an echo of the fire found in the Book of Malachi: For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn like an oven and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall stumble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up…(Mal. 3:19; 4:1.). The fire found in Elijah’s narrative is also found in Ecclesiasticus: There stood up Elias the Prophet as fire and his wood burned like a furnace…( Eccles. 48:1.). The Book of Revelation also mentions the miracle of blood: …and have Power over Water to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues. (Rev. 11:6). It is indeed connected to the turning of the river of water into one of blood. And the wording concerning coming plagues is certainly connected to the ten plagues, and very probably it serves as a typology of Moses. This description of Elijah coming from heaven is also found in the apocalyptic work of the early

136 Church. In the Christian Sibyllines, written in the second or third century, we find the following lines describing Elijah’s descent from heaven: And then the Teshbite, speeding the heavenly chariot from heaven and descending to earth, shall show three signs to all the world, signs of a life 30 that is perishing. In another work considered to belong to the ascetic circles, Elijah is described as a noble man. In this work, Elijah is also viewed as a paradigm of a person who still ‘lives in a body’, meaning, while he was on earth, he had not had a woman servant but had always had a man as a servant. This is given as an answer to the question: Why takest thou, O man, a woman as a servant? The author of this epistle presents two people, Elijah and Enoch, who ascended to heaven according to the Biblical storyteller, and says: Thus Elias, a noble man who still lives in the body…There Enoch also lives in the body, who was carried away in the first age. O holy dispensation of God, who has provided for…the coming age! Enoch, the righteous, from among the first people, was commissioned to commit to writing the history of the first man, and the holy Elias of registration the new 31 deeds of this later people. The story of the fish is another part of the Christian tradition. The fish is also included in Alexander’s Legends as a ‘smoked fish’, and it becomes part of Peter’s story in the Acts of the Apostles, a work written in the second or third century: But Peter turned round and saw (smoked) fish hanging in the window; and he took it and said to the people: If you now see this swimming in the water like a fish, will you be able to believe in him whom I preach? And they all said with one accord, indeed we will believe you. Now there was a fish-pond nearby; so he said: ‘In thy name, Jesus Christ, in which they still fail to believe, in the presence of all these, be alive and swim like a fish!’ And he threw the tunny into the pond, and it came alive and be32. gan to swim. Unlike the other fish stories, here the revival of the smoked fish happened in order to demonstrate that Peter’s true mission was to turn the people to believe in Christ. This story doesn’t speak of the ‘spring of life’ but it insinuates the power of the words and that the belief in Christ is like the ‘spring of life’, as it stated, …a great number followed him and believed in the Lord.

137 In Pseudo-Titus, a very different judgment for sinners appears: In the member with which each man has sinned, in the same also shall he be tormented. According to the author, Elijah was a witness to this vision in this way: Elijah is taken by the angel of the Lord to a valley called Gehenna, a place of burning brimstone, where many souls of sinners are tormented. The author presents a list of very different punishments. Men are hanged by their genitals, by their tongues, or by their eyes. Women are tormented in their breasts and virgins are roasted on gridirons. The list of sinners includes adulterous, corrupters, blasphemers, and false witnesses. The passage ends with a statement that reflects the teaching of this ascetic sect: Blessed is the eunuch who has committed no offense with his hands.

33

In Matthew and in Mark we find two descriptions relating to John the Baptist. But the interesting aspect is that these descriptions portray him as the one who preaches in the wilderness, as an echo of the prophecy of Hosea. The wilderness is present in the beginning of the relationship between God and his People. It is a metaphor focused on coming back to God. Yet, the ascetic aspect of life is emphasized in the NT more than it is in the OT, And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitude concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind. (Matt. 11:7.). and: John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (Mark 1:4.). Isn’t the description below from Hosea close to matching the two descriptions shared above? Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly unto her. (2:14.). This typology is also found in Jeremiah 31:1-6; 2:2 and it emphasizes the ascetic aspects as they are strongly presented in the Gospel of Mark: And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a leather belt about his waist, and he did eat locusts and wild honey. (1:6.). As much as the NT describes John as the one who appears to be the ‘mightier one’ who summoned ‘baptism of repentance’, in Ant. (18: 116ff.) he is portrayed as a teacher and as a moralist. Josephus put it the following way,

138 Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist, for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to right34 eousness towards one another, and piety towards God. The Ethiopic text, The Apocalypse of Peter, contains the parable of the fig tree and its meaning, at the request of Paul, is given by the Master who suggests that the fig tree represents the house of Israel. The parable of the fig tree, but not its interpretation, is also found in the three synoptic gospels: in Mk. 13: 28-31; Mtt. 24:32-33; and Lk. 21: 29-31. The use of a parable in the gospels is to teach about the coming of Christ and to illustrate the establishment of the kingdom of God. Although this parable of the fig tree utilizes an object from the natural realm, the importance of the teaching is connected to spiritual truth. The author of The Apocalypse of Peter expands the spiritual realm of this parable this way: Even as a man hath planted a fig tree in his garden and it brought forth no fruit, and he sought its fruit for many years. When he found it not, he said to the keeper of his garden, Uproot the fig tree that our land may not 35 be unfruitful for us. The parable of the fig tree shared in the three synoptic gospels ends with this teaching: Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. In the Ap.Pet. readers learn that Christ is coming and that he will show the wickedness of the false Messiah. This text contains an apocalyptic vision of a struggle between the evil deceiver and the many martyrs that he will kill before the house of Israel rejects him. Enoch and Elijah will be sent to instruct the people that the false Messiah is the one ‘who deceiveth the whole world’, as it’s written in Rev. 12:9, and that this deceiver will use ‘signs and wonders to seduce’, as it’s shared in Mark 13:22. Here, too, Elijah is viewed as an instructor, which is a motif that is emphasized in the Jewish tradition. In this text, Elijah is presented as a companion of Moses, possibly because each prophet had experienced a revelation at Mount Horeb. In this work, Peter meets these two prophets, but he can’t see their faces which are hidden because they are emitting a bright light that ‘shone more than the sun.’ This vision is based on a passage found in Mk. 9 which details the transfiguration of Christ as witnessed by three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John. Mark describes this transfiguration by stating:

139 His raiment became shining, exceedingly, white like snow as not fuller on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses and they were talking to Jesus. (Mk. 9:3-4.). Similarly, in The Apocalypse of Peter the description of the transfiguration of Jesus reveals that Jesus describes Moses and Elijah as beings whom ‘no mouth is able to express the beauty of their form.’ (Ch. 15.) In the three gospels, Elijah is presented as Moses’ companion and both are seen talking to Jesus. Peter describes the transfiguration by stating that Jesus ‘shines like the sun’ and Luke states ‘…the appearance of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and 36 glistening.’ In 2Corinthians, Paul states: And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth). How he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter. (12:3-4.). This scene is also found in The Apocalypse of Paul with one difference. In this text, Paul can utter the words that Jesus had heard as he was transfigured. In this work, Paul is embraced and kissed by an old man who welcomed him as he entered the gates of Paradise. Paul meets Enoch, whose function as a scribe was to record righteousness, and Paul also saw Elijah, who greeted him ‘with gladness and joy.’ The angel that leads Paul from firmament to firmament also showed him the land of promise, where the eternal king will be revealed. This land of promise has a river of milk and it contains honey and fruit. On his journey Paul meets a righteous man and his companion, and the angel tells Paul: ‘They are Elijah and Elisha.’ At this point in this text, Elijah introduces himself to Paul saying: I am Elijah, the Prophet of God. I am Elijah who prayed and because of my word heaven did not rain for three years and six months on the ac37 count of the unrighteousness of men. Elijah is mentioned in the NT but not as we find him in the Apocrypha. Two synoptic gospels do offer an interpretation of the moment on the cross when Jesus cried, ‘Eli Eli’ and then was treated in a vulgar and offensive way by the Jews witnessing his execution:

140 Mark 15:35-36 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold he calleth Elijah. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed and gave him to drink, saying: Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.

Matt. 27:47-49 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, this man calleth for Elijah. And straightaway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

Luke, however, presents the Roman soldiers, and not the Jews, as being the ones who had mocked Jesus using these words: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. (23:37.). Luke also shares that it was the Roman soldiers who mocked Jesus before the crucifixion: And Herod with his men of war treated him with contempt and mocked him and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. (23:11.). Mark’s description in 15:35-36 of the abusive treatment that Jesus received from the Jews as he was being crucified is problematic, not only because it is a vulgar presentation of the cruel way Jesus was treated as he was dying, but it also depicts Jews as mocking the traditional Jewish belief in the miraculous ways of Elijah. Somehow Mark’s description in 15:35-36 also contradicts the scene as Mark presented it earlier in the same gospel, where the witnesses to his crucifixion offer Jesus a special drink to ease his terrible pain: And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh but he received it not. (15:23.). These gospels mark the beginning of the Church Fathers creating lists that accuse the Jews of various crimes. The early Church blamed Jews as idolaters, as evildoers, and as the killers of their own prophets. According to the leaders of the early Church, the Jews had been unable to free themselves from the evil wrongdoings and practices they had learnt while living in Egypt. Tertullian writes, …Jews quite forsook God and did degrading service to idols…they did 38 again worship golden kirie and groves and enslaved themselves to Ba’al. St. Ephram compares Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah. Other Church leaders claimed that the Sabbath was given to the Jews because of their grossness and sensuality. This harsh description was presented by a Church Father, an eloquent

141 speaker whose title, ‘Golden Mouth’, didn’t reflect the very hateful words he shared about the Jews. While interpreting a verse in the Psalms, this early Church leader accused the Jews of infanticides and of being cannibals, when he wrote, Yea, they sacrificed their sons and daughters unto demons. (106:37.). Blaming and accusing Jews of evils became customary for the leaders of the early Church as they began the process of conquering the pagans. Jews began to be accused of rejecting Jesus and by doing so, Jews were accused of murdering the Messiah and the Son of God. These new accusations can be likened to the proverbial rolling stone. The Church moved forward by accusing the murderers of Jesus, the Jews, as being deceivers who not only rejected final salvation but who were also perceived as the actual enemies of God. In his work, Orations Against 39 the Jews, John Chrysostom used the term ‘deicide’ in characterizing the Jews. In this work we read that St. John developed the idea that because the Jews had rejected the final salvation Jesus offered, then the Jews became worse spiritually. Some Fathers of the Church, such as Tertulian, Augustine, and Irenaeus developed the concept of two brothers. One brother’s offering is rejected, as was the offering of Cain. And Cain was associated as representing the Jewish rituals. The other brother’s offering was accepted, like Abel’s had been, and it was accepted as a spiritual offering of the Church. The Jews were seen by the early Fathers of the Church as being related to Cain, since it was written in Genesis that he will be a spiritual offering of the Church. Since the Fathers of the early Church perceived Jews as being the descendants of Cain, and since in Genesis it was written that he will be a, …fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.(4:12.). then Cain became the typological for the wandering Jew. As the poet Prudentius expressed it, From place to place the homeless Jew wanders in ever-shifting exile, since the time when he was torn from the abode of his fathers and has been suffering the penalty for murder and having stained his hands with the blood 40 of Christ… However, what truly enraged the Church Fathers was the continued hope of the Jews for the coming of the Messiah and their refusal to accept the Church’s position that the Messiah had already appeared. According to the perception of the early Church Fathers, despite the Christian belief that the Messiah had already appeared, as it is found described in the Jewish Scriptures, the Jews had stubbornly rejected that reality and had chosen, instead, to adhere to their evil ways. From this position evolves the early Christian idea that the Messiah which the Jews are awaiting is Satan.

142 According to the ancient Christian texts, the messianic king of the days to come will baptize all pagans and transform their temple into churches. The expectation is that most Jews will convert to Christianity and that they will participate in their own salvation. The early Church texts state that this messianic king will journey to Jerusalem where he will hand over his crown to the Father and Son, or to God and Christ. The predicted conversion of the Jews as an eschatological act is an old story that appears in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 9-11. In 2Thess. we read, Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2Thess. 2:4.). In this work the antichrist is presented as coming to Jerusalem to fight the Christians, not the pagans. In the work of D.C. Munro we find that Islam was identified with the true forces supporting the antichrist who had developed idols for his magic. According to Munro, For the purpose of propaganda, much was made of the supposed idolatry of the Muslims. Widespread was the belief that they worshipped Mohammad as a god, and had other gods and idols; and this belief was fostered 41 by the account written down by participants in the Crusades. The theological views presented in the medieval polemics against the Jews were primarily focused on proving the Jewish messianic hope to be wrong and to prove the doctrine of Christianity as correct. In the works of Thomas Aquinas and Nicolas of Lyra present the notion that the Jews in the first century had acknowledged Jesus as the true Messiah while simultaneously killing him. In the commentary of Don Isaac Abravanel on the Book of Daniel, he attracted the attention of Christian doctors who called Abravanel an imposter. Calvin later called Abravanel an ignorant man and interpreted the Jewish hope for their coming Messiah as their hope for materialistic gain because the Jews viewed the coming of the Messiah as occurring during a period of abundance, not during war, and containing various delights. Most medieval polemists that wrote about refuting the Jewish doctrine on the messiah relied on Biblical texts. On one hand, their work led to an increase in the number of people studying Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible. However, in spite of their interaction with Jewish teachings, these polemists asserted that the Jews had rejected Jesus and the Christian messianic doctrine out of their blindness and ignorance. The hostility of the early Christian Church against the Jews is related to Paul’s activities. While the early Jewish Christians had accepted the Christian Messianic mission of Jesus and viewed him as the one who had been promised, Paul insisted that they also needed to accept Jesus and understand him spiritually. He shared that as long as the early

143 Jewish Christians observed the dead law in the OT, then they opposed the works of righteousness. With Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, the hostility of the Christians began against those who rejected Jesus as the Messiah, as Paul shared, For I would not, brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. (Rom. 11:25.). Paul opens the door for the Gentiles in Romans as he casts out the Jews at the same time by calling upon the Jews to repent of their beliefs. At this point, the hostility of Christians began as the accusation of the Jewish denial of Jesus as the Messiah began. According to Christian doctrine of that time, the Jews were stigmatized as the rejected people who were accused of having killed the Prophets and the Son of God. Because of these serious sins, the early Christians claimed God set his wrath upon the Jews. The purported signs of God’s wrath against the Jews that the early Christians pointed to are the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the destruction of the land in 135 C.E. In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites are described as being ‘am q’she ‘oref, or ‘a stiffnecked people’. The early Christians erroneously interpreted this as meaning the Jews were a people who endlessly pursue sin. Their major sin, however, is the Christian belief that the Jews had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. It’s important to th note that in Judaism, as it is shared by R. Abun in the 4 century, the gentiles 42 considered Jews to be ‘stiff-necked people.’ In Ex. Rab. (42:4) a story is focused on Ex. 32:7. The short story deals with the angels who had sought to kill Moses. R. Azariah, in the name of R. Judah b. Simon, who said this in the name of R. Judah b. Ila’I, shared the following: When Moses was about to descend, the angels sought to slay him. So what did Moses do? He seized God’s Throne, and the Holy One, blessed be He, spread his mantle over Moses so the angels could not destroy him. The early Church Fathers used this episode from the Book of Exodus and expounded upon it by erroneously interpreting it to mean that the Jews are materialistic and that they pursue a carnal life while rejecting a spiritual life. Early Christians presented the Jews as a group of devil worshippers and the offspring of vipers. John Chrysostom was harsh in his description of the Jews and their spiritual institutions. He described their synagogue as a ‘brothel’, as a ‘theater’, and as a ‘den of wild 43 beasts’. At this point in the history of Christianity, the Jews were being negatively and vilely defined, not only as a people who had rejected the Messiah but of also being a people who lacked spirituality and who embraced harlotry.

144

C. The Blessing Was Given

He who loves the Scriptures of God, and who does not wish to be ignorant forever, keeps in touch with new findings and diligently examines all things. But each one makes progress in proportion as God has granted to 44 each his measure of faith.

The birth of Christianity within the Jewish tradition, coupled with its gradual withdrawal over time from its Jewish roots, is a fascinating historical event. Crucial events occurred that shook the old traditions and the scars of those times are still present today. With the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, followed six decades later by the revolt of Bar-Kokhba, combined to completely destroy Jewish life in Judea. The revolt of Bar-Kokhba, an arrogant leader, combined with the support he received from some zealous religious leaders, can also be seen as the result of the acts of those who had left the synagogue and had become aposynagogoi, as it’s found in the following verse: These words spoke his parents because they feared the Jews, for the Jews agreed already that, if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the Synagogue. (John 9:22.). During the century when John’s fourth gospel was recorded, we witness a separation occurring between the Jews who centered their communities in the synagogue and those Jews who embraced the messianism of Christ. The controversy between these two stances was quite severe because both groups believed Jesus had made himself equal to God: My father worketh hereto, and I work, therefore the Jews sought more to kill him…but (Jesus) said also that God was his father, making himself equal to God. (John 5:17-18.). And this belief created a huge division among the Jews of that era because in the Jewish tradition it is a blasphemy for anyone to consider himself equal to God. Unlike the heavy emphasis John placed on the Jews in his writings, the writings of Paul rarely comment on the Jews. Only one section of Paul’s gospel contains views similar to those views found in John’s fourth gospel: For ye brethren became followers of the Churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus; for ye also who have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us; and they please not

145 God and are contrary to all men. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. (1Thess. 2:14-16.). One position maintained by scholars is that Pauline Christianity was taking issue with other Christians rather than with the Jews. However, as much as Paul’s writing is ambiguous, it’s apparent in the verse above that Paul was addressing all of Israel and that he wished for all in Israel to accept his vision and to follow the messianism of Christ. Paul’s congregation was composed of people living in the Mediterranean basin, unlike the aposynagogi who made up the congregation addressed by John in the fourth gospel. In the Gospel of Matthew we discover: And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. (21:14.). This event can be seen as a metaphor for the Matthean’s Messiah, the one that Matthew believed was the descendant of David. The primary role of Matthew’s Messiah is to ‘save his people from their sins’ (1:21.). Although this Messiah is well received by the common people, the political leaders and religious authorities of that day feared the loss of their roles and they openly opposed the people’s acceptance of Jesus as a powerful Messiah. This opposition is not paradigmatic just for the Jewish authorities but for the religious authorities of any tradition. Any messianic movement commonly creates shudders to the very foundation of the established religious institutions and the teachings of any tradition. As this new tradition begins, the emphasis in the Gospels is placed on defining Christianity and to establishing what the earlier Jewish tradition’s authorities have done in opposition to this new belief. The gospels were seeking to gather ‘the lost sheep’ of the house of Israel under the new banner of Christianity, just as the rabbis of the Jewish communities were striving to gather the ‘common people’, ochloi, to their traditions and teachings. Eventually the Jewish authorities were forced to acknowledge the danger that Christianity posed. In response to this threat, the Jewish religious authorities developed their vision of the Messianic idea, which was a utopian one. They set in motion a belief in the coming of a messiah while simultaneously planting the seeds of doubt that such a messiah could ever come, as is found in this statement: Grass will grow through thy jaws and the son of David shall not yet have 45 appeared. This Messianic idea emphasized to the Jews the importance of hope. Christianity then developed the concept of the Second Coming, which is also a utopian idea.

146 The question concerning who will have the power and the authority to declare the coming of the Messiah and the beginning of the predicted utopian period on earth is answered by both of these traditions by pointing to a mythical persona, Elijah, as the only one possessing that power. For the Jews, messianism based its ideology on a foundation that declared the utopian future of the people would be righteous and that the future would unfold according to the Biblical laws. This ideology was explicitly focused on the hope of restoring the people, from the House of Jacob, coming from the four corners of the world to repossess their ancient land. It is through these ‘people’, according to the mystical interpretation of Philo, that Israel is defined as Ish 46 ra’ah el, meaning, ‘a man saw God’. Philo expected the Jews to return to their land and to rebuild Jerusalem. The fact that this utopian hope is not found in the prophetic literature, especially when we examine the Prophesies of Isaiah 40-66, suggests that this concept was developed later within the rabbinic circle during the Second Commonwealth. In turn, the Gospels developed the Christian utopian hope around the figure of Christ. Through their commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, these writers idealized the holiness of the texts. In early Christianity, the Church proclaimed itself through the Gospels to be the one tradition that would unite all mankind. But the Fathers of the Church then reduced this God of all humans to be the God reserved solely for the benefit of the early Church and its followers. Both traditions developed the idea of the days to come and both embraced the idea of God. Christianity, however, developed these two ideas around the concept of the second coming of Christ. Despite two millennia of conflict, ironically each of these traditions perceives the future in similar terms as ‘the time to come’. Despite sharing this common concept, during the second and third centuries the Church became more dogmatic and authoritative and that is when the Church’s active repudiation of Jewish doctrine began. The Church had reached the point where it declared that the Judaism of Biblical times had ended. In the Talmud the Jewish Sages claim there are three periods of history. One is the period before creation, Tohu. The second historical period is when the revelation on Sinai occurred. The third period is centered on the coming of the Messiah, The Tanna debe Eliyyahu teaches: The world is to exist six thousand years. In the first two thousand was desolation (Tohu); two thousand years the Torah flourished, and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era, 47 but through our many inequities all these have been lost. With the coming of the Messiah, the Jews believe that the law will be established. For the Jews, this law is the Torah. For the Christians, according to Paul,

147 the law is not restricted to just the Old Testament but the law includes all of the scripture that teaches about the coming of the Messiah, Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be fulfilled by faith. (Gal. 3:24.). The disciples of Paul also distanced themselves from Judaism. Barnabas, for example, denied that Christianity shared a foundation with Judaism and was in favor of eliminating Christianity’s relationship with the earlier tradition. At this point, the Christians developed the idea that God had elected them to be the new Israel. As Martin Buber shares, The Church perceives Israel as a reality rejected by God. This condition necessarily follows from the claim of the Church to be the true Israel. Those of Israel have, according to this view, forfeited their claim because 48 they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. As Christianity sought to fulfill its messianic idea, it saw its Church as the new Israel. Its Church was seen as destined to replace the old synagogue. As the Roman Empire was converted to Christianity during the fourth century, antiJewish sentiment was found in the Gospels and it was developed into a theological principle. With that being done, it became easy for the religious and political authorities to deny the Jews the same status given to the Christians. The antiJewish sentiments expressed in the Gospels were put into social and political practice. The Fathers of the Church promoted the concept of Jews being deceivers and of the Jews having rejected Jesus Christ. Their views on these concepts are found in their commentaries on the Bible and in their sermons. They created a new genre of polemics that bears the title of Adversus Judaeos. In the early Christian literary works, Elijah is presented as a second Moses and even as a new Moses, or, as we discover in some scholarly works, as ‘an intentional comparison between Elijah and Moses’. Some of these comparisons are listed in Chapter One, where it is remarkable to see how easy it is to make a case 49 for the parallels drawn then between Moses and Elijah. In the Book of Revelation there is a long text that deals with the prophets: And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth… (11:3-12.). Reading further into this verse, it is interesting to note that in the first predicted miracle that these two prophets will have the power to shut up heaven, and in the second predicted miracle that these two prophets will have the power to turn water into blood. (Rev. 11: 4-12.). Surely the first miracle in this verse is an echo

148 of Elijah, since he had withheld rain from the people in the OT for three years. The second miracle echoes the infliction of the first plague by Moses onto the Egyptians. Then this verse reveals the third miracle of the earthquake. The use of fire is not mentioned in the Book of Revelation, but Elijah uses fire when he kills the soldiers in the Book of Kings (2Kings 1:9-12.). This ‘fire’ becomes Tannur, or ‘the furnace’, in Malachi 3:19 (4:1.), as the ‘fire’ becomes more dramatic. This ‘fire’ becomes more eschatological, as we can see in: Then stood up Elias the Prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp. (Sirach 48:1.). From these descriptions above, it appears that in the Book of Revelation the prophet must be Elijah. The description of Elijah’s words that they ‘burned like a lamp’ is most likely an echo from the words of Jeremiah, …I will make my words in thy mouth fire. (Jer. 5:14.). But the miracle of water turning into blood, which is strongly related to the first plague in Egypt, makes Elijah the typology of Moses. However, it is possible that the two prophets in the Book of Revelation are Elijah and Enoch, as he did not die. But here it’s important to point out that there is a remnant of the Jewish tradition that claims Moses, too, had never died. In this Jewish tradition Moses, like Enoch and Elijah, had never died and he, too, had been taken by God to heaven. Is it possible that the Church Fathers forgot about this element in the 50 Jewish tradition? The association of Elijah with Moses in Christianity is clear, especially when we examine the gospels of Luke, Matthew, and Mark, where we are told that Moses and Elijah joined Jesus in his transfiguration: And as he prayed the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening. And behold, there talked with him two men, who were Moses and Elijah…But Peter, and those that were with him, were heavy with sleep and when they were awake, they saw his glory 51 and the two men stood with him… The Fathers of the Church thoroughly discussed the scene of Jesus’ transfiguration. They shared that not only were Moses and Elijah with Jesus at that time, but they emphasized that both prophets acknowledged and recognized the greatness of Christ. The Fathers also emphasized the spiritual meaning of the teachings that came from the radiance that shone in Christ’s face. This special radiance was seen as a sign of Christ’s divinity and knowledge. The Fathers interpreted Jesus as having a higher standing and superiority over the Jewish high 52 priests in the NT , as well as Jesus’ superiority over the angels, and finally in Jesus’ superiority even over Elijah and Moses, as it’s recorded in the work of

149 Maximus the Confessor. Jesus is seen by the early Church Fathers as the one who taught Christians the knowledge and helped them understand that, He is the One who was in the beginning and was with God and was God. Moses and Elijah are recognized in the NT as principal figures of law and prophecy, who are present with Christ in his transfiguration, but who now were seen as having been taught by Jesus. The fact that these two prophets were with Christ in his transfiguration manifested, for the Christians, the glory of Moses and Elijah. Maximus the Confessor wrote about the phrase from Matthew, …behold a bright cloud overshadowed them…(17:5.). stating, In the account of the transfiguration, Christ appears transfigured together with the figures of the great Prophets of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah. In this event the Old Testament and the New Testament meet: The prophets bear witness to Christ’s glory, which is beheld by the apos53 tles. In his sermons St. Augustine stated the allegorical meaning of Christ’s transfiguration. He emphasizes the radiant face of Christ and that his garments appear as white as snow. He shares that Moses and Elijah accompanied Jesus. For St. Augustine, the brilliance of Jesus symbolized the light that shines upon anyone entering this world. St. Augustine shares, What this sun is to the eyes of the body, that he is to the eyes of the heart, 54 what this is to the bodies, he is to the heart. Moses and Elijah are seen as the paradigms for law and prophecy in Christianity since they had appeared during the transfiguration of Jesus and they bore witness to Christ and to the words of his apostles: …for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is the law and the Prophets. (Rom. 3:20-21.). For St. Augustine, Moses represents the law, Elijah represents the prophecy, and Christ is present as Lord representing both the law and the prophecy. In his interpretation of Matthew 17, he emphasizes that Moses and Elijah received God’s favor through Jesus. He includes Peter’s explanation of the three tabernacles as one having been set aside for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. Elijah speaks. Then Moses speaks. Each must be silent in order to hear the other speak. Each presents his teaching, one through the law and the other through his prophecy. But when He speaks to us from the cloud, St. Augustine shares, …when he judged the time to be ripe, in himself. This one you must

150 hear. This one let us hear…from it a voice boomed out to us. This one let 55 us hear… Moses and Elijah were considered worthy enough to witness the transfiguration of Christ. Elijah, moreover, also possessed the special God- given power to stop the rains when human wickedness would not recede. Later, Elijah was also able to make the rains pour upon the earth once again and this rain made the earth fruitful through his prayers. This rain that Elijah sent was like the dew of life. His prayers wet the parched land and it came back to life, much like the prophesied resurrection will bring the dead back to life, as we find it written in The Sermons of St. Maximus of Turin, For just as when Elijah’s rain came to the land produced every food, so 56 also when Christ’s washing brings forth all righteousness. In the work of Origen, we find an explanation on the verse from the fourth Gospel of John, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. (John 4:35-36.). With the special power of his prayer, Elijah was able to open and close the rains of heaven. He could shut off the rains of heaven because of man’s sins and he could restore the rains later and revive the dried land’s abundance. Elijah’s actions prefigured the reviving of the soul and the resurrecting of the dead. Elijah and Elisha were connected in the OT with reviving the dead. Moses and the Prophets were connected to the coming of the Christ. In the Dialogue, however, Jesus alone is named as the one who oversees the following miracles: the virgin birth, the resurrection, and the ascension. The Book of Revelation presents the idea that the prophet will be killed. That work also shares the idea of the resurrection. This idea then became part of the Jewish tradition as well as part of the Christian tradition. These believers maintained that sometimes the dead can arise. Elijah and Enoch were said to have ascended into heaven. Some maintained that Moses had ascended, also. These special ascensions emphasized the two traditions shared a belief in the resurrection. The story of the execution of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas also presents the notion of the coming resurrection. Some believed that John the Baptist was Elijah and that Elijah will come one more time, at the End of the Days. In Corinthians we read that not only John the Baptist will be resurrected, but it shares that Jesus will be resurrected, also: For I delivered unto you first of all which I also received, that Christ died for your sins and according to Scriptures. And that he was buried, and

151 that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1Cor. 15:3-4.). Here Jesus is presented as the eschatological Messiah who will come again at the End of the Days. Sometimes the name of Jeremiah is found together with the names of some other Prophets and patriarchs. The descriptions we find in Corinthians are not historical but they are definitely apocalyptic, as we read about the ‘End of days’ and about the punishment awaiting those who have acted against God. Although the nd rd texts of the Sibyllines are Christian texts of the 2 and 3 centuries, they still contained some Jewish elements: And Sabaoth Adonai the high-thundering shall sit on a heavenly throne and establish a great pillar. There shall come on a cloud to the eternal, eternal himself, Christ in glory with his blameless angels… There shall come also Moses, the great friend of the Most High. Clothed in flesh; great Abraham too, shall come, Isaac, and Jacob, Joshua. Daniel and Elias. Habakkuk and Jonah, and they whom the Hebrews slew. And those 57 after Jeremiah, all, he shall destroy the throne… In these early Christian texts we also discover an echo of the prophecy of Malachi that had shared that Elijah would be the forerunner of the Messiah. Here the ‘Chariot of Fire’ is depicted as speeding down to earth from heaven. The text describes both the eternal bliss, as well as the great power of this event: All the stars shall be seen of all in the midst of the day, with the two great lights as time presses on. And then the Tishbite, speeding the heavenly Chariot from heaven and descending on earth, shall show three signs to 58 all the world, signs of a life that is perishing… The text then continues by describing the punishment and its outcomes. A very vivid impression is created in the text’s description of the ‘river of burning fire’ which will flow down from heaven and consume everything in its path. 59 In the typological interpretations of Gregory the Great’s work , we find a story about the resurrection of two boys by the two prophets, Elijah and Elisha. These miracle stories were common in the Greek and Latin writings of that time. These stories were part of the study done by Antony, known as the ‘father of all monks’. He posited that Elijah served as the first ascetic model of the characters 60 found in these miracle stories. The general view of the typology focused on in The Dialogue of Gregory the Great is that the author’s primary intent was to present Benedictus, known as the father of Western monasticism, as the one who shares the spirit of the Biblical characters of Moses, of Elijah, and of David of the

152 OT, and of Peter in the NT. The asceticism of Elijah is also discussed in the 61 work of Palladius , where he tries to establish a typology of Elijah with an ascetic named ‘Elias’. We assume that was Palladius’ perception since St. Ephrem, arguing the question of Mary’s virginity, explains her special chastity as coming by the power of a super person. That special and profound power is said to have been exercised by the three Biblical personages of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha. Was Elijah perceived as the spiritual successor of Moses? Was Jesus the teacher, and thus the one who had granted Moses and Elijah their special spiritual powers? In the Gospels, the scene of Christ’s transfiguration is depicted as Jesus’ face shining ‘like the sun’ as Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus. The ‘light’ could be interpreted as being that power of a special person. Again, in our search to understand Elijah’s role, we discover that Maximus the Confessor explained Elijah’s experiences with the natural phenomena of fire, earthquake, and wind as expressions of his uncontrolled zeal and his impatient desire to assure faith, …faith, in the form of a compelling wind, forces the insensible to purification for the sake of God’s glory through demonstrations of the most lasting miracles and gives the truly faithful man guidance through the 62 hidden water and deifying fire. Then Elijah hears the voice of God, the still small voice, that came to teach him, step by step, how to attain the ultimate faith and, at the same time, how to experience an enlightenment that sets him free. Moreover, Elijah serves as a paradigm for the Christian brethren, a model for the one who did not suffer death, and Enoch’s death was understood to have been postponed. However, according to Tertullian’s interpretation, a day will come and Elijah, as well as Enoch, will actually die. In Tertullian’s work, we also hear about a legend that John, who wrote a gospel, was to live ‘until the second coming’, but instead, this John died. This legend was probably based on the following verse, Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? (John 21:23.). Three things in Elijah’s life kept him from dying: prayer, fasting, and mercy. As St. Peter Chrysologus puts it, He leaves the earth, enters heaven, tarries among the angels, and lives with God; as a guest from earth he possesses the heavenly mansions. According to St. Peter Chrysologus, through these three events, John the Baptist became an angel ‘in the flesh, a citizen from heaven upon earth.’ John the Baptist heard God’s voice coming from the heaven and he saw the Holy Spirit de-

153 scending as a dove that touched Jesus whom John was baptizing. Here St. Peter Chrysologus turns to the brethren inviting them, calling them, to be worthy of the glory of Moses and the life of Elijah, as well as to possess the virtues of John and the merits of the saints. For the brethren to attain this worthiness, St. Peter Chysologus shares that the brethren must be attentive to these three things: 63 prayer, fasting, and mercy. In their interpretations of the Biblical texts, the Church Fathers were contradicting the views of the Jews at that time. One such Christian leader was St. John Chrysostom. Every passage of every work he wrote contains insulting and antagonistic views of the Jews. According to him, for example, Elijah spoke against the Jews. He states this, despite the fact that the noun ‘Jew’ was not mentioned in the Bible until much later. The following verse is found in the Bible, Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said unto Rabshakeh, speak, I pray thee, to thy servant in the Aramaic language; for we understand it, and talk not with us in the Jew’s language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall. (2Kings 18:26.). The Hebrew text says: Ve-al te-dab-ber im-manu ye-hu-dit. or, Do not speak to us Jewish. In the verse quoted above, the language of the kingdom of Judah is introduced as ye-hu-dit, or, as ‘Jewish’. In his polemics against the Jews, St. John Chrysostom felt there was no need to heed historical dates. Thus, he shared that the Jews worship idols. According to him, the Jews had been unable to make up their minds about worshipping God or adoring Ba’al, the idols. Having introduced his version of the Jews, he then moved into the main point of his sermon, which focused on criticizing and rejecting the Judaizing Christians, If you judge that Judaism is the true religion, why are you causing trouble to the church? But if Christianity is the true faith, as it really is, stay in it 64 and follow it. Origen also calls Elijah a categoros, or, ‘a prosecutor of Israel’. In his accusation, Origen states that the Israelites had killed God’s Prophets and they had destroyed God’s altar. Then he states, …seven thousand men are found who abide in God’s covenant, in the same way it is also come to pass as well the coming of Christ and in these 65 times in which Paul is preaching.

154 As was mentioned earlier, the Gospels viewed John the Baptist as the one who would precede the coming of Christ. In the perception of the early Christians, they perceived John the Baptist as replacing Elijah, or of being Elijah, as we can see demonstrated in the Gospel of Matthew, And from the day of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it this is Elijah, who was to come. (Matt. 11:12-14.). St. John Chrysostom quoted James to emphasize the shared commonalities all humans share with Elijah, Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. (5:17.). St. Chrysostom and James were men who were separated from each other by roughly three hundred years. These two men were as distant in time from one another’s life as we, today, are separated from St. Chrysostom. James had a Jewish education and yet he and St. Chrysostom each professed a perception in the universalism of mankind’s fall from God’s grace because of original sin, as it is told in the OT story of creation. Both understood that story as the rumbling sound of creation and as the story of mankind’s separation from God, which created the wound that every human carries throughout life. James and St. Chrysostom speak about the tragedy that faces those men who turn away from God and about the glory inherent when men choose to turn to God. Each of these writers perceived this as being a central motif in the universal human condition. With no biographies in existence of these two men, a barrier exists when we attempt to determine what really existed in their spiritual lives. We do have their written word, however, to help us perceive the universal truths each man faced. From the Christian point of view, we know that Elijah had to know how to deal with mankind turning away from God. Elijah is deeply troubled by what he witnessed, despite having a privileged dialogue with God. He, too, faced the universal choice: to turn to God or to turn away from God. He faced that dilemma, as does every person of faith, as well as every person without faith. James and St. Chrysostom saw an Elijah-Christ comparison. Jesus is like us in every way, except one: he alone is without sin. Even having no sin, Jesus still battled the human temptation to turn away from God. Elijah could not do exactly what Jesus did because Elijah could not bring forth the gift of redemption from God. These two Christians felt that Jesus alone is the clear vessel, as the one ‘opening window to God’. Or, as Buber shares it, Jesus was the ‘arrow’ that was taken out of the quiver that was waiting to be propelled forward at the right moment. According to St. Chrysostom, a poor person who knows how to be spiritually wise cannot be injured. Elijah, in his mind, was a poor but a spiritually gifted

155 person, as was Jesus. When Elijah ascends to heaven, ‘he left nothing to his disciple save the sheepskin.’ When Jesus ascends to heaven, …the son of God ascending left to us His own flesh! Elias indeed cast off his mantle, before he went up, but Christ left it behind for our sakes; and 66 yet retained it when he ascended. 67

In his work on the Gospel of St. Matthew , St. Chrysostom created an interesting typology between Elijah, Moses, Jeremiah, and Peter. St. Chrysostom thought that Jesus was somewhat like Elijah, and somewhat like Jeremiah, and that Jesus also had some of Moses’ characteristics. Peter is seen here as the one who brings the leaders of the Christ Choir to one crescendo professing Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Moses gave the law. Elijah is described as being ‘jealous’ for God’s glory, which only Jesus was to accomplish in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31.) via the glory of his passion and his death upon the Cross. Moses had parted the sea and Jesus had walked on the water while also having the power to remove mountains and to cure ‘all bodily diseases.’ While Elijah had raised one dead person, St. Chrysostom points out that with Jesus’ ascension to heaven, many thousands would be raised to eternal life in heaven after their earthly deaths. In all aspects of his comparison of Jesus to Moses and Elijah, St. Chrysostom wrote: He (Jesus Himself) speaks nothing, nor Moses, nor Elijah, but He that is greater than all, and most worthy of belief, the Father, uttereth a voice 68 out of the cloud. In his interpretation of Matthew, St. Chrysostom wrote, And his disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? He points out that the Jewish scribes had used this prophesy to influence the ignorant and to turn them from accepting Jesus as the Messiah. According to this view, the OT stated that two events would precede the coming of the Messiah: one that is connected to something that happened in the past and the second one is connected to what is yet to come. He points out what Paul had written on this topic: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly in this present age. (Titus 2:11-12.). Paul continues in this gospel to share that the Prophets had mentioned the two things that would precede the appearance of the Messiah. Paul points out that Elijah will be the first forerunner of the Messiah and that John the Baptist would be the second forerunner. He points out that Jesus called John the Baptist

156 “Elijah”. He suggests that the scribes had not understood what Jesus had done by doing that, and that they then prevented the common people from embracing the truth the Christians held. The Christians, including Paul, had posited that since Jesus was the Christ, then the man who appeared beforehand had to be Elijah. In that sense, Matthew and Malachi spoke the truth. Matthew had said, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. (17:11.). And Malachi had written, And he (Elijah) shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children… (3:24; 4:6.). And Malachi had said that when the Messiah appears, then he will persuade the Jews to believe in Christ so they will not perish. In St. Augustine’s work on the Gospel of John, he pointed out that John the Baptist actually points out who Christ is because at that point Christ was unknown to the people. Because of John’s humility, he had been granted the grace to acknowledge and predict the coming of the Christ. He was the one to bear witness to the truth, and when Christ came, as like ‘a shining light’, then the ‘lamp’ of this light was said to be John. People sometimes mistook John for the Christ, but John demonstrated his greatest humility when he said he was not the Christ. John even confessed to the authorities in Jerusalem that he was not the Christ. They then asked him if he was Elijah, since it was known that before Ma-shi-yah,or, ‘ the anointed one’, would come, that Elijah would appear first. It was understood that Elijah would precede the Christ’s arrival because the Jews didn’t know the anointed one’s name. In his interpretation of John, St. Augustine presents the dialogue between the Jewish priests and John the Baptist. Here John confesses that he is neither the Christ nor is he Elijah. Instead, he answers the priests by stating, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. As it is found in Isaiah 40:3, …make straight in the desert a highway of our God. When John explains why he baptizes the people, even though he states that is neither the Christ nor Elijah, he says, …but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not. Here St. Augustine emphasized what was mentioned above, and it is very probable that this concept was accepted by later Church Fathers, like St. Chrysostom,

157 He sent before him His first herald; He called him Elias, because Elias 69 will be in the second advent, what John was in the first. In this way, St. Augustine acknowledges that Elijah is the forerunner of the Messiah in the Second Coming, and thus, Elijah is seen as being the same as John the Baptist, who is the forerunner of the first advent. Why, then, did John respond, ‘I am not.’ when the priest had asked him, ‘Art thou Elijah?’ This response is very important, according to St. Augustine, because here John is acknowledging his role in the first coming of the Messiah and of Elijah’s role in the future and Second Coming, or in second advent, of the Christ, It would have been as if Christ were already coming in His second advent 70 to judge not in His first to be judge. But John actually appears in the same figure as that of Elijah. What has occurred is the typology of Elijah? John the Baptist is seen here to be “in similitude Elias.” Or, as St. Augustine explains it, The two heralds gave to each other their similitude and kept their own personal persons; but the judge is one Lord, whether preceded by this herald or by that. At the End of Days, then, the Jews will believe in the true Christ with the arrival of the Prophet Elijah. This Prophet will expound upon the law of Moses, and as was shared in Chapter One, Elijah will serve as a teacher. He will present the spiritual aspects of the law as the early Prophets and Moses had understood it. This is when the prophecy of Malachi will be fulfilled because Elijah’s teaching will ‘turn the heart’ of the Father (God) to the Son. Elijah will make the Jews love the Son, Jesus. Up until the day of Elijah’s coming, God will have turned his heart away from the Jews. In his reply to Faustus the Manichean, he continues the typology by stating that Elijah was fed by the ravens, both in the morning and in the evening. Christ is understood to be ‘hungry’ for mankind’s salvation. Now St. Augustine points out that the redeemed sinners will have the first fruits of the Spirit and that in the end, during ‘the evening of the age ‘, they will experience the resurrection of their dead bodies. He continues by pointing out that the widow had gathered two sticks before she died and that these two sticks denote the two wooden beams of Christ’s cross. In Book 26 of his reply, St. Augustine argues with Faustus about the deaths of both Elijah and Jesus. He claims that Christ’s power was greater than Elijah’s power. This is hard to accept as Jesus died and Elijah was believed to be immortal. Although no one claims to know what happened to Elijah, we still believe the story of Elijah because it sounds believable and we accept it as being truthful. In St. Augustine’s reply to

158 Faustus, concerning the Hebrews’ mistake in regarding Jesus as being dead and in regarding Elijah as being immortal, we read, How can this infamous liar, who declares that Christ feigned death, expect to be believed…Christ was born and suffered by His own will. Still, the things are true; and the accurate narrative of them is intended to in71 struct whoever believes in Christ’s gospel… It was important to St. Augustine to continue to develop his typology, not only of John the Baptist and Elijah, but of Moses as well. Moses, as he shared, was titled ‘the guardian of the Law’, and he had fasted for forty days. Elijah, who was called ‘the most excellent of the Prophets’, also had fasted for forty days. And Jesus, likewise, had fasted for forty days and he was the one that both the Law and the Prophets ‘gave testimony’. St. Augustine’s very strong perception sees Christ as both Moses and Elijah, as he is the Law and the Prophecy . St. Augustine used this in his work, The Lent, Hence Moses and Elias and our Lord Himself fasted for forty days so that it might be suggested to us that in Moses and in Elias and in Christ Himself, that is, in the Law and the Prophets and the Gospel, this penance was 72 performed. nd

rd

Toward the 2 and 3 centuries Christian literature begins to perceive John the Baptist as a mediator in the revelation on Mount Olive. His mediation in this revelation is described in great detail. We learn that John was called to come up to the mountain ‘so that you may hear what a disciple should learn from his teacher and a man from God.’ Here we are introduced to the mystery of the Cross. John sees a Cross of Light that is surrounded by a large crowd. Christ is on this cross but he has no discernible form. John knows it is Christ because he hears ‘a kind of voice, yet not that voice which we knew.’ Is this a possible echo of the same ‘voice’ heard by Elijah? Does John hear ‘a still small voice’, too? The Cross of Light says the ‘sweet voice’ is sometimes known as Logos, referring to what we read in the NT: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1.). During these two centuries the Christian literature introduces different adjectives, similes, that are applied to the Cross of Light. Grace and truth appear as seed on spiritual ground. In the parable of the sower, like seeds these positive things spring up and grow, as is shown in Mk. 4:26-29. This concept also appears Luke 8:5-8 and in John, He is the door, the way. (19:9; 14:6.).

159 In these works we read of the ‘bread of life’ (John 6:48.) and of the resurrection rd (John 11:25.). Although Clements of Alexandria in the 3 century accepted the idea that Christ spoke to John while suffering on the cross, the Nicene Council th in the 8 century rejected this idea. In AJ 97 we read that Christ spoke to a different John during his crucifixion. Yet, in John 5 we find, He was a burning and a shining light. The simile of light that appears in AJ also appears here. However, according to St. Augustine, this simile of light refers to John the Baptist because there ‘was such a great excellence in John that one could believe him to be Christ.’ But John had himself proclaimed that not only was he not the Christ but, additionally, that he was not Elijah. However, Jesus himself said, And if you will, receive it this is Elijah who was to come. (Matt. 11:14.). John the Baptist is recognized as the first lowly herald, And the Lord said ‘he is Elias.’ Because in him the Lord Jesus Christ wished to prefigure his future coming and to say this, that John was the 73 spirit of Elias. For a longer discussion of the second coming of Elijah we can examine St. Augustine’s “Tractate 4”, 95-99. Here, St. Augustine argues that John the Baptist was the ‘first herald’. He deals with the idea that John is John and that simultaneously that John is and isn’t Elijah, too. St. Augustine claims that John was not speaking falsely when he claimed he was not Elijah. Instead. John was emphasizing his connection to Elijah’s second coming through him and he emphasizes his position as the lowly herald that was prophesied to prefigure the Messiah. As the lowly herald, John acknowledges the loftiness of the judge. The perplexing and fascinating story of Elijah can be compared to a piece of music as it approaches its crescendo. Elijah appears, but we are not given any information about his family, his hometown, or his roots. Suddenly, he encounters king Ahab, the king of Israel, who is a powerful politician, a warrior, a person respected by the kings of Aram. These details appear in a text that is not historical. We learn additional facts about Elijah, such as his lack of fear of king Ahab. This appears to be connected to the tradition in the Hebrew culture, dating from the early times of Nathan and David, that the Prophet mysteriously has free access to the court of the king. However, Elijah has a very different relationship with the queen. She is from another culture and her religion is deemed more sophisticated than the religion of the Israelites of that time. She had introduced a polytheistic religion to the people and to the ruler of Israel, superseding their reliance on one god. Elijah

160 doesn’t ask king Ahab to destroy the two golden calves. Instead, Elijah asks king Ahab to destroy the idols of Ba’al, the god of his queen. Elijah does not feel threatened by the king, but he does fear the foreign queen. Does this story represent an historical event, or does it reveal a moral perception and a struggle that is cultural and religious? Elijah is fed by ravens, which are the types for the devil since ravens delight in preying upon the souls of the dead. The raven and the devil can only prey upon the dead, not upon the living. In Matthew 13:3-8, we read of the raven (fowls) in the parable of the sower. These fowl are seen as the types for the devil, who is called the ‘Prince of the Air’. The raven’s blackness denotes the darkness of the devil, the supernatural being that deals in transgressions and misery. The symbol of light is present in the tales of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Moses was awarded with rays of light after he had fasted for forty days. The Prophet Habakkuk describes the rays of light when he talks about the appearance of God, And his brightness was like the light, he had Qar-na-yim, rays, coming out of his head. (3:4.). Here, God affirms his empathy for those who endure severe fasting. Jesus, too, came to endure a severe fasting on the mountain, revealing himself to Moses and Elijah, who were the types for the Law and for the Prophets. The Gospel of Luke 9:31 asserts that two men, Moses and Elijah, were with Jesus in glory and that they spoke of Jesus’ approaching and prophesied death in Jerusalem. St. Jerome emphasizes the special place held by Elijah who ascended into heaven before he suffered death. Moses had suffered death and was buried. After Elijah’s fast of forty days, God revealed Himself to Elijah. On Mount Horeb, he heard God’s voice ask him, What doest thou here, Elijah? (1Kings 19:19.). This question echoes the one God had previously asked Adam in the Garden of Eden, Where art thou? (Gen. 3:9.). Jesus taught that prayer and fasting protect mankind from the violence of the devil. Jesus rebuked the devil and, in Matthew 17:21 and in Mark 9:29, we read that Jesus made Satan leave the body of the afflicted child, Howbeit, this kind goeth not out except by prayer and fasting? Jesus taught that people are not judged according to marriage and virginity but by fasting. St. Jerome points out Elijah’s rejection of material things and emphasizes that made Elijah susceptible to faith. God gave Elijah the right to ‘dispense 74 his gifts’. Therefore, Elijah received his own gift by adopting an ascetic life.

161 St. Ephrem also discussed the transfiguration. He shared that Moses and Elijah saw Christ, or as he described it, …the meek man from the depth ascended, the zealous from on high descended, and in the midst (they) beheld the Son. Both Moses and Elijah prefigured Jesus’ advent. Moses served as the type for the dead and Elijah served as the type with everlasting life. Together they rode the 75 clouds to meet Christ in the air. In his Hymns of Nativity, St. Ephrem interprets Christ’s transfiguration by explaining that through his faith and zeal Elijah was ascended to heaven to see Christ and that Moses met both of them. In Hymn 8, St. Ephrem emphasizes the searching for Elijah, as it is presented in 2Kings 2:16, bears witness that Christ did ascend to heaven. Since there is no way to doubt the ascension of Elijah, so it was not hard for writers like St. Ephrem to be convinced that ‘He was risen again.’ As the oil in the house of the widow was increased by Elijah, so food could be prepared, so, too, is the oil of Christ ‘increased’, not to prepare food, but for the spiritual life of his believers. Here, St. Ephrem alludes to the notion of anointment, to anointing ‘the wolf’, of the nonbelievers, and of making their ‘lambs’, their descendants, believers. We can sum up the relationship between Elijah and Jesus in the following description of their actions, as they were viewed by the Fathers of the Church: Elijah 1) Elijah was perceived by the queen Jezebel. 2) Elijah shut off the rain from Heaven because of the sins of Israel. 3) Elijah destroyed the Ba’al. 4) Elijah restored life to the widow’s son.

5) Elijah sustained the widow with a little bread. 6) Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Jesus 1) Jesus was perceived by the murderous congregation. 2) Jesus, by His coming, restrained the Spirit from the Prophets, because of the people’s sins. 3) Jesus trampled upon Satan. 4) Jesus restored the life of Lazarus, the widow’s son, and he also restored the life of the daughter of the leader of the Synagogue. 5) Jesus sustained thousands with a little bread. 6) Jesus ascended to heaven and took His seat at the right hand of His Father.

St. Ambrose did not interpret the scene of the transfiguration, as it was witnessed by Peter, to be one where Peter was searching for the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Instead, St. Ambrose shared that Peter was searching for Christ in order

162 to learn what Christ wanted Peter to do next. The ‘voice’ that came to Peter had not called either Moses or Elijah, ‘My son.’ But that ‘voice’ had called Christ, ‘My Son’. In the transfiguration Peter witnessed the ‘Son of God’ and according to St. Ambrose, …it should be made plain to us that the Law and the Prophets, in agreement with the Gospels, revealed as eternal the Son of God. This view above is supported by the verse from John, And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but that he came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven. (3:13.). St. Ambrose suggests that Elijah is ‘the servant’ who is ‘not above his Master’. He also states that Moses’ gravesite is not known and that Scripture does not state that his spirit and his body are in the celestial world. According to St. Ambrose, when Elijah was afraid he went to Mount Horeb where he fasted for forty days and forty nights, as it is written in 1Kings 19:8. In his interpretation of this event, St. Ambrose attaches a special significance to the brook of Cherith where Elijah is sustained by the ravens. He connects the bread that Elijah eats to the bread that is described in the Psalms, …and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. (104:15.). St. Ambrose proposed that this ‘strengthening’ means ‘understanding’ and that ‘heart’ here means ‘Mount Horeb’. He also claims that Elijah’s wanderings from one place to another have great significance. He describes Elijah’s journeys in the following way: Elijah went first to Beersheba, to the mysteries and sacraments of the divine and holy Law; next he is sent to the brook, to the stream of the river which makes glad the City of God. The last sentence above, in fact, echoes what the Psalmist described, There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high. (Ps. 46:4.). Elijah is the one to fulfill the Law; he’s also the one who said later in time, I am come not to destroy but to fulfill the Law. (Matt. 5:17.). It is understood that Elijah was taken up into heaven and that he will be restored to the earth at a specific time ‘which should please Him.’ With his second coming, Elijah is seen as the forerunner of the Messiah’s second coming. Elijah was a servant of God. He was nourished by the rejected ravens at God’s command. This fact, however, did not foreshadow Elijah sharing Christ’s

163 kingdom. Elijah had been sent to the widow not for his own good but for hers. During the famine, Elijah was unable to find food anywhere else. When he went to be fed by the widow, she acquired merit by helping Elijah. Upon his arrival at Zarephath, Elijah immediately met the widow who demonstrated great faith when she told him that she was ‘gathering two sticks, that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son” (1Kings 17:2.) as she tells Elijah that she has nothing to give him. According to one of St. Augustine’s sermons on this issue, he views the widow’s response to Elijah as a supreme declaration of faith: And yet before dying, what was it she said? ‘I am collecting two sticks’. When she was gathering two sticks, she was looking for the Cross. Moreover, when God commanded Elijah to go to the widow in Zarephath, He said, ‘I have commanded a widow to sustain thee.’ St. Augustine explains that when it was recorded that God commanded this, then God had prepared the will of this widow to embrace faith. When Elijah asked that food be given first to him, and then to the widow and her son, during the famine, the widow, whom God had commanded, placed that food in the sight of God, before Elijah, herself, and her child. According to St. Cyprian, Elijah can be seen as demonstrating an aspect later attributed to Christ, that he paid each according to his mercy. For the widow’s graceful act of feeding Elijah, before she fed her hungry child, he said, For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not be used up, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. (1Kings 17:14.). According to St. Cyprian, this widow acted this way without knowing Christ and without having heard his precepts. She acted this way, without being ‘as one redeemed by His cross and His passion, repay food and drink for His blood.’ The widow knew that she was feeding a man of God. According to St. Augustine, the ravens fed the ‘outer’ Elijah and the widow fed the ‘inner’ Elijah. St. Augustine interpreted the ‘outer’ man of Elijah as the ‘gift’ and he interpreted the widow as the ‘fruit’. Elijah is seen as the precursor and preacher who came before Jesus. His role was to inwardly proclaim the coming of Christ, to point Christ out to others. He is understood to be the one who ‘baptized Christ Himself’. Some early Christians may have thought that Elijah was the Savior because, like Him, he had ascended to heaven. But in the Sermons of St. Maximus of Turin, we discover the Christian belief that Elijah was snatched up to heaven while Christ was seen as returning to heaven. St. Maximus emphasizes that Elijah was transported in a fiery chariot when he was taken to heaven because he did not have the strength to ascend to heaven on his own, as Christ did,

164 The one (Elijah) follows the angels who are leading him, and the other 76 (Christ) precedes the angels who are accompanying Him.

D. Searching for Elijah

To Elias neither the strong wind, nor the fire, nor the earthquake, as you learn from the story, but the light breeze adumbrated the presence of God, and not even this His Nature. And who was Elias? The man whom a chariot of fire took to heaven, signifying the superhuman excellency of 77 the righteous man.

Elijah’s ascension to heaven is problematic. The storyteller presents this ascension in a short dialogue shared by Elijah and Elisha. We learn that Elijah took a vow in the name of YHWH and that he had commanded Elisha to stay and not to follow him. Elisha, on the other hand, swore in the same name and so he refused to obey Elijah. Both invoked the name of YHWH. Reading this we wonder what the storyteller is not revealing. Perhaps both men knew of the event that was about to occur. Perhaps Elijah knew that he was about to ascend into heaven and that, simultaneously, Elisha knew that Elijah was about to be taken from him. The use of the verb LQH, or, take, used in relationship to both Elijah and Enoch, suggests a heavenly departure is about to happen. The moment that Elijah departs, Elisha must be in full command of his role as a prophet. Although it’s apparent that Elijah was aware of his approaching departure, it isn’t clear that Elisha saw the approaching whirlwind or the appearance of the chariot of fire. The verse describing this is very ambiguous. The hemstitch in v. 12 uses the preposition o-to, or, him, which can refer to either Elijah or to the re-khev esh, ‘the chariot of fire’. Thus, it’s possible that Elisha could not actually see Elijah’s departure. It is at this point that Elisha expects Elijah to return. Indeed, Malachi expressed this expectation, along with the anticipated role that Elijah would play upon his return to earth. Christian texts also describe Elijah’s ascension to heaven and the expectation that Elijah will return at the last judgment. Jews and Christians share a belief that Elijah will return. Christians expect Elijah (the Second) to return. They saw John the Baptist as the forerunner for the second coming of Elijah. John the Baptist is understood by Christians to be the

165 ‘herald’ of the coming of the prophet Elijah, who would be the precursor of Christ. Christians believe that when Elijah comes, he will anoint Christ. In Malachi. we read that Elijah will come ‘before the great and terrible day of the Lord.’ (3:23; 4:5.). Justin the Martyr explains in his work, Dialogue, that for Christians there are two advents of Christ. In one advent, Justin explains that Christ will appear as a suffering servant and that he will face humiliation and human dishonor. In Christ’s second advent, he will come in full glory to judge all mankind. As it’s stated in Scripture, Elijah will be the precursor of ‘the great and terrible day of the Lord.’ Thus, Elijah is clearly viewed as the forerunner of the second advent of Christ. He is also seen as the herald, as a type for John in Christ’s first advent among mankind. In the Gospel of Matthew, we find that Jesus affirmed that Elijah will herald the second coming of Christ, But I say unto you that Elijah is come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they desired, likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. (17:12.). The author of this gospel adds his interpretation stating that the disciples understood that Jesus had been telling them about the role of John the Baptist, Verily I say unto you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom (16:28.). Christ shall come again at the end of time as a judge. It’s understood that He will give entry to His kingdom to those who deserve it, and who will stand on his right, and that He will dispense punishment to those standing on his left. At His ‘second coming’, He will judge both the living and the dead. According to St. Augustine, Peter did not understand the transfiguration. When Christ revealed to Peter the three persons, Peter had wanted to build three separate temples, one to Moses, one to Elijah, and another to Jesus. The message, however, of Christ was for Peter to build a single tabernacle. Here we are told that God used His voice and power to share with Peter that he had no need to compare Moses to Elijah, or to Christ, because God revealed that Jesus is the ‘Lord of the Prophets’. Matthew sums up this scene this way, And Jesus came and touched them, and said Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted their eyes, they saw no man, except Jesus only. (17:7-8.). Upon the second arrival of Elijah, Jews will believe in the true Christ. St. Augustine emphasized that the prophet Elijah will be the ‘chosen one’ who will expound the Law to the Jews, who will ‘turn the heart of the father to the son’, because ‘we have good reason to believe that he is now alive.’ By ‘turning the

166 heart of the father toward the son’, Christian writers meant that Christ will make the Jews love Him, who had previously hated Jesus, the Son of God. At this point, it is believed that the Jews shall also understand the Law as the prophets and as Moses had understood it. According to Jewish tradition, in the messianic time Elijah will restore the oil for the anointed Messiah, The Rabbis have taught, the oil, which Moses compounded in the wilderness, was boiled with roots…R. Judah said to him. Is this the only miracle that occurred in connection with the oil of anointment? Was it not attended by many miracles from beginning to end? There were only twelve logs of oil and yet with it were anointed the Tabernacle and its vessels…Our Rabbis taught; Shallum is identical with Zedekiah, and why was he called Shallum? Because he was perfect (shalem) in his deeds…when the holy ark was hidden there disappeared with it the jar of manna, the flask of the oil of anointing, and the coffer which the Philistines had sent 78 as a present to the God of Israel.

And who is the anointed high priest? He also anointed with the anointing oil…Our Rabbis taught; the anointing oil which Moses prepared in the wilderness was used for the boiling of the roots…said the R. Judah to him. Did then only one miracle happen with the anointing oil? Surely it was originally only twelve logs and with it was anointed the Tabernacle and its furniture, Aaron and his sons…And if it be asked,: Why was Solomon anointed? It was due to the dispute of Adonijah, and so was Joash anointed on account of the claim of Athaliah, and Jehoahaz, on account of Jehoiakim who was older than he by two years and that oil 79 remains for the time to come…

As was pointed out in Chapter One, Elijah is not only a prophet but he also serves in the role of a High Priest. The High Priests were the only ones authorized to anoint the kings. Professor J. Klausner points out in Messianic Idea in Israel the notion presented by Justin the Martyr is that Elijah will be the high priest chosen to anoint the King Messiah, and that this notion has its roots in early Jewish tradition. Justin argues that the OT already foretold the coming of the Messiah and that it predicted the details about the events to be fulfilled by Christ: The Messianic Idea by J. Klausner And this same Elijah, who will restore this marvelous flask to Israel, will of course himself anoint the Messiah with its oil. This we know from a source that is non-Talmudic, but an-

Dialogue by Saint Justin the Martyr It appears to me, said Trypho, that they who assert that He was of human origin, and was anointed as the Christ (Mashiyah) only by choice, propose a doctrine much more

167 cient and trustworthy. For, according to several Talmudic traditions, Elijah is not only a Prophet, but also a High Priest. Thus Talmudic literature identifies him with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron (Ex. 6:25.), and calls him “Righteous Priest” (kohen-zedek) or even “Melechizedek”. It was the custom for the High Priests and Prophets to anoint the kings. The political and spiritual king, (the) king Messiah, will be anointed by Elijah, who is both 80 Prophet and high Priest.

credible than yours. We Jews all expect that Christ will be a man of merely human origin, and that Elijah will come to anoint Him. If this man appears to be the Christ, He must be considered to be a man of solely human birth, yet, from the fact that Elias has not yet come, I must declare that this man is not Christ. Then I asked him, “Does not the holy book of Zacharias state that Elias shall come before the great and terrible day of the Lord.” “Most assuredly.’ He replied… “But I say to you that Elias has come already, and they did not know him, but did 81 to him whatever they wished.”

The problem with this perception is that as a High Priest, Elijah’s duty was to anoint the kings and thus he would anoint the future king Messiah. But, Elijah has traditionally been considered an antimonarchist, although Elijah supports king Ahab and wishes to establish Ahab’s monarchy on God’s law. At the Second Commonwealth and beyond, we find many traditions relating to Elijah. Gradually he became a folklore figure. His name became known to the people, not only from the Biblical text, but also from the stories transmitted by word of mouth within each household and by verbs using the stem QBL are used to sug82 gest that stories of Elijah were transmitted orally. By this means we can integrate secular time into religious feeling and thus anticipate, or remember, redemption. However, one cannot compare ‘Biblical history’ to ‘modern history’. The Biblical Prophets have no distinct sense of history when it comes to the notion of redemption. For them, it is not a process but a moment of sudden eruption into history when the messiah will come at an appointed moment chosen by God. The text of Kerithoth, in many ways, corresponds with the notion presented by Trypho: that since the Messiah’s identity is unknown, and the Messiah himself does not know his preordained role, then Elijah is the appointed one who will anoint the Messiah. By this anointment to be performed by Elijah, the Messiah and the Messianic Era will be manifest to all who witness it. The two texts from the Talmud mentioned earlier also correspond to this notion. In Augustine’s The City of God there is an examination of the verses found in Malachi 4 (Hebrew text 3), which describe the great day of the Lord at the end of

168 time. In his interpretation, Saint Augustine claims that in these final days the Jews will believe in the true anointed One, the Christ. During these final days, St. Augustine states that the ‘admirable Prophet Elias’ will come forth to explain the Law. St. Augustine based his interpretation on Elijah’s role in the final days upon the Septuagint, claiming that when we read there: ‘Turn the heart of the father to the son’, we read it in the singular, but in the OT, that is read and understood in the plural. The role of Elijah, then, is to turn the heart of the ‘Father 83 to the Son’. Christianity teaches that the appearance of the Messiah is foretold in the OT. That literature predicts the details of the Messiah’s coming in the fulfillment of Jesus. In some early Christian literature, such as works written by Justin, there are pieces which detail the coming of Elijah, the Virgin Birth, and all the events leading to Christ’s resurrection. In Justin’s work, we find Trypho stating, But Messiah, if indeed he has even been and now exists anywhere, is unknown, and does not even know himself at all nor has any power, until Elijah shall have come and anoint him, and shall have made him manifest 84 to all. Trypho’s notion is also found in some early Jewish works. The author of 4Esdras 85 reminds readers of the doctrine of the ‘unknown’ Messiah. This notion of the ‘unknown’ Messiah is also shared by a sage named R. Nachman, who lived in the fourth century C.E. According to this Sage, the Messiah could exist even 86 among lepers at the gates to Rome. This literature contains the notion of Elijah anointing the Messiah, as well as the notion of the restoration of the flask of anointment oil. The Tishbite, who shall restore this special oil and anoint the Messiah, is expected in both the Christian and the Jewish traditions. St. Augustine wrote that before the coming of the Savior (Jesus), that Elijah will come, …because we have good reason to believe that he is now alive. This statement from St. Augustine is based on a verse found in Malachi where the same notion is very strong in the Jewish tradition. A point of contact between the two traditions can be examined in the following verse, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Ps. 110:4.). This verse is also found in some variations in the Book of Hebrews, …Even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (6:20.). The author of Hebrews shares his version of this notion in Gen. 14,

169 Melchidezek’s high priesthood greater than Aaronic because Aaron in Abraham paid tithes to Melchidezek… (7:1-17.). Although there is a shared tradition of this notion held by both traditions, as shown above, in the Talmudic literature the ‘Righteous Priest ’ is named Elijah, and in two earlier Jewish sources, this interpretation on the verse exists, Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord on the whole earth. (Zech. 4:14.). This interpretation emphasizes that the ko-hen ze-deq, the two anointed ones, are the ‘Righteous Priest’ and the ‘Messiah’, and it also points out that the king 87 Messiah is more beloved than the ko-hen ze-deq. It is difficult to prove that the Jewish Messianic idea is more authentic than the Christian idea of the Messiah. But, there is one very important point to consider: that both traditions are waiting for the second coming of Elijah, as St. Augustine wrote, It is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that in the last days before the judgment (that) the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, that is our Christ, by means of this great and admirable Prophet Elias, who shall expound the law to them. For not without reason do we 88 hope that before the coming of our Judge and Savior, Elias shall come.

170

Endnotes – Chapter Two 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Buber, M., Israel and the World, Biblical Leadership, 126. Maximus the Confessor, Contemplation of Elijah’s Vision in Horeb, 12. MEduy. 8:7. T. of Reuben. 6:8 in O.T. Pseudepigrapha, Op. Cit. T. of Levi . 18:2-3, Op. Cit. See 1QS 9.11, 1 Qsa 2.1. Jeremias G, Lehxer, 284f. “The Treatise On The Resurrection” 48, in Nag Hamadi Library, James M. Robinson (ed.) Harper, San Francisco (1990). BSota.13b-14a. See MEduy. 8:7 ; MBab.Mez. 3:4f ; MShek. 2:5. Pseudepigrapha, Op. Cit. Ant. 18.11.6. Malachi 3:23; 4:5. Abba Elijah, in Falasha Anthology, Op. Cit. 45. See Williams, A.L., Adversus Judaeos- A Bird’s Eye View of Christian Apologian Until the Renaissance, Cambridge (1935). JTa’an. 68:4. See J. Aston, Understanding the Fourth Gospel, Oxford (1991). See Bultmann, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Westminister Press (1971) 83, 145. See also 39:7; 40:1; 70:9; 72:2-4. PsSol. l 17:41-42. See also Legends, Vol. 6, 316. See Josh 21: 1-19. TAb. 14:7. TIS. 8:5-6. Gr. ApEz. 5120-22. Qes.Ez. Rec.A. 39-40. See Flusser, D., Judaism and the Origins of Christianity, The Magnes Press ,Jerusalem (1988), 393. See E. Schurer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, rev. and ed. G. Vermes et al, London (1995) Vol. 3, 655. Flusser, Op. Cit., 404. Ibid, 401. “Christian Sibyllines II”, 187-189, in New Testament Apocrypha (NTA), Wilhelm Schneemelcher (ed.), Westminister (1992). “The Pseudo-Titus Epistle”, NTA, II, 61. “The Acts of Peter” 5 in NT Apocripha, Op. Cit. Ibid, 64-65. Ant. 18.5.2. ApPet. 2 in NTA, Op. Cit. In the Greek text from Akhmim there is a flowery description: ‘…and their raiment was shining, such as the eye of man never saw. For no mouth can describe nor heart conceive the glory which they were clad nor the beauty of their countenance. And when we saw them we were astonished, for their bodies were whiter than any snow and redder than

171

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71

any rose. But the redness of them was mingled with the whiteness, and I simply cannot describe their beauty!’ Ap.Paul, 51, in NT.Apocrypha, Op. Cit. Tertullian, “Adversus Judacos”, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3. New York (1926), 151152. See John Chryostom, Orations Against the Jews, 6.2. Prudentius Apotheosis II, H.J. Thomson (ed. and tr.), Cambridge, MA (1949-1953), 541550. See D.C. Munro, “The Western Attitude Toward Islam During the Period of the Crusader”, in Speculum, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Jul. 1931), 329-343. Ex. Rab. 42:1-4. See John Chrysostom, Hom. I. St. Augustine, Easter Season, 1. PTa’an. 4, 68; Lam. Rab. for 2:2. See Harry A. Wolfson, Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Cambridge, MA (1947), Vol. 2, 51-84. BSan. 97a-b. Buber, Martin, “Church, State, Nation, Jewry” in Jewish Perspectives on Christianity, Fritz A. Rothschild (ed.), Continuum, New York (2000), 133. For more information see: Carroll, R.P., “The Elijah-Elisha Sagas”, VT 19 (1969) 400415; Pesikta Rabbah 4:20; Coote, R.B., “Yahweh Recalls Elijah” in Tradition in Transformation, B. Halpern and J.D. Levenson, (eds.) Eisenbrauns (1981), 115-120. See S. Lowenstann, “Moses’ Death” in Gerschom G. Scholem Jubilee, Jerusalem (1958). 16-31. Luke 9:28-36; Mtt. 17:1-8; Mk. 9:2-8. Heb. 5:8-10; 7:27-28; 8:1-2. See the Introduction for Maximus the Confessor, “Difficulty 10” in Fathers of the Church. St. Augustine, “Sermon 78”. St. Augustine, “Sermon 79”. The Sermoons of St. Maximus of Turin, “Sermon 52”. Sibyl. II: 239-249 in NTA, Op. Cit. Ibid. 185-189. See The Dialogue of Gregory the Great. See, B. Steidle, “Homo Dei Antonius: Zum Bild des ‘Mann Gottes’ im alten Monchtum” in St. Ans. 38 (1956), 148-200. See Ancient Christian Writers. See Maximus The Confessor, Op. Cit. For the works of Tertullian and St. John Chrysologus see The Fathers of the Church. Op. Cit. See St. John Chrysostom, “Discourse IV” in The Fathers of the Church. Op. Cit. Origen. Book 8:7 in The Fathers of the Church, Op. Cit. “The Works of St. Chrysostom Hom. II” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. IX. Homily LVI. Ibid. St. Augustine, “On the Gospel of St. John” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII. Ibid. “Reply to Faustus the Menichean”, Book 26 in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Op. Cit.

172 72 St. Augustine, The Lent. 73 For a long discussion about the second Elijah see St. Augustine Tractate 4, 95-99 where St. Augustine argues that John the Baptist was the first herald. He deals with the idea that John is John and Elijah. He is John in John and Elijah and the purpose of this prefiguration is that John is Elijah, but at the same time he is not Elijah. The fact that ‘ he said, ‘I am not Elijah’ does not mean that he spoke falsely, since he is John’ He was imitating the lowliness of the herald and he acknowledges the loftiness of the Judge, for nothing was lower than being the herald.’ 74 See St. Jerome, “Against Jovinianism”, Book 2; “ On Virginity” in Nicene and the PostNicene Fathers, Op. Cit. 75 See 1Thess. 4:17. 76 All quotes without endnotes following endnote 74 were taken from The Fathers of the Church, Op. Cit. 77 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Op. Cit. 78 BKerithoth. 5ab. 79 BHorayoth. 11b. 80 Klausner, J., The Messianic Idea in Israel, MacMillan Publishing Co., New York (1955), 456. 81 Dialogue With Trypho, Christian Heritage, New York (1948), 221-222. 82 See BBMetz. 58b ff. 83 The City of God, Book XX, Ch. 29. 84 Dialogue, 8:4. 85 See 4Esdras 13:52. 86 BSan. 98a-b. 87 See BNed. 33b; ARN, Ch. 34. 88 The City of God, Op. Cit., Ch. 29.

Chapter Three They Set Down To Speak

If in the world to come when we call it a day at the factory the road that will lead us home isn’t uphill as it is now, 1 then death can’t be so bad after all.

A. The Soul of Adam ka’anahum jaraadun Muntashirum. They are scattered like locusts. Wa-la taq-tulu l’naf-sa alati ha-ra-ma Allah. (Qur’an 17.33.). Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred. Any attempt to refute the strongly held notion among scholars that the Arabian Peninsula was permeated with Jewish ideas is politically oriented and false. It is well documented that Christian monks were traveling in the Arabian Peninsula and that some of the holy men of this faith had established some of their hermitages in the desert. Both Christians and Jews populated the city of San’a in Yemen and, by the tenth century, Jews, Christians, and Muslims each made up one third of that city’s population. Before the rise of Islam, Jews played an important role in Yemen and in al-Madina, and their endowment to Islam, as it emerged in the peninsula, is unquestionable. Do these facts explain the myth that the Muslims ‘accepted’ Jews and allowed them to live among them? It is here that we find the beginning of the myth of the ‘Golden Age’ in Spain illustrated by historians. Within the history of the Muslim-Jewish relationship, there is an ambivalence that begat incorrect teachings and, in the end, that ambivalence begat hatred. The prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, was ambivalent toward the Jews and his ambivalence is very striking in his recitations in the Qur’an. Here we find his use of the noun Jew three times in 5:44-45 where the prophet described the Jews as a people “Whose heart has no faith” and as “Men who will listen to any lie.” In v.67 there is a quote that the Jews say, “God’s hand

174 is tied up.” And in v.85, the Jews are associated with pagans. In 2:140, the noun Jews is associated twice with the noun Christians, as in “Do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes were Jews or Christians?” A long sermon in Surat ‘l-nisa states, “for the iniquity of the Jews we made unlawful for them certain ta-yi-ba-tin, good food.” In this sermon, where the prophet speaks about both the Jews and the Christians, whether his sermon is a strong condemnation of the Jews or is simply rhetoric, it is now impossible for us to determine decisively. However, we should take into consideration the editorial work on the Qur’an made in the time of the third khalif ‘Uthman b. Affan, and the many interpretations which were written down during the fifteen centuries of this religious tradition, and note that the prophet used three nouns:  al-Yuhud, Jews;  bani isra’il , the sons of Israel,( and one sura, Suratu’l Isra (17) is also titled Suratu bani isra’il),  and ahl ‘l kitaab , the people of the book. Among scholars it is an accepted notion that the prophet uses the noun Jews to distinguish between the followers of Islam and the Jewish tribes in al-Madina. In this respect, it is argued that the prophet acknowledges the covenant between the people of Israel and the rest of the nations, but it’s also acknowledged by scholars that the prophet condemned the Jews for forsaking their Laws (Torah), Ya bani Israa’il adhkuru l’na ‘i mati alati na-‘amtu ‘alikum wa-ani fadhdhal-tukum ‘ala l’’a lamina. (2:46/47.). O children of Israel remember my favour I bestowed upon you and I have preferred you of the other nations. …taba’ah Allahu ‘alaiha bi kufrihim fala yu’minuna ila falilan.(4:155.). God put a seal on their (hearts) for their infidelity and the little they believed. This famous statement should be viewed as a declaration of respect toward other religions. Yet, to enjoy this special respect, Muslims believe that these other monotheistic traditions ought to follow these three points: Min amana billahi wal yumi l’akhiri wa’amila sa liha. The belief in (1) God, (2) the last Day, (3) and the act of righteousness. But, on the other hand, the prophet emphasizes that he and his followers are divorced from these “respected” monotheists because, wala ‘antum ’abiduna ma a’abudu Lakum dinukum walia dini. (109:5/6.).

175 You do not worship the (one) I worship. You have your law (religion) and I have my law (religion). Muslim scholars promote the perception that Islam existed before the teaching of the prophet. In Sura 3:67 it states, Ma kaana Ibrahimu ya hudiyan Wala nasraaniyan walakin kaana hanifan. Abraham was not a Jew, nor Christian, but he was hanif. The noun hanif means, ‘the one who inclines to the right opinion, the one who is sound in his faith.’ The general perception of most of the Qur’anic interpretation is that the Jews followed false gods, and that the Christians had adopted the trinity, which the Muslims see as a form of paganism. Of these three religious traditions, Muslims believe that they alone follow the doctrine of Abraham, 2 which was to follow the true God. They perceive that Abraham was the first Muslim, and that he, in fact, was the first to teach the din, law (religion), to all people. In this assertion, we witness the attempt of Islam to make Abraham not only the herald of the word of God (submission) but we witness the determined attempt of Islam to declare that Abraham is the founder of Islam, as well. Religious messengers can never foresee the result of their message. Sometimes out of a possible mystical experience, or as the outcome of ambiguous language used by the redactors, the original religious message turns into an accusation against other religions. Eventually the intended grace and love in the original message becomes a cause for hate. Muslims accused Jews of having killed their own prophets, even though that claim can’t be verified historically. In many verses in the Qur’an readers encounter the accusation that Jews are blasphemous 3 and worshippers of evil. It is a well-known fact that in the pre-Islamic Era that non-Islamic materials were circulated in Arabia and that some of those materials were used as a basis for the Qur-an. These source materials were well-known during the prophet’s lifetime. It is also known that upon the request of the prophet, that Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, the first and second khulafa, visited the Jewish madrasah in alMadina. Their objective in these visits was to learn about the Jewish education system. Moreover, it is reported that following the prophet’s orders, that Zayd ibn Thabit studied at the Yahudiyya. We know of the learned Jew, ka’ab al Ahbar, was converted to Islam by Abu Bakr and he was the source for the many midrashic and rabbinic teachings that were transmitted to the Islamic tradition. Among the prophet’s companions were Abu Hurayra, who had a great knowledge of the Jewish Scripture as well as the Hibr al-umma, and Ibn Abbas, who was very knowledgeable in both Jewish and Christian sources. From all of these connections, we must conclude that there is no feasible way to honestly ignore the transmission of material within these three religious traditions. If we read

176 Suratu’l Yusuf (Sura 12), it is impossible not to recall the story of Joseph in Genesis (37-50), as well as the Midrashic stories in Genesis Rabbah. When a Jew reads Sura 12, his or her perception is that this story was taken from Jewish sources, while the Muslim reader views the source of this story very differently. The Muslim reader believes that the Qur’anic text is the sole source for all the sacred texts. The Qur’an ends the story of Joseph with this statement, …ina rabbi latifun limaa ya shau inahu huwa ‘l ‘alimu ‘l hakimu. (12: 99/100.). My Lord understands the mysteries of all that he planned. He is full of knowledge and wisdom. The Hebrew version of this story goes beyond that point, as it continues the affair of Joseph, and the blessing of Joseph, until the death of Joseph. Only in the Qur’an does Joseph state that everything bad that had happened to him was the work of Satan. Thus, we can conclude that the Qur’an is more didactic than the Bible. The main intent in the story of Joseph in the Qur’an is to depict Joseph as an exemplary man who controls his desire and who can’t be seduced. Although it’s possible to point out the similarities in these two stories of Joseph, the story found in the Qur’an is not an exact version of the story found in the Bible. The Qur’an’s version is a moral story that contains the prophet’s vision of how a true believer should act. In the Qur’anic story, Joseph serves as the paradigm of a God-fearing and faithful man. However interesting the differences are in these two versions of the story of Joseph, one fact is clear: that the Qur’anic story relies on heavy borrowing from the earlier religious tradition. It’s a very important issue since Christianity has always acknowledged its connection to the Jewish religious tradition and Islam has never acknowledged its Jewish links. This disavowal is profound when we contrast it with the many facts relating to Islam’s close relationship with Jewish learning, as were pointed out previously in this chapter. This disavowal continues today, despite references in the Qur’an of bani Isra’el, children of Israel. Two Biblical figures, Abraham and Moses, are very well respected in the Qur’anic text. Abraham appears in the Qur’an as the first Muslim because he was the one who had ‘submitted’ himself completely to God’s will. Moreover, the genealogy of the prophet Muhammad points out that the prophet is a descendant of Ishmael and, therefore, he is seen by Muslims as a descendant of Abraham, as well. Moses appears in the Qur’an as a messenger who wassent to the Jews, who then falsified his teaching and chose, instead, to accept the teachings of their Sages. Due to the teachings of Ibn Hazam, this incorrect notion has been widely acth cepted since the 11 century. Since Ibn Hazam apparently had a good understanding of the biblical text, as a theologian and as a jurist, it’s likely that his works did influence the beliefs of future generations of Muslims. In his writings

177 he demonstrated and emphasized the contradictions he claims appear in the Bible. Ibn Hazam claims that the distortion of the Torah was transmitted from one generation to the next, while the Qur’an was transmitted from one generation to 4 the multitude and that its direct transmission assured its authenticity. The declaration La ilaha ila Allah There is no God but Allah, 5

is found a few times in the biblical text. Each time the declaration appears, it is in a different form emphasizing the ‘only God’ and ‘none with him.’ It has been transmitted by Muslim Sages that the main position taken in the Qur’an is to ‘confirm’ all previous revelations, mainly to the Taurat and the Injil, as it is stated in 7:156/157: Aladhina yatabi’una ‘lrasula ‘lnabi l’lumina la-dhi yaji du nahu maktuban ‘in- da- hum fi ‘l taurahi walinjili… Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet, who is found in the Torah and in the New Testament… In the OT we find the following verse: I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. (Deut. 18:18.). This is a well-known verse that contains a messianic message. In their exegesis, Muslim scholars defined this messianic prophecy in the Bible as relating to the appearance of the Prophet Mohammad, who is considered by Muslims to be the sole servant of God. According to the Muslims’ perception, the hemistich ‘from among their brethren’ alludes to the prophet Mohammad. Although Muslim scholars have ignored the influence of Biblical ideas on the prophet, it’s impossible to dismiss the use of the many biblical names in the Qur’an, or to disregard their teachings as they appear in the Qur’an. In Suratu ‘l Isra we find, Walaqad ataina musa tis’ah ayati bayyinatin fas’al bani Isra’il… (17: 100-101.). And we gave Moses nine verses (Ayat,signs) clear proof. Ask the children of Israel. 6

Professor W. Brinner pointed out in his work, “An Islamic Decalogue” , Although the latter passage seems to point to the ten (here nine) plagues,

178 rather the Ten Commandments, especially within the context of this sura, 7 commentators have confused the two passages. This problem of confusion between the Biblical texts as they are presented in the Qur’an is not limited to the confusion surrounding the plagues. This confusion also appears in other passages within the Qur’an. It is not the intention here to stress the evident animosity expressed by the prophet toward Judaism, nor do we intend to hammer away at the inconsistencies apparent in the recitations of the prophet. The aim here is to re-examine the long and troubled relationship shared by Muslims and Jews, and to accept as fact that many parts of Islamic teachings are related to, or are an extension of, the Jewish tradition. In the Qur’an we read, Waqa-lati l’yahudu ‘u-zayr ‘bnu ‘llahi Waqa-lati l’nasa-ra l’masihu ‘bnu ‘llahi dha-lika qau-luhum biafwahihim yuzh-hiwuna qau-la ala-dhi-na kafa-ru min qab-lu qata la-hu-mu ‘llahu anna yu-wa fakuna. (9:29/30.). The Jews call Uzayr (Ezra) the son of God and the Christians call Christ the Son of God, such uttering of their mouth is like the words of the early infidels. Be they cursed by Allah, how they lie. Muslim commentators insisted that the Jews called Ezra, the scribe, the son of God, a notion that is not only misinterpreted but it is also false. The Muslims also falsely claim that a sect in the Jewish tradition has claimed this to be true. The only evident truth is that this purported fact has a long history rooted in th hatred, as this has appeared in the work of the 10 century al-Tabari and in the th work of the 11 century Tha’labi, and it continues to appear in the work of the modern interpreter, A. Yusuf Ali. Even if we accept the teaching that Ezra was introduced to re-establish the teaching of the Torah, and that according to a legendary source that Ezra did so by experiencing a mystical moment when an angel of God helped him remember the Torah, we cannot stretch the story to include the centuries-old false accusations of the Muslims. The beginning of the verse, Wa-qalati ‘lyahudu… does not mean ‘part of this people’ but it refers to all of the people, making it a firm belief of all Jews. The false Muslim interpretation is still vivid and held as a truth in the minds of Muslims today. Professor Ayoub, however, states in his work, …Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966), the well-known thinker of the Muslim Brothers, quotes at some length Rida’s commentary on the verse in question. He then relates it to the wars and power struggles between Muslims and

179 the people of the Book…He believes that only a small group of the Jews 8 said ‘Uzayr is the son of God’ and thus their belief was a false one… Muslims accept the stories in the Qur’an as original. They don’t recognize the existence of any ‘other versions’ of the stories. There is no way to argue against this tradition since now more than a billion people believe in their text, and the teaching that it is the ‘only true text’, and that it is also ‘the source’ for all the other sacred texts. The aim here is not to prove or disprove the Muslims’ notion. The aim here is demonstrate how religious traditions are bound around a sacred text and that by borrowing from an original text, and modifying some of what was borrowed, a new religious text was created. As much as we may wish to appreciate the contributions of a prolific Muslim jurist and historian such as Ibn Hazam, his false statement that the Torah contains ‘contradictions’ and ‘lies’ is discouraging. A careful examination of his arguments against Judaism and Christianity reveal his use of derogatory and venomous terms. He leads the reader toward hate and not toward an intellectual debate. Claiming that the Qur’an is an authentic text, some Muslim scholars have presented the notion that Qur’anic verses are found in the Book of Psalms (Zubur). In Suratu ‘l fath we read, Inna arsalnaka Sha-hidan wa mu ba shiran wanna dhiran (48:7/8.). Behold, we have sent you (the prophet) as a witness and as a herald of good tidings and as a warrior. According to scholars, however, this verse is not found in the Bible. Is it possible, then, that the Muslim scholars are referring to the verse found in Malachi? In that prophecy we find that the “true” herald, Elijah, will be sent to announce the coming of the ‘Day of the Lord’.

180

B. Hearts Filled With Wonder

Well then, one day Moses delivered an address in order to inform the people of Israel of what God had told him. And this speech impressed the hearers to such a degree that their hearts were filled with wonder. And one of them asked him, ‘Can there be found anybody more learned than you?’ He replied, ‘No, such a man I never met.’ Then God revealed: ‘Yes, 9 such a man does exist. Our servant Kadhir is more learned than you are.’

No one can prove whether there was or there wasn’t a translated text of the biblical narrative available in Arabia in pre-Islamic times. However, it is possible to postulate that since there were three Jewish tribes living in Yathrib (al-Madina) during that time, that biblical stories were told and shared. If these shared tales weren’t written down, it’s conceivable that these tales had been passed along by word of mouth. It is common knowledge that the prophet had some opposition. And one who opposed him was the poet ‘Umayyah Ibn Abi al-Salt, who was also considered a prophet, and he had knowledge of written texts, probably the texts used by the Jews and by the Christians in Arabia. Another of the prophet’s opponents was Nadhr Ibn al-Harith. He was known to have acquired religious knowledge from the Jews and the Christians. He also had a broad knowledge of tales and the literature of the Persians. But the most celebrated opponent of the prophet was Luqman. There are many references to his work and, in some works of early Islamic literature, they mention scrolls containing his wisdom (Majallat Luqman). The prophet himself devoted a Sura (31) bearing his name, Suratu ‘luqman: Wa laqad ataina luqmana al hikmata ani ‘shkuru ‘lilahi waman yashkur fa innama yashkuru linafsihi… (31:11/12.). We bestow wisdom on Luqman show your thanks to God and who is grateful does so for his soul… Although most Arab scholars relate to Luqman’s scroll in a very respectful way, there are some stories in the Qur’an where the prophet himself viewed Luqman’s scroll as being important. The prophet also speaks about the kitaab, or, ‘the sacred texts of Jews and Christians’, …aladhina yaqra’una ‘lkitaba min qablika laqad ja ala ‘l haq qu min rabbika fala takunana mina ‘l mumtarina. (10: 93/94.).

181 Those who have read the Book before you (have read it), the truth has come to you from the Master so be wise than those of doubt. In another section of the Qur’an, the prophet states that things like the Laws (Books) have been passed down by God in heaven, qala laqad ‘alimta ma anzala…illa rabbu ‘lsamawati wal ardhi… (17:101/102.). He (Moses) said, You know well these things sent down…by the Lord of heavens and earth. And indeed he had people around him who informed 10 him about the other traditions. We know that the prophet’s followers had religious discussions with Jews and Christians, as in the Qur’an that exchange is referred to as ‘debates’ with the ‘People of the Book’, ahl ‘l kitab (29: 45/46). At the beginning with his encounters with the Jews of al-Medina, it is very likely that the prophet referred to the Jews there as ahl ‘l kitab and he said to them, Wa kadhalika anzalna ilaika ‘lkitaba fal ladhina atiana humu lkitaba. (29: 46/47.). It is to you that we sent the book so you believe (people of) the book. If we accept the information given in the Qur’an, then we can hypothesize that it’s very likely there were aggressive Jewish communities in al-Medina who engaged in heated debates with the prophet of this new, emerging religious tradition. This hypothesis is complemented with the information that the prophet and his close friends, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar Ibn Abu ‘l Khatab, visited the Jewish 11 academies in the city where they had discussions with the Jews. Damiri, in his work Hayat al Hayawan, states that he possesses some Jewish manuscripts. Arabic sources also assert that in the first century of Islam post-biblical literature was of the highest interest to leading people. Ploeg states in his work that then some 12 of the Islamic traditions correspond with the Mishnah . The first Qua’ranic interpreters, Abu Hurairah and ‘Amr Ibn al’As, had extensive knowledge of Jewish sources. There are some hints that Zaid Ibn Thabit, who was appointed by the khalif ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan to compile the Qur’an, had learned Hebrew at a Jewish religious academy. In fact, diverse sources stress the fact that the early followers of Islam, those who lived in the first century of the new Islamic tradition, were 13 knowledgeable of Jewish and Christian traditions. Arab scholars used the story of the prophets as writing an historical document. The historicity of the prophets is reflected in the Qur’an where some biblical figures are mentioned. Some Biblical figures were mentioned to substantiate the theological statements and recitations of the prophet. Some were mentioned

182 to emphasize a moral value and some were used to illustrate when Jews and Christians deviated from the Laws. In some of the prophet’s recitations, however, we encounter his misrepresentation or misunderstanding of some Jewish traditions, in spite of the fact that the prophet was surrounded by people who were very familiar with Jewish traditions. This presents a difficulty today as we consider whether the prophet’s misrepresentations reflect a simple error, or ignorance on his Part, or if his misrepresentations reflect the actual thinking of the prophet. According to the prophet’s theological perception, the world had its beginning and it will have its end. Also, everything in the world has a purpose, is made by God, and everything in the world glorifies God’s name. In this tradition the human being is seen as God’s agent in this world and all of the human’s actions are directed by his good or bad desires. If the desires are good, then they reflect faith and a belief in God. If they are evil, they are contrary to the good. Professor Franz Rosenthal suggests that the prophet’s interest in history was indeed a powerful motivation for his creation of Islam and Islamic historiography. Examining the works of Muslim historians, we discover that their view that history begins with the coming of the prophet and the events of his time. It is a well-known notion that Muslim scholars of the ninth century C.E. had some accurate Biblical information and that they brought into their work some references to the Taurat and the Injil. Thus, it is possible to suggest that there was a significant relationship between Jewish and Islamic literature. Accepting this possibility, it can then be suggested that the early Muslim scholars used a great number of Jewish sources. Yet, some of these borrowed sources were illustrated differently by the early Muslim scholars. For instance, in this new religious tradition, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, as they are in the Jewish and Christian traditions, but in the Islamic tradition, Adam and Eve 14 then went to live in Mecca or to Srilanka (Ceylon). Another variation is found in the Islamic version of the Biblical story of Joseph. This story in Sura 12 in the Qur’an is a “highly spiritual sermon” as Joseph’s renowned exterior beauty is seen as a symbol or as a metaphor of the beauty of his soul. Although we can debate these new notions on these Biblical stories and the attempt made to disregard this genre, Muslims saw the lives of their prophets as historical examples. For instance, in the Qur’an we read, la-qad kaana fi qasasihim ibrahum ‘li’uwli ‘l albabi ma kaana hadithan yuftara… (12: 110/111.). In their story there is an instruction for men equipped with understanding. From this verse and others found in the Holy Text, we can surely agree with the notion presented by Nabia Abbot:

183 …Muhammad himself displayed a keen historical instinct and a confident awareness of the historical role he and his new community were playing in world history. He succeeded, by precept and by example, in rousing in his followers an activated interest in the course of human history from the creation of man to his ultimate end in this world and the 15 next. Like the Bet Midrash in Jewish tradition, which in early times joined with the synagogue, and with the teachings from the Christian monasteries, so, too, did the mosques become the religious centers responsible for educating Muslims. There the Muslim believers were taught the stories of the prophet, the teachings of the prophet (hadith), and the akhbar, which contains the explanation of the Qur’an. In the first century there is evidence that there was some objection to teaching the hadith. Maintaining his religious point of view, ’Umar Ibn abu ‘l Khatab (‘Umar I) opposed writing down the hadith. His objections influenced 16 Muslim orthodoxy but it did not affect the Kharijites. Despite ‘Umar’s objections, private collections of the hadith continued to exist and to be written down. In the hadith it is difficult to discern the influence of Biblical stories. The hadith contain short stories, customs, and directions for believers which focus their attention on adopting the piety of the prophet and of the Khulafa ‘l Rashadun, the four righteous successors of the prophet: Abu Bakr, ‘Umar Ibn ‘l Khatab, ‘Uthman, and ‘Ali. Biblical influences, as well as post-biblical literary materials, can be detected in other Muslim literary genres where it is obvious that Biblical stories had always had a powerful influence in Muslim culture. Each Biblical legend, both in its Jewish and in its Islamic tradition, has its own “shaft of light”. Careful readers of the Qur’an al karim will immediately recognize the many Biblical stories, allusions, and characters that are interwoven in the prophet’s recitations. In these texts, the prophet based his moral teachings in the Biblical stories mainly by portraying the lives of Biblical heroes and their relationship to the world around them. He used both the Old and New Testaments which the prophet called ahl ‘l kitab. A very prominent scholar of Qur’anic literature writes, For Mohammad narration has no end in itself. The heroes of the narratives attract him less by what they are and experience than by the similarities between their and his own enemies. And he continues, Certainly this is not the case in every instance. There is no lack of examples where Mohammad follows in essential way the tradition and at most undertakes minor adaptations following his personal desires. And when at

184 times both fullness (variety) and colorfulness let him forget his own ego, 17 he gives himself over, uninhibited, to his ‘passions for storytelling’. In many precious stories in the Qur’an, the Biblical stories are very respected and in post-Islamic literature these stories are like pendants in the Arabic folklore. The stories of Joseph, Moses, Job, and Elijah are mentioned in the Qur’an where Jesus, the son of Mary, is revered. However, Moses is called the “servant of Allah” and, in some post-Quranic literature, Moses is identified with Khidhr. The prophet called the story of Joseph in Sura 12, ahsan al qisas,or, ‘ the most beautiful story’. Scholars of Islamic studies and of Judaism have long recognized the influence of Jewish and Christian literary works on the teachings of the prophet’s messages, especially the new moral teachings. It is obvious with the new teachings that source materials the prophet used from preceding religious traditions were very well assimilated and had genuinely become his own. This is evident in the way the prophet tells the story about Moses. The fascinating way the prophet shares this particular story may be connected to Muhammad’s possible identification with Moses, as he calls Moses, “One of the Servants of Allah”. In the Qur’an we read, Fawajada ‘abdan min ‘ibadina atainahu rahmatan min ‘indina wa’ allamnahu min ladunna ‘ilman. (18: 64/65.). They found servant one of our servants of whom we bestowed mercy from us and the one we had taught knowledge from our Presence. The question that arises is, ‘Who is one of our servants?’ Is it Moses or does it refer to an anonymous person? In fact, an anonymous hero does appear a few 18 times in the Qur’an. But in 20:95/96 we find, Qala basurtu bima lam yabsuru bihi faqabadhtu qabdhan min athari ‘lrrasuli fanabadhtuha wakadhlika sawwalat li nafsi. He (Moses responding to Samiri) said, ‘I saw what they saw not, so I took a handful of dust from the footprint of the messenger and threw it (into the fire), so my soul suggested to me.’ The identity of the Samiri in the quote above is problematic. Does it refer to the Samaritans? And if it does, then the prophet attributed the creation of the golden calf to the Samaritans. The prophet’s use of Samiri, however, could instead be a reference to a certain person. In verse 94/95 we find, Qala fama khatbuka yasamiriyyu. (Moses) said, what is in the case of the Samiri.

185 19

Perhaps the prophet’s use of the word Samiri indicates what Speyer suggests: a reference to Zimri ben Salu, as it is found in the Book of Numbers 25, and in the 20 work of Josephus. Out of all the anonymous heroes appearing in this religious text, the most interesting one is Khidhr, even though his actual name does not appear in the Qur’an. Tradition and scholars suggest that the mysterious, unnamed man mentioned in 18:64/65 is readily accepted to be Khidhr because he possesses the kind of knowledge that never fades but remains fresh (green) and everlasting. Moses has to find that special person, that servant of God. And Moses can find him in a certain place. In his recitation, the prophet says, …nasiyah hutahuma fattkhadha sabilahu fi’lbahri saraban (18: 60/61.).

…they forgot their fish which took its course through the sea as in a tunnel. This Qur’anic episode above that focused on the fish that ‘took its course to the sea’ raises the question: Does the fish do this for the pleasure of doing so, or simply to exercise its free will. This question allows us to examine the use of the word Saraban. Philological, morphological, and linguistic evidence points out the fact that the Qur’an was transmitted orally and that it was strongly influenced by the various dominant languages of the region at that time, such as Aramaic and Syriac. After all, Syriac, or Syro-Aramaic, was a written language at the time the Qur’an was written, and it was the lingua franca of the region. It was spoken in the region of the upper-Mesopotamia and it was knit into the Christian culture, as St. Ephrem used this language when he wrote his rich works. Any attempts to deny such an influence on the Qur’an are historically incorrect. This Qur’anic tale of the fish, for example, appears first in The Acts of Peter, which was written in Greek and appeared around 190 C.E. But Peter turned around and saw a smoked fish hanging in the window; and he took it and said to the people, ‘If you now see this swimming in the water like a fish, will you be able to believe in him whom I preach’…and he threw the tunny into the pond, and it came alive and began to swim. And the people saw the fish swimming; and he made it do so not merely for an hour, or it might have been called a delusion, but he made it swimming so that it attracted crowds from all sides, and showed that the tunny had become a fish; so much that some of the people threw 21 in bread for it, and it ate it all up. In The Acts of Peter the noun used for the fish is sarda, which probably describes a smoked fish or any salted fish. This Greek noun is very close etymologically to the noun Saraban used in the fish episode found in the Qur’an. According to

186 Islam, Moses’ role is to find the servant of Allah and from that servant, then Moses is supposed to receive knowledge. Some interpreters view the ‘fish’ as an emblem, or as a symbol, of the fruit of secular knowledge. As was pointed out earlier, the Qur’an is full of Biblical names like Adam, Ibrahim, Musa, and many others. Some of these figures are presented in the Qur’an explicitly to teach good manners, righteousness, and piety to the believers. The prophet also addresses his stories with questions like, “Have you not heard…”, perhaps as a means to attract the attention of the readers to the story itself. But the prophet’s use of a question format can also be seen as a formula expression used in the oral transmission of stories. We do not consider the Qur’an an organic preaching of the prophet, and out of our deep respect for the Islamic tradition, we do accept the perception that the Qur’an is a form of a direct word, or message, of God to the prophet. However, it’s important to note that the prophet also mentioned there were ‘other messengers’ who were sent by God before the prophet lived, Walaqad arsalna min qablika fi shiya’a ‘llwwalin wama ya’atihim min rasulin illa kaanu bihi yastahziwuna. (15: 9/10-10/11.). Indeed we sent messengers to the people before you…but no messenger came to them. In other verses, the prophet mentions Biblical figures and in one verse he included Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon, and 22 David (4:163.). In 33:7 he mentions Jesus, the son of Mary. Since the prophet emphasized the righteousness and piety of these former prophets, post-Qur’anic literature expanded on the story of these earlier prophets, their missions, and their actions within the community. This is the reason why there are two kinds of stories found in the Qur’anic exegesis: qasas al Qur’an, which refers to the Qur’anic stories, and the qisasu’l anbiyya, which refers to the stories of the prophet that are not part of the Qur’an. When the Qur’anic text tells the story of Elijah, it does so in no more than ten verses. In one verse, Elijah is mentioned together with Zakariya, John, and Jesus. Together with them, Elijah is among ‘the righteous people’, kulan mina ‘Issalihina (6:34/35.). Later it is stated that Illias (Elijah) was among ‘the messengers’, Wa’inna Ilyasa la mina ‘lmursalina. (37: 120/121.). Thus Elijah was among those sent (by me). It then goes on to describe Elijah’s actions. In the Qur’an, however, Elijah preaches to his people to fear God and to reject their worship of Ba’al. In a few places, the prophet describes Elijah as ‘the servant of Allah’,

187 …‘illa ‘ibada ‘llahi ‘lmukhlasina (127/128.). … except the sincere and devoted servant… and again in, ‘innahu min ‘ibadina ‘lmu’minina (131/132.). For he was one of our believing servants. Although Elijah is mentioned in only two sections of the Qur’an, the postQur’anic literature further developed the story of Elijah, much in the same way Elijah’s story in the Bible was elaborated on in the post-Biblical literature. When Kisa’i tells us about the roles of the early prophets and about their visions, he stressed the fact that the first believers of the prophets were women. 23 The first who believed Noah was a woman and he married her. When Abraham moralized to his people and proved the futility of worshipping their idols, many respected him but the first one to join his faith, mullat Ibrahim, was an old 24 woman. The first who believed in Elias was Ahab’s wife, and another, the wife 25 of ‘Amil, who left her husband and married Elias. Also in the Islamic tradition, the first to believe the prophet and his mission was his wife, Khadijah. Islamic tradition points out that the prophet’s mission began when he was forty years old. Kisa’i suggests that other prophets, such as Hud, Ibrahim and Ilias (Elias), also began their missions at the same age as the prophet. As the angel Gabriel was the first to herald the mission of Noah, Salih, Ibrahim, Ilias (Elias), and Solomon, this same angel also heralded the mission of the prophet. Kisa’i appears to maintain a special attraction to this angel because he mentions Gabriel’s activities in many of his stories. He also emphasizes the motif of the ‘prophetic light’, a light that signals a prophecy. It is probably under the influence of this light, ayat al-Nur, in the verse of light in the Qur’an, we find, Allahu nuru ‘lssamawati walardhi mathalu nurihi kamiskawtin fiha misbaahu ‘lmisbahu fiha zujajatin…(24:34/3.). God is the light of heaven and earth. His light is like (or a parable), as if there were a niche and within it a lamp and the lamp is covered with glass. It is important to note that the motif of light is found expressed in many cultures but it is highly developed and emphasized among the Islamic sects of the Shi’ah, 26 the Mu’tazila, and the Suffi. Islamic legends describe the birth of the prophet as a special spark of light. This spark was transmitted from the prophet’s father, ‘Abd Allah, to his wife and from her to the prophet. These legends describe this light and they emphasize that the prophet’s light was stronger than the lights of

188 all previous prophets. Many of these legends describe the special light that surrounded the prophet’s mother throughout her pregnancy. When the prophet was born, then the light he possessed was shown to Syria and in other legends 27 the prophet’s light shone on all nations at his birth. At one point, while praying, the legends say a light came out of the prophet’s head and it reached heaven. In addition, we are told that the angel Gabriel placed a mantle of light on the prophet. It is repeatedly emphasized that the prophet’s light was greater than the lights of the other prophets. The legends share that Adam had a staff of light in his hand and that Seth’s face shined with the light of the prophet on the day he was born. The light of the prophet was also said to have been upon the face of Lemech, Noah’s father. Kisa’i uses the motif of light to describe Noah, Hud, Salih, Ibrahim, Isma’il, Isaac, and his sons. Kisa’i used hyperbolae in describing the lights of Moses, Aaron, Solomon, and even the Queen of Sheba, as he states that she shone like the sun on the day of her birth. When Kisa’i describes Ilias (Elias), he says that at one point in Elias’ mission that a pillar of light came out of his hut and it reached heaven. Sura 18 contains some stories that can be defined as folklore. As was pointed out earlier, Moses meets a mysterious man (Khidhr), or as some interpretations of this Islamic tale suggest, Moses met Ilias (Elias). In about twenty-one verses of Sura 18, readers are introduced to some actions taken by Ilias (Elias), or by a mysterious man, which Moses judges to be illogical or unjustly done. Ilias (Elias), for example, reaches a boat, kills a lad, and erects a falling wall in a city of wicked people. At the beginning of this story, Moses does not understand Ilias’ (Elias’) actions, but later on Moses understands the justification for each of these acts. The source of these episodes is unknown and scholars have differing views about this Qur’anic story. Some scholars suggest the source of this story lies in the oral Jewish tradition. Two Muslim scholars, al-Kisa’i (Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah) and al-Tha’labi (abu Ishaq Ahamad), have written differing interpretations of this story. Part of their differing interpretations lies in the fact that al-Tha’labi is an interpreter as well as a storyteller. And al-Kisa’i is a storyteller who allows himself to change the Qur’anic text to fit his own style because he is more interested in the story than in the Qur’anic text itself. Al-Tha’labi, on the other hand, quotes the Qur’anic text fully, without making any changes. The story shared in 18:59/60 and 80/87 focuses on the meeting between Moses and Elijah (Khidhr). During this meeting Elijah acts very strangely when he makes the boat unseaworthy, kills a boy, and sets up the falling wall. At first, Moses finds these acts to be incomprehensible and unjustifiable.

189 By focusing attention on the early verses of the Sura, we can discover that Elijah, or the mysterious man, had reservations about agreeing to let Moses accompany him, Qala lahu musa hall attbi’uka ‘ala an tu’llimani mimma ‘ullimta rushdan. And Moses said could I follow you so you teach me of what you have been taught. And Elijah (Khidhr) relpies, Qala innaka lan tastati’a ma’iya sabar. He said you are unable since you have no patience with me. Elijah accuses Moses of lacking patience, or of being incapable of understanding Elijah’s actions. Sabar is the special quality needed to understand spiritual knowledge. The khubar sometimes seems paradoxical. It is possible to understand this conversation as an attempt to lessen the importance of Moses vis-à-vis that of Elijah. On the other hand, this conversation can also be seen as presenting the two prophets on an equal footing since God instructed both of these prophets and both learned from the divine. But in the popular genre of the story, Elijah is seen as having the higher position because he knows ‘ilm al-ghyb, or, ‘the hidden or the inner significance’ of events yet to come, and this is a higher level of spiritual understanding that Moses is unable to achieve. 28 An interesting story is found in Hibbur yafeh me-hay-Yeshu’ah , which is an th eclectic work of R. Nissim b. Jacob Ibn Shahin and it was written in the 11 century. In his Hibbur, there is a story about R. Joshua b. Levi and Elijah, a tale 29 that has no Jewish source. Yet this story in the Hibbur is strikingly similar to the story found in the Qur’an, 18:64-86. In the story found in the Hibbur, we learn that something perplexed R. Joshua and upon his meditation and fasting, Elijah came to him and asked what he desired. In this version, we find the use of the words ‘endurance’ and ‘patience’, which are related to the Qur’an’s use of the word al-Sabar. The three perplexing things that R. Joshua observed were: causing the cow to die; the collapsed wall that was forthwith rebuilt; and the visit in the synagogue where one group he blessed by praying that God wouldmake all of them chiefs, and the other group, that had generously welcomed him, he blessed by praying, May God grant you only one chief.

30

There is a lengthy discussion among scholars of R. Nassim’s version of this story. Their interpretations range from those who suggest the Jewish origin of the Qur’anic story to those who suggest that R. Nassim’s version has its origin in the Qur’anic version of the story. Some scholars, however, posit that R. Nassim’s

190 version has a Christian origin. However, the source for that suggestion can’t be 31 located. Jellinek in his Bet ha Midrash offers a Hebrew version of this story, but it turns out to be a translation of R. Nassim’s version. The fact is that no Jewish or Christian source for this story has been found, and yet this fact alone can’t erase the reality that the prophet Muhammad could easily have obtained his narrative from the oral Jewish tradition, or by borrowing from the Jewish Aaggadah (legends) or from the Apocrypha. This idea of ‘borrowed sources’ is well established among scholars because the prophet had some informants with Jewish and Christian backgrounds who possessed a strong knowledge of the Jewish and Christian writings. The best known among these informants are Ka’ab al Ahbar (d. 732) from southern Arabia, who converted to Islam during the lifetime of khalif Omar (634-644), and Wahab b. Munabbih (d. 732). The Islamic sources consider Ka’ab al Ahbar as being very familiar with the writings of the Jews and Christians. However, many of the traditions given in his name are not found in Jewish writings. He is the one, for example, who shares that God called upon Jeremiah, who was living in Egypt, to tell the people that Egypt was no longer a safe place. And he shares that Jeremiah took his donkey and began his journey back to Jerusalem. And, according to Wahab b. Munabbih, God took the breath of life from Jeremiah for one hundred years. This description of Jeremiah’s role is very similar to that of Moses. In this story, an angel had to ask the king of Persia, Yusak (sic), to let the people go out of his kingdom to build Jerusalem. The king requested three days to provide the people with the necessary equipment for their task. At that point, God is said to have revived Jeremiah and he faced to32 ward Jerusalem.

191

C. Passion for Stories

The stories of Jewish origin serve as a confirmation but not as a support, and they are three types. One is that we know to be true on the basis of the Qur’an. The second are the stories we know are false on the basis of your revelation and the third are those stories that the Qur’an does not 33 mention…

As was noted earlier, the name of al-Khidhr is not mentioned in the Qur’an, yet post-Qur’anic literature deals with him as a prominent figure. Muslim scholars identify him with Jeremiah. Some see him as the companion of Moses who seeks eternal life, but many Muslim scholars view him as Elijah. The name, al-Khidhr, is the ‘Green One’, which is associated with the color of green and so it indicates fertility and eternity, as in the Muslim tradition the ‘skin’ of the earth is seen as being green. This mysterious character in Qur’anic folk literature found in 18:60-79 is the source for all of the different interpretations. Modern non-Muslim scholars have tried to trace the source for this story and have offered many possibilities. Friedleander, in his work The Legend of Khidhr, suggests that the origin of this story is Greek and that it passed to Arabic litera34 ture via the Syriac literature. In his work, H. Schwatzbaum points out the rich Jewish and Christian sources mentioned in the Qur’an as possible sources for this 35 story. However, in these interpretations these scholars don’t include the Muslim perception that the role of this mysterious character is to guide Moses to embrace ‘endurance’ (Sabar). In the Qur’an we read, Awaka lladhi mina ‘ala qaryatin wahiya khaawiyan ‘ala ‘urushiha… Or as an example, the one who passed by a small town in ruin to the top of its roof… (2:258/259.). One possibility is to interpret this verse as a reflection of Ezekiel’s vision (Chapter 37), or as a reference to the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Nehemiah (Neh. 1). However, some modern scholars report that the mysterious character was Ezra, and others continue to identify him with Jeremiah, and still others name him alKhidhr. In Arabic literature we discover the tradition that God sent al-Khidhr as His prophet. He was given this name because when he sat on a white skin and then stood up, the white skin turned green. For some scholars, this al-Khidhr was Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, from the tribe of Aaron, while other scholars claim he was the son of Aaron. The story continues that when Jeremiah saw the de-

192 struction of the city of Jerusalem, he said, ‘How shall this city be revived after such death?’ So, God caused Jeremiah to die for a hundred years and then God revived him, qala anna yuhyi hadhihi Allahu ba’da mawtiha fa’amathu Allahu mi’ayata ‘aalmin thuma ba’athahu. He said how shall God revive it after its death, then God caused him to die for one hundred years and then revived him. (2:258/259.). The story then goes on to tell us that one day God asked Jeremiah how long he had dawdled (slept) and Jeremiah responded, ‘only one day’. God then told Jeremiah that he had actually been dead for ‘a hundred years’, Qala bal labthata miyata ‘almin fa’andhur ila ta’aamika washaraabika lam yatasannat wanadhur ila himarika walina’ laka ‘ayatan lilnnas. He said no, you have dawdled a hundred years, but look at your food and your drink. Are they not of old age and (look at) your donkey, and you are a sign unto the people. (2:258/259.). The story then ends using the oral tradition formula of a happy ending. God makes Jeremiah prosper and he is the one seen in the open fields, …Jeremiah was one of four men referred to in Scripture (as) a supremely perfect creature whom God himself had formed. The first was Adam…(Gen. 2:7.). The second was Jason…(Isa. 43:1.). The third-he was Isaiah (49:5.). The fourth was Jeremiah to whom God said…(Jer. 1:15.) the host of Nebuchadnezzer could not conquer Jerusalem, however, because God’s decree against Zion and against Jerusalem had not yet been sealed. But then the time came, the time set for Zion and for Jerusalem, the angel of the Lord came down from heaven, set his feet against the Walls of Jerusalem and breached them… In the meantime, the prophet Jeremiah left Anathoth to come back to Jerusalem. He lifted his 36 eyes and saw smoke of the Temple rising up… According to this story, this is when God reveals to Jeremiah that God is about to destroy the people of Israel. When Jeremiah hears this, he curses the day of his birth and the day he received the Torah. But the problem with this mysterious character is not resolved by stating that he is al-Khidhr. Joseph Horovitz has pointed out in his work that the name appears in 18:64/65, Fawajada ‘abdan min ‘ibaadina atainahu rahmatan min ‘indina wa’allamnahu min lladunna ‘ilman.

193 We find ‘Abd (servant) one of our servants upon him mercy given from us and we taught him knowledge coming out from us.’ The noun ‘ilm in Arabic is a ‘higher knowledge’, and as it appeared in this verse it is gnosis. Thus, we follow the idea that Moses desires to follow this mysterious person named ‘Abd, which is identified with al-Khidhr, and from this mysterious stranger, Moses begins to learn ‘ilm, ‘the higher knowledge’. Even though this mysterious servant of God is not mentioned in the Qur’an, he is well known in the Arabic oral tradition of sharing stories. Sometimes one can view his character as a parable rather than as an actual and historical figure. As was pointed out earlier, he is identified not only with Jeremiah but also with Uzair. The problem with this additional identification is there are two possibilities being presented. One possibility is that Uzair is Ezra the scribe, whom the prophet wrongly said the Jews had considered to be the Son of God. The other 37 possibility is the story of Jeremiah as it was shared by al-Tabari. However, the hero in 2:258/259 is identified as Uzair and al-Tha’labi tells us that when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, he killed forty thousand ‘keepers’ (readers) of the Torah. Among these slain ‘keepers’ were the grandfather and father of Uzair (Ezra). And al-Tha’labi shares that Uzair (Ezra) was then taken as a prisoner to Babylonia. The given geneology of Uzair (Ezra) is that he descended from Aaron. In the al-Tha’labi version, Uzair (Ezra) escapes from his captivity and goes to Deir Hirkal (or Deir Hizkal), a ghost city that contains many fruit bearing trees. Uzair (Ezra) eats some of these fruits, and he puts some in his basket, and then he continues on his way back to Jerusalem. When he sees the devastated city and its many dead, he cries to God asking if Allah can revive the city. Then he ties his donkey with fresh rope and falls asleep. This is when God causes Uzair to ‘die for a hundred years’. Here is the same miracle as the Biblical Jeremiah’s, although in this version the angel Gabriel instructs Uzair to be sure that the picked figs and grapes in his basket are not spoiled and to use a fresh rope to secure his donkey before he goes to sleep. In this version, we are introduced to a story that demonstrates not only prophet’s passion for story telling, but also the passion for storytelling of the qussas, the Arabic storytellers, is evident. In the Islamic version of this story, the people do not recognize Uzair when God revives him. He leaves and finds an old, blind woman. Uzair prays to Allah to cure the woman of her blindness and Allah grants him his wish. As the woman’s vision is restored, she recognizes Uzair. Together they travel to the court to find the 118 year-old son of Uzair. There at the court Uzair is finally recognized by the unique black beauty mark on his shoulders. Joseph Meyouhas offers readers of his work some different versions of Uzair’s story. A talking mule is present in one version of the story and Uzair mounts his

194 mule and turns his face toward the Temple of Allah upon Mount Moriah. At the end of this version of the story, the burial place of Uzair and his mule is defined 38 as “which is the Tomb of Mark, north of the wall, until this very day.” Among Muslim sages, as was pointed out earlier, there is confusion over the geneology of Jeremiah (Armiya) and al-Khidhr. Some suggest the two are the same, while others suggest that Uzair b. Sharkhiya was al-Khidhr. The Muslim scholars also are confused over the place for this story. Some suggest the place is Jerusalem, while others claim it takes place in the Holy Land. In the Sira of Muhammad b. Ishaq, the storyteller says that God had sent Jeremiah to Nashiyah b. Anus, the king of the people of Israel, to bring a tiding. God also reveals to Jeremiah that He will destroy the people of Israel through Yafith, the people of Babel. But He says He will have mercy upon them and save the city if the people of Israel truly repent. Upon hearing this, Jeremiah cries out and asks God for his death. Although the king of the people of Israel rejoices and acknowledges the mercy of God, his people continue to add new sins to their earlier sins. The king calls upon the people to repent but they ‘hearken not’. Then God gives dominion over them to Nebuchadnezzar and his soldiers, who were more than “locusts scattered abroad”. The soldiers encamp around Jerusalem and wait to destroy it. The story goes on to tell us that Jeremiah prays to God to punish the unrepentant people of Jerusalem and God does so. Some of the people are slain and about 70,000 are distributed as captives to the kings who were with Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah returns to Babel as a captive while riding an ass that also carries grape juice and a basket of figs. But Jeremiah can’t see Jerusalem. When he eventually escapes captivity and returns to stand over the site, he sees Jerusalem in great desolation, and he asks, “How will God revive this after its death?” He then ties his ass with the rope and he falls asleep. God then takes his soul for a hundred years, causes his ass to die, but the figs and grape juice remain ‘as is’ beside Jeremiah. Seventy years pass and God sends a Persian king named Nowshak to rebuild Jerusalem and to make it a flourishing place. After a hundred years pass, God then revives the body of Jeremiah. He looks at his ass and sees its bones are scattered, and he says that God “orders you (the ass) to become alive”, and the ass returns to life. The figs are just as fresh as they were when Jeremiah plucked them a hundred years earlier, and his grape juice is as if the juice had just been squeezed out. It is accepted among Muslim scholars that Muhammad b. Ishaq copied this story from Wahb b. Munabbih, who originally told this story, and his protagonist was al-Khidhr. Another Muslim version of this story shares that Uzair was freed from captivity in Babel and that he then passes an empty village. There he picks up some fruit, eats some of it, and places some of it in a basket. He squeezes the juice from the grapes he finds, drinks some of it, and puts the rest “into a leathern flask”. In this version of the story, he then sleeps for a hundred years. When he revives, he meets a woman. He introduces himself to her as

195 Uzair and she brings him to the people. It is the black crescent-shaped mole on his back that allows his aged son to recognize his father. In both stories, Jeremiah and Uzair sleep for a hundred years. Both stories introduce us to the name of Hirqal, or Heraclius. In the Muhammad b. Isaq-Wahb b. Muhabbih version we discover the initial confusion relating to where this story occurs. Some scholars feel it occurs in Jerusalem. Some argue that the story unfolds at the convent of Hirqal, and others say it was in the Holy Land where God killed those who had left their homes. According to the version of Qatadah Ikrimah and al-Dhahhak, Uzair journeyed on his ass until he arrived at the convent of Heraclius, which is on the banks of the Tigris. In this version, Uzair doesn’t meet a woman, nor is 39 the distinctive black mole on his back shared as the way he is identified. In the Apocalyptic literature we are introduced to a different version of this story about a sleeper. In the Apocalypse of Ezra, we are introduced to a sleeper who has a vision in which the Messiah reveals a ‘new’ Jerusalem and the gathering of the Ten Tribes. The vision presented in 4Ezra describes the ‘End of Age’ in the following manner, For behold the days come, and it shall be when the signs which I have foretold unto thee shall come to pass. Then shall the city that now is invisible appear, the land which is now concealed be seen. And whosoever is 40 delivered from the predicted evils, the same shall see my wonders. In the Falasha Anthology, we find a different ‘sleeper’. This ‘sleeper’ is not Jeremiah, nor is he Ezra, but his name is Baruch, who was Jeremiah’s scribe. In this version, Baruch has a vision where he is shown the ‘heavenly’ Jerusalem, as well as the restoration of the ‘earthly’ city of Jerusalem. The following are a few excerpts from this Ethiopic Apocalypse of Baruch, Blessed be God, the Lord of Israel. We shall write that which God has revealed to the blessed, holy, and praised Abba Baruch. He was thirty-five years of age and his parents took him to Jerusalem and put him in service with the High Priest, named Eskendros. The High Priest associated him with the doorkeepers of Jerusalem and he remained in service for thirty years. He prayed as follows, ‘Let me not see the destruction of Jerusalem.’ After the thirty-fifth year had gone by he went to draw water. He drew water and covered it with a fig leaf. A deep sleep overcame him and so he 41 slept. The text then goes on to recount the events. While Baruch sleeps, Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem and destroys it. An angel appears, as does the prophet Sutu’el, and they travel with Baruch as he begins his journey in the celestial world, where he is shown all “the hidden and manifest things…in heavenly Jerusalem.” According to this text, “heavenly Jerusalem” was created before the crea-

196 tion of Adam. In “the Land of the Living”, Baruch sees “Enoch and Elijah writ42 ing down the deeds of the just on earth.” The confusion that exists regarding the identity of the mysterious person in Suratu ‘l Kahf allows the oral tradition to expand the use of imagination, not only in the attempt to identify this person, but also in the attempt to discover the meaning of his name. As was pointed out previously, the mysterious person is identified as Elijah, or Jeremiah, or Uzair, or Moses. In Bukhari’s Sahih, we find six stories, ahadith (sin. hadith), but all of these stories relate to the confrontation between Moses and Khidhr (Elijah). In one of the ahadith, Bukhari presents the meaning of the name of the mysterious person by sharing that if alKhidhr is seated on a white place, then this place becomes green after the myste43 rious person has sat there. Islamic tradition also tells us that al-Khidhr drank from the spring of the ‘water of life’, so he will live until the Day of Judgment. A story from the work of Ibn al-‘Arabi tells us that al-Khidhr’s name was Balya Ibn Malikan, a soldier in the army, who was sent to search for water. He found the Water of Life and he drank from it, not knowing that God had blessed this water with eternal life. In this tradition, he is known as a living person who has divine power and he serves as awliya (sin. wali),or, ‘the mentor of the sages’, and 44 al-‘Arabi was very familiar with him. Again, all of these examples point out that it is impossible to deny the extensive borrowing of Jewish and Christian works that occurred in the composition of the Qur’an. Or, as Ignaz Goldziher puts it in his work, …(that) according to the Qur’an this ‘passion for storytelling’ originated in a circle. There were the various Biblical legends which Muhammad had completed, albeit in contaminated versions at times. Believers wanted to learn more and hear particulars about these. This stimulated their curiosity and their thirst for knowledge most likely to higher degree than grasping in precise language the laws and rules. This demand was met by an abundant supply. There were large numbers of curious scholars who would fill out the lucken (empty places) of the Qur’an from their stock of their relations and knowledge of Jews and Christians. And what they retained and often misunderstood of those narratives, they further adorned with their own imagination and then presented it as Qur’an teachings. Men such as Muqatil Ibn Sulayman (d. 767) has been characterized as one who has gotten his ‘science (studies)’ of the Qur’an from the Jews and 45 Christians in order ‘to harmonize’ his ‘science’ with their teaching. In the story of Jeremiah, as well as in the story of Uzair, we find the statement that the king killed many Israelites. In Uzair’s version, the storyteller says forty thousand were killed. The king then left the city in ruins and the city was then abandoned to the wild beasts. Israel Friedleander writes:

197 Finally we may conclude, as Lidzbarski has surmised before, that the ‘eternal Jew’, Ahasver, is identified with our prophet (i.e. Khidhr). The essential character trait of Khidhr in the popular imagination of the Muslim people is identical in the Jewish Elias legend, it is movement and therefore allows for omnipresence: ‘the moment occurs when one calls him.’ To have traveled further than Khidhr is an Arabic saying that a man constantly wandering is called ‘khalifat al-Khidhr’, followers of Khidhr by the poets. This comparison (tertium comparationis) with the eternally wandering Jew is extraordinarily fitting. It is true the legend of the ‘eternal Jew’ appears in written form first in 1602. However, its content is most certainly much older as in its essence we come across it in Wahb ibn Munabih. Above all, the name Ahsvar, designating the wandering Jew, would be nonsensical and it cannot have come out of nowhere. Whoever may have been the author/originator and editor/redactor of the legend, we may assume he knew of the eternal and omniprescent Khidhr… we may assume he took the name of the prophet in its Turkish form, Khisr, or Khisir, and combined it with the Biblical name Ahsver, which he 46 knew. Thus, we may conclude our hypothesis that the name ‘Abd, which is found in the Qur’an 18:64/65, is identified with al-Khidhr, the ‘Green One’, who is the ‘Muslim Elijah’. This hypothesis is valid, despite the fact that some interpretations identify ‘Abd with Jeremiah or with Uzair, and still other hypotheses question the validity of identifying ‘Abd with Moses. It is an accepted notion among scholars that Moses (Musa) was al-Khidhr’s companion. However, some Muslim sages claim that they have a tradition that the Musa in the Qur’an is not the Musa al-Khatib, the leader-preacher of the people of Israel, but that he was someone else named Musa b. Manasse b. Yusuf. According to Islamic tradition, Moses was searching for ‘ilm al-ghyb and God blames Moses for being conceited and tells him that he has chosen a person (servant), ‘Abd, at the intersection of the two seas, Waidha qala musa lifatahu la abrahu hitta ablughu majma’a ‘l bahrayini. Moses said to his audience ‘I shall not stop (my search) till I reach the intersections of the two seas.’ (18: 59/60.). This suggests that although Moses received his mission as a call from heaven, that he did not acquire the perfect knowledge, ilm al-ghyb. He wished, instead, to become the companion of the servant ‘Abd, who is al Khidhr, and to learn from him gnosis, or, ‘the hidden knowledge’. This Islamic tradition on Moses contradicts the way Moses is described in the Bible,

198 Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men who were upon the face of the earth.(Num. 12:3.). Jewish tradition does acknowledge that Moses, like all humans, is not perfect and that he, too, felt envy and jealousy. In one piece of Midrashic interpretation on the following verse in Jeremiah, we find, Then sayeth the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. (Jer. 9:23.). it concludes with, Let not our teacher Moses glory in his wisdom. In spite of the fact that he ascended to heaven and received the Torah, he could not get rid of 47 Death. The two different sources, the Qur’anic text of Sura 18 and the tradition of R. Joshua b. Levi found in his Hibbur, point out the following: In the Qur’anic version al-Khidhr shows Moses three brutal deeds: 1) He scuttled the boat and drowned its passengers.

In the Jewish tradition Elijah shows R. Joshua b. Levi three deeds: 1) He caused the poor man’s cow to die.

2) He slew the young boy.

2) The collapsed wall that was forthwith rebuilt. 3)(a) ‘May God make all of you chiefs.’ (b) ‘May God grant you only one chief.’

3) He set up straight the falling wall.

As seen in the table above, R. Nissim’s version contains less cruel episodes than those found in the Qur’anic version. In the interpretations of both of these versions, we find an emphasis placed upon not asking questions. The first brutal deed in the Qur’anic version of the story, for example, is explained in an interpretation stating that the ship was dented inward in order to save it from impressments. R. Nisssim’s version does not contain the episode with the boat, but instead it contains the story of the poor man’s cow. The interpretations of that episode explain that Elijah killed the cow in order to prevent the death of the poor man’s wife. In the Jewish version, the cow is killed, and in the Qur’anic version, a young boy is killed. The death of the cow in the Jewish tradition redeemed the

199 death of the wife. In M. Gaster’s work, we find the R. Nissim’s version of this but it shares that Elijah kills the son of the widow who had welcomed him to her home. The explanation for this killing is given that the slaying prevented her son 48 from growing up to become a murderer. The third brutal deed recorded in the Qur’anic version is the divine ‘set up straight the falling wall’ and the third event in R. Nissim’s version is focused on the issue of establishing many chiefs for some people and one chief for others. The interpretation here is that when Elijah prays for ‘many chiefs’ for some, he is praying that those places and people with ‘many chiefs’ will be destroyed, and where there is ‘one chief’, Elijah’s prayer grants that community a blessing and survival. The Qur’anic version’s rebuilding of the wall is explained as being done for the sake of two orphans because God wanted the treasure beneath the wall preserved for the orphans to use later. Some scholars have pointed out that the episode dealing with the wall being rebuilt that is found in the Jewish tradition was borrowed from the Qur’an and that R. Nissim changed the episode to incorporate Jewish motifs. Support for this notion is found in the given assumption that by the eleventh century the idea that ‘Abd, the mysterious person in the Qur’an, is identified as al-Khidhr, Elijah the prophet. Jewish tradition could not have Moses as the companion of Elijah because in the Jewish tradition it is impossible for Moses to learn from Elijah, a flesh and blood man, and not to have learned directly from God. Support for this notion is found in the Midrashic literature, Another explanation, ‘And he said: Show me, I pray thee, thy glory. Moses desired strongly to learn what was the reward awaiting the righteous and why the wicked prosper. When do we know that the reward of the righteous is called ‘Glory”? Because it says, ‘The wise shall inherit glory.’ (Prov. 3:35.), and also, ‘And before His elders shall be Glory.’ (Isa. 24:23.); and whence do We know that the prosperity of the wicked is also called ‘Glory’? Because it says, ‘And after glory thou wilt receive me.’ (Ps. 73:24.). What reply did God give Moses? And he said: ‘Thou cannot see my face.’ (Ex. 33:20.). The expression ‘my face’ here means the prosperity of the wicked as it is written. ‘And repayeth them that hath Him to their 49 face (panav), to destroy them.’ In his magnum opus al-Damiri presents some traditions about fish and Moses. In the section on Abu Hamid al Andalusi, titled hut Musa Wa Yushu’, he tells the story that near the city of Sabtah, called Ceuta today, that he sees a fish that is the progeny of the fish eaten by Moses and his young companion, Joshua. The other half of the fish revived by God takes its course to the sea (Qur’an, 18: 59/60-60/61.). He also states that the fish he has seen is more than a cubit in length and it has a spine on each side. In most of the traditions, the companion

200 (fata) of Moses is Joshua. Al-Kalbi tells us that Joshua (Yushu’ b. Nun) performed ablution out of the water of the spring of life and that some drops fell on the salted fish in the basket and that revived the fish. That fish was the one to show Moses the dry way to reach the island where al-Khidhr was staying. In an attempt to define the location of majma’ ‘l bahryin, Qatadah suggests that the two intersecting seas were the Persian Gulf and the eastern part of the sea of Greece. Some other interpretations say it is the Jordan River (bahar ‘l ‘urdun) and the Red Sea, while others define its location as the sea of Morocco and the Gibraltar (bahar ‘l ziqaq). Yet, the beautiful interpretation we find in ad-Damiri’s work is that the meeting of Moses with al-Khidhr at the junction of the two seas is pointing out the fact that these were the two ‘seas of knowledge’. Moses has knowledge of the religious law and al-Khidhr has knowledge of hidden affairs, of the truths and secrets of the hidden world. These two seas serve as a metaphor for the meeting between two knowledgeable people. Knowledge is considered here to be as wide and as deep as the sea. The disagreement among the scholars is mainly focused on the name of al-Khidhr. Some suggest that he was Bayla b. Malkan…b. Nuh. It is a tradition that goes back to Noah. Wahb b. Munabbih said that it was Iliya (Elias, Elijah) and he states his genealogy goes back to Abraham, while others suggest that his genealogy goes back to Armiya (Jeremiah), who is of the tribe of Harun (Aaron). A story given by al-Bagawi, established on the authority of the prophet, is that it is Bayla b. Malkan, His father was a king and that his mother’s name was Ilha. She gave birth to him in a caravan where a she-goat belonged to a man of the village (was) used to suckle him daily. When the man found it out he took him and brought him up. When he grew up his father wanted to have a good copyist to copy books which were revealed to Abraham and Seth. He, alKhidhr, was among the copyists but his father did not know him. When the father approved the writing and his knowledge he also learnt that he is his son. At that point he embraced his son and gave him authority over the people. Al-Khidhr left the kingdom of his father for some reasons and he began to travel around until he found the spring of life. He drank from this water and thus he shall remain alive until the coming of the Antichrist. He will be the person whom the Antichrist will slay and cut to 50 pieces, and after this event God will revive him. Abu Bakr b. Abi’d-Dunya tells us that Ali b. Abi Talib (the fourth khalifa, Ali) met al-Khidhr and he taught him a prayer and he mentions that this prayer had also been taught to Umar (the second Khalifa), who heard it from al-Khidhr. In his work, H. Schwarzbaum suggests that there are some parallels in both the Qur’anic text and in the Talmudic story found in the tractate Menahot,

201 Rab Judah said in the name of Rab. When Moses ascended on high he found the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged in affixing coronate to the lantern. Said Moses, ‘Lord of the Universe who stays Thy hand?’ He answered, ‘There shall arise a man at the end of many generations, Akiba b. Joseph by name, who will expound upon each little heaps and heaps of laws.’ ‘Lord of the Universe’, said Moses, ‘permit me to see him.’ He replied, ‘Turn thee round.’ Moses went and sat down behind eight rows. Not being able to follow their arguments, he was ill at ease, but when they came to a certain subject and the disciple said to the Master, ‘Whence do you know it?’ and the latter replied, ‘It is a law given to Moses at Sinai.’, he was comforted. Thereupon he returned to the Holy One, Blessed be He, and said, ‘Lord of the Universe, Thou hast such a man and Thou giveist the Torah by me!’ ‘Be silent, for such is my decree.’ Then said Moses, ‘Lord of the Universe, Thou hast shown me his Torah, show me his reward.’ ‘Turn thee round,’ said He; and Moses turned round and saw them weighing out his flesh at the market stalls. ‘Lord of the Universe,’ cried Moses, ‘such Torah and such a reward!’ He replied, 51 ‘Be silent, for such is My decree.’ Through his examination of this story, Schwarzbaum states that R. Akiba plays the same role as the mysterious person who appears in the Qur’an. This mysterious character is depicted as a person who embodied gnosis, ‘the hidden wisdom’. And this mysterious character knows the Sitre Torah, the Secrets of the Law, better than Moses does. Very much like ‘Abd, the mysterious person also knows ‘ilm al-ghyb, ‘the hidden knowledge’. In both versions of this story, we also find the themes of anger and contempt for the murders presented in the two stories: in the Qur’an, for the murder of the son, and in the Talmud, for the murder of R. Akiva. In both versions, we also encounter the strong taboo against asking questions. It is expressed most strongly in the Talmud’s version of this story, as is demonstrated in the statement, Shtoq, kakh ‘ala ba-mah shava lefanai. which is best translated as, Shut up… as an explanation, or justification, for God’s deeds is presented.

52

However, as much as Schwarzbaum makes an interesting connection with the issue of ‘ilm al-ghayb and Gnostic teaching, it is hard to accept his interpretation. Indeed, Moses does question God’s injustice but he doesn’t do that in the three episodes in the Qur’an, 68:64/65-81/82, nor in the three shared episodes found

202 in Hibbur yafeh me-ha-yeshu’ a of R. Nissim of Qayrawan. In these episodes, we do encounter Moses in his search for knowledge and in his search to understand God’s actions. We also encounter the traditional taboo on asking questions in both versions. But the Talmudic story intends to explain the ‘little heaps’, the taggim. It is expressed strongly, and even more dramatically, in the Talmud than it is in the Qur’an. These two strong words, ‘little heaps’, are what make it so dramatic.

D. O Khadhr, Ever Green Ya sidi khadhr el Akhdhr Tisqi zara’na el-akhdhr Ya sidi mar Elias Tisqi zara’na el-yabbas. O Lord, Khadhr (St. George) the green, Water our green crops. O Lord, St. Elias, 53 Water our drying crops. There is no dispute among scholars of religion and literature about the importance of al-Khidhr in Islamic tradition. He is universally venerated And many stories have been told about him. Among folklorists he is exceptionally appreciated and in some stories he maintains the image of a superhuman. T. Canaan, a well-known and respected folklorist, published a series of articles about saints, holy people, and holy places revered by Muslims and Christians in Palestine. He claims there are many sacred shrines in that area and he states, “There is hardly a village, however small it may be, which does not honor at least one local saint.” In the city of Nablus there is a shrine that contains a dark room known as huzun ya’qub, Jacob’s sorrow. It is believed that this is where Jacob mourned the death of his son. This room is situated in sitnna el-Hadhra (khadhra). This is a place where many women came with their newly born children on the seventh day of their confinement to take a bath in the djurn el-Khadhr, in the hammam, 54 bathing place. Among the Christian population there is maqam, place, near Bet-Djala in the vicinity of Beth-Lahem. It is told that St. George (el-Khadhr) came to this place from the north. A church was built there in his honor. The people of these two distinct places cherished these stories. Muslims in

203 Nablus believe that every Thursday evening el-Khadhr takes a bath in hammam ed-daradjeh. The sick then go there to take a bath, to light candles, to burn incense. On every road leading to this shrine, nawasib (sin. nasb) stones, are set to show the way. In Bet-Djala there are stones indicating three different roads that lead to el-Khadhr. T. Canaan states, The custom of making small piles of stones applies only to comparatively few sanctuaries. Christians are also acquainted with this qantir (pl. qantara) and they pile stones when reaching esh-sharafeh,on their way from Bet-Djala to el-Khadhr, since from this point they can see on one side 55 Mar Elias and on the other side, the convent of St. George. The holy stone of St. George (el-Khadhr) is situated between Bet-Djala and the Pools of Solomon and it plays an important role. T. Canaan inserts an interesting story: While a Greek priest was officiating at the Holy Communion in the Church of mar Djiriou, a few drops of the sacred wine were spilled. They penetrated through his foot and burst the stone on which they fell. The wound of the priest never healed and he died as a punishment for his carelessness in handling the Blood of the Saviour. The stone received a supernatural curative power from the scared wine, which benefited every sick person who happened to kneel upon it. Its reputation soon spread all over Palestine, and great numbers of sick flocked thither. Even the Czar of Russia heard of the wonderful virtues of this stone and sent men of war to Jaffa to bring it away. But St. George did not allow it to be transported further. Every time the boat carrying this precious treasure removed some distance from the shore, el-Khadhr brought it back with his spear. All recognized the folly of disobeying the wishes of the saint and so the stone was 56 brought back to its place. In Mar Elias there is a depression in the rock. It is believed that St. Elijah slept there. There are some Christian sanctuaries where women never enter. In the St. George’s convent there is a room where the holy stone is kept. If a woman enters this room, the water dries out and the priest, or any holy man, must get in and repeat prayers and burn incense to appease the djinniyah (evil spirit) or to force 57 her, the djinniyah, to let the water flow again. In some cases, people make a nidhr, a vow, for a child to get well, or for a sterile woman to become pregnant, or for the safe return from a long journey. The formula for the vow is not at all a religious one and few nidhr are in the name of God. Most of the formulae are: Alaiy ya nabi Musa…

204 Upon me, O prophet Moses… or: In hbilt ya bahr… If I become pregnant… Yet those who are religiously oriented do use the name of God in their vows, as in, minnak wa ilak ya Allah… it is from you and to you, O God… Some of the nidhr are taken in the name of el-Khadhr. The formula used is the same: in thab akhuy la adhwila Sham’ah tulu ya khadhr el-Akhdhar. If my brother is well, I shall light for you a candle of its length, O khadhr el-Akhdhar. These vows are bound by the conditions given and must be expected. But there are other vows known as ‘general vows’. At St. George’s Church one of these formula vows recited by a mother who was concerned about her two children. In this nidhr she asks that her children be kept alive: Ya khadhr al-Akhdhar ‘alek el-yom tereni Wahad imreiysh wa wahad imkahhal el ‘eni Nidhrun ‘alaiya in ‘ashu hal-itheni La-adhbah dabaih wa akaddim lak-khadhr deni O Khadhr, the green one, two birds come to you. The one with feathers and one with darkened eyes. I vow upon myself if the two remain alive 58 I shall offer sacrifice and pay my dues to khadhr. There are some other versions of this vow. One such vow, recited only by Christians, mentions the Adhra Mariam , the virgin Mary, and another short formula vow ends with this line: Zaiy ma nashalt el-khadhra min yad el-kuffar As you saved el-khadhra from the hands of the infidels. Who is that el-khadhra? According to T. Canaan, there is a shrine in Nablus dedicated to el-khadra, who is supposed to be the daughter of Jacob. Nablus is

205 connected with the Biblical Jacob as is seen in the Book of Genesis 34. According to the story given in Canaan’s work: The son of the leader of the tribe asked Jacob to give him his daughter as a wife. The patriarch refused his request, as he was an idolater. The young man bribed the forty followers of Jacob who were all believers (mu’minum) giving each one sack of gold…they nevertheless sent their wives to prepare el-Khadhra for the marriage. Her father assuring her that the God of his fathers would not allow such an act, asked her to shout three times, just as her bridegroom entered her room: O grandfather, O Prophets, O God.’ She followed this advice and her bridegroom fell dead at the moment of entrance into the room. Thus she kept her virginity and 59 was called el-Khadhra, the Green. This is the only place where we find a female el-Khadhra. The story itself is an interesting version of the Biblical story of the rape of Dinah found in Genesis 34. Moreover, we are told that bribery began at this time. The prayer to God saved her virginity and thus she is known as ‘the Green’. Throughout the long history of this region, and the fact that certain places were conquered more than once, the sanctuaries and shrines have changed their names and their worshippers. An example is the place known as er-rabah-el-adawiyeh on Mount Olives. There is a Muslim shrine there where Christians once revered as the place where Pelagia atoned for her sins. And this is the same place where the Jews believed was where the prophetess Huldah, mentioned in 2Kings 22:14 and 2Chr. 34:22, lived. Another example has connections to al-Khidhr (elKhadhr) is the place known as ash-Shekh Sha’leh located in Sabastia. The story is as follows: Once a fight took place between the believers (Muslim) and the unbelievers. The men of God helping the former sent fire from heaven which de60 voured their enemies. Hence this man Sha’leh (fire). It is reported that Greek inscriptions were found there dedicating this place to Elijah because of the miracle he performed sending fire from heaven that consumed the soldiers of Ahaziah, the king of Israel (2Kings 1:8-14.). Here Shekh Sha’leh becomes the typology of Elijah. According to the local tradition St. George originally came from the city called Lydda. Following his death, his remains were brought from Nicomedia to his native city. The first to mention the tomb of St. George in Lydda was the pilgrim deacon Theodosius in the sixth century. The cult of St. George was revived in Europe by the crusaders because St. George was believed to have called for the people to believe in God, much as had al-Khidhr, so the name of St. George became associated with al-Khidhr’s name. The following story serves as an example:

206 A very poor widow, whose only child was badly ill, promised in her excited state and without knowing what she was uttering: ya khadhr ed61 Djerid in thab ibni la-aqaddimlak zet fi qishfet bedha. As soon As her child recovered, she hastened with a pitcher of oil to fulfill her vow. She filled the oil lamp which hung in front of St. George’s picture but an unseen power tilted the lamp and the oil was spilled. The same thing happened every time the lamp was filled. A priest who observed this inexplicable happening asked the woman, ‘What was your promise?’ And when the woman told him, he answered very earnestly, ‘The saint accepts only 62 what is due him, not a grain more.’ In the previous pages we have shared that the mysterious person mentioned in Sura 18 is called different and interchangeable names. In the local oral tradition, he is known as Ilias, al-Khadhr, and for some Muslims Mar Elias is el-Khadhr. For Christians he is known as Mar Elias, Mar Djiris or Giris, or St. George. For Jews, he is known as Elijah (Eliyyahu). For some Muslims he is known as Mar Elias (Mar Djiris), which is another name for St. George. Despite the attempts of scholars claiming that the Biblical Elijah is not the prototype of al-Khidhr (elKhadhr), the common people believe that Mar Elias, Elijah, is al-Khidhr (elKhadhr). They believe this is connection between Elijah and the mysterious person is true because of the legend, or by their oral tradition, that both men enjoy eternal life. Also, the mysterious person of the Qur’an appears to teach Moses not for personal reason, as it is stated: Wama fa’altuhu ‘an ‘amri (18:81/82.). The confusion of these two names appears to be the result of the oral tradition sharing that Elijah, al-Khidhr, disappeared along with his miracles just as St. George appeared. Like Elijah, St. George struggled against the belief in idols and he, like Elias, had brought down fire from heaven that destroyed the idols and the heathen priests. Often St. George is linked with the Prophet Elijah under the name al-Khidhr, or St. Diris (Giris). He is also connected to the arrival of spring, with life sprouting renewed from the earth. Today al-Khidhr (el-Khadhr) continues today to be very revered in the Middle East. In the region the shrines are respected by the three religious traditions and some of the shrines have changed hands and faiths. Let’s mention a few examples. The St. George Church in Lydda was venerated from Byzantine times as the city of his birthplace and it is also revered by Muslims. In a village near Bethlehem there is a Greek Orthodox shrine that has the name el-Khadhr, which is the same name as a nearby village. This place is greatly honored by Muslims and is known as a shrine where medical cures are made. The guardians of this shrine point out a rock where they say Elijah rested while fleeing the Queen Jezebel Also, it is known as the place where

207 Elijah was given bread and water by an angel so he could complete his journey to 63 Mt. Horeb. A grotto is located in the Carmel Mountains that is known as the Synagogue of Elijah. This place is revered by the three religious traditions, although some scholars suggest the place was a sanctuary for Adonis. Despite that claim, this place was already known to be a shrine to Elijah by the time of the Crusaders. On the other side of the Carmel Mountains, near the Druze village of Daliat al Carmel, is a place known as al-Muhraqa, the place of the sacrifice of Elijah. In Sarepta, about ten miles from the city of Sidon, there is a village called Sarafand, which is revered by both Muslims and Christians. Let’s turn our attention now to the common element that exists between alKhidhr and Elijah and between al-Khidhr and St. George. Although there are shrines in honor of al-Khidhr there is no tomb for him because, as legend shares, he is not dead. He is the one who wanted to live to see the last days when the land shall return and embrace the covenant of God. Or, as the Muslims say, he shall live until the Qur’an shall return to heaven. It is clearly conveyed in Judaism that Elijah is not dead and that he ascended to heaven by the chariot of fire. Yet, in Jewish oral tradition it is shared that Elijah lives hidden on Mt. Carmel, or in heaven, or in paradise, waiting still for his role of proclaiming the Messianic Era. Not only is that believed, but in Medieval Hebrew literature Elijah is endowed with a supernatural power and he is seen as belonging to those angels who had advocated for the creation of man, and where he is compared to Enoch (Idris). Jewish mysticism emphasizes the idea that Elijah is an angel who temporarily lived as a human being before he ascended back to heaven. In the oral Islamic tradition we find the belief that Allah took Elijah from the midst of the people of Israel, and that Elijah is the prophet who is on earth and who also lives in heaven. The desire to eat and drink is believed to have been taken away from Elijah and that feathers were given to him that made him a celestial and an earthly being. Elijah, al-khadhr, ‘the Green’, resists old age and symbolizes the life of a youth who never grows old. It is important to realize that the oral tradition emphasizes that al-Khidhr is constantly on the move around the world. There are no obstacles in his way and he does not feel any of the effects of distance each Friday when he arrives to pray at the five most holy shrines for the Muslims: Mecca, al-Madina, Jerusalem, elKuba, and Sinai. In the work of T. Canaan we find the belief that certain individuals can still meet with Elijah during his nightly manifestation that occurs between Thursday and Friday. As we mentioned earlier, some Muslims in Nablus believe that al-Khidhr 64 takes a bath every Thursday evening in the basin of Hammam al-Daradjeh .

208 What is special about al-Khidhr vis-à-vis Elijah is that he usually arrives riding a white horse. In the Jewish tradition it is believed that the Messiah will arrive riding an ass, following the prophesy of Zechariah: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, Thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation, lowly, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. (9:9.). The Biblical story introduced Elijah as a mysterious person who is found in many places. He is found in the brook of Cherith, then in Zarephath, Samaria, Carmel, Beer-Sheba, the desert, and Mt. Horeb. In each place Elijah performs a miracle and he encounters a divine being or a divine power. After appearing in Mt. Horeb he appears in Damascus to anoint Hazael and then he anoints or transfers his power to Elisha, the son of Shapat. In Chapter 20 there is an intermezzo between the anointing of Elisha and the episode of Naboth. After the transfer of Elijah’s power to Elisha, the reader is not expecting to hear any more about Elijah. But here the oral tradition drew upon its common belief that in both religious traditions Elijah, al-Khidhr, is everywhere. Suddenly in the written version Elijah appears to protest the brutal murder of Naboth. The Biblical storyteller hints that in our time and in earlier times that there were stories about Elijah, a mysterious person, who was known to be still circulating among the common people. The Biblical storyteller tells us about the following event, when Elijah asked Obadiah to go to the king, …In what have I sinned that thou wouldn’t deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me. As the Lord, thy God, liveth, there is no nation or kingdom where my Lord hath not sent to seek thee…And now thou sayest, Go tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee where I know not… (1Kings 18:10-12.). From this dialogue and from Obadiah’s long response to Elijah that we can assume that in the storyteller’s time stories were told about this mysterious person who can appear in one place one moment and be in another place in another moment. The post-Biblical literature emphasizes Elijah’s ascension to heaven and it makes him more of a legendary rather than a so-called “historical” Elijah. 65 The Jewish sages, according to R. Ishmael b. Yose , paid more attention to Elijah’s earthly activities as a teacher, as a provider for the meek, and as the one who rebukes those who undertook police work with the Romans. The sages paid little attention to Elijah’s activities as a prophet, or of his anointing of Hazael to be king over Syria or of Jehu to be king over Israel, or of his passing of powers for prophecy to Elisha in his place. They stressed Elijah’s activities on earth as those of a man who was only interested in the people’s affairs, who appears on

209 earth as a man, and who even appears as an Arab person. But in the NT we find a faith in Elijah’s omnipresence: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, ‘Eli Eli lama sabachthani’, that is to say, ‘My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken me’. Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said ‘this man calleth for Elijah’. And straightaway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, ‘Let it be; let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ (Matt. 27: 26-49.). The omnipresence of Elijah is kept in the belief that he is present at all important events, like the circumcision of a male child and the Passover night. In folklore, Elijah is not only associated with the motif of redemption or as the herald of the Messianic Era, but also as a heavenly messenger sent to earth to fight injustice, to narrow social inequality, and to punish the unjust. In the Muslim oral tradition, Elijah is both a celestial and a terrestrial being, and thus he resembles al-Khidhr. As pointed out earlier, Elijah is also associated with the Muslims with greenery as al-Khidhr. And according to Muslim legend, he found and drank from the ‘fountain of youth’ and the remaining water he gave to the prickly pear plant, which is why since then that this plant has remained green: The prophet el Hadr (khidhr) who is said to drink only from the water of life, once poured the rest of the water in his goblet over a tree growing near by. In happened to be the prickly pear and, ever since, this plant has 66 remained green and indestructible. Still, what is the connection with Elijah? One point that is well accepted is that Elijah brings rain to the earth, as it was told in the Bible. We are told that St. Elijah, who is al-Khidhr, is known as the one who once brought rain at the time of a very severe drought and that he is called the one who brought the clouds of rain. Barren women come to Mt. Carmel’s grotto to make a vow of hope to bear children. It is said that certain elements came to Elijah from al-Khidhr. Since there are no such elements in the Biblical story, we can appreciate this argument because we can see a relationship between the episode of the revival of the widow’s dead child and Elijah bringing water to revive the parched earth. Both of these elements would emphasize that al-Khidhr is the patron of life. T. Canaan tells us that: If a mother has lost all of her children during their childhood or infancy, she should bring the next one that is born to the well of Mar Elias, which is near the sanctuary cave on Mt. Carmel. The child is immersed for a few

210 moments in the cistern. Since the cistern contains ‘living water’, the child will surely live. It is believed that the prophet Elijah, who is said to be still 67 living, drank of this water. Water was always the most important element to sustain life. It is believed that 68 the spirit of God is above the water , and that it is a divinely chosen element (Q. 25:24.). In Arabic water is known as maiyah and in classical Arabic it is known as ma’. In the Qur’an we find the verse, Khuliqa min ma’in dafiqin (86:6.).

69

In this verse ma’ means ‘male sperm’, which is also known as the ‘water of life’. In Islamic folk tradition, it is believed that while Allah’s throne is above the water, Iblis is above the sea. There is a well-known story about a poor man who worked hard but he earned only a few coins. When he was taken by the angel Michael to the spring where some steams flowed strongly and other streams flowed weakly. Then he saw water in the weak streams dripping one drop at a time. Here he was told that these springs symbolized the daily income of the people. Trying to change his daily income, he took a piece of wood with which to open the flow of the water. The wood broke off and it closed or blocked the 70 flow of the water. Maiyet el-haiyah is a well-known expression among the people living in rural Arabic communities. Many springs are known to have water with special qualities. The best known one is called bir el waraqah which is found inside the al-‘Aqsa Mosque. This well is believed to be connected to paradise. The story is told that a person who fell into the well returned and brought back with him, as proof, a leaf from the garden (Paradise), which is believed to be located at the bottom of this well. The fountain of life is portrayed in many Biblical verses. In the Book of Proverbs, the instructions given by a wise man are likened to ‘a fountain of life’, which if followed, then one may avoid the snares of death (13:14.). In the Book of Psalms it states, For with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light. (36:9.). This image was about a part of a live tradition in the post-exilic times, when the prophet Zechariah describes the ‘living water’ flowing from Jerusalem into two streams, one to the former sea and one to the hinder sea that created a myth for the ‘messianic hope’. The Torah, which is portrayed as etz hayyim, the tree of life, is also portrayed as a be’er, a well, and a learned person’s role is to seek knowledge from this well. In the NT John speaks about the ‘last day’, which he says will be a day of feasting, and he shares, He that believeth on me as scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38.).

211 John also speaks about the power of the water given by Jesus. In a dialogue John has with a woman, he states, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4: 3-14.). Pesikta Rabbati contains an interpretation on the verse in Psalms (42:3.), ‘my soul thirsteth for God’ (P. 40:3.) by stating: R. Joshua ben Levi used to say, Why was the festive procession on the second evening of Tabernacles called the procession for drawing water? 71 Because thence the children of Israel drew and imbibed the holy spirit. According to Islamic legends, Phinehas was the grandfather of Elijah. Kisai tells us the genealogy of Aaron in the name of Wahb Ibn Munabbih, that Eliazer, the son of Aaron, had a son named Asasiah who married a woman named Zipporah, and that she bore him a son named Elijah. “By the time he was seven years old, he had committed the Torah to memory without anyone having taught him, 72 despite his extreme youth.” Hebrew oral tradition also identifies Elijah with 73 Phinehas. In that tradition we usually see him in the role of a priest. In PRE we can read, R. Eliezer said: He called the name Phineas by the name of Elijah-Elijah of blessed memory (who was) of those who repented in Gilead for he 74 brought about the repentance of Israel in the land of Gilead. In two other Jewish sources we find the following relationship between Phinehas and Elijah. The Sages interpreted the verse in Judges 2:1 and stated: Was it then an angel, surely it was Phineas…that the face of Phineas, 75 when the Holy Spirit was upon him, flamed like a torch. In Chapter One we discussed the relationship shared by Phinehas and Elijah. Here we will also emphasize the role of Jewish tradition in the derivation of their shared genealogy. Like Elijah helping the meek and the needy, al-Khidhr also helps the needy and he cures physical and mental illnesses. Both are associated with the concept of fertility and the color green. When he sits upon the white earth, we are told he leaves a stain of green when he arises. Thus the earth, or the desert, that he sits upon becomes fertilized. Elijah’s association with fertility is found in the post-Biblical literature primarily celebrating on his power to increase the amount of food brought into the widow’s house, how he was able to bring rain to water the earth, and how he was able to revive the widow’s dead

212 son. This recurring notion of fertility is found in other sources. In al-Tabari we find the following tradition: …The two of them met a wise man called al-khidhr. It has been mentioned to us that the prophet of God said, al- khidhr was called Green be76 cause he sat on a white fur and it simmered green with him. In the Midrash we find a long discussion on the meaning of the noun Shig-gayon, an impulsive speech or prayers, as we find it being used in Psalms, as, Shigga-yon of David, which he says unto the Lord (7:1.), …Yet when Habakkuk came, he said defiantly, ‘I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the fenced place (matsor)…what is meant by ‘the fenced place (matsor)? It means that Habakkuk drew a figure (Tsura) on the ground stood in the middle of it, and said: ‘I will not depart hence 77 until Thou answerest this complaint of mine…’ Other comments on the notion of fertility are found in the following stories when Honi, the circle drawer, also drew another figure on the ground, stood in it until accepted his request: It happened that the people said to Honi the circle drawer, Pray for rains to fall…He drew a circle and stood within it and exclaimed, ‘Master of the Universe…I swear by the great name that I will not move from here 78 until thou hast mercy upon thy children…’ In the same tractate we find another story about Honi and in this version the name of Habakkuk is also mentioned, The people sent a message to Honi the circle drawer, pray that rain may fall. He prayed and no rain fell. He thereupon drew a circle and stood within it the same way as the prophet Habakkuk…The rain fell normally until the Israelites were compelled to go up to the Temple Mount because 79 of the rain. Having pointed out some of the common elements shared by Elijah and alKhidhr, let’s examine the commonalities shared by St. George and al-Khidhr. First of all, it’s important to recall that although there are many shrines devoted to al-Khidhr in the region, there is no tomb for him and there is a tomb for St. George in Lydda. As was pointed out earlier, the story of St. George was known th as early as the 6 century. It is a very famous work of art that shows St. George riding his horse in his battle against the Dragon and he impaled the Dragon. This very famous work of art commemorates this act of the knight, St. George, who calls the people to circumcise their hearts, to believe in Christ, and to become baptized. According to the legend, fifteen thousand men chose to be bap-

213 tized. The motif of the horseman is knit into the stories of St. George, al-Khidhr, and Elijah. al-Khidhr appears as a horseman in some stories. And Elijah ascends to heaven in a chariot that is pulled by the horses of fire. In this famous work of art St. George appears to be dressed as a soldier who is reflecting on his struggle, so it can be interpreted that St. George is the one who fights the Lord’s war against the pagans. In western works of art he is depicted as being a Christian. But what is most interesting is al-Khidhr is present in almost all of the shrines devoted to St. George, or Giris. The Christians in this region believe that St. George carries the same power and ability to perform miracles that Elijah possesses. This popular notion may be related to the very famous statement made by Pope Gelosius when he claimed that St. George is justly honored and respected among men but that St. George’s actions are known only to God. That statement mystified the character of St. George. And it created confusion because al-Khidhr is associated with Elijah and this belief among Christians now tied al-Khidhr to St. George. This suggests that whatever scholars point out in their attempts to refute some of the long accepted teachings that came to successive generations via oral tradition, the scholars’ efforts fail because of the inherent strength in oral tradition and in folk belief. An example of the power of this strong oral tradition is apparent in the shrine constructed in the town of Sarafand. The shrine there has been known for centuries as ‘the place of the widow’ and it is also known as ‘the place of the wali alKhidhr. As Elijah is believed to fly as a winged eagle from place to place (see Chapter One) and al-Khidhr is also believed by the Muslims to fly about on Thursday nights so that he’ll be able to pray at all the holy mosques. And the Christians revered al-Khidhr as St. George. So a folktale told by the people of Taiyibah where a church was built to honor al-Khidhr but it was never completed because of a miraculous intervention. Verses 59/60-64/65 of Sura 18 are often linked by scholars to the Alexander Romance and to the Epic of Gilgamesh. These two stories contain protagonists in search of eternal life. In the Alexander Romance a cook stumbles and the dry fish he had been washing suddenly comes to life and swims away. The verse in Sura 18: 60/61 is probably related to this event. In the Epic of Gilgamesh there is a search to find Utnapishtim, an immortal being who lives at the mouths of rivers, and this episode has ties to 18: 59/60 where we encounter the location named majma’ah 80 ‘lbahrayni. As discussed earlier, I. Friedleander has suggested that the story of Alexander is related to the story of al-Khidhr. He was the first scholar to suggest 81 this connection. And here let’s note that there is also a story in the Talmud that connects Alexander and a fish, He said to them, ‘I want to go to the country of Africa.’ They said to

214 him, ‘You cannot get there because the Mountains of Darkness are in the way.’ He said to them, ‘That will not stop me from going. Was it for that that I asked you? But tell me what I am to do.’ …He came to a place where there were only women. He wanted to make war with them…They brought him gold bread on a gold table. He said to them, ‘Do people here eat gold bread?’ They replied: ‘If you wanted bread had you no bread in your own place to eat that you should have journeyed here?’… ‘I, Alexander of Macedon was a fool until I came to the city of women in Africa and learnt counsel from the women.’…He had with him salted fish, and as they were being washed they gave off a sweet odor. He said, ‘This shows that this well (water) comes from the Garden of Eden.’…He cried out, ‘Open the door for me.’ They replied, ‘This is the gate of the Lord.’ 82 (See Ps. 118:20.) In this story, as Alexander searches for wisdom, he is told that women in a specific place can teach him. While he is with these women, they wash his salted fish and a sweet odor is released. Alexander then says that the water they used to wash his salted fish has come from the Garden of Eden. The story of Alexander and the fish is also found in Greek literature. In that version we are told that the cook took some water to Alexander’s daughter and that water was carried in a silver vessel. Some suggest that the elements from this story are hidden but present in 18:59/60-64/65, and that these same elements had been taken from the 83 Alexander Romance , and that Moses appearing in Sura 18 is, in fact, Alexander. In his search for immortality, the stories focused on Alexander are not simply about him but they are parables describing the human desire to find the source of life. In these stories as Alexander is searching for paradise he meets two old philosophers. When he asks their names they reply that they are Elijah and Enoch. They present Alexander with a stone, which they tell him they brought from Paradise. In some ways, this story resembles another version where alKhidhr leads Alexander to the water of life. The story of Alexander’s search for a Terrestrial Paradise is probably linked to the Talmudic story shared earlier in this chapter. There are, however, some other Jewish sources that could be links to the 84 legends of Alexander. In Josephus we are told about the dream Alexander had that he would conquer Persia. According to Josephus, Alexander is a protégé of God and, as a result, Alexander and God share a special relationship. Christian interpreters, however, view Alexander as the devil and as the Antichrist as is seen in the following verses, And it happened that Alexander, son of Philip the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim…made many wars and won many strongholds, and slew the kings of the earth. (1Macc. 1:1-2 ff.).

215 It is a shared notion that Antiochus IV, who had fought against the Maccabees, was commonly viewed by Christians as an antichrist figure. Did that occur because his predecessor, Alexander, had also been viewed as such by the Christians? Muslim scholars argue over the historical time connected to al-Khidhr. Some claim he came before Moses. Others claim he was a companion of Abraham and that he was the one to drink from the water of life. Some reject the claim that he 85 was the companion of Moses. And al-Tabari brings to light the following tradition, U’bayy said: Yes, I heard the messenger of God say: While Moses was among a crowd of the Israelites, a man came up to him and said, ‘Do you know where there is someone who knows more than I do?’…So God made the fish a sign, saying, ‘When you have forgotten the fish, return, 86 for you will meet al-Khidhr…And they found al-Khidhr… However, al-Tabari’s Elijah is a distinct and separate character from al-Khidhr. He mentions Elijah’s praying to hold back the rain and about the people worshipping idols. Here he also mentions that the son of the widow is named Elisha b. Akhtub, but in the Jewish tradition Elisha is identified as the son of Shapat and he is not identified as the widow’s son. Al-Tabari probably had shared here a different tradition that does not follow the Biblical story. The Chariot of fire used by Elijah, as well as the images of the horses of fire and the whirlwind as Elijah ascends into heaven, are shared by al-Tabari in the following manner: While Elisha was calling out, ‘O Elijah! O Elijah! What commands do you have for me?’ That was the last they saw of him. God covered him with feathers, clothed him in fire, and stopped for him the pleasure of food and drink. He fled with the angels, becoming human-angelic, 87 earthly-heavenly.

216

E. Fire in Your Own Land

Do not you see that a man all his life long, is concerned with an affair for which he toils continually laboring hard like the silk-worm, which is always weaving. And which dies full of grief, confined in the midst of what 88 it has woven? Arabic literature written in medieval times includes many stories and deals with subjects taken from the Bible and from the post-biblical literature. In Arabic these borrowed stories and subjects were termed Isra’iliyyat. In the Qur’anic interpretations we encounter many such stories. And the links to earlier sources is obvious in the works of the early Islamic interpreters, but later Islamic interpreters attempt to ignore the connections of these stories with their Jewish origins. Some later interpreters take that negative point of view a step further by falsely asserting that this genre of literature was actually forged by the Jews. However, 89 the Encyclopedia of Islam presents three important aspects in its definition of this genre:  A narrative presents a summary of the revealed books and the life of the prophets.  Narratives about the Israelites.  Folk stories and parables borrowed from Jewish sources. Probably the earliest sources were given by Jews or Christians who had converted to Islam, like ka’ab al-Ahbar Wahb b. Munabbih and al-Mubatada. This genre is found in the works of commentators of the Qur’an, in the works of mystics, and in the works of compilers of edifying histories, and in the works of Qisasu ‘l anbiya. When al-Tabari tells a biblical story, he always ties it to a specific Qur’anic teaching. al-Kisa’i and al-Tha’labi include many biblical stories and characters in their works. Moreover, using their creative imaginations and literary genius, these two writers expanded the biblical stories. And some of these biblical stories they shared do not have a connection to the Qur’anic text. al-Kisa’i has a tendency to change the names of the Jewish subjects in his stories and to Islamize them. He even changed texts that were considered “problematic” and he made them part of the Islamic tradition. For example, he suggests that the creation started on the Sabbath day and was concluded on Friday, the day of prayer. His story about the marriage of Adam and Eve is reminiscent of the story found in Pirke d’Rabbi Eleazer 12:

217 The Holy One, blessed be He, made ten wedding canopies for Adam in the Garden of Eden…The Holy One, blessed be He, was like a pre90 senter…He stands and blesses the bride… Indeed, it is hard to deny the evident connection of this episode to the Jewish writings. However, there is a growing resentment toward the genre of Isra’iliyyat among Muslim scholars and a view is being presented by some of these scholars that this genre is a fabrication of the Jews. The leading Muslim scholar who presented these arguments was Bint al-Shati. Her real name was Dr. ‘Aisha ‘Abd alth 91 Rahman. She was born in Egypt at the beginning of the 20 century. How is it possible that a scholar of Dr. ‘Aisha ‘Abd al-Rahman’s stature was so blinded for her to suggest that the genre of Isra’iliyyat is the work of Jews who pretended to be Muslims and that in their creation of this literary genre they had conspired against Islam? In her work she not only tries to dismiss this beautiful literary genre, but she argues for her stance from a pure, political point of view. Her arguments are politically oriented and some can be viewed as open attacks against the Jews. The literary genre of the qisasu’l anbiya included many stories taken from Jewish and Christian sources. Those sources had been translated and Islamized and were well known in the Islamic world. This genre is very popular among Muslims and revered as much as are the legends of the prophet and his family. There are some ways to interpret the appearance of this genre in Islam. As pointed out earlier, the Qur’an uses biblical stories where the prophet mentions Biblical characters in his recitations. In this respect the genre of Isra’iliyyat perpetuated the unity of prophetic history, proving the superiority of Islam as a new and as the last tradition. The prophets mentioned in this genre are: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron, Jonah from the OT and Zacharia, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Mary from the NT. This genre also includes unnamed characters from the Qur’an. An example of such an unnamed character is al-Khidhr, ‘the Green One’, the character discussed earlier in this chapter. Dr. ‘Aisha ‘Abd al-Rahman’s arguments against the Isra’iliyyat are unfounded. She failed to see the rich influence of Jewish and Christian works as they were incorporated into the literary works of the Muslims. The Sufi poet Jalalu id-Din Rumi alludes in his works to some of the biblical prophets and especially to Moses, who was particularly respected by the prophet Muhammad. 92 The story of Joseph and Zuleika appears in the work of Firdusi. In the literature of Java, Malay, and of the Swalhili, we are introduced to literary endeavors dealing with very familiar stories of the prophets, all of which suggests a strong connection to Arabic literature, from the Isra’iliyyat to the Qisasu ‘l anbiya. By politicizing this Islamic literary genre, ‘Aisha ‘Abd al-Rahman deprived Arabic literature from its links to the Islamic world as she simultaneously obliter-

218 ated the moral aspects of these rejected stories, which includes the moral manifestation of the Arabs. Abraham’s righteousness is paradigmatic to the good Muslim behavior. The stone that fell down from heaven made Mecca the place of God and the Meccans, jiran Allah, the neighbors of God. Dr. ‘Abd al93 Rahman’s ideas are contrary to those of ‘Ali Musa Ruza Muajir. In his work he states that the tales found in the Qur’an are not legends and thus myth, but they are history. In some sense, he suggests that what is presented in the literary work of the Qisas is reality for Muslims. Needless to say, it is evident that Dr. ‘Aisha ‘Abd al-Rahman allowed her political views to control her scholarship. Storytellers of earlier times gained gratification by being pious. They were the ones who spread the moral and religious context and who added special flavor to their stories. In a sense, these storytellers embroidered these tales using their creative and imaginative talents and created what became known as the Isra’iliyyat. Throughout the last fourteen centuries Islamic literature has no comparison to the vast and deep knowledge it offers. It contains the histories, or better put, stories of the prophets. Although it is found written in other languages, most of the work is in Arabic, a language the Arabs call ‘the language of revelation’. The historians of the prophet introduce the realm of Islamic concepts, such as religious life, modesty, and everyday life. The readers are presented with different questions relating to their destination, such as: Who are we? In some ways, in a deeper sense, these stories are allegories of the human condition. It becomes futile for any Muslim scholars to ignore the Jewish and Christian influences on the Isra’iliyyat. These futile attempts are simply rooted in a political animosity, which is still a growing campaign in the Arab world. Any scholar allowing his or her political views to govern his or her scholarly work, then that scholar creates a great and legitimate doubt concerning that scholar’s intellectual integrity. As Franz Rosenthal states, Jews and Christians from all intellectual levels, had long been occupied with elaborating on episodes in their holy history, and there certainly was 94 nothing to prevent Muslims from following their example. For many centuries the historical experiences of the Jews and Christians preceded Islam. In the ninth century Muslim scholars argued that there was no need to argue about who was the first to receive God’s authority. Instead, these scholars emphasized the importance in acknowledging those who were worthy of having God’s bounty. At this point, Islam divided history into ‘the time before the prophet and the time after the prophet. It is obvious that the authors of the literary history of the Arabs and the authors of the Qisas received accurate information about the Biblical and the post-Biblical literature. One of the later authors was ‘Umar ad-Din Ibn Kathir. In his work, Qisasu ‘l anbiya, he stated that he

219 thinks he saw the Torah in the book possessed by ahl al-kitab, the ‘People of the Book’. The area around the Arabian Peninsula was not without its political and social tensions. There were two empires in this region, the Byzantine in the west and the Sassanians in the East. Within these two empires, there were internal religious tensions as well. In the west, there was tension between the Monophsites and the Diophysites. In the east the tensions were between many other religious traditions, such as the Magian, the Nestorians, the Zoroastrians, and a very well established Jewish community that had existed since the time of the first Exile in 586 B.C.E. It was in this place, under the Sassanian’s rule, that the Talmud was formed. We also know that the Sassanians were not always easy toward the Jews they governed. Persecution of the Jews occurred in the fifth century and in the sixth century under Hormizd IV, and then ten years later there was a revolt that Jewish leaders joined. Under the rule of the Sassanians, the relationship between the different religious communities was probably strong at that time. Religious ideas and shared stories were passed by word of mouth and had reached the Arab kingdom in the northern peninsula. At that time most of the population in Iraq were Aramaic speaking people. In al-Hira and in al-Jazira most of these people were Jews, Christians, and Arabs. So, here we can safely assume that stories, legends, and laws from Jews and Christians were channeled into the emerging Islamic traditions and became part of the literature of the Qisas. In his work, Kisa’i presents Wahb ibn Munabih’s tradition that al-Khidhr is the one that Moses seeks to meet. According to Kisa’i, God responds to Moses’ question by telling him, I have a servant to whom I have given knowledge which I have not given thee. His name is al-Khidhr, son of Malkan, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah. In this tradition, we are told that Moses took his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, and together they set out to see al-Khidhr. The names of Joshua and Moses appear together in the Jewish and Christian traditions, but the name of Joshua does not appear in the Qur’an. There we read, Wa’idh qala musa lifatahu… (18: 59/60.). And then Moses said to him the law… The noun fata (fatan) means young man, adolescent, as well as slave. Kisa’i continues his story by stating that Moses and his companion took provisions, such as ‘barley-bread and roasted fish’, for their journey. At this point we are told that God spoke to Moses saying,

220 O Moses, when thou see the fish thou hast with thee come to life, then thou will have reached the place. They continue their journey and reach a great dome where they meet men performing certain rites. These men introduce themselves as the angels of God. They give Moses more instructions on how to reach the place he seeks, saying, When you reach the last of them (many domed structures), you will find the one you are seeking. In other traditions we are told Moses and Joshua took ‘barley-bread and salted fish’ as their provisions on this journey. Upon reaching the place they are seeking, Moses falls asleep and Joshua turns to perform the ablution before he pray. Some drops of water fall upon their salted fish and it becomes alive. That fish comes to the sea and it opens a dry path for them to follow to reach the island where al-Khidhr lives. This is the story in one tradition of how Moses and Joshua meet al-Khidhr. Kisa’i’s tradition is a bit different. He shares that Moses falls asleep as he sits at the base of a rock with Joshua sitting next to him: …(he) threw the remains of the fish into the spring and it came to life. When Moses awoke, Joshua forgot to tell him what happened, so they walked on until they reached a river that flowed to the sea. Once again these traditions introduce us to three events, and in Kisa’i’s work we also encounter the taboo described earlier in this chapter. Here, then, are the major differences when we compare the text of Kisa’i with the text of the Qur’an: Qur’an 18: 78/79-81/82. (1) The boat belongs to certain men there is a king who will seize the boat by force. (2) The boy’s parents were people of faith who brought him up accordingly, but he is killed because he was unworthy and bad. (3) The wall belonged to two young orphans. The treasure was buried but they will attain it in the future.

Kisa’i (1) The vessel belongs to ten orphan brothers and the king of Jordan is confiscating every ship. ‘I damaged the ship so he would not take it.’ (2) His parents are pious but the young man that is killed would have become a ‘highwayman’. (3) God wishes that they should attain the treasure at their full age. Had the wall fallen, the treasure would have been lost.

221 Kisa’i then presents a tradition in the name of Ibn Abbas, saying that, Moses then walked along the shore, where he found tablets of gold, on which was written: In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful, there is no god but God. Muhammad is the Apostle of God…Moses put 95 down the tablets and returned to the children of Israel. From these events we can assume God uses his servants, and in this case, one of his servants serve as an instrument for executing God’s plans. Thus, the knowledge of al-Khidhr is a special one, known to him alone, since he is the sole instrument to God’s plan. Al-Khidhr knows God’s wish and as executor of this wish he must hold the secret knowledge in order for him to implement God’s wish. He creates a hole in the ship so the tyrant king can’t seize the ship. But another problem remains when we know al-Khidhr also kills a young man just to prevent him from becoming a non-believer. Does this carry a moral teaching for other believers, or does it serve as a parable for holding hidden knowledge? Arabic oral literature is very rich. It includes poetry and epics called romances, Sirah (Seerah), all of which is called al adab al sha’abi, the folk literature. th In the work of the 14 century writer Ibn Khaldun we find a defense of the use 96 of the vernacular Arabic as a literary expression, especially in poetry. In our time, however, since religion is highly politicized, the Muslim religious ideologists maintain that the language used to write the Qur’an is holy, and as a result, they distain the use of local dialects to convey the Qur’anic recitations into their 97 folk literature. Some Arab folklorists categorize the folk literature in the qisas (sin. qissah) as being derived from written texts, usually from short stories. Here we find the mathal, the proverb, and the nuktah, the joke. In Egyptian oral tradition, we find some interesting stories about al-Khidhr. In some of these stories he appears to help people who are in trouble. In one of these stories we encounter two important supernatural beings. One is al-Khidhr, a human who became immortal. The second one is Buraq, the winged horse with a human face. In the folk belief, the prophet used this mythical horse when he ascended to heaven. This event is said to have taken place in Jerusalem. The Qur’an states, Subhana ‘lladhi asra bi’abdihi lailan mina ‘lmasjadi ‘lhraami ila ‘lmasdji ‘l ‘aqsa… (17:1.). Praise to Him who took his servant at night to journey from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque. Religious traditionalists view this Sura very respectfully because al-Khidhr pleaded with God on the behalf of sinners during his journey. In this story alKhidhr possesses the key for the place where al-Buraq is kept. And al-Khidhr also

222 shares that the prophet will ride to heaven on the back of this horse and that in heaven the prophet will intervene on behalf of his Umma, community, on the day of the resurrection. In the search for the spring of life, there is a story describing al-Iskander (Alexander) as a very pious man and that an angel was in his company every night. At one point, he expresses his wish to the angel and asks that his life be prolonged so he could continue to worship God. The angel tells him about the Spring of Life and tells him it is located in the valley of darkness in a place inhabited by Ahmed al Rifa’i. He decides to search for this spring and he is accompanied by al-Khidhr. When they reach the Valley of Darkness, it is al-Khidhr who finds the spring by the will of God. He bathes in the water and he drinks the water from the Spring of Life. And when he returned to Iskander (Alexander) and his soldiers, he suggested that they leave this place since they could not find the spring. Because of God’s will al-Khidhr drank from the Spring of Life and it’s why he continues to live in our time and shall live until the end of all life. Whenever people mention his name, al-Khidhr is said to pass by them and to greet them. The Christians call him Mar Girgis and the meaning of marr is ‘passed’ and the meaning of giri is ‘ran’, and the meaning of gis is ‘to feel’, so his full names means ‘he is passing, running, feeling things everywhere.’ Mar Girgis is an important saint to the Copts. There are stories about his martyrdom at the hands of the Romans. These stories are told among Muslims, 98 too. He is especially well known as the slayer of the dragon. In Egypt he is part of the church ritual and is known to have cured people who are possessed by the evil spirit. In spite of the fact that he was de-canonized by the Vatican, his sainthood and the tales of his miracles are still strongly believed by the people. This demonstrates that the power of folk traditions is often greater than the teachings of the religious establishment or of its scholars. In the stories told about Mar Girgis, an episode is shared that there was a large serpent who lived near a village. The people were so afraid of this serpent that each year they offered the serpent the life of a virgin. The people believed that if this sacrifice was not offered each year, then the serpent would prevent the flow of the Nile River. When the daughter of the king was drawn by lot to become the sacrificed virgin, the king was distressed since she was his only child. When she was about to be sent to the serpent, Mar Girgis was passing by. He got off his horse and he killed the serpent. The king wanted to give Mar Girgis his kingdom but Mar Girgis wouldn’t accept it nor did he wish to marry the king’s daughter since as a holy person he had no worldly desires. Another modern story about Mar Girgis shares that he saved a lone woman who had just been robbed by a group of bandits. When she screamed, ‘Oh, Mari Girgis!’ a police officer suddenly appeared and took the robbers to the police station and ordered the other police at the station to give the stolen gold back to the woman. He was directed by a policeman at the station to sign the order

223 while the robbers were jailed. On his return from the jailing the robbers, the policeman at the station discovered that the policeman who had brought the robbers to the police station had disappeared. When the order is examined, it is discovered that it is signed in gold and the signature is of Mar Girgis. Two of the above tales deserve more explanation. We do not know the source of the tale about al-Khidhr being the keeper of al-Buraq. However, the motif of the flying horse is known as B41,2 in Aarne Thompson’s The Types of the Folk99 tale. This story appears only in religious literature about the mi’iraj. For some, th this occurred on the night of the 27 of Rajab, the seventh month in the Arabic th calendar. For others, it occurred on the night of the 17 of Rab’i al Awal, the third month in the Arabic calendar, a year before the hijra (620 C.E.). There are a few differences when we compare the stories of the Spring of Life in the Qur’an and as it appears in the Talmud. In the latter a moral proverb appears at the end of the story, I came to the city of women in Africa and learnt counsel from the women. The ‘Valley of Darkness’ in the Qur’an is the ‘Mountain of Darkness’ in the Talmudic version of this story. Also, in the Talmud there is no angel, no alKhidhr, and there is no lying to al-Iskander, Alexander. The Egyptian version of the story emphasizes how al-Khidhr gains immortality. The story of the search for the fountain of youth, or for immortality, is well known and most likely it is connected to the Gilgamesh legend cycle of the Babylonian epic. The story of Mar Girgis and the serpent and the story of St. George and the dragon have similarities with a similar story told about a slayer of a crocodile. This motif appears not only in the folk literature of Egypt, but it appears in stories from many parts of the Middle East. For example, there is the story that king Solomon killed the hayyeh (serpent) that had blocked a stream of water. Since the story of St. George is very similar to other stories told in the Middle East, it suggests the likely possibility that the story of St. George was 100 brought to this region by the crusaders. In the oral tradition in Turkey, al-Khidhr is known by the name of Jerjis and there are stories that focus attention on his power. One story tells about his action in the city of Mosul where a mighty king named Daziane lived. This king was a ‘heinous criminal, for he worshipped an idol that was animated by an evil spirit whose name was Iflaseen.” Jerjis was the only one in this country who worshipped the true God. The story shares that Jerjis asked the king to join him in his worship of the ‘maker and Master’. But the king commanded his soldiers to throw Jerjis into the fire. But the fire harmed him not and he climbed to safety from it. When the king commanded that nails be driven into Jerjis’ body, God

224 made the nails soft like cheese and they crumbled. The same thing happened to the soldiers’ knives. When they threw Jerjis into a deep dungeon, God sent an angel to take him away from the dungeon. Then the king commanded that Jerjis be placed in a large copper vessel and that a lid be placed atop the vessel and that the closed vessel be placed upon a lit fire all day and past sunset. The angel of God came down and with the wrath of God, the wall of that place collapsed. Many people died and Jerjis was waiting for the king. There he asked the king, ‘Will you now accept the true religion of one God?’ The king’s answer was, “If you make the dead speak in favor of your religion.” In the end, the king’s nation accepted Islam, the ‘true religion’, and Jerjis married the queen at her request. She bore Jerjis a son who later succeeded his father. All the motifs used in this story, including the fire, imprisonment in a dungeon, the revival of the dead, are often used in other folk tales and here the character of St. George is named Jerjis as a Muslim character. However, there remains some confusion in Islamic tradi101 tion on the identification of these three characters. Elijah is mentioned in the Qur’an twice. In Suratu ‘l ‘an’am it says, Wazakariyya Wayahya wa’isa wa’ilyas kullun mina ‘lssalihina (6: 84/85.). And Zakariyya and John and Jesus and Elias all are among the righteous. In Suratu ‘l safat Elijah’s name is mentioned twice, but he is one of those who are sent to the people. Here we also find a verse stating that his name shall be remembered forever and that he will be present in the generations yet to come (37: 122/123-131/132.). In this section Elijah is described as one of the apostles sent to the people to urge them not to worship the idols of Ba’al. According to this teaching, they considered him a liar. In another teaching, (6:85.) he is among the righteous and he is mentioned together with ‘Isa (Jesus). In Islamic legends, as well as in the Qur’anic interpretations, some of the Muslim sages expanded the limited information of the Qur’an and taught that Elijah was of the fourth generation after Aaron, the priest. In some ways they followed the mainstream when they shared that Elijah had combated the worshipers of Ba’al. And sometimes they also changed the names of the main characters of the Biblical stories. Ahab becomes known as Lajab and Jezebel is known as Arbil. Ibn kathir gave Elijah the name of Ilias al nashbi and the genealogical line he gave to Elijah was, ‘Ibn yasin Ibn Finhaas b. Al’ayzaar b. Haarun.’ In the name of Makhul, he also added a tradition that there are four living prophets, two who are on earth, ‘Ilias (Elijah) and al-Khidhr” and two who are in heaven, “Idris (Enoch) and ‘Isa (Jesus).” Ibn Kathir tells us that al-Khidhr and Ilias meet every year in the month of Ramadhan in Bait al-Maqdis, and that al-Khidhr makes such a pilgrimage every year, and that he drinks water from the Zamzam. In another tradition the gene-

225 alogy of Elijah is expanded. In this tradition he is said to be the son of Eleazar b. Haarun b. Imram, b. Kohath, b. Levi, b. Isaac, b. Ibrahim. And according to Kisa’i Eleazar, the son Aaron, being childless, prayed to heaven for a child so that Eleazar can keep his promise to Moses to maintain the office of the high priesthood in Aaron’s lineage. God answers Eleazar’s prayer, restores his wife to youth, and she delivers a beautiful son that she names Asasiah. In his youth Asasiah delivers an eloquent sermon and the people accept him as their leader. When Eleazar dies, Asasiah washes his body and buries him. Asasiah then marries Zipporah and she gives birth to Elijah, who resembled Moses in his stature and in his temper. At the age of seven, without having been taught by anyone, Elijah already knew the Torah. Oral tradition doesn’t recognize political borders. The transmission of stories from one culture to another flows unhindered by politics or culture. In the Christian tradition, after St. George has killed the dragon and the king, we are told that the people were glad and that ‘…there were well over fifteen thousand men baptized without women and children.’ In the Islamic tradition it shares that after denying rain to the people, for ten years Elijah hid within a cave from the king and the people. After the king dies, then Elijah came out of the cave and presented himself and converted ten thousand people. In the Islamic tradition, we are told that Elijah then killed those people who chose not to convert. Ibn Kathir tells about a meeting between the prophet and Ilias (Elijah). In this story Ilias acknowledges Muhammad as a messenger of God and then tells (teaches) him about his own life and stresses the fact that he only eats once a year because God took his desire for food and drink was taken away from him. The food that Ilias eats once a year comes from heaven and it consists of vegetables and fish. The fish in this story is probably an echo of the fish that appear in the Qur’an. In these oral traditions, Elijah is presented as a Muslim character who prays with the prophet. In this tradition it is suggested that once each year Ilias drinks from Zamzam and that one drink quenches his thirst for a full year. The Qur’anic verse stating that Elijah (Ilias) was one of God’s messengers, Wa’inna ‘ilyasa la min ‘lmursulina . (37: 122/123.). And Ilias indeed was one of the messengers. brings to light the important place that Elijah holds in the Islamic oral tradition. In this tradition, God gave Elijah the power to revive the dead, and to bring rain and to withhold rain from the people. This tradition claims that the bani Isra’el forgot about God and they began to worship false idols. As a result, God sends Ilias to the people. In this tradition we find Elijah’s genealogy. He is the son of Yasin, Phinehas, Eliezer, Aaron, and Imran. He is associated with Ahab, the king of Israel who believed in Elijah. The people who do not follow Elijah choose

226 instead to follow the ba’alan, a woman the people worshipped. Since these people rejected God, Elijah asks God to withhold water from the people of Israel. For three years there is a drought until almost everything was destroyed. The people were severely distressed and according to the Islamic tradition, Elijah hid out of fear from the people during this time. As he hid, everywhere Elijah went was sustained. If a small piece of bread was found anywhere, the people claimed that Ilias was there. The people looked for Ilias everywhere. Only one woman, the mother of Elisha, son of Akhtub, gave Elijah shelter. When her son becomes very sick, Elijah prays for him and her son is cured and becomes Elijah’s follower, and he travels with Elijah. The Jewish tradition emphasizes that Elijah’s request that God withhold rain from the people of Israel was an act of love. Elijah hopes that the suffering of the people will turn God’s anger away from them, It is better three years of famine than they fall into the pit of destruction. 102 Hence out of love Elijah brought such an affliction upon them. In Jewish tradition, the child of the widow is not Elisha but it is Jonah, the son of Amittai, a name that is connected to the noun emet, truth. In PRE we read, For he betook himself to Zarephath, and a woman, a widow, received him with great honor. She was the 103 mother of Jonah. In St. Jerome’s work on Jonah, he accepts the Midrashic perception that the name of Amittai is derived from the noun emet, and that the son of this widow was, therefore, a pious person. Since his name is derived from the noun emet, truth, he cannot be an unworthy person. Yet other Midrashic passages share the feeling that he ran away from his God-given mission and that is not seen as the act of a righteous person. The Islamic tradition focuses attention on the pain of the people and their livestock and the fact that this pain came about because of the folly of the people. After three years of the people’s suffering, Ilias emerges and invites the people to the ‘test of truth’. When the people realize that Elijah’s prayer to God had been answered because the people were worshiping false idols, then the people destroyed the idols. Elijah then prays for the people and asks God to deliver them from their suffering. God answers Elijah’s prayer by sending a cloud and rain then waters the dry earth. When Elijah realizes that not all of the people had returned to believe in God, and that some had chosen to continue their wicked ways, Elijah then prays that God will end Elijah’s life so he can be taken from the midst of these people. In answer to his prayer, Elijah is told to go to a certain place where something will happen. At this special place God clothes Elijah in feathers and in fire as Elijah’s need for food and water are removed from him,

227 and then Elijah ascends into heaven. Elijah is now an angel and a man, a half heavenly and a half earthly creature. In the Qur’an we read, Wa’annahum ilaihi raji’una…wahuwa ‘l sami’u ‘l ‘alimu … wa’alam anna ‘llaha’aziz hakimun. And they are to return to Him…He is all hearing all knowing…and God is powerful and wise…(2:45/46; 136/137; 259/260, et passim.). The Jewish oral tradition emphasizes the motif of water. Elijah is given the key of rain. He has the power to revive the earth with rain. We read a beautiful description of the miracle of the small quantity of water that Elisha pours over the hand of Elijah, Water flowed out from Elijah’s fingers until the whole trench was filled. 104 And then the fire falls from heaven and it consumes the water, too. The Islamic tradition emphasizes the transition Elijah undergoes when God clothes Elijah in feathers and fire. The Jewish oral tradition emphasizes the struggle that Elijah has with the Angel of Death concerning Elijah’s right to enter heaven alive. Here God responds to the Angel of Death by stating that Elijah is not like other men. As was pointed out in Chapter One, some Jewish sources suggest that Elijah did not ascend to heaven and other Jewish sources insist that Elijah never tested death. In the Zohar we read that Elijah received his celestial 105 body, but whenever Elijah is on earth, he uses his terrestrial body. The Zohar is the closest Jewish source to the oral Islamic tradition.

F. Food From Paradise

When the Prophet Muhammad met him they ate food from Paradise. Elijah said, ‘I eat only every four days.’ The food included bread, pomegranate, and bean sprouts. The Prophet Muhammad asked him about Khidr. He said: ‘My meeting with him is at the beginning of the year. If 106 you should meet him before me, greet him with a peach for me.’ th

Ibn Ishaq wrote his magnum opus in the middle of the 8 century, about one hundred years following the death of the prophet Muhammad, the founder of th Islam. The 8 century was the century of the great conquest and the Islamization of the people in the newly colonized lands. This was the same century when people under the rule of Arab troops began to embrace Islam. It was in that

228 world, where Islam was establishing its traditions alongside the traditions of Judaism and Christianity, that Ibn Ishaq began to write. Ibn Ishaq’s writings suggested that the prophet used a variety of stories commonly told in his day which had originally come from the Arabic legends, and that the prophet also used stories told by Jews and Christians who had converted to Islam. Some of these stories are classified as women’s stories and others were in written form. Ibn Ishaq’s early work, Sira, which is a biography of the prophet, contains a body of work the author inserted and which is known in Arabic as Isra’iliyyat. This body of works came from Jewish and Christian works. In this literary genre we discover haggadic and midrashic discourse that had been developed and extended in very creative and imaginative ways. The importance of the inclusion of the Isra’iliyyat in the Sira is that we are able to view it as Ibn Ishaq’s attempt to form a bridge between the Qur’an and the Jewish and Christian scriptures. From this vantage point we can see the Sira, especially its first part, kitab al Mubatada, as a commentary on the Qur’an and on the Bible. However, some Muslim scholars banned this literary genre. Ibn Hisham, an Egyptian scholar who edited the Sira, deleted much of the Isra’iliyyat found in the original Sira. However, in spite of Ibn Hisham’s editorial work, the Isra’iliyyat was still circulated among the commentators on the Qur’an. Jarir alTabari used the sources of the Sira in his work, Ta’arikh al Rusul Wal-Muluk, and in his interpretations of the Qur’an. It is important to note that when Muhammad went to al-Medina and disputed with the Jews there, the Prophet incorporated some of the arguments he heard at that time in the Qur’an and some of those same discussions are found repeated in the Sira. It’s interesting to speculate on how these stories became known to the prophet. With great respect to the prophet and to the believers of Islam, it’s possible to suggest that the prophet’s knowledge of these stories and discussions came to him via two possible channels. One possible channel is that some of the prophet’s companions were converts from Judaism or Christianity. And several of his followers and companions were converts, such as Abu Huraira. He converted to Islam in the seventh year of the hijra (628/9.) and in his close relationship with the prophet he shared many sayings and traditions from his knowledge of Judaism. Another companion of the prophet was Abu Dharir, who was noted for his humility and his asceticism. It’s suggested that he shared over two hundred Jewish traditions with the prophet. Ubayy b. ka’b, a member of the Nadjdj clan in al-Medina, served the prophet as his secretary. He is known as an early collector of the Qur’an and it’s known that he owned a copy of the Qur’an. A Yemeni Jew, k’ab al Ahbar, who converted to Islam during the time of Abu Bakr, is credited for sharing many of the Biblical stories that became assimilated into the developing Islamic tradition. This information is strongly supported by the stories that share the fact that the prophet himself, as well as Abu Bakr and

229 ‘Umar, had visited the Yahudiyyah, the Jewish school in al-Madina. And there is evidence that Zayd ibn Thabit, the appointee of the khalif ‘Uthman, who compiled the recitations of the prophet in the Qur’an, had also studied at the Yahudiyyah. Marshal Hodgson has clearly pointed out that: By the time of Muhammad, Judaism was very important numerically between the Nile and the Oxus, particularly in the town of Iraq, where its most widely recognized chiefs came to reside. It is clear that a significant part of the population that accepted Islam in its formative centuries was composed of Jews, whose narrative traditions called Isra’iliyyat dominated 107 the popular legendry of early Islam. In fact, Hodgson suggests that the formation of Islam was inspired by the Jewish example. Accepting Hodgson’s premise, we can discern a gradual change in attitude as Islam evolved. For example, in early Islam it was possible for a Muslim to read a book of non-Islamic origin. It was possible for early Muslims to read books where there were insertions from the hadith, from tradition, and from akhbar, the anecdotes from the works of the Jews and Christians, who were defined by Islam as ‘people of the Book’. However, over time, that tolerant view within early Islam changed. From the early eighth century, or the second century in the Islamic calendar, intolerance appears and grows toward the works of the ‘people of the Book’. A new doctrine emerged in Islam claiming that the early Scripture of the Jews and the Christians had been forged and as forged documents, Islam doctrine claimed those scriptures had been corrupted and could not be relied upon by Muslims. The question emerges: What had caused this change in Islam toward the Isra’iliyyat? Were the Islamic religious laws, shari‘ah, competing among the different Islamic sects? There are some religious traditions in the early monotheistic sources that heavily influenced ka’b and Wahb. For example, in their hadith, or sharing of tradition, the Islamic traditional greeting of Salam was connected to the concept of salvation for the nation, and the observation that a grain of wheat had diminished in size from earlier times was connected to the Islamic belief that mankind’s moral values had continued to deteriorate from the early times on to the times of Jesus. Kisa’i in his Qisas inserts hadith when he shares in his work that God will forgive repentant sinners if those repenting recite the verses the angel Gabriel had given to Adam to recite: la ilaha illa anta Subhanaka inni kuntu mina ‘l dhalimina (21:87.). Ka’ab said: The words were those spoken by Jonah in the fish’s belly:

230 ‘There is no God beside Thee. Praise be unto Thee, verily I have been of 108 the unjust.’ This prayer of Jonah, from the belly of the fish, symbolizes the darkness in his soul. Jonah’s extreme distress from the darkness affects him spiritually and it causes him to repent fully and God forgives him. On the other hand, a traditional tale from Wahb al-Munabbih states that at dawn a cock cries out from Paradise to those who are humble and who kneel down to praise God humbly and who come to worship God. This hadith describes the cock as having white feathers and whose head is under the Gates of mercy which are found on the 109 Sublime Throne. There are ahadith (sin. hadith) traditions which are aimed at proclaiming and emphasizing the Islamic identity. This identity is evident in the discourse between Wahb b. Munabbih and Ibn Abbas over the question of whether God sleeps. Ibn Abbas’ answer presents an interpretation of Ayat al kursi’s verse of the Throne (2:255.), which begins with, Allahu, la ilaha illa huwa. Using the same verse another hadith states: ‘an abu Umama qal, qal rasul Allah: (tsala Allah ‘alaihu Wasalam) an qarah ayata ‘l kursi fi duburi kuli tsalatin, maktubatun lam yam na‘uhu dukhuli ‘l jannati illa an Yamuta. Abu Umamah said that the messenger of Allah said: Whoever recites ayat al krusi at the end of every obligatory prayer, nothing will prevent him from entering into Paradise, but that he must die 110 (first). As was pointed out earlier, the stories of the prophet using the genre of the qisas were shared both for the audience’s enjoyment and to transmit and teach the moral and religious values of Islam. This literary genre also used folk literature, which were stories told among the followers of this tradition. The sharing of similar folk literature was also occurring among the Jews and the Christians of this era. Today’s readers of the folk literatures from these three traditions are struck by the many stories and the references in these stories to tales that are found in the Old and in the New Testaments. Yet Muslims don’t consider the folklore genre as literature. Instead, these Muslim scholars consider that genre to be the ‘history’ of the prophets and an historical account of the events that were occurring in their time. Two particular genres are highly respected in Arabic literature. One of these genres is Ta’arikh and the second is the genre of the kisas. Both of these genres are considered historical. Stating this does not mean that we exclude another

231 important genre, the tafsir, the interpretation of the Qur’an, which is considered the main objective of this sacred book. Nor do we lessen the importance of the role of the folk tales, which are the transmitters of religious and cultural values while simultaneously entertaining their audiences. The qisas were told by the Qusas, storytellers, who were respected as being righteous and pious people who most likely traveled from place to place to tell their stories. To support the truths found in their teachings and anecdotes, these storytellers presented a list of transmitters, Isnad, who were deemed reliable people. Where these storytellers got their tales and their stories about the prophet is an open question today. The general perception is that in pre-Islamic times the Qusas lived in Arabia among the monotheistic Jews and Christians and among other polytheistic tribes. In all of these communities stories were understood to be elaborations, or expansions, of stories that were shared in an oral tradition. These stories do not recognize political borders. They were transmitted by word of mouth, from one generation to the next, within a culture and between cultures. Each generation of oral storytellers adds something to each story: a new line, a new value. Lines from stories passed along by previous generations also got changed or were eliminated. The shared anecdotes became stories and, in time, those stories became novellas. The stories, once anecdotes, interpreted the sacred texts, which were often ambiguous and difficult to understand. The interpreting stories served as a bridge that closed the gap between the ambiguity of the sacred texts and the story’s listeners. It’s apparent that Jewish and Christian sources penetrated the Qur’an, perhaps occurring during the recitation of some teaching of the prophet or during the recitation of the text during the time of the third khalif, ‘Uthman b. Affan. The prophet himself acknowledged that other sacred books existed before the Qur’an was revealed to him, Nazzala ‘alaika ‘l kitaba bilhaqi musadiqa… (3:3.). It is He who sent down to thee in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it and He sent down the Torah and the Gospels. The importance of the texts found in the genres of the qisas and found in the Isra’iliyyat is two-fold: these texts share the values of early Islam and they present the life of the prophet, while they simultaneously demonstrate the relationship that early Islam had shared with the other two monotheistic traditions in the region. After the prophet died, there was a heightened need to gather and share more information about his life. This need has been presented by some scholars as a hypothesis: Perhaps some Jewish and Christian converts to Islam shared the anecdotes and stories of their traditions with their fellow believers and those Christian and Jewish details were then adopted and woven into the Islamic stories that emerged following the prophet’s death. Even though some of these early

232 converts to Islam were known to be close to the prophet during his lifetime, the tales they could have shared had as their source the tales that had been shared in the oral traditions of their generation. The dates for these tales, therefore, can’t be traced. These Jewish and Christian contributions were then preserved in the genre of the qisas and in the Isra’iliyyat and became part of the early Islamic literature. The use of these tales demonstrates the special creativity and imagination of the Arabs. More than twenty-eight prophets are mentioned by name in the Qur’an and many of these prophets’ names are also found in the Old Testament and a few are found in the New Testament. Some of the prophets mentioned in the Qur’an were individuals chosen by God to deliver His word to the people. In the Qur’an these prophets are called anbiya ( sin. nabi). The other prophets named in the Qur’an are called rusul (sin. rasul) and these few hundred are defined as messengers of God sent to guide the people. It’s important to note that in the testimony Shahadah the prophet is defined as a rasul, a messenger. We can question the identities of certain people mentioned in the qisas and ask, for example, who the person is that is named in the Qur’an as Luqman. Is Luqman an Arabic parabulist, or is he an outsider whose stories were arabicized? Was he, instead, a wise Greek man, a figure like Aesop? Or, as we mentioned in Chapter 3, was he St. Jirjis or St. George, a holy person highly respected by both the Muslims and the Christians in Palestine, as T. Canaan has pointed out in his work? An obvious challenge when examining the genre of the qisas is to determine the authors of it. What do we really know about this genre? Was it a canonized text to the first Muslims, as is the Qur’an, and thus it can never be changed? Since there are many versions to the stories in this genre, and since many different names are used in the Isnad, it’s possible to conclude that the texts in this genre were not canonized and that they were divinely inspired, instead. This may be so because the stories were presented in the names of authorities who were accepted as very pious and reliable people who were revered by the early followers of Islam. The hadith was considered sahih only after the Isnad, the chain of transmitters, had been carefully examined and accepted. It appears clear that the early Muslim writers used the sources of the Old Testament, the Torah, the New Testament, as well as al-Zubur, the Book of Psalms. However, in time, Muslim scholars developed the notion that the Jews and the Christians had forged their writings and because of that only the Qur’an was the true, original word of God. For these Muslim scholars, the Qur’an is the one and only true text of God’s word, the only book containing the Divine Revelation, even though the two revered genres, the qisas and the Isra’iliyyat, both contain Biblical stories. When we read the story of Jonah found in the Old Testament and compare it to the story of Jonah found in the qisas, we discover that in

233 the qisas that Jonah was a pious person and that Satan made Jonah sin. There are some shared similarities in the two versions of Jonah’s story. The sailors cast three lots and Jonah is chosen to be the one the sailors throw into the sea. The fish that swallows Jonah provides refuge in the sea for Jonah. The fish later vomits Jonah onto the shore of Nineveh. In the qisas, the storytellers, added episodes and moral teachings to the details found in the Old Testament. It is argued among scholars, including the Muslim Sages, that one of the earliest qisas was written by Wahb b. Munabbih, a Yemeni person of Persian origin. Some also suggest he was a converted Jew. th st The Muslim scholars in the late 20 and early 21 centuries have continued to object to the notion that the Qur’an and hadith contain stories borrowed from the Jewish and Christian traditions. They refuse to accept the idea that early Jewish or Christian converts to Islam could have transmitted these stories. The Muslim’s scholars’ objection to the shared transmission of the stories between these three traditions is not a new phenomenon. This objection started, it’s suggested, with the argument and dispute with the very famous transmitter, 111 ka’ab al Ahbar. In Tottoli ’s works he suggests that Mus‘udi (d. 345/956) was the first one to use the term Isra’iliyyat, but other scholars claim that this term was used before it was found in al-Mas‘udi’s writings. When reading the tales of the prophets, we discover that the prophets’ names are as they appear in the Hebrew version, except in the Islamic versions each prophet is also given a nickname. For example, Ezekiel in the Hebrew version is named Hizqil in the Islamic version, who is the ‘son of an old woman.’ In the Islamic version, the birth story of Hizqil is almost parallel to the birth of Isaac in the Jewish version as his mother gave birth to him in her old age. In the story of Hizqil, some towns’ names are mentioned, such as Basra and Dwardan, and the details of a plague are also described. Although the Islamic tale of Hizqil doesn’t exactly duplicate the story of ‘The Prophecy of Ezekiel 38’ in the Bible, it refers to the resurrection of dry bones that is included in Hizqil’s tale. In the Islamic version, God tells the prophet to command that the bones be covered with flesh and skin and for blood to run in the veins and to re-create the souls all in God’s name. In this genre of the qisas the Biblical stories were recounted and even changed. It’s possible to suggest that because of this there are different versions of the post-Biblical stories, but it is a puzzle that the Muslim storyteller shares these stories within his own tradition. This, too, is how we can read the story of 112 Job. Although Muslim scholars down through the centuries have opposed the notion that these details in the Islamic tales of the prophets were borrowed from Jewish sources and were included within these genres, it is very difficult to deny the validity of the notion of borrowed sources today. The continued Muslim opposition to the notion of borrowed sources is not “new” or a “notion of modth ern times”, since this opposition has its roots in the 14 century. At that time,

234 Ibn Kathir condemned the qisas being told to the common people. The Muslim scholars’ opposition to the notion of borrowed sources from the Christians for the qisas was rarely included in their opposition to the notion of borrowed Jewish sources. The strong objection to the notion of borrowed sources by Muslim scholars in our day began in the middle of the last century, as is seen in Tafsir al manar written by Rashid Aida. This modern Muslim scholar stated clearly that the Isra’iliyyat was a genre that had been fabricated by the Jews. In 1975 ‘Aysha ‘abd al-Rahman claimed in her book, al Isra’iliyyat fi al-ghazu al-fikri, that the Jews were behind the missionaries sent by the Crusaders who, she claims, had come to conquer the Arab and Muslim lands as colonies. According to her, the purpose of the Crusades was not to convert the Jews to Christianity but it was, instead, a campaign launched by the colonial powers in Europe who were aiming to Christianize the Muslims. Any reader of history can easily discern the error that Professor ‘Abd alRahman makes in her book. First of all, she moved the whole genre of qisas from th th its origins in antiquity and placed its origin in the 10 to the 11 centuries. She completely ignores the work of Ibn Ishaq. She ignores the fact that the Sira is where the use of this genre is first found and that Ibn Hishim later deleted this genre in his editorial work on the Sira. We can still acquire the knowledge about this genre being included in the Sira from the work of al-Tabari. Professor ‘Abd al-Rahman then goes on to claim that the Arabic elites carried the ‘poison of the Jewish orientalists into the very heart of the Muslim communities’: They have been trying to bewitch the minds of the common people with heretical doctrines in the name of modernity, and to offer interpretations of the Qur’an highly charged with Judaism. They have been trying to make Muslims understand their religion through the eyes and interpretations of the modern Soothsayer: the Jewish Priest. Evidence of the paranoia present in this professor’s work can be seen when she claims that the West has been under the control and influence of Judaism through the efforts of the Jewish orientalists. As a result of that influence, she claims that the Arab and Muslim elites have been easily misled and, without knowing it, they have fallen victim to their own training. She feels very strongly that one must pinpoint the damage that the Jewish orientalists have done for centuries by discovering and then openly declaring that the Jews have long intended to do intellectual damage to the Arab and Muslim heritage. This perception is paradigmatic to her scholarly work that is definitely based on this scholar’s political views. She fails to see the creativity shared by the three traditions and she fails to praise the imaginative mind of the early Muslim Sages, who were not afraid to use this material.

235 To the question of whether the Qur’an was sent only to the Arabs, this professor replies No, it was sent for all Muslims and, as a matter of fact, for the rest of the world, but it was written in Arabic. No one who is not highly proficient in Arabic can understand its meaning, not to mention translate it into another language. The Qur’an is complemented by the tradition of the Prophet. No one has the right or entitlement to interpret the Qur’an according to the other Holy Scripture… She then goes on to argue that ‘everyone’ knew that the other Holy Scriptures were incomplete and that parts of them had been lost forever. She then claims that in the Qur’an one can find exactly what Allah had wanted mankind to know about the peoples and prophets who had lived in earlier times. She claims that other irrelevant issues were purposely left out of the Qur’an. Professor ‘Abd al-Rahman then states, Orientalist Jews had offered to make false connections between the 113 Qur’an and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. She then ‘reminds’ her readers that the Jews’ ‘misleading work’ was done using the professional skills of evasion and deception that easily mislead the common people who are not very familiar with, or who don’t have a solid background in the reading of, the old Arabic and Islamic texts and resources. Despite her strong influence among contemporary Muslim scholars, others examining these texts can easily discern the traces of Jewish and Christian themes present in the Qur’an and in later Muslim works. With every attempt that Muslim scholars make to delete the presence of the genre of qisas and the Isra’iliyyat from the Qur’an, they are actively destroying the validity of the prophet’s vision and the divine message he brought, as they claim, ‘to all humanity’. Reading Surat Yusuf we discover passages containing stories of Jonah, the flood, and the names of Moses, Abraham, Job, and Jesus. We understand that Arabs knew these Biblical names since they had been shared in the oral traditions among the people in Arabia long before the coming of the prophet Muhammad. These stories connected to these names became an important part in the prophet’s deliverance of his message from Allah. Stories about these Biblical heroes were told by generations of Arabs in pre-Islamic times and then they were shared by Muslims everywhere. These were stories of wonder and miracle, transmitting cultural and religious values, all being a part of human imagination and creativity. The moment that these stories crossed over the boundaries of their aesthetic realm and were used by scholars in their political agendas in their attempts to deny any relationship for Islam with any other tradi-

236 tions, then these special creative works lost their original power. That, in turn, lessened the genuine words of God that had been given to the prophet.

Endnotes – Chapter Three 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Orhan, Veli Kanik, Just For The Hell Of It, Talat Sait Halman (tr.), Multilingual, Istanbul, 1997. Also see 2:135 which emphasizes the foundation of the Islamic faith, the universal God, and the message of the prophet, prayers and peace upon him. See for example: 5:13; 2:245; 3:131; 5:62-69. See E.G. Gomez, “Polemica Religiosa entre Ibn Hazam y Ibn al Nagrila”, Al-Andalus 4 (1936/39), 1-28. M. Perlman, “Andalusian Authors on the Jews of Granada”, PAAJR 18 (1948-49), 269-289. See the following verses: 2Sam 7:22 and 22:23; 1Kings 8:60; Is. 44:6 and 45:21; Ps. 18:32. Brinner, W.G., “An Islamic Decalogue” in Studies in Islamic and Judaic Traditions, W.G. Brinner and S.D. Ricks (eds.), Scholars Press, Atlanta (1986), 67-84. Ibid, 68. Ayoub, Muhammad, “Uzayr in the Qur’an and Muslim Tradition” in Studies in Islamic and Judaic Traditions, Op. Cit., Ch. 3-18. Sha Wali Allah, “Tawil al-Hadith”, J. M. S. Baljen (tr.), A Mystical Interpretation of Prophetic Tales by an Indian Muslim, Brill-Leiden (1973), 39-40. See M. Watt, Muhammad at Al-Medina (1956), 315-320. See Bukhari, Vol. II, 294. See J. van der Ploeg, “Le rôle de la tradition orale dans la transmission du texte de l’Ancien Testement”, Revue Biblique, 54 (1947), 5-41. Ibid. See M. Caspi, Eve in Three Traditions, Ch. 3. Abbot, Nabia. Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1967), 6. They are the members of the earliest religious sect of Islam, whose importance lies particularly in the development of dogma. From the point of view of political history, the principal role they played was by means of disruption via continual insurrection which often ended in the temporary conquest of the Muslim empire during the last two years of the khalifate of ‘Ali. For more information see The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 4, Brill (1978), 1074. Horovitz, Joseph, Koranisch Untersuchugen, Berlin (1926), 8-9. See 2:260-261; 20: 85-89. Speyer, H., Die Biblischen Ezrätilungen im Qoran, Hildesheim, 1971. Ant. 4.6.10. APt. 5:13. Also see 2:135-136 and 3:84 and 42:13. Kisa’i. Qisas, 89. Ibid, 133.

237 25 Ibid, 246-247. 26 See H. Lazarus-Yafeh, Studies in al-Ghazzali, Jerusalem (1975), especially Chapter 4, and see U. Rubin in “Pre-existence and Light: Aspects of the Concept of Nur Muhammad”, IOS (1975), 62-117. 27 Ibid. 28 Professor William M. Brinner translates it as: An Elegant Composition Concerning Relief After Adversity, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1977. 29 Oberman suggests that the source for the Qur’anic story and for the story in the Hibbur is probably a very early Jewish source, which was transmitted to the Qur’an from the Jews in Hijaz and then to the Hibbur. See also Z. Hirshberg, “Rabeau Nissim b.R. Ya’ aqov mi-Kairouan”, Hibbur Yafeh me-hay-Yeshu ‘ah, 62-63. 30 Brinner, W.M., Op. Cit., 14-15. 31 See A. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash, Vol. 5, 133f. 32 The story is very similar to the story of the Exodus. Also, in this story Egypt is not a safe place. To appear before the pharaoh and to request “Let my people go” was a very dangerous thing to do, and the three days requested to provide for the people is comparable to the three days of journey requested by Moses. 33 Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al Quran al ‘azim, 1:8. 34 Friedleander, I., Die Chadirlegende und der Alexanderroman, Leipzig (1913). 35 Schwarzbaum, H., “Jewish and Muslim Versions in Some Theodicity Legends”, Fabula 3, (1959), 75-125. 36 Pepikta Rabbati, William G. Braude, Yale University Press, New Haven (1968), 26. 37 See al-Tabari, Tafsir, Cairo (1373h), Vol. III, 34-35. Another story about Jeremiah is found in al-Tabari’s T’arikh ar-rusul wal-muluk, Cairo (1960), Vol. I, 539-540. In this story, God reveals to Jeremiah that when He is ready to rebuild Jerusalem, He will quicken the dead and rebuild the city. This will happen only after Nebuchadnezzar and Lahrasib have perished. In the meantime, Jeremiah, who had a basket containing food, is put into a deep slumber that lasts seventy years. When Jeremiah completes a hundred years of slumber induced by God, then he is revived and he finds the city of Jerusalem has been restored to its glory and Jeremiah says, qala a’lamu inna Allaha ‘ala kulli shayn qadirim now I know that Allah has power to do everything. (2:258/259.). 38 Meyouhas, Joseph, Bible Tales in Arab Folklore, London (1928), 218-224. 39 See al-Damiri, Hayat al Hayawan, A.S.G. Jayakar (tr.), London and Bombay (1906), Vol. I, 537-577. 40 4Ezra 7:26-27 in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Vol. 2, R.H. Charles (ed.), Oxford (1913). 41 See Leslau, Wolf in Falasha Anthology, Schocken, New York (1959). 42 We encounter Elijah as a scribe. See Legends 4:201. In the Apocalypse of Paul we read: “…This is Enoch the scribe of righteousness. And I entered within that place and immediately I saw Elijah and he came and greeted me with gladness and joy.” See “Apocalypse of Paul, 20” in New Testament Apocripha, W. Schneemelcher (ed.), Westminister/John Knox Press, (1989). 43 Sahih 4:614. 44 One cannot avoid noting the similarities with the stories of Elijah found in the Jewish tradition, such as Elijah being endowed with miraculous powers, where he serves as a teacher and as a mentor of the sages, and where some sages claim they are well acquainted with him.

238 45 Goldziher, Ignaz, Die Richtungen der islamishcen Koranauslegung, Leiden (1920), 57f. 46 Friedleander, Israel, Die Chadhirlegende und der Alexanderroman, Leipzig (1913), 270275. 47 Friedmann, M. (ed.), Seder Eliahu Zuta, Vienna (1904), 44. 48 Gaster, M., Exampla of the Rabbis, KTAV Pub. House, New York (1924), 301. 49 Exodus Rabbath 45:5, H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, Midrash Rabbah, Soncino Press. London (1939). See also, Shimoni 395; Tanhuma, ki Tisa, 27. 50 al-Damiri, Op. Cit., 620-621. 51 BMena, 29b. See also L. Ginzberg, Legends, Vol. 3, 114-115. 52 Schwatzbaum, H., Mimkor yisrael ve-yishmael, Tel Aviv (1975), 172. 53 Canaan, T., “Muhammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine”, JPOS 4, (1926), 156. 54 We retain the transliteration of T. Canaan. 55 Canaan, T., Op. Cit., 76. It is most likely that St. George was a Christian soldier who tore down a placard in Nicomedia at the beginning of the persecution of Diocletian. Since he was riding on horseback, he possessed a number of symbols, many of pagan origin, although some were Christian in origin. In one of the paintings in a convent in alQudsi in Sidon he is shown riding a horse with the figure of Christ within him. With the passing of time, St. George became a symbolic figure for women who were maidens, in many ways much like Perseus, who in the Greek legend rescued Andromeda after her father acrificed her to the monster. Later in myth St. George encouraged those in the knighthood to believe that one can become a saint without having to live one’s life as a hermit or as a monk in a monastery. 56 Ibid, 79-80. 57 See a possible parallel to such a prohibition, which is found in the Bible in Lev. 15:19-33. 58 Canaan, T., Op. Cit., 6:13-14. 59 Ibid. 60 Ibid, 51. 61 “O St. George, if my son gets well, I shall offer you oil in an egg shell.” 62 Canaan, T., Op. Cit., 20. 63 This oral tradition differs from the Biblical story which states, “…and came to Beershevah which belongeth to Judah…But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die…behold, an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat…behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water at his head.” (1Kings 19:3-7). 64 Canaan, T., Op. Cit., 66. 65 BBM. 83b-84a. 66 Canaan, T., JPOS 9 (1929). 67 Canaan, T., JPOS 9 (1929), 61. 68 See Gen. 1:2; Qur’an 11:7. 69 See also 76:2; 77:20. 70 Canaan, T., Op. Cit., 62. A version of this story from Yemen is found in Mishael M. Caspi’s Mizkenim Etbonanm, Midreshet Sdeh Boker (1968), 26-28. 71 Pesikta Rabbati 1:2. Also see MSuk. 5:1; Gen. Rab. 70:8. 72 The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisa’i, W.M. Tackston (tr.), T. Wayne Publishers, Boston (1978), 263. 73 See Chapter 1. 74 PRE, 24.

239 75 Lev. Rab. 1:1; Also see BMo. Qat. 26a. 76 Brinner, W. M. (tr.), The History of al-Tabari 3, The Children of Israel, N.Y. State University Press (1991), 17. 77 The Midrash on Psalms, Op. Cit., 114-117. 78 BTa‘an. 19a. 79 Ibid , 23a. 80 Although this story is a parable, interpreters suggest its location could be the area of land situated between the two arms of the Red Sea, on the Sinai Peninsula, where the people of Israel wandered for many years. 81 Friedleander, I., Op. Cit. Also see Ernest A. Wallis Budge, The History of Alexander the Great: Being the Syraic Version, Cambridge University Press (1989). 82 BTamid. 32a-32b. 83 Stoneman, Richard (tr.), The Greek Alexander Romance, N.Y. Penguin Books, 1991. 84 Ant., 11:3-4 and 344. 85 See Brinner (tr.), Op. Cit., 6. 86 Ibid, 9. 87 Ibid, 125. 88 Abu’ l-fath al-Busti. In al-Damiri, Op. Cit., Vol. 2, 796. 89 The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 4 (1978), 211-212. 90 Also see L. Ginzberg, Legends, Vol. 1, 45-46. 91 Brinner, William M., “ An Egyptian Anti-Orientalist in Islam”, in Nationalism and Radicalism in Egypt and the Sudan, Gabriel W. Narburg and Uri M. Kuferschmid (eds.), New York (1983). 92 See E. G. Brown, The Literary History of Persia, 1928. 93 Lessons From the Studies of the Qur’an, Lahore, 1965. 94 Rosenthal, Franz, “The Influence of Biblical Tradition on Muslim Historiography” in Historians of the Middle East, Bernard Lewis (ed.), Oxford University Press (1962), 3545. 95 All are taken from The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisa’i , W. M. Thackston (tr.), T. Wayne Publishers, Boston (1978), 247-250. 96 In the genre of the Muwashshaha, the kharja is always written in the vernacular. 97 For Ibn khaldun, see The Muqaddima, An Introduction to History, Franz Rosenthal (ed.), New York (1958), 3:412-480. 98 For these stories see al-Tha’labi, Qisasu ‘l ‘anbiya, Cairo, n.d. 99 See A. Arne and Stith Thomson, The Types of the Folktale, Helsinki (1961). 100 For more information see Hasan M. El-Shami, Folktales of Egypt, University of Chicago Press (1980). 101 See Jan Knappert, Islamic Legends, E. J. Brill (1985), 328-335. 102 Pes. Rab. 44:3. 103 PRE 33. Also see Gen. Rab. 98:11 and PSuk. 5:1. 104 For the list of miracles that happened to Elijah, see Aggadat Bereshit, S. Buber (ed.) (1925), 76 on the verse “…at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice.” (1Kings 18:36). 105 For more information, see Josephus, Ant. 9:22 ; BSuk. 5a ; BErub. 45a ; and Zohar 2, 197a. 106 Prophets in the Qur’an, Brannon M. Wheeler (tr.), Continuum.London (2002), 247. 107 Hodgson, M., The Venture of Islam, University of Chicago Press (1971), Vol. I, 316-317.

240 108 109 110 111

al-Kisa’i, Op. Cit., 59. Ibid, 70-72. al-Nasi, ‘amal al yowm wal layla, 100. Tottoli, Roberto, “The Qisas al-Anbiya of ibn Muttalib al Tarafi”, al-Qantara 19 (1998). 131-160. Also see “The Origin of the Use of the Term Yisra’iliyyat in Muslim Literature”, Arabica 46 (1999), 193-210. 112 Caspi, M., and S. Milstein and G. Neu-Sokol, Why Hidest Thy Face: Job in Tradition and Literature, Bibal Press (2004). 113 ‘Abd al-Rahman, Aisha (Bint al-Shati), al-Isra’iliyyat fi al-Ghazu al-Fikri, Ma’had alBuhuuth Wal-Dirasaat al-Arabiya, Cairo (1975), 152-160.

Appendix Chapter Three

God certainly likes the sneezer and dislikes the yawner. So when one of you yawns, let him check it as far as he can and say not ha ha, for assuredly that is owing to be the influence on him of Satan who laughs at 1 him. The Story of Elias, peace be upon him Allah says in Verse 123 of Al-Saffat Chapter (Those Ranged in Ranks) of the Qur’an: So also was Elias Among those sent by us. Ibn IsHaaq and others who were collecting news said that when Hiziqiyal, peace be upon him, passed away things turned bad and corruption spread among the Israelites. They forgot Allah’s promises to them in the Torah and set up idols and began to worship them instead of Allah. He then sent Elias to them to be his prophet. He was Elias ibn Yassa ibn Fenhas ibn Iizaar ibn Aaron ibn Imraan. Following Moses’ death, prophets were sent to the Israelites to remind them and to renew the ordinance and valuation of the Torah. The Israelites were then scattered in the Land of Shaam, which had numerous kings. The reason for this was that when Yusha’ Ibn Noon conquered the Land of Shaam and owned it he divided it among the Israelites. One of the tribes took over ancient Heliopolis (in what is now eastern Lebanon) and its surroundings. It was Elias’ tribe. Allah sent the prophet Elias to them at the time when the tribe was ruled by King ‘Akhaab who went astray, leading his people astray with him. He made them worship idols. He and his people worshipped an idol named Ba’al, which was twenty arms tall and had four faces. Ibn IsHaaq said that he had heard that the idol they worshipped was really a woman. Allah reminded them in verses 124 and 125 of Al-Saffat (Those Ranged in Ranks): Behold, he said To his people. “Will you not fear Allah? Will you call upon Ba’al And forsake the Best Of creators?” Elias began to call upon his people to worship Allah, but none seemed to re-

242 spond nor would they believe him. King ‘Akhaab had a wife named Arbil who would replace him and run the affairs when he went on military campaigns. She used to lead, ride, hold court sessions and issue verdicts. She was a prophet killer! She had a scribe who was a secret believer and a wise man. He saved the lives of 300 prophets that she had intended to kill. She was able to kill some. She was not pure at all; she was the most adulterous woman on earth. Arbil married seven kings of the Israelites and assassinated all of them. She had a long life and was said to have had 70 children. King ‘Akhaab had a neighbor, a pious man, whose name was Mazdaki. This neighbor had a beautiful orchard that he took very good care of because it was his source of food for him and his family. King ‘Akhaab and his wife used to take walks in this garden, eat some of its fruits and spend their leisure time there. The king was a good neighbor to Mazdaki, unlike his wife Arbil who was jealous and wanted to take over the orchard by any means. She was encouraged by the people who said that the beautiful orchard should be part of the royal palace, and wondered why the king and his wife had not yet taken this precious property! Many times Arbil tried to kill the pious man and take over his property, but her husband had stopped her and disapproved of her intentions. One day the king went on a long expedition. Immediately his wife took advantage of the opportunity to get rid of Mazdaki and seize his property. The devout man was not aware of her evil plans, because he was busy with his worship and his family responsibilities. Her plan was to gather a number of people who would testify in a public court that they had heard Mazdaki speak ill of King ‘Ahkaab and insult him. She was able to bring some “witnesses” who would lie and falsify reports to that effect. It was well known at that time that anyone who would insult the king would meet death if he was proven guilty. She brought Mazdaki before a public court that she headed to answer crimes involving insult. The man denied anything of the sort, but Arbil paraded her witnesses who one by one falsely testified that Mazdaki had indeed insulted and slandered the king. Consequently, the man was executed and his garden was confiscated. Allah grew angry at her because of her crime of killing that pious man. When her husband returned from his campaign she told him what she had done to Mazdaki. The king expressed his disappointment and told her she had committed a terrible mistake and from then on she would not be successful. He reminded her of the man’s generosity and kindness to let them spend time in his garden, and that he should have been protected instead for being a good neighbor to the royal palace. He told her that she had abused the neighborhood rights, that it was a result of her stupidity, bad judgment and lack of thought of the consequences. He told her that even if the accusations had been proved, the man should have been pardoned. She told the king that no one could do anything about it because the man was dead!

243 Allah sent Elias, peace be upon him, to king ‘Akhaab and his people. He told them that Allah was truly enraged by the outrageous murder of the devout man. Elias mentioned that Allah was determined to wipe out both the king and his wife if they did not show regret and return the orchard to Mazdaki’s heirs. They, the king and his wife, would be murdered in the middle of that garden and their corpses would be left there until their flesh fell off their bones. When the king heard of the threat he was furious. He said to Elias: – Oh, Elias, you have been calling upon us to respond to a false message. I can name a number of kings who have been worshipping idols, yet they are enjoying the pleasures and riches of their lives. The king furiously said that he did not owe Allah or Elias any favor! At that point he was already thinking of torturing and killing Elias. When Elias heard that and felt the danger, he hurriedly left the court and took refuge in the high mountains. King ‘Akhaab and his people went back to worshipping the idol Ba’al, while Elias settled in a cave at the top of the highest and hardest to climb mountain. It was reported that he spent seven years in that cave lonely and frightened. He ate wild plants and fruit. The king went after him, sending spies and fighters to chase him around. However, Allah protected and saved Elias from any harm or distress. Now that His anger had subsided after seven years, Allah allowed Elias to come out of his hiding cave. Allah made king ‘Akhaab’s son sick. This was his favorite and dearest son who was the spitting image of his father. The boy became so sick that the father lost hope that his son would ever recover. He went to the idol Ba’al. As mentioned earlier, Ba’al was their prominent idol and namesake of their city “Ba’alabek”. The king had appointed 400 attendants to Ba’al’s shrine. Now Satan began to hide inside the idol and talk to the attendants. Those 400 attendants listened to and wrote down what Satan was telling them and they would share that with their people and those words became the source of discipline and law for the people who thought of those attendants as prophets with a message. Now the boy became deathly sick. The king asked the 400 attendants to pray to Ba’al in the hope that the boy would feel better. As expected, no recovery was noticed because Allah had not allowed Satan to hide inside the idol and talk to the attendants while they were engaged in their constant pleading for the boy’s health to improve. When their pleas went unanswered, the attendants told the king that he should seek assistance from other gods in other parts of the land of Al-Shaam because it looked like the god Ba’al was angry with the king, for he was not responding to their imploring that the boy get better. The king asked:

244 – What have I done that caused the god Ba’al to be mad at me? I believe in him, worship him, and I have been truly obedient to him. The attendants said: – Ba’al is angry because you let Elias go free despite his hatred of your god and your belief. Additionally, he worships another god. King ‘Akhaab wondered how he could capture and kill Elias, preoccupied with his son’s health and therefore with no time to go after Elias. Besides, nobody was able to locate or had seen Elias for seven years. He promised: – If my son were to recover, I will have nothing on my mind except for chasing Elias, capturing and killing him so that Ba’al would feel satisfied. The 400 attendants were sent to the land of Al-Shaam to plead to the gods there to talk to Ba’al to help the boy recover from his sickness, but Allah stopped Satan from going inside the idols to talk to the attendants when they pleaded with them. They came back without achieving any result. The king decided then that he had to capture Elias and kill him that same day. The 400 attendants went to the mountain where Elias was, Allah asked Elias to go down, meet them and talk to them. Allah assured Elias not to be scared for He would frighten them and remove their evil as well. Elias came down and met the men. He told them: – Allah has sent me to you so that you will take His message to your king. The message went like this: – Oh ‘Akhaab, don’t you know that I am Allah and there is no God but Me? I am the God of the Israelites and it is I who created them, provided for them, gave them life and made them die. Don’t let your ignorance and lack of intelligence make you worship another god and plead for him to help your son recover. Those gods of yours cannot do anything. I have decided to make you truly angry because I am going to make your son die in order for you to realize that no one can help you or him but Me. When Elias finished the message they were filled with fear. They went back to the king and delivered the message. They told him that Elias came down to them from the mountain and that he was a tall, thin man with dirty, dry skin and that he had lost most of his hair. They said he wore a garment made of wool and that (he had) a woolen wrap around his chest. They said they were frightened and his awe-inspiring appearance had silenced them, despite the fact that he was one and they were so many. They could not talk nor were they able to argue with him. They said they looked very carefully at him before they headed back to the king. The king replied that he would not enjoy life as long as Elias was still alive.

245 He asked: – What stopped you from capturing him and bringing him to me, since you know very well that he is my enemy and I want him badly? – We already told you that we were shocked by his appearance and words of revenge. – I have to resort now to deceit and tricks in order to capture Elias. He selected 50 strong and brave men for the mission and sent them to the mountain. The plan was that they were supposed to approach Elias and trick him by telling him that they were believers in his message and so were many of their family members and relatives. Once he trusted them, they were supposed to capture him and bring him back to the king. The men approached the mountain and scattered along its pathways and loudly called upon Elias to come out and meet them. They shouted: – Oh Prophet of Allah, come meet us and teach us because we believe in you, all of us and our people and our king ‘Akhaab. All of them send their greetings to you. We have received and accepted your message. We now understand what you have said. We believe in you and have responded to your call. Come down to us. You are our Prophet and the Messenger of our God. Come live among us and rule us. We will follow what you want us to do and will not do anything that you prohibit. You cannot avoid responding to us now that we have faith in you and promise our obedience to you. Please come meet us and let us go together home! All of that was a deceitful ploy. When Elias heard this he believed in his heart that they were sincere and was afraid of Allah if he did not appear and respond to their pleading. Inspired by Allah he decided to ask Allah before he met them. He thought for a moment that only Allah knew what was in their hearts and would help him know the truth. He prayed: – Oh my God, if what they say is true, give me permission to meet them. If that was false, protect me from them and send fire to consume them all. The moment his prayer was over a fire came from above and consumed all the 50 men in an instant. When the news came back to the king he was not deterred from his goal. In fact, he became even more determined to capture Elias and get rid of him. He sent another company of 50 men but stronger and more intelligent and (more) trickier than the first band. They approached the mountain scattered along its pathways and began to climb up. They began to shout:

246 – Oh Prophet of Allah, we seek refuge in Allah and you from Allah’s anger and His swift power. We are unlike the first company that came to you earlier. They were hypocrites and unbelievers. They came to trick you without our knowledge. If we were aware of their vile attempts we would have killed them. Now Allah had finished them with their evil deeds and took our revenge and yours on them. When Elias heard that, he repeated his earlier prayer, and fire rained down upon them from the sky and consumed all of them. Meanwhile, the king’s son was hovering between life and death with a tremendous amount of suffering, as had already been stated by Elias. When the king heard of the fate of his second company, he became even angrier. He wanted to go and fetch Elias himself but he was too occupied with his sick son. He turned to his wife’s scribe who was known to be a believer. He told him to go meet Elias and bring him back. He promised that he would neither harm him nor wish him ill. He wanted Elias back because he now realized that he should accept him despite their differences because of Elias’ capability, honesty, wisdom, superior opinions and knowledge. The king sent some of his faithful followers with the scribe. He secretly instructed them that if Elias trusted the scribe and voluntarily came with them they should show respect and treat him properly. However, if he refused to come with them they were supposed to tie him down and bring him back by force. He took the scribe aside and showed remorse and stated: – It is time for me to repent and learn my lesson well. Many calamities have been falling upon us including the cruel death of my men and the serious sickness of my son. I know that is all due to Elias’ prayers. I no longer feel safe and I am afraid that his curse would fall upon me and my people. I want you to be our emissary to him and tell him that we have repented. Our repentance and the removal of our idols will not be consummated unless Elias comes to us to lead and guide us and tell us of what will satisfy our God. He asked his followers to temporarily remove the idols from the shrine, Then he said to the scribe: – Tell Elias that we have deserted the gods that we used to worship. We are waiting for him to come down to destroy and burn them. All of that was a lie. The scribe with his company of men took off heading for the mountain. When they got there the scribe called upon Elias. Elias recognized his voice and was very pleased to hear him talk. In fact he was longing to meet him. Allah had inspired Elias to come out and meet his brother, the believer.

247 Elias came out from his hiding and shook hands with the scribe. He asked what the matter was. The believer said: – The tyrant and his people have sent me to you. He told him the rest of the story. Then he added: – I am afraid that if I go back without you he will kill me. You tell me what to do. If you want me to stay with you here, I will do that to the point that I will fight on your side. If you send me back to him with a message from you then I will do just that. If you want to pray for both of us and ask Allah to guide us to the right path and help us find a solution that is even better. Allah told Elias that all (that) the scribe had told him was a trick, though the scribe was innocent and not aware of it. He said: – If you do not go with the scribe, the king will think he has betrayed him and will kill him. Now, if you go with him it will save his life. Rest assured that I will keep the king overwhelmed by his son’s condition to the point that he will not pay attention to both of you. Then, I will have his son die, and I want you to leave immediately before that. So Elias, the scribe and the rest of the men headed down to the palace. By the time they came in the boy’s health became worse. The king and his followers were totally preoccupied with the boy. Meanwhile, Elias left the palace safely without being noticed. Once the boy died and the funeral was over, the king wanted to know where Elias was. He asked the scribe who said that he didn’t know since he himself was overwhelmed with sadness and stress due to the boy’s death. With his heart still heavy with constant sorrow for the loss of his son, the king ignored the matter completely. Having lived on the mountain for a long time, Elias began to miss urban life and living with people. So, he came down and went to stay with a woman from the Israelites. Her name was ‘Um Younis ibn Mattaa Thi Al-Noon. He hid in her house for six months. Younis was then an infant. ‘Um Younis took care of Elias and served him with whatever was available to her. However, Elias got tired of being confined to home following many years of free space (while) living in the mountains. Therefore he left and went back to his cave. ‘Um Younis became distressed that Elias left and she missed him very much. Very soon her baby died. She became even sadder and decided to follow Elias into the mountains. She climbed up until she found him. She greeted him and told him of her loss and how big her calamity had grown. She said with eyes full of tears: – I miss my child since he is the only child I will ever have. Can you,

248 please, pray to Allah to bring my baby back to life and rid me of such horrible distress? She added: – I did not bury my child. I only hid his body hoping you will help bring him to life again. – Well, a matter like that is not like any task Allah has assigned me to do. Besides, I only take orders from Him and so far He has not asked him (me?) to do such a thing. The woman burst into even more tears and pleaded with him for help. Allah made Elias’ heart kinder so he asked: – When did your baby die? – A week ago. So both of them set out and went back to town. It took them another week to get there. Elias found the baby dead for two weeks then. He performed his ritual ablution. Then he prayed and asked Allah to give life back to the baby. The baby, Younis ibn Matta, soon rose from his death. Having performed his task, Elias left and went back to his hiding. When the disobedience of the people seemed not to be coming to an end, Elias became very agitated. After seven more years being tired and frightened, Elias was asked by Allah : – Oh Elias, what is this distress and anguish that you are feeling? Aren’t you my Messenger and proof in My land, and you are my chosen among My creatures? Ask me for anything you want! You know I can do that for I am merciful and the provider. Elias said: – I want you to put an end to my life and let me join my ancestors. I am tired of the Israelites and they are tired of me. I hate them because of you and they hate me. Allah asked: – How could you ask for such a thing and you very well know that reform will not be possible on earth without you and men like you. May I suggest that you ask for something else. Elias said:

249 – Now, if you don’t want to grant me death, I want you to grant me revenge on the Israelites. – How do you want that (to) be done? – Well, you can make me in charge of rain and clouds. They should not have a drop of rain for seven years until I ask for it. Nothing will humiliate them and bring them to their senses except for something like this. – What! You know I have mercy on my creatures even if they are ungrateful. – How about six years? – I have mercy on my creatures even if they are ungrateful. – Five years then. – I have mercy on my creatures even if they are ungrateful. – How about four? – I have mercy on my creatures even if they are ungrateful. Listen, I will grant you your revenge on them for three years. No cloud will go in their direction without your prayer and no drop of rain will come down without your advocacy. – How about my own food supplies and how would I survive? – I will send you an army of birds to bring you food and water from the land that will not suffer from the drought. – I accept. - Good! You’ve got yourself a deal! Allah held off the rain for three years and all domesticated and wild animals, grass, plants and trees died. People went through a very hard time while Elias was in his cave with his supplies of food and water arriving regularly and safely. People became aware of the fact that he was the only one who had access to food. When they smelled bread coming from one house they would say that Elias was there and brought the residents of that house bread and food. When they went inside they would find nothing. Ibn Abbas said that the drought fell upon the Israelites for three years. One day Elias passed by an old woman and asked if she had any food. She said she had a little bit of flour and oil. She brought him some. He prayed for blessing and soon the old woman was able to fill up her sack with flour and all her jars with oil. When the Israelites saw that they asked: – Where did you get this flour and oil? – An old man came by and gave me all that. – How (What) did he look like? She described the old man to them and they recognized him and said to her: – That must be Elias.

250 They began to look for him but he had already withdrawn to his mountain. And 2 only Allah knows the truth! The Story of al-Khidhr His name was Bunia bin Malkan bin ‘Aamir bin Shalih bin Arfakhshath bin Sam bin Noah. There are two accounts of why he was nicknamed al-Khidhr. AlTha’labi was quoted as saying that it was Abu Sa’id bin Muhammad, Abu Hamid Ahmad bin Muhammad bin al-Husain al-Sarfy, Muhammad bin Yahya, Abd al-Rahman bin Bishr, Ahmad bin Yousif, Abd Allah bin Hamid al-warraq, Makki bin ‘Abdan, Abu al-Azhar, Abd al-Razaq, Mu’mar, Humam, Ibn Munabbih, and Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet Muhammad had said that al-Khidhr was sitting on a white pelt that began to shake and it changed its color to green. The second account was quoted by Abu Nasr Muhammad bin Ali banal-Fadhl al Khuza’i, Abu Bakr Muhammad bin al-Hasan al-Qassar, Ahmed bin Yousif alSalmi, Muhammad bin Yousif al-Firyabi, Sufiyaan, Mansour and Mujaahid as saying that he was nicknamed al-Khidhr because the ground turned green (with grass) around him wherever he prayed. It was reported that while the prophet Muhammad was ascending to heaven (on his horse) al-Buraq, led on by Jibril, the prophet smelled a pleasant aroma. He asked Jibril: – What is this pleasant aroma? Jibril answered: – Once upon a time, there was a king who ran the affairs of his people with justice and fairness. He had one son only. This great king had delivered his son to an educator to teach the boy proper manners. It happened that there was a worshiper the boy used to pass on his trip between the palace and the house of the teacher. The boy liked the worshiper and began to trust him. He began to spend some time sitting with him. The king thought that his son was at the teacher’s house, and the teacher thought that the boy was still at the palace. Now, the boy grew into a fine young man who learned so much from the worshiper, including his manners and the secrets of his worship. The king’s advisor came to the king and said: – You have nobody else except this son to inherit your kingdom. If you have him married, he might have children! The king discussed the matter with his son, but the son declined the offer. The king tried once again, and this time his son agreed. The son married the daughter of another king. On the evening of the wedding, the young prince told his newlywed wife:

251 – I am telling you a secret. If you listen and keep it for yourself, Allah will protect you from the ills of this life and the torture of the hereafter. If you reveal it you will be tortured in this life and after death. – What is the secret? – I am a Muslim. I do not follow my father’s religion, and women are not among my needs. If you accept to live with me on this condition and follow my religion, then you can stay. If you don’t, you have no option but to go back to your family. – I will stay. After some time passed the advisors told the king that his son’s wife might be barren because she had no children yet. The king asked his son. The prince said: –Having children is not a matter that is in my hands. It is in the hands of Allah, who will grant it to whomever he likes. The king sent for the wife, asked her, and she repeated what the prince had said earlier. The king waited for some time more, and sent for his son. He wanted his son to divorce his wife, so that he could have him married to another young woman and he might have children. Al-Khidhr did not like the idea, but the father insisted. He was finally able to separate them, and had his son married to a widow who had children. Al-Khidhr told his second wife what he had told his first. Like the first wife, she agreed to live with him on the same terms. No child was born. So after some time the king asked his son what was going on. AlKhidhr said: – Having children is not a matter that is in my hands. It is in the hands of Allah, who will grant it to whomever he like. The king sent for the second wife and said: – You are a young woman who had children from a previous marriage. You have no children from my son. – He has never touched me since I became his wife! In fact he never touched his first wife, either! The king sent for the first wife who confirmed what he had heard from the second wife. He sent for his son and reproached and upbraided him with apparent rage. The prince was scared (and) feared for his life. He left and disappeared! Nobody of Allah’s creatures knew where the prince had gone. The king regretted the way he (had) treated his son and, therefore, sent a hundred men who would go into various directions to look for him. Ten of those men caught up with the prince on an island at sea. He said to them: – I am telling you a secret. If you listen and keep it for yourself, Allah will

252 protect you from the ills of this life and the torture of the hereafter. If you reveal it you will be tortured in this life and in the hereafter. – Tell us what you want. – Did my father send some more men to look for me? – Yes. – Fine! You go back to my father and do not tell him that you have seen me, exactly just what the other men would say. If you tell him where I am or if you take me to him, he will kill me. You will be responsible for my blood. The men left and went back to the palace. When they came to the king, nine of them said that they had found al-Khidhr, and that he told them this and that. They said that they let him go. The tenth man said that he had never come across the prince! The nine men said: – What are you talking about? We found him! Your Majesty, we can go now and bring him back! – Alright! Go right away, and bring him here! Al-Khidhr was afraid that they would come back and capture him. So, he moved to another location. When the men came they did not find him. The king ordered that the nine men be killed if they returned without his son. He also blamed the second wife and accused her of causing all the trouble. He had her killed as well. When the first wife heard of that, she feared of (for) her life and disappeared. And so did the tenth man who had denied seeing Al-Khidhr. He also feared that he might face the same fate as the other nine. He came to a village and heard a woman who was gathering firewood say, “In the name of Allah!” He asked who she was and she told him her story. He said: - Woman, I am the tenth man! I escaped because I was afraid that I might be killed. Would you like to marry me, and spend the rest of our lives worshipping Allah together until death sets us apart? – Yes. They took off and came to a village where some Pharaohs lived. They built a house of reeds and had three boys. The man told his wife: – If I die I want you to bury me here in this house, as should be any of you. I do not want our graves to be next to theirs. The last one who would die should request that the house be demolished on top of our graves. The wife did that when her husband died. When the Pharaoh heard that this woman, her husband and children, had declared Allah to be the one and wor-

253 shipped him, he sent for her. He asked the woman to give up her faith. She declined. The Pharaoh ordered that a big cooking pot made of brass be brought, filled with water, and fire started under it until the water began to boil. He ordered the guards to bring the woman and her three boys. He told her: – I want you to disclaim your religion. Otherwise, you and your children will be thrown into the pot. The woman declined, and so the eldest son was thrown into the boiling water. They threw in the second boy. The third boy was still an infant, so the woman tried to plead with the king to save this suckling. The baby spoke and said: – Mother! Don’t worry! We will all be in heaven! When the guards came to throw her into the pot, she asked them for a favor. – What do you want? – I want to bury this pot, which has our remains and bones, inside my house and demolish the house on top of our graves! They did just that. When the prophet Muhammad, on his ascending trip to heaven, inquired about the nice aroma he smelled, Jibril said to him that it was the woman and her children’s. He told him the whole story. Jibril also told the prophet a story of a number of men from the same town who went on a trade voyage. Their ship was destroyed by high waves, and it drowned (sank). Two men were able to hang on to a piece of the ship’s wreckage and reach the shore of an island. When they wandered around on that island, they came to meet Al-Khidhr. He was dressed in white and they sat down while he was praying. When he ended his prayers, he turned to them and asked: – Who are you? – We are from such and such town. We were on a trade voyage. Our ship was broken (sunk) and we were able to reach shore. – Well, you have to choose whether you want to stay on this island and worship Allah who will provide for you, or I can send you back to your homes. – We want to go home. – Alright, but on the condition that you give me Allah’s promise not to tell anyone of what you have seen here. – We promise! We will keep it a secret! Al-Khidhr looked up and saw some clouds. He asked the clouds where they were heading, and each of the clouds said that it was going to such and such a town.

254 He asked one of the clouds that was going in the direction of the two men’s town to carry them and drop each of them on the roof of his own house. The cloud came down, opened up, carried the two men, and delivered them to the roofs of their own houses. One of the men decided to keep the secret, so he went downstairs. However, the other one decided to reveal the secret. He went downstairs and directly to the door. He approached the town’s entrance and shouted that he had some advice for the king. He was let in and led to the king, who said: – What is your advice? – Your Majesty, I saw the Prince, your son, in such and such location and he did this and that to me! – Is there anyone who could verify that? – Sure, my companion, so and so. The king sent his messengers to bring the companion, who said: – As for going on a trade voyage, that is true. The ship was broken to pieces and we ended on a piece of wood. The waves pushed that piece of wood to the shore. We lived on fruits from trees and some plants from the ground. We walked and walked and walked until we arrived (at) our homes. The perfidious one said to the king: – Your Majesty, send some of your soldiers with me and I will bring your son! You will see that this man is a liar. The king ordered that the honest man be put in jail, and threatened that he would be executed if he were proved to be a liar. The king also said to the perfidious man that he would face the same fate if he was unable to bring the prince back. The soldiers and the man sailed on a ship heading to the island. They looked for al-Khidhr but there was no trace of him! They went back to the king, brought the man with them, and said: – Your Majesty! This man is the worst of all liars! We could not find any soul on that island. The king ordered the man to be hanged, and set free the honest one. However, the residents of that town and their king continued in their disobedience. Jibril said: – Allah sent me to them and I put my wing under the town, pulled, and carried it up to the point that the occupants of heaven began to hear the dogs bark and the roosters cry. Allah ordered me to turn it upside down

255 and let go. The town fell back to the ground and everybody was dead and every structure was destroyed. The exceptions were the honest man and his house and the honest woman and her house. The two began to run around, but they could only encounter each other. There was no other living soul. The man said to the woman: – Hey, woman! You have seen with your own eyes what has happened to the people of this town, and that only you and me were saved. Tell me, what saved us? You tell me and I will tell you. They both promised each other to keep the secret. They became friends, and they found out that their honesty was the reason why they were saved. Then he said to her: – Would you like to marry me and we will leave this place for another town and look for a job until Allah decides for us? – Yes. They moved to a town which was ruled by a Pharaoh. They built a house and started a family. A number of children were born to them. The Pharaoh’s wife liked the woman and hired her in the women’s court. One day, the woman was combing the hair of the Pharaoh’s daughter. The comb fell from her hand. She said: – In the name of Allah. May he who does not believe in You become wretched! Hearing this, the girl was frightened. She asked: – Who is Allah? – He is my God. – You have a God other than my father? – Sure! Allah is my God; He is your father’s God; He is the God of everything! The girl rushed to her father and told him what the woman had said. The Pharaoh sent for the woman. She came immediately. He asked her: – What is this you are telling my daughter? – It is exactly what she told you. – Does anybody else share this belief? – Yes, my husband and my children. The Pharaoh sent for the husband and children, who verified what she told him. He said to them: – We do not agree with you. We want you to disclaim your religion and go back to our religion, or else!

256 – You can do whatever you want. We will not disclaim our God! The Pharaoh ordered his assistants to bring a big cooking pot, fill it with water and start a fire under it. When the water began to boil, the Pharaoh asked the boys one after the other to disclaim their religion. The boys refused and the Pharaoh ordered that they be thrown into the boiling water. Then he asked the man to disclaim his religion, but he declined. They threw him in the pot. Then, the Pharaoh turned to the woman and said: – We owe you something! But, we want you to return to our religion, or you will have the same fate. – Do whatever you want. I do, however, have a request. When you are done with me, I want you to have the content of this pot taken to our house. I want you to order them to dig a hole inside the house, have the content of the pot be poured into the hole, and our house be demolished on top of that hole to cover it. So, the musk aroma continued to rise from that location until the Day of Judgment. This is the story of al-Khidhr and his father. It was said that he came about at the time of King Faridun bin Qabar, as mentioned by the majority of the believers in the early books. Some said that al-Khidhr was contemporary to Alexander the Great at the time of Prophet Abraham who died in Beersheba. Beersheba was the well Abraham dug in the Jordanian desert in order to get water for his livestock. Some people from the Jordanian desert claimed to own the land on which Abraham dug his well. The people and Abraham had to appeal their case before Alexander the Great, whose army had advanced in that direction and al-Khidhr came ahead of them. It was said that al-Khidhr and Alexander both arrived to the river of eternity, and al-Khidhr had a drink from that river without knowing it. Neither Alexander nor his entourage drank from the river. That was the reason why alKhidhr became eternal, and Alexander and his entourage did not. It was also mentioned that Alexander the Great came to the area at the time of King Faridun, and that al-Khidhr was a son of a man who believed in the religion of Abraham and emigrated with him from Babylon. Ibn Ka’b was quoted to say that Prophet Muhammad had mentioned that the companion whom Moses ibn Imran asked for advice and learned from alKhidhr. Al-Tha’labi argued that if Moses became a prophet at the time of King Manushahr who followed his grandfather King Faridun, it is not accurate that al-Khidhr was Armia bin Khalfia, because Armis was contemporary to Nebuchadnezzar. Everyone knows that there was a time lapse between the time of Moses and Nebuchadnezzar, unless one believes in what was said that al-Khidhr

257 came at the time Alexander’s army advanced in that area at the time of Abraham, and that al-Khidhr had water from the eternity spring. Therefore, he became an eternal prophet whom the eyes cannot see. Going back to the story of Moses and his servant boy, it was said that they passed al-Khidhr while he was praying as he sat down on a mockado carpet that was floating on water. He was dressed in green. Moses greeted him. Al-Khidhr said: – May peace prevail in your land. – I am Moses. – Moses of Bani Israel? – Yes. – But you have a mission to your people. – My God sent me to follow you and learn your knowledge. They sat down to talk. A sparrow flew by and carried some water in its beak. AlKhidhr said: – Oh Moses! It came to your mind that you know more than anyone else on earth! Whatever you know, whatever I know, and whatever our ancestor and our children in the future know, is not more than that amount of water the sparrow carried in its beak, compared to what Allah knows. That was referred to in Verse 65 of the Cave chapter of the Qur’an, which goes like this: So they found One of Our servants On whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves And whom We had taught Knowledge from Our own Presence. Ibn Abbas said that al-Khidhr had knowledge of the beyond. Moses asked him: – Should I follow you so that you can teach me of what you know? – You will not be patient enough. Allah gave me knowledge of beyond. How could you be patient enough to learn that? – By Allah willing, I will be very patient, and I will not violate any of your instructions. – Now, if you want to come with me, you should not ask me about anything that you don’t like, until I explain it to you and show you the matter completely. – Deal!

258 They set off looking for a boat to take. They came by a new boat and boarded it. The crew of the boat said that these two men looked like thieves and suggested kicking them out. However, the captain disagreed and thought that the two men looked like prophets. Ibn Ka’b reported that the Prophet Muhammad said that the two (Moses and al-Khidhr) began to walk on the shore when a boat passed by. The crew recognized al-Khidhr. They asked to get on board, and the crew took them without saying any other word. As the boat was floating far in the sea, al-Khidhr up an ax and made a hole in its side. Water began to flow inside it. Moses took off his shirt, tried to fill the hole, and turned to al-Khidhr and said: – What do you think you are doing! You make a hole in this boat to have it drowned. These people took us on board and treated us very nicely. They should no be rewarded in this way. You have done something that is truly wrong! – Oh Moses! Didn’t I tell you that you will not be patient with me? – Please forgive me! I forgot what I told you. Please don’t make my life miserable. Ibn ‘Abbas said that when al-Khidhr made that hole, Moses moved to the far end of the boat. He said to himself: – Why am I in the company of this man? I used to live among Bani Israel and read them Allah’s book in the morning and evening. I give them orders and they obey me! Al-Khidhr said to Moses: – Oh Moses! Do you want me to tell you what you have said to yourself? – Yes. – You said such and such. – Absolutely! You are right. They walked and came to a village where they met ten young boys led by one who was the bravest and most handsome among them. Ibn ‘Abbas said that the boy had not yet come of age. Inb al-Dhahak said that the young man was immoral and that his parents suffered as a result of that. Al-Kalbi said that the young man was a thief who stole things at night and would come to his parents’ house during the day. As a result of loving him, his parents would swear that he had spent the night at home, thus, would provide an alibi for him. There was some disagreement regarding the young man’s name. Al-Dhahak said that it was Hasnud. Some said it was al-Hussain. Wahb bin Munabbih said that young man’s father’s name was Malas and his mother was Rahmah. Ibn Munabbih said that al-Khidhr held the boy and killed him. There was some disagreement on

259 how the boy was killed. Sa’d Ibn Jabr said that al-Khidhr threw the boy on the ground and butchered him with a knife. Al-Kalbi said that he threw the boy on his back and cut off his head. Some said that he kicked him and killed him. Some said that he hit the boy’s head against a wall and killed him. Yet, in another account it was said that the boy died when al-Khidhr pushed his finger inside the boy’s belly and pulled it out. Moses said: – You have killed an innocent soul which has not done any wrong to deserve such a punishment! Truly, you have done some reprehensible acts! Qatadah said that al-Khidhr got so angry that he pulled the boy’s left shoulder cut open, peeled off the flesh from the bone to show what was written on it: “an atheist who will never believe in Allah!” This account was verified by Abdu Allah bin Hamid, Ahmad Bin Abdu Allah, Muhammad bin Abdu Allah Bin Sulaiman, Yahya Bin Qais, Abi Ishaq, and Ibn Ka’b. They all stated that it was heard that Prophet Muhammad said the boy whom al-Khidhr killed was an atheist. Al-Khidhr said to Moses: – Didn’t I tell you that you will not be patient? – You can break up this companionship if I ask one more question! You will have the excuse to part and leave me behind. Al-Tha’labi reported that he was told by Abdu Alwahid bin Hamid al-Wazzan who quoted Makki bin ‘Abdan, Abu Al-Rahman bin Bishr, Hajjaj bin Mujhammad, Hamzatu al-Zayat, Abu Ishaq, Sa’id bin Jubair, Ibn ‘Abbas and Abu Ibn Ka’b as saying that whenever Prophet Muhammad prayed for mercy he would say, “May Allah have mercy on Me and My Brother, Moses!” If Moses were to stay with al-Khidhr he would have seen the strangest of the strange things. But, he said to al-Khidhr, “If I ask you about one thing more you will be excused from having me as a companion!” Al-Khidhr and Moses came to a village. Here historians disagreed again on the matter. Ibn ‘Abbas said that it was the old city Antioch in Syria. Muhammad bin Siriyn said it was Aiylah, which is the farthest land from heaven. Yet, some said it was one of the Roman Villages named Nasira, to which the Christians belonged. Anyway, al-Khidhr and Moses arrived there just before the sunset. They asked for food and lodging, but the people of the village gave them a cold shoulder. Historians said that those people were truly rude. Qatdah, for instance, said that the village was the most evil one because its residents did not meet their obligations to welcome guests, nor offered travelers lodging. Al-Khidhr and Moses could not find food, nor drink, nor (a) place to spend the night, which was very cold. They took shelter by a leaning wall on the main road. The people of that village and others used to avoid passing by that wall because they were

260 afraid that it would fall on them. The wall was built by a good man. Some said its width was 30 arms by 500 arms in length. Some said that its width was 50 arms. Al-Khidhr straightened up that leaning wall. Ibn ‘Abbas said that he tore it down and then rebuilt it up again. Sa’id bin Jubair said that al’Khidhr touched the wall with his hand, then pushed it with his shoulder back to its normal position. Moses asked: – Why did you do that? You should have asked for fees for this kind of job. You know we need money to support ourselves while we travel. They do not deserve any assistance from us. Remember they did not welcome us as their guests. – This is it! I cannot take anymore! You have to go now! But before you leave, let me explain things to you. I know you want answers to what you asked about. He began to explain to Moses: – Regarding the boat, it belonged to some poor people who used to work on it in the sea. Ka’b and others said that the boat belonged to ten brothers who had nothing to support them except that boat. They inherited it from their father. Five of them worked on the boat, but the other five did not like to work in the sea. The five who worked on the boat included one with leprosy, the second was blind in one eye, the third was lame, the fourth was drunk, and the fifth, the youngest, suffered from fever constantly. The other five who did not like to work on the boat were a blind (man), a deaf-mute, a dumb, a crippled, and the fifth was crazy. The sea they used to work in was an area extending from Persia to the Sea of the Romans. It was said that ‘Akrama asked Ibn ‘Abbas if he would say that the boat belonged to poor individuals and the boat was worthy of a thousand Dinars. Ibn ‘Abbas responded that anyone who was traveling was poor even if he owned a thousand Dinars. Al’Khidhr continued to explain to Moses his motives. He said: – I wanted to damage the boat to keep those with evil intentions so that no one would have any desire or objective to take it over. Their king was taking over any undamaged boat by force. Allah told me to damage it so that the king will not seize it. Historians disagreed on the name of that king. Some said it was Jalandi and he was an atheist. Ibn Ishaq said his name was Minwah bin Jalandi, the Jordanian. Shu’aib al-Jiba’l said that the name of the king was Hadad bin Badad. It was said

261 that the king owned 360 palaces, and that he had a wife in each of them. In the end, al-Khidhr closed the hole in the boat. Al-Khidhr said: – In regards to the boy, his parents were believers but we were afraid that he would persecute, hurt and kill them. We wanted to exchange him for another child who is better and kind. It was also said that al-Khidhr was afraid that when the boy came of age he would pressure his parents to become atheists, and they would accept his belief because they loved him so much. It was also mentioned that the young man might commit sins, the parents would give him a blind eye, and they would end in hell. Al-Tha’labi said that he was informed by Abdu Allah bin Ahmad who quoted Abu Muhammad Abdu al-qaddah, and Ja’far al-Sadiq as saying that the boy was replaced by a girl who later gave birth to 70 prophets. Hewever, Ibn Jariij said that the boy was exchanged for a Muslim boy, and the first one was an atheist. Qatada said that the boy’s parents were very happy when he was born and became sad when he was killed but if the boy remained alive he would have caused them peril. A believer should accept Allah’s decision, even if he does not like it. That is better than satisfying himself with something that Allah does not like. Al’Khidhr continued his justification saying: – As for the wall, it belonged to two orphans. Their names were Asram and Sarim. There was a treasure under that wall. Historians disagreed on the nature of the treasure. Ibn ‘Abbas said Sa’id bin Jubair said it was valuable texts with knowledge written in them, and those texts were buried under that wall. Al-Hasan and Ja’far bin Muhammad said that it was a tablet that had the following writing on it: “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. I am surprised, as he who believes in fate gets sad; he who believes in the blessing of Allah but labors hard; he who believes that death is inevitable but feels happy; he who believes in the Day of Judgment but accumulates fortune; and he who knows how often this world tosses about but trusts it. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah!” Some said that the treasure was really money. These included Abu Bakr al-Khamshawi al-Muzki, Abu al-Hasan Ahmad bin Faidus al-Tara’fi, ‘Uthnan bin Sa’id Safwan al-Dimashqi, Yazid bin Muslim al-San’ani, Yazid bin Yazid, Makhoul and Abu al-Dardaa’ were quoted as saying that Prophet Muhammad said that the treasure Allah mentioned was made of gold and silver. The name of the two boys’ father was Kashih and he was a good, religious, and honest man. It was mentioned by the Alawites that a man planned to kill Haroun al Rashid was brought before him. However, al Rashid honored the man and let him go. The man was asked by the people, – What did you say in your prayers that saved your life?

262 – I said, “You who kept the treasure safe for the boys because their father was a good man, protect me because my ancestors were good Muslims. Al-Khidhr continued his explanation to Moses by saying: – Your God wanted the treasure to stay safe under the wall until the two boys would come of age. Then they would dig out their treasure. I did not do that because I wanted to do it. I simply did what Allah wanted me to do. It was also reported that when Moses criticized al-Khidhr for digging a hole in the boat, killing the handsome, strong boy, and pushing the leaning wall to an upright position without fee, al-Khidhr said: – Oh Moses! You blamed me for making a hole in the boat because you were afraid that the crew would be drowned, but you forgot to mention when your mother set you afloat in the sea, Allah saved your life. You blamed me for killing the atheist boy, but you forgot to mention when you killed the Copt for no reason. You blamed me for straightening the leaning wall without charging fees, but you forgot to mention when you took Sh’aib’s sheep to drink water to satisfy the tyrant king. This is the story of how Moses and his slave-boy met al-Khidhr when they were wandering about. After leaving al-Khidhr, Moses returned to his people who were wandering about. It was reported that Ali bin Abi Talib, the Fourth Well-Guided Caliph, and others said that when Moses wanted to part with al-Khidhr, al-Khidhr said: – Go in Allah’s safety! – Give me some advice! – Well, don’t wander about without a purpose! Avoid stubbornness! Don’t constantly remind the sinners of their sins! Cry and pray for your sins! Don’t postpone today’s work until tomorrow! It was reported that the Prophet Muhammad asked his companions if they wanted to hear a story of al-Khidhr. When they said, “Yes.”, he told them the following story. He said: – While al-Khidhr was walking in one of the markets of Bani Israel a beggar approached him and said: – May Allah bless you, give me some money! – I have great faith in Allah and His will, but I do not have money. In fact, I do not have anything to give you. However, you can sell me as a slave. – Do you think this is a proper thing to do?

263 – You asked me in the name of Allah, the Creator, and I am responding to your request. So, take hold of my hand and take me to the slave market! The man took al-Khidhr by the hand and sold him for 400 Dinars. The man who bought al-Khidhr left him alone and did not bother to ask him to do anything. A few days later, al-Khidhr said to the man: – You have to ask me to do some thing. I have been sitting around doing nothing! – You are an old man, and I hate to burden you with labor. – No, no! Don’t worry. I can work. – All right. Move that pile of rocks from that place to here. It would take a team of six men who would work a whole day to remove the rocks from point one to point two. It took al-Khidhr just one hour to finish the job. That was with the help of an angel whom Allah sent to assist al-Khidhr finish his task. The man was truly surprised and thanked al-Khidhr very much. The man had a plan to travel somewhere. He said to al-Khidhr: – You seem to be an honest and good man, and I would like to trust you to take care of my family in my absence. – Allah willing, I will do that. Do you want me to do anything else? – I hate to burden you with physical hard work. – Don’t worry! I can do that. – All right! I want you to prepare enough clay bricks that I can use in building my palace. – I will do that. The man left on his trip, and when he returned back he found that al-Khidhr had completed building a whole palace, the way the man wanted. He was totally surprised and said to al-Khidhr: – Who are you? – I am the slave that you bought. – I ask you, in the name of Allah, to tell me who you really are! – The way by which you asked me your question is what has put me into slavery! Well, I am al-Khidhr! A beggar asked me, in the name of Allah, just as you have done, to give him money. Because I had no money, I made myself available for him to sell. I know that if someone asks for help, in the name of Allah, and one who is able to provide it does not respond favorably, one will stand in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment and one’s face will have neither flesh nor skin, only clattering bones.

264 The man cried and began to kiss al-Khidhr. He said: – By the life of my father and my mother! I had felt mercy towards you, though I did not know who you are. My fortune and my family are at your request! Do you want me to set you free? – Yes, I want you to set me free, so I can worship my Lord. The man was an atheist, but he became a Muslim in front of al-Khidhr. In addition, he gave him 400 Dinars, and let him go. That was the source of the verse in the Qur’an referring to saving al-Khidhr from slavery, having the man converting to Islam in front of him, and being paid a Dinar for every Dirham. The Prophet Muhammad concluded his story by saying that he who will follow the path of Allah will not loose. This is the story of al-Khidhr, and Moses and his attendant. Only Allah 3 knows the truth! The story of Jirjiis, peace be upon him. Abu Abd Allah Al-Dhabbi quoted Wahb ibn Munabbih Al-Yamaani as saying that once upon a time that there was king in Mousel, Iraq, whose name was Zaadaanah. He was the king whom all the inhabitants of all al-Shaam submitted and to whom they offered their allegiance. The king was a cruel tyrant and worshipped an idol named ‘Afloon. Jirjiis was a pious man from Palestine and he lived at the same time some of Jesus’ disciples were still alive. He was a merchant who had accumulated a big fortune but at the same time he was also generous and gave a lot of money to the needy. He did not trust the rulers of Palestine and did not want them to harass him because of his religion and belief. One day Jirjiis decided to travel to Mousel. He brought with him a lot of money to offer to the king, hoping the king would extend his protection, and therefore nobody would bother him. Jirjiis attended a ceremonial meeting the king held the first day he arrived in Mousel. The king ordered that his idol be brought forward to the crowd. A big fire was built. People who refused to worship the idol were mercilessly tortured and then thrown into the fire. When Jirjiis, peace be upon him, witnessed this he became very frightened and disgusted by all the ceremonial torture. He thought then that he should stand up and protest such cruel practices. Allah made his anger and determination to protest stronger. First, Jirjiis distributed all the money he brought with him among the pious people. Then he approached the king and said: – You need to know that you are nothing but a chattel slave who does not have control over his own destiny or other people’s destiny. Your God is the one who owns you and everyone else. It is he who created you, gave

265 you life, provided for you, can harm you or help you. He can put an end to your life. He is the Supreme Being who is able to do anything He wants. Instead of worshipping Him, you turn to a piece of rock that cannot see, hear, talk or protect you. You have decorated your idol with gold and silver and you forced your people to worship it. The king said: – Who are you and where do you come from? – I am the slave of Allah, and the son of his slave. I am the most humble among his creatures. I was created from the dust and to dust I will return. – If you have such a god, people who have seen his blessings upon you just as the people around me and those obedient to me are. – My God! You equate this dumb idol with the God of heaven and earth? Will you compare Ophelia, the most noble among your people, and what he received from you with Elias and the blessings he received from Allah? Elias was a human being but Allah let him grow feathers and He covered him with light and let him fly with the angels. As you might say, He became an angel/man being of heavenly and earthly dwellings. Do you consider Makhlatiis and what he received from you equal to Jesus ibn Maryam and the blessings he received from Allah? Allah preferred him over all men. He made him and his mother an example for all believers. Do you consider that pure spirit Maryam, whom Allah has chosen among all the women that He had created, equal to Arbil and what she received from you? As you well know, Arbil was one of your subjects and Allah made the wild dogs attack her in her own house. They mangled her flesh and licked her blood, and the hyenas cut her body to pieces. The king said: – You are talking about matters of which we are unaware. Bring those two men that you have mentioned over (here) so I can see them with my own eyes! I cannot believe what you have said, because I think that human beings cannot do whatever you said these two men were able to do. – Your denial is based on your lack of belief in Allah. You will not see these two men and they will not see you unless you choose the same work as they do and you go to the area where they live. – Well, we are convinced that you are telling lies because you are unable to submit proof of all the claims that you have made. Then the king gave Jirjiis the choice between submitting and praying to ‘Afloon or torture. Jirjiis said: – Is ‘Afloon was the one who raised heavens and extended earth, you are

266 right and have given good advice. If not, then you are nothing but a despicable and cursed spirit. When the king heard the insult to himself and to his god, he was enraged and cursed and insulted Jirjiis and his God. Then, he offered that a board with nails sticking out of it like a comb be brought. He ordered some of his followers to scratch Jirjiis’ body with it until his skin was cut open and his flesh bled. He ordered (them) to spread vinegar and mustard over his body. Jirjiis did not feel anything because Allah protected him. When the king noticed that Jirjiis did not show any signs of pain, he ordered that six big nails be heated red-hot. He ordered that those blazing nails be hammered into Jirjiis’ head until his brain melted. Jirjiis was saved from death and protected from pain. When the king noticed that, he ordered his attendants to bring a big water basin made of copper. They built a big fire inside the basin until it became burning hot. He ordered that Jirjiis be put inside the basin and a lid put on it. When the fire died out and the basin cooled down, Jirjiis was found to be fine and safe. The brutal torture did not kill him. When the king realized that he asked that Jirjiis be brought before him. He told him: – Oh Jirjiis, didn’t you feel any pain? – My God whom I told you about protected me from pain and gave me patience to protest against you. The king now realized that bad things were coming his way and he feared for himself and his kingdom. He decided that the best thing to do was to put Jirjiis in jail. Some of his advisors told him that even if Jirjiis was put in jail he would still be able to talk to people, influence them and turn them against the king himself. They recommended that Jirjiis be tortured so that he would be occupied and would have no time to talk to others. Jirjiis was thrown prone on the ground and his hands and feet were tied to four iron pins. A huge piece of marble was placed on his back and eighteen men were told to sit on it all day long; that was how Jirjiis spent his first day of captivity. When night time came, Allah sent him an angel. This was the first time that Allah established contact with Jirjiis. The angel removed the stone and untied his hands and feet. He gave him food, water and promised him victory over the king. When morning came, the angel released Jirjiis and said: – Go now after your enemy and fight him with truth. Allah said that He will strengthen your patience and determination because your torture will last for seven years. The king will kill you four times, but Allah will return your soul back to your body. The fourth time He will bring you to His side.

267 The people were taken by surprise when Jirjiis went to the marketplace and started preaching to the public. The king came and asked: – Oh Jirjiis, who released you from jail? – He whose authority is bigger than yours. The king became very angry and ordered that Jirjiis should be subjected to the severest forms of torture and abuse. Jirjiis felt fear and distress and began to talk and blame himself loudly. When he stopped, the king ordered that Jirjiis be put on a board and be sliced in half with a sword. The attendants did that and then began to cut his flesh into small pieces. They brought seven lions from a nearby den and threw Jirjiis’ flesh to them. Allah ordered the lions not to touch that flesh. The lions obeyed and instead stood guard so that no one could come near what was left of Jirjiis. This was how Jirjiis experienced his first death and was left there dead one whole day. When night time came, Allah collected Jirjiis’ body pieces, put them together and returned his soul to his body. He sent Jirjiis an angel who helped him stand up. He fed him and gave him water and promised him victory. The angel said: – Oh, Jirjiis! – Yes. – You need to know that the power by which Allah created Adam is the same that put you back together. Go after your enemy and fight him with Allah’s words and die like the steadfast believers. The king and his company held a party to celebrate the end of Jirjiis when Jirjiis showed up and approached them. The king said to his men: – This man looks like Jirjiis very much. – Your Majesty, certainly he looks like him. – I don’t think it is him. Don’t you see how quiet this man is? I think this is another man. Jirjiis said: – It is me, Jirjiis! You evil people! You killed me and mutilated my body but Allah gave me life once again. Why don’t you come to Him, He who has shown you what you have not been able to see? When he said that, they began to talk among themselves and said: – He must be a magician who is trying to bewitch us! The king decided to bring all the magicians in his kingdom together and he invited them to his palace. When they came he said to their chief: – Show me best that you can do!

268 The Chief Magician said: – I need a bull. When a bull was brought forward, the magician spit in one of its ears, then in the other. Suddenly, the bull split into two bulls. The magician ordered some seeds. He then tilled the ground, sowed the seeds, had them grow, harvested the produce, threshed the grain, strew it, crushed it into flour, then kneaded it and made bread. All that was done in one hour. The king said: – I want you to transform Jirjiis into an animal. – What kind of animal? – A dog! The magician asked for a glass of water. He spat in it and asked the king to order Jitjiis to drink that water. When Jirjiis finished drinking, the magician asked: – How did you find it? – It was tasty! Allah sent it to me because I was thirsty. The magician turned to the king and said: – Your Majesty! If you were contesting with a man you would have no problem in winning. You are contesting with the Almighty of heavens and earth. Let me tell this story. A poor woman from Al-Shaam had heard about Jirjiis and the wonders he performed. She came to him at the time when he was very distressed and said: – Oh, Jirjiis! I am a poor woman and have come to seek your help and mercy. I have two oxen that I have been using to till my farm. My oxen are now dead. I want you to pray to Allah that life be restored to my two oxen. Jirjiis’ eyes were filled with tears when he heard her story. He prayed to Allah to help that poor woman. He gave her a stick and said: – Go to your oxen and hit them with his stick and ask them to stand up on their feet, in the name of Allah. – Oh, Jirjiis! My oxen died a week ago and their corpses have been eaten by predators. It will be a few days before I can reach where they were. – Even if you find a little remains of them, just touch that with the stick and your oxen will be alive again by Allah’s will. The woman went back to her farm and went to the place where she left the corpses of her oxen. She found that the only parts of them were the chin of one and the hair of the other’s ears. She collected them, touched them, and asked

269 them to stand up. The two oxen stood up by Allah’s will, and the woman started working them on her farm. The news spread among the people and everyone heard it. When the magician finished telling his story, a prominent member of the king’s entourage said: – Your Majesty, you thought that Jirjiis was a magician. You tortured him but that torture did not bother him. You killed him but he did not die. Have you ever seen a magician challenging death, or able to restore life to a dead body? Everyone said: – It looks like you have been influenced by him. The prominent man said: – I am and I hereby bear witness that I am a believer in Allah. I have nothing to do with your gods and your beliefs. Very soon the king and his company pulled out their daggers and stabbed him to death. When people witnessed it four thousand of them said that they would now follow Jirjiis. The king ordered that those four thousand be tortured until annihilation. When the murder mission ended, the king turned to Jirjiis and said: – All right! Would you like to pray to your god to bring those followers of yours back to life? You know they were punished for your offense. – Their time has come. Nothing can be done. Another prominent man of the entourage named Makhlatiis said: – Oh Jirjiis, you claim that your god creates things and makes them die. I am asking you to have your god do something. If it is done, then I will believe in you. I will be convinced that you have told the truth and I will defend you. This group of people is sitting on fourteen chairs around a table. There are cups, saucers and jars, all made of wood. Ask your god to return these items to their origins and have them grow out to be the original kind of trees their wood came from. Have him make these items grow green with branches, leaves and flowers. – You ask for something that you and I find impossible, but Allah finds easy. As Jirjiis began his prayers, every item began to grow into the tree of its origin, complete with branches, leaves and flowers. Everyone was watching. Makhlatiis said:

270 – I will torture this magician and put an end to his act. He made a bull of bronze and made its inside spacious enough to put Jirjiis in it. He added oil, lead, sulfur, and arsenic, and he set the whole thing on fire. Everything melted inside, including Jirjiis, who died and his remains mixed with everything else. When Jirjiis died, Allah sent a storm which filled the sky with clouds, thunder, lightning and thunderbolts. Then a sand storm covered the country with dust and darkness. Everything between earth and sky was black. People were confused and could not tell whether it was day or night. Allah sent the angel Mika’iil who came to the place where Jirjiis was burnt and picked up the lump that was the bronze bull and its contents. He hit the ground with it and it made a huge noise that frightened the inhabitants of Al-Shaam and made them run around in shock. The mass broke open, and Jirjiis came out of it alive. Soon the darkness disappeared and light covered the earth and sky. People calmed down when Jirjiis began to talk to them. A man named Tofilia approached him and said: – Oh Jirjiis, we don’t know whether these marvels are your doing or if they are your god’s actions. If it is your god who does them, we want to pray to him and have him bring our people who are resting in these tombs back to life again. Surely, there are some of them that we know and some whom we do not know. Jirjiis said: – I know that when Allah forgives you and makes these marvels, He will hold you responsible and use that as proof against you. You will harvest his anger if you do not follow His message. Then, Jirjiis ordered that the graves be exhumed and the people found some bones and dust. He began his prayers and soon seventeen human beings rose. They included nine men, five women and three children. Among them there was an old man whom Jirjiis asked: – Oh old man, what is your name? – Oh Jirjiis, my name is Toobil. – When did you die? The man said that he died on such and such date. The crowd calculated and found that this man had died four hundred years ago. When the king and his entourage witnessed that they said: – There is nothing left to torture him with except starving him to death. Let us withhold his food and drink supplies until we get rid of him. They

271 decided to confine him to house arrest at an old poor woman’s home. She was living with her deaf, dumb, and lame son. The king’s guards made sure that no food would come into that house. When Jirjiis felt thirsty and hungry he asked the old lady: – Do you have some thing to drink or to eat? – By He whom the people swear by, we have not seen food in some time. I will go out and get you something. – Do you know Allah? – Yes. – Do you worship him? – No. Jirjiis talked to her and she trusted him and became a true believer. She left the house to look for food. Jirjiis began to pray and soon one of the beams began to become green and carried fruit and almonds. Another beam began to carry green beans and a third beam grew up into a big tree to shade the house. When the old woman came back she noticed that Jirjiis was eating happily. She said: – I believe in Him, He who has fed you in this house of hunger. Please pray to this Great God to heal my son. She brought her son closer. Jirjiis spat in the boy’s eyes and he restored his sight. He puffed in his ears and the boy was able to hear. She said: – Please let his tongue speak and his legs walk, may Allah have mercy on you! – Wait until another great day. Meanwhile, the king went out for a walk one day and he noticed the huge tree that was shading the house. He said: – I do not remember such a huge tree shading the house before. His attendants said: – That tree grew up at the house where that magician was supposed to endure both hunger and thirst. Now he enjoys eating its fruit. He is now satisfied and so is the old woman and her son who was healed by Jirjiis. The king ordered that the house be demolished and the tree be cut down. When they demolished the house and approached the tree to cut it down, Allah made the tree dry up and turn into a log. Then they left it alone. He ordered that Jirjiis be put down on his face and a wheel with sharp blades

272 was put on his back. He ordered that 40 oxen would pull the wheel at once. As the oxen began to go around, Jirjiis’ body was cut into three pieces. The king ordered that one piece be burned in a big fire. Then he ordered that the ashes be taken to the sea and spread there. When the men turned around they heard a voice coming from the sky which said: – Oh sea, Allah asks that you keep and preserve this holy body untouched. I want to bring it back to life as it was before. Then, Allah sent the wind which collected the ashes from the sea and put them together in a heap. Soon Jirjiis came out of it dusting off his hair. Filled with surprise, they went back to the king with Jirjiis in their company. They reported to the king the story of the voice, the wind and how Jirjiis came back to life again. The king said: – Oh Jirjiis, why don’t you and I do something that serves both our interests. If it were not my fear that people might think that you have won over and defeated me, I would have followed you and become a believer. Why don’t you bow down in worship to ‘Afloon just once and kill one sheep, and I will do anything that pleases you. – Anything? – Anything. – All right! Take me to your idol. The king was very happy and he kissed Jirjiis’ hands, feet and head. He said: – I want you to be my guest and spend the night in my house and sleep in my bed so that you can rest and relax from the torture. I want people to know the honor you will endow me by sleeping under my roof. Jirjiis agreed and he went with the king. As night fell Jirjiis began to pray and read from the Book of Psalms. Jirjiis had a beautiful voice. When the king’s wife heard him, she responded to his prayers and, as he looked back, he noticed that she was standing behind him. He called upon her to believe in his call and she did. He asked her to keep her faith in secret. When morning came, Jurjiis went with the king to the shrine so that he would do what he had promised the king. When the old woman heard of the event, she came with her son on her shoulder. Her intention was to reprimand Jirjiis. When Jirjiis entered the shrine many people came in as well, including the old woman who was able to be close to Jirjiis. When he noticed her, he asked the boy to speak and the boy spoke for the first time in his life. Then, he jumped off his mother’s shoulder and began to run around; he came and stood before Jirjiis who told him: – Boy, you now go and ask the idols to come forward.

273 There were then seventy idols that were set on golden bases. People used to worship them and worship the sun and the moon, as well. The boy asked: – What should I tell them? – Tell them that Jirjiis is asking you to come forward in the name of He who created you. When the boy did that, the idols came tumbling down. Jirjiis kicked the ground and it opened and swallowed the idols. The devil came out of those idols as they began to disappear. As the devil passed by Jirjiis, he took hold of his forelock and said: – Tell me, you foul spirit and ugly form, why do you want to perish and have people perish with you? You know that you and your followers will end in hell. The devil said: – If I were given a choice between owning anything under the sun’s light and night’s darkness or lead one human being astray, I would take the second option. I love and enjoy that as nothing else. Don’t you know, oh Jirjiis, that Allah made all the angels bow down to your father, Adam? I was the only one who refused to do that and said I was better than Adam. When he finished Jirjiis let him go. From that moment on, the devil did not enter inside any idol. The king, who was witnessing what was going on, said: – Oh Jirjiis, you have deceived me, tricked me and destroyed my gods. – I did that to teach you a lesson and to show you that if they were truly gods, they would have resisted my action. Woe unto you, how could you trust those “gods” who cannot protect themselves against me? I am weak and the only power I have is that which Allah endowed me with. As he finished, the king’s wife came forward. She told the crowd that she was now a believer. She talked to the people and enumerated the wonders Jirjiis had done. She told them that those wonders were messages from Allah to them. She said: – You have to accept the call of this man because if you don’t he will sink you down into the ground the same way he sank down your idols. Please people, have mercy on yourselves! The king said: – Woe unto you, oh Iskandarah! How fast you have been misled by this magician. It is only one night! He has been working on me for seven years and he has been unsuccessful.

274 She said: – Don’t you see how Allah makes him a victor over you and provides him with proof in every aspect and place? Don’t you see how easily he finds your weaknesses, and how Allah offers him support and gives him power over you? When the king heard that, he ordered that his wife be put on the same board with nails with which they had tortured Jirjiis. When she felt pain she looked at Jirjiis and said: – Pray to your god, oh Jirjiis, and ask him to reduce the pain for me because I feel how acute it is, Jirjiis said: – Look up! When she looked up she began to laugh. The king asked her: – What is it that makes you laugh? – I see two angels flying over my head. They are holding a crown decorated with heavenly precious stones. They are waiting for my soul to depart my body. When her soul left her body, the two angels put the crown on her head and lead her up to heaven. When Jirjiis saw that she had passed away, he began to pray: – Oh my Lord, you have blessed me with these difficult moments to guarantee me a place among the martyrs who have died for your cause. These are the last days of my life and you have promised me that I would rest from distress. My Lord, please don’t let my soul leave my body or remove me from this world before you destroy these arrogant people. Let your might and vengeance, which they have never seen before, fall upon them. That will make me truly happy and satisfied. They have tortured and abused me because of your call. I want you to offer your help, mercy and response to anyone who mentions my name or prays to you through my name. When Jirjiis finished his prayers, the sky began to rain fire on the king and his entourage. When they saw that, they rushed to Jirjiis, drew their swords and murdered him. It is with this fourth death that Allah gave Jirjiis what he had promised. The city was burnt to ashes. Allah turned it upside down. It was said that fire and acid smoke continued to pollute the air. Anyone who breathed the air became seriously ill. The total number of men and women who were killed 4 with Jirjiis that day was 34,000, and only Allah knows the truth.

275 The Story of Allah’s Prophet Idris, peace be upon him. In Verse 56 of Maryam (Mary) Chapter of the Qur’an Allah says: Also mention in the Book Idris. He was a man of truth And sincerity, and a prophet. Those who had knowledge of history and prophets’ tales said that Idris was the son of Berd. Some said he was the son of Yaariid ibn Mihla’il ibn Qainan ibn ‘Anuush bin Shiith ibn Adam. His original name was ‘Akhnuukh. He was named Idris because of his constant study of the books of Adam and Shiith (root DRS, to mean ‘study’). His mother’s name was ‘Ashuut. Idris was the first human to write, sew, wear sewn clothes, and be interested in the stars, astrology and mathematics. Allah sent him to Qaabiil’s offspring, and then He took him up to heaven. According to Ibn Abbaas and many others the reason why Idris was taken to heaven was that he was walking under the heat of the sun and got sunstroke. Idris said: – My Lord, I walked under the heat of the sun one day and I was hurt. How could the angel of the sun bear to carry it for 500 years? Lord, may You lighten its weight and reduce its heat! Next morning, the angel of the sun found the sun lighter and its heat was bearable. He wondered: – Oh, my Lord you have reduced the sun heat for me. How could this happen? Allah said: – My servant Idris asked me to make its weight lighter for you and (to) reduce its heat, and I responded to his prayer. The angel of the sun said: – My Lord, I want you to bring Idris and me together and make us friends. Allah agreed. When Idris and the angel of the sun met, Idris said: – I learned that you, angel of the sun, and the angel of death are truly close friends. Moreover, the angel of death listens to your advice and follows your suggestions. He then added: – Will you be able to ask him to extend my life?

276 – Why, if I may ask? – Well, so that I have more time to perform my prayers and thanks to Allah. The angel of the sun quoted Verse 11 from Munaafiquun Chapter (the Hypocrites) of the Qur’an: But to no soul Will Allah grant respite When the time appointed For it is come. Idris said: – I am aware of that, but still I want my life extended. The angel of the sun said: – I will do my best and I can assure you that the angel of death will respond to my request favorably if there is a prior similar case when a son of Adam was granted such an extension. It all depends on him. I will try, anyway. – Thank you! That is very kind of you. Then the angel of the sun carried Idris on his wings and flew him to where the sun rises and left him there. Then the angel of the sun went to meet the angel of death. When they met he said to him: – I have a friend who is a son of Adam and asked me that you do him a favor by extending his life. The angel of death said: – You know that a matter like this is not in my hands. I only take orders. However, I can tell your friend of the exact date of his life’s end so that he could prepare for it. Will that do? The angel of the sun said: – Fair enough! The angel of death asked: – What is the man’s name? – Idris. The angel of death checked his records and said:

277 – This is strange! You have been talking to me about a man who I see will never die on earth. The angel of the sun asked: – How could that be? The angel of death said: – Well, this man will die where the sun rises. – I just left my friend alive there. The angel of death said: – You are right, and I believe you. Go now and you will find him dead there. I swear by Allah that nothing was left for Idris! The angel of the sun went back and found that Idris was dead. In another account, Wahb ibn Munabbih reported that the amount of prayer Idris performed daily was equal to that of all the inhabitants of earth at his time. The angels were truly surprised and impressed. The angel of death longed to meet him. He asked permission from Allah to visit Idris, and the permission was granted. Idris used to fast daily all year long. The angel of death came to Idris in the form of a human being at the time of his evening meal. Idris invited the “man” to join him and share his dinner. The angel of death declined. He stayed there three nights, and for three nights he declined the invitation. Finally, Idris said: – I want to know who you are. The “man” said: – I am the angel of death. I asked Allah’s permission to visit you and be your friend. Idris said: – Can you do me a favor then? – What is it? – End my life! – What! – Take my soul. Instantly Allah told the angel of death to do just that, and the angel did it. Idris died, but an hour later the angel of death restored Idris to life. Then he asked him:

278 – Why did you want your life to end? – I wanted to experience the taste of death and the stress it caused so that I will be ready for it when my time comes up. Then Idris added: – I have another request. – What is it? – Take me to hell so that I can see it. – I cannot do it just like that. I need permission first. Allah granted permission and the angel of death took Idris to hell. Idris asked: – Is it possible that you ask the doorkeeper to open the gate? The gate was opened and Idris looked at what was going on for some time. Then he said: – I have another request. – What is it this time? Idris asked to be taken to heaven. Again permission was granted and the angel of death took Idris to heaven. Idris asked to have the gate opened. When the gate opened, Idris entered and began to wander about. After a while the angel of death reminded Idris: – Well, we have been here many hours and I believe it is time for you to go back to earth. So, let us go. Idris clung to a tree and said: – I am not leaving heaven! – You cannot do that. – Says who? Yes, I can, with Allah’s permission. Allah sent another angel to mediate the dispute between Idris and the angel of death. The mediating angel asked Idris why he refused to leave. Idris quoted three verses from the Qur’an, 1. Allah said in Verse 185 of Suratu’l Imraan: Every soul shall have A taste of death. He, Idris, had tasted that. 2. Allah said in Verse 71 of Suratu’l Maryam: Not one of you but will Pass over it.

279 And he, Idris, had passed over it. 3. Allah said in Verse 48 of Suratu’l Hijr: Nor shall they ever Be asked to leave. And therefore he, Idris, would not leave. Al-Tha’labi concluded his story by saying that Allah asked the angel of death to leave Idris alone, because he was granted permission by Him to enter heaven and it was Allah’s decree that Idris would stay alive there. Sometimes Idris performs his worship in the fourth heaven, sometimes he enjoys roaming aimlessly in sev5 enth heaven, and only Allah knows the truth. The Story of Ilias, Peace be upon him. Allah Almighty said after the story of Moses and Aaron in Surat al-Safaat: Wainna aliasa (Elias) lamina ‘lmursalina Idhqaala liqawmihi ‘ala tattaquna atadh‘ una ba’alan watadharuna ahsana ‘lkhaliqina… Salam ‘ala ilyasina inna kadhalika najzi ‘lmuhsinina inahu min ‘ibaadina ‘l mu’minina (37:123-132.). Also Ilias was among those who sent (by Us) When to his people he said you will not fear (Allah) Will you call for Ba’al and forsake the best Creator Peace be to such as Ilias So indeed we reward those who do right Because he was a servant of our believers. The scholars of descent said that he is: Ilias al nashbi. And it is said ibn Yasin ibn Finhaas b. Al’ayzaar b. Haarun. And it is also said Ilias b. Al’aazar b. Al’ayzaar bin Haarum b. ‘Umran. It has been said that he was sent to the people of Ba’alabak west of Damascus. He called them towards (to worship) Allah Almighty ( ‘azza wajal) and to leave worshipping of a statue of theirs whom they called Ba’al (Ba’alan). It also has been said that statue was of a woman Ba’al, but Allah is more knowledgeable. However, the first is most probably the correct one as (Allah) has told them, ala tattaquna… The people of Ba’alabak belied Ilias and stood against him and wanted him dead. It has been said that he fled and disappeared away from them. Abu Ya’qub al-Adhru’i said that Yazeed bin Abd’l Samad said that Hisham bin

280 Amaar said: I heard someone who remembers about Ka’ab al Ahbar who said: Ilias disappeared away from the king of his people in a cave that is under al-Dam for ten years, until Allah took the life of the king and place another king in his place. And Ilias approached him and offered him submission (Islam). Therefore a great number of people submitted, except for ten thousand of them. He ordered them dead, and they were all killed till the last one of them. And ibn abi-Addunya said: Abu Muhammad al-Qasin bin Hisham told me: ‘Umar b. sa’is al-Dimashqi told us: Sa’id b. Abdul-Aziz told us on behalf of some of the Wise men of Damascus: Ilias – peace be upon him- spent hiding away from his people twenty nights – Or he might say forty nights- in a cave with crows bringing him food. And Muhammad bin Sa’ad Kitab al-Waaqidi said: Hisham b. Muhammad b. al-Saa’ib al- Kalbi said that his father said: The first prophet who was sent by Allah was Idris (Enoch), then Nooh (Noah), then Ibrahim (Abraham), then Isma’il (Ishmael), then Is-Haak (Isaac), then Ya’aqub (Jacob), then Yusuf (Joseph), then Lut (Lot), then Humw (Hud), then Salih, then Shuib (Jethro), then Musa and Harun (Moses and Aaron) the sons of ‘Umran, then Ilias al-Nashbi b. All’azar b. Harun b. ‘Umran b. Qaahat b. al-Lawi b. Ya’aqub b. Is-Haaq b. Ibrahim, peace be upon them. It is this that he said: It was in this arrangement that it was viewed. Makhul said on behalf of Ka’ab: Four living prophets: Two on earth, Ilias and al-Khihr and two in heaven, Idris and Issa (Jesus), peace be upon them. A saying has reached us that Ilias and al-Khidhr would meet every year during the month of Ramadhan in Bait al-Maqdis and that they would perform the pilgrimage every year, and drink from Zamzam, enough to sustain them till the Pilgrimage of the following year. It has also reached us that they would meet at 6 Mt. Arafat every year. However, it is apparent that none of this is true, and evidence lies in the fact that al-Khidhr has died and like him Ilias, peace be upon them. It has reached us what has been mentioned by Wahb b. Munbah and others is that when he called (prayed) to Allah Almighty to take his life when he was belied and hurt, a riding animal (camel, horse) whose color is the color of fire, came and he rode it, and Allah created feathers for him and dressed him (covered him, surrounded him) with light, and cut off (eliminated) his desire for food and water and he (Ilias) became heavenly and earthly angel-like, and human-like. It has been recommended to al-Yasa’ b. Akhtub and therefore this has been looked 7 into. This story is from the Isra’ilyyat that cannot be confirmed or denied. However, it seems that this is far from the truth…and Allah is more knowledgeable. As for the hadith (story) that was told by al-Hafidh Abu Bakr Kalbihiqi: We were told by Abu Abdullah al-Hafidh: I was told by al-‘Abbas b. Sa’id alMa’adani al-Bukhari: We were told by ‘Abdullah b. Mahmud: We were told by ‘Abdaan b. Sinaan: I was told by Ahmad b. Abdullah al-Barqi: We were told by

281 Yazid b. Yazid al-Balwi (Balawi): We were told by Abu Is-haaq al Fazari on behalf of Awzaa’I on behalf of Makhul, on behalf of Anas b. Malik who said: We were with the messenger of Allah- Prayers and Peace be upon him- in travel and we stopped somewhere. There was a man in the valley (Wadi) saying: ‘Oh Allah include me in the mercified, forgiven nation of Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him.’ So I approached the Wadi and found a man of a height more than three hundred arms-length. He said to me: ‘Who are you?’ So I said to him: “Anas b. Maluk, the servant of the messenger of Allah, Prayers and Peace be upon him.’ He said: ‘And where is he (Muhhammad)?’ And I said: ‘He is listening to what you say.’ So he said: ‘Go to him and deliver my greetings (wishes for peace) upon him and tell him, ‘Your brother Ilias sends his greetings of peace.’ So I went to the prophet – prayers and peace be upon him- and told him. So he went until he met him and then embraced and greeted him. Then sat down to speak and he (ilias) told him (Muhammad): Oh Messenger of Allah, I do not eat throughout the year except for one day, and today is the day I eat (break my fast), and thus you and I shall eat together.’ Then a table descended upon them from heaven, and on it was bread, fish and karfas (celery, parsley), and they ate and fed me, and we prayed the afternoon prayer. Then he (Ilias) bade him (Muhammad) farewell, and I saw him (Ilias) ascend into the clouds towards heaven. However, it was settled by al-Baihaqi, who said: ‘This is a weak 8 hadith.’ And what is surprising is that al-Hakim abu ‘Abdullah al-Nisaaburi 9 removed it from his analysis of al-sa-hee-hayn and its meaning is not correct either, for it has come in two saheehs that the Messenger of Allah- prayers and peace be upon him- said: ‘Allah has created Adam with the height of sixty arm lengths in the sky…’ until he (the prophet) said- ‘from which the creations of Allah shorten to this very day: In the previous story it was mentioned that it was not him (Ilias) who came to the messenger of Allah- prayers and peace be upon him- but that it was he (Muhammad) who went to him (Ilias), and this can not be right, for it is more correct for Ilias to seek to be in the hands of (go to) the last of the prophets (Muhammad). It has also come [to our attention] that he eats during the year only once, and it has been mentioned by Wahb that Allah has taken his desire for food and drink. And it has been mentioned by some of them that he drinks from Zamzam every year enough to suffice him until the same time of the following year. These are all contradicting things and therefore they were all void and nothing of them can be valid. And ibn ‘Asaakir has led this hadith from another way (point of view), and he recognized their weakness, and that is surprising to him. How could he speak of it? He has taken it by way of Hussein b. ‘Arafah by Haam’ b. al-Hassan, by Baqiyya, by al-Awzaa’I, by Makhul, by Wathila, by ibn al-Asqa’, and he dealt with the issue in length. It was said that the encounter was during the war of 10 Tabuk (Ghazwat Tabuk) and that the Messenger of Allah- prayers and peace

282 upon him- sent to him (Ilias) Anas b. Malik and Hadhayfah b. al-Yaman who have said: ‘And we found him to be physically taller than we are by two or three arm-lengths. He apologized for his inability not to scare the camels.’ Within it was that when the Messenger of Allah- prayers and peace be upon him- convened (got together) with him, they ate food from heaven, and he (Ilias) said: ‘I can eat once every forty days, and on the table is bread of grapes, bananas, ratib 11 (moist, ripe and juicy) and grains except onion. In it was that the Messenger of Allah- prayers and peace be upon him- asked him (Ilias) about al-khidhr, and he (Ilias) said: ‘ The last time I remember meeting him was a previous year, and he told me: ‘You will encounter him before I do, so deliver my greetings (peace) to him.’ This indicates that al-khidhr and Ilias, in the estimation of their existence and the accuracy of this hadith has not convened with (met) the prophet until 12 the ninth year hijri and that does not make sense religiously. And that is an issue, too. Ibn ‘Asaakir has mentioned stories of people who have met Ilias, and they are all not to be pleased with, because they are poorly supported or because of the ignorance as to whom these stories are attributed to. One of the best was that Abu Bakr b. Abi-Addunya said: ‘ Bishr Ibn Mu’adh told me Hamaad b. Waaqid in the name of Thaabit that he said: ‘We were with Mus’ab b. al-Zubir in the 13 Sawaad al-Kufa , so I entered a wall (room) to pray kneeling. I started with: Ha Mim. Tanzilu al-kitabi mina Allahi al-‘azizi al-‘alimi ghafiri ‘ldhdhanbi waqaabili at- tawbi shadidi al-‘iqaabi dhi at-tuli… (40:1-2.). Ha Mim. The revelation of this book is from Allah most powerful and full of knowledge. Who forgive of transgression, accepts repentance, strict in punishment, and reach all things (a long reach). And there came this man behind me on a white mule, with Yemen scripts (muqatta’at) on it, and he told me: “If you say ‘ Gafiriu adh-dhanbi’ (forgiver of transgressions) and then say, ‘Ya ghafira adh-dhanbi ighfir li dhanbi (Oh forgiver of transgressions, forgive my sins), if you say ‘Qabili-at towbi’ (he who accepts repentance), then say, ‘Ya qabil at-tawbi taqabal tawbati’, (he who accepts repentance, accept my repentance). If you say, ‘Shadidi al-‘iqaabi’ (strict in punishment), then say: ‘Ya shadidi al’iqaabi la tu’iqibni’ (Oh strict in punishment, please do not punish me). And if you say, ‘dhi at-tuli’ (reach all things of highness), then say: ya dhi at-tuli tatawal alai birah-mah (Oh, One of long reach (highness), grace me with mercy).” Then I turned my head, and no one was there. I went out and asked: Did a man pass you on a white mule with Yemen

283 scripts on it? They said: No one passed by us. Therefore they could not explain it except that the man is Ilias. And the saying of Allah Almighty, ‘fakdh dhbuna fa ‘innahum la muhadharuna (they die, and therefore that shall be bought (they shall be bought), meaning ‘they shall be brought to torture, either in the earthly life and the life after, or just in the after-life’. And the first explanation is more obvious (both earthly life and after-life) according to what has been mentioned by historians and interpreters. And Allah’s saying: ‘ila ‘ibaad Allahi al-mukhlasina (except for the beautiful ones to Allah) and Allah’s saying: Watarakna ‘alaihi fi al akhirina’ (and we left an impression of him on the others, meaning we kept his death good remembrance of him by the people so that he is only mentioned in good context). And that is why Allah said: Salamun ‘ala iliasina (peace be upon our Ilias, as the Arabs would often end names with the nuun, the letter ‘n’ in Arabic) by substituting them with other letters, as it has been said Isma’il and Isma’in, Isra’il and Isra’in, and Elias as Eliasin. And it has been read: Peace upon al-Tasin, meaning al Muhammad, meaning the family and the house of Muhammad. And Ibn Mas’ud and others have read: Salam ‘ala indrasin ( peace upon Idris). And it has been transferred on him by way of Is-haaq by ‘Ubidah b. Rabi’ah by ibn Mas’ud who said Ilias is Idris and to him wnt al-zhahaak b. Muzahim (Muzahim), and he was told by Qataada and Muhammad b. Is-haaq. And the truth that he is someone 14 else as has previously been mentioned. And Allah is more knowledgeable. The Story of Idris, peace be upon him. Idris He was a man of truth And sincerity, and a prophet: And We raised him To a lofty station. From Suratu’l Maryam, Verses 56-57. Allah had praised Idris and described him as a prophet and a man of truth. His name was Khanukh and a number of genealogists reported that the prophet Muhammad could be traced back to Idris. He was the third human being that was endowed with prophecy after Adam and Shith. Ibn Is-Haq was quoted as saying that Idris was the first human to write. He lived about 308 years after Adam. Some historians believed that it was he who was mentioned by Mu’awiah ibn Al-Hakim al-Sullamy when he asked Prophet Muhammad about who used to write on the sand. He quoted the Prophet as saying that Idris had beautiful handwriting which people used to admire and copy.

284 A number of interpreters and storytellers told many false stories which were attributed to Idris. They called him Hirmis, the man with a stern and gloomy face. They told many lies about him as they did with other prophets, messengers and men of knowledge. In regard to the verse quoted above: ‘And We raised him To a lofty station.’ It was said by Ibn Kathiir that Prophet Muhammad passed by him in the fourth heaven. Ibn Jarir Ibn Haazim quoted a number of people such as Al- A’mash Shammar Ibn ‘Atia and Hilal Ibn Yassaaf as saying that he was present when Ibn ‘Abbas asked Ka’b Al-Ahbaar about what Allah meant when he said that verse. Ka’b said that Idris used to worship Allah constantly and therefore Allah wanted to bring him to His side. He sent one of the angels down to earth to pick Idris up and bring him to heaven. The angel descended to earth and carried Idris between his wings. During their journey, Idris asked the angel: – Can you talk to the Angel of Death and postpone my time of death? – Why, responded the Angel. – Well, I would like to extend the time that I offer my prayers to Allah. – I will try. – Thank you. As they were heading up and just about at the top of the fourth heaven, the angel noticed that the Angel of Death was on his way heading down to earth. He stopped him and asked him the favor Idris had earlier requested saying: – Can you do me a favor? – How can I help you? – I want you to postpone when Idris dies. – Where is Idris now? – He is there on my back between my wings. – That is strange! – What? – That is truly strange! – Why? – I was on my way to fulfill my mission to make Idris die. I was told to perform that in the fourth heaven, and I have been wondering how I could do that while Idris is still on earth. So the Angel of Death made Idris die in the fourth heaven, and that was what was meant by that verse.

285 Ibn Abi Haatam reported the same account, but with a different discourse between Idris and the angel. Idris was supposed to have asked the angel: – Can you ask the Angel of Death how much is left of my life? – I suppose I can. Then the angel asked the Angel of Death: – How much is left of Idris’ life? – I don’t know. Let me check my records. The Angel of Death took a look at his records and said: – You are asking me about a man who will die in the twinkling of an eye. The angel looked under his wings and noticed that Idris was already dead. However, Ibn Kathir dismissed this account and considered it a good example of the influence of Jewish interpretation of the Quranic verses. Ibn Kathir seemed to agree with the account of Ibn Abi Naajih who reported Mujaahid as saying that the meaning of the verse was that Idris was raised to heaven the same way Jesus was. The question, according to him, was whether Idris was still alive. If he was raised and made to die there, Ibn Kathiir had no problem with that version, since the account was similar to the one attributed to Ka’b Al-Ahbar, but Allah only knows the truth. Al-‘Awfi quoted Ibn ‘Abbas as saying that Idris was raised to the sixth heaven and died there, and so said Al-Dhaak. Ibn Kathir seemed to accept the story of Idris’ death in the fourth, not the sixth heaven. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said that Idris was raised directly to heaven. Some historians said that Idris was raised and died in heaven, while his father was still alive. Some claimed that he did not live prior to the time of Noah but during the time of Bani Israiil. Al-Bukhari was quoted as saying that both Ibn Mas’uud and Ibn ‘Abbas believed that Elias was really Idris. The two historians supported their claim by referring to Al-Zahri’s account of Anas’ report on Prophet Muhammad’s midnight journey to the seven heavens. He said that when Prophet Muhammad passed by Idris, Idris said: – Welcome to the good brother and the good prophet! However, when Prophet Muhammad passed by Adam and Abraham, they both said: – Welcome to the good prophet and the good son! The two historians concluded that Idris was not an ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad. Otherwise, Idris would have welcomed Prophet Muhammad in the 15 same way Adam and Abraham did.

286 Mar Eljas, el-Chadr, and Mar Dschirjis. (Mar Elias, el Khidor and Mar Girgis) By Lydia Einsler, (neé Schick), in Jerusalem. Summary of the legend concerning the ruin in et-taijibe: (We use the name as it appeared in the German texts.) The author says that beside the St. George’s church in Lydda, she wants to mention the ruin in et-taijibe, which had been partially freed from the rubble in 1885 by the Greek patriarch of Jerusalem. The place had once been called afra, but it is now called el-chadr. Empress Helena had started to build St. George’s church there, but this church was never completed. The following story was told to the author. A poor Fellachen, farmer’s family, following an old tradition and vow, gave the meat of a calf or cow to the poor every year on the festival of mar-elyas to secure the protection and blessing of the holy one. After the father’s death the son continued the tradition against the will of his mother who was stingy. The mother was angry at the son and asked, “Why do you find it necessary to make such gifts? The vow was given by your father, you have nothing to do with it. What blessings do you expect from Elia? Who are you? Do you think he’ll give you the emperor’s daughter for a wife?” The son was silent and ignored the speech, but that night Elia appeared to him suddenly and said: “ I know you are a righteous man and as a reward you shall have the emperor’s daughter as a wife...(Now the narration becomes quite fantastic!) The son (falah) finds himself in Constantinople. After waiting and waiting and trying to convince the gatekeepers, he is allowed a visit with the emperor who is astonished and amazed to hear the poor man utter his request. The poor fellach-falah (farmer) is then helped by Elia in fulfilling the conditions the emperor sets for the fellow to become his son-in-law. It all works out. The wedding is held. Though Elijah has one demand (condition, also): the fellach-falah (farmer) is to utter his name each time he visits with his new wife. Easy this, thinks the poor fellach-falah (farmer), and he agrees. Then one day the young wife makes him a gift of a beautiful white robe with sparkling precious stones in the most beautiful colors. The fellach-falah (farmer) sees this and forgets to utter Elia’s name, and promptly he is transported back to his cave near et-taijibe where he again works as a simple worker without complaining. Meanwhile, the emperor’s daughter, his wife, has a little son from the short union, and she decides to travel around the world to find her lost husband and love. One day she comes to Jerusalem, and near et-taijibe she plans to build a church for St. George. The building work starts, the poor fellach-falah is among the workers. The little boy becomes very unhappy and disagreeable after a while.

287 The only person able to calm and console him, to make him interested in the world around him, is the poor fellach-falah (his father). One day when again the boy is unhappy, the fellach-felah shows him the beautiful gown with the diamonds and colors. The boy is enchanted and shows the gown to his mother…the mother now recognizes her husband, the boy’s father, and the three of them take off immediately, the church is left unfinished, to return to Constantinople… (where they live happily ever after…). 1. Although only a folk-legend, the story characterizes the ways of mar eljas or elchadr, who rewards those who follow his laws (commandments), and punishes those who break them. The previous citations (Sura, p. 44) from the Koran show similar characteristics of the images portrayed there of ebre or mar eljas el haij. In this connection it is noteworthy to mention a cave located near Haifa called 16 el-chadr by Muslims, and Elia Hanovi Maire by Jews. It is not surprising that precisely in this area we find a cave dedicated to ebre-Elia, because the prophet Elia won the famous victory over the Ba’al priest on Mount Carmel. This cave is visited several times a year by a variety of folk, and it is also the place of a kind of folk-festival in which Muslims, Christians and Jews participate. Allegedly the Spanish and Moghrabj Jews have distinguished themselves in this festival with songs and dances. I have been told that the Jews memorialize the destruction of Jerusalem on the Saturday following the festival by fasting and mourning and the day is called the “Hebrew of mourning”. The following Saturday is the “Hebrew of consolation”, and on this day a folk-festival is held inside this cave. The Jews bring their mentally ill to the cave where Elia’s power is said to heal them. Just like the Muslims and the Christians regard el-chadr near Jerusalem as an insane-asylum where St. George is hoped to heal those affected. The healing process takes place in the following way: the cave is very large and has various side-caves. It is said in his time Elia resided in one of the side-caves. The sick are therefore taken into these side-caves (paths) to remain there, in the dark. For each night they spend there they pay two piasters. Elia appears at night to the afflicted- in the figure of an old man- and so effects the healing. In former times the cave is said to have been open at all times. Now a Muslim has the key to the cave… HANOVI means ‘without doubt, the prophet’. The Hebrew word (the word follows) for ‘teacher’ is contained in MAIRE. These Hebrew words are pronounced according to the East European Hebrew pronunciation. La…I heard from some Jews that they measure out the walls of the cave with cotton strings (yarns), which are then used for candle making, or twisted into wicks for their Shabbat lights.

288 2. I had the opportunity one day of discussing with a distinguished sheikh (schech) the question of why Muslims make vows to chadr in Christian churches. I could see that he was uncomfortable with this question. He could not deny that this happens, but he thought that only uneducated, ignorant people practiced this, and that Muslims with a deeper understanding of their religious teachings did not do this. Then he imparted to me his beliefs about the holy-ones (prophets) and especially his thoughts on el-chadr. According to him, a truly pious man is called weli, meaning ‘holy man’. Those who do not believe in the existence of these holy-men are regarded as unbelievers. In the Koran Sura 10, 63/62 it says: (protecting agents). This quote shows that a class of people exists which is higher than others, and these are the weli. Such persons are devoted to God entirely, they are filled up with an extraordinarily strong belief, and they are endowed with the power to work miracles in exact measure to the strength or depth of their belief. The greatest of these weli, the sheikh told me, is called the kutb, which means ‘axis’. He rules over the others and they are dependent on him and subservient to him. 3. Many Muslims claim Elia was the kutb of his time, and that the kutbs who followed him were instituted by him, because he lives on and is therefore called el-chadr (the green one). The one this instituted by kutb (elia) is not himself conscious of being kutb, just as all others do not know this. Only through his remarkable deeds will he become known- mostly quite late in life or after his death. These chosen ones always have humble demeanor and a modest appearance. “Behold the friends of God (protecting agents) there is no fear nor shall they grieve.” 3a. One of the kutb’s favorite places of residence is in Egypt, in bab ez-zuwele, called also bab el-mutawalli. One wing of the city-gate is said to be open always, behind the gate is said to be a small room (abode, area) which serves as his residence. 4. The sheikh told me also that a poor but pious and most conscientious man had lived in Jerusalem 170 years ago. He was a worker in a soap factory. On a stormy night a beggar came to the man asking him for a little oil, The man poured the oil in the beggar’s jug and led him to the door in a most friendly manner. The next night the beggar reappeared with the same request, which was granted again by the pious man without any trace of annoyance (irritation). On the third night this was repeated. For the friendliness granted him, the giver of the oil was bestowed with the gift of reading and writing by the receiver, who was the kutb of his time. In this way, the poor worker was to become a famous sheikh after some time. But the kutb did more still. He went to the concubine of

289 the king of Egypt, and because she was a pious and good woman who did a lot for the poor, he said to her, “Go to Jerusalem and ask to be married to sheikh ahmed al-chalili (Ahmad al-Khalili), you will be very happy.” And so it happened. 5. With the notes I have made on el-chadr and St. George over time, I find it difficult often to keep these figures separate. Joseph von Hammer’s writings and the connections of St. George with the prophet Elia and the Arabic Schutzgenius (protecting spirit/genius) Chidr seemed to me, therefore, of importance. I will cite here from his writings passages that relate to the figures: “In all Arabic, Persian, and Turkish calendars which record in addition to the lunar th calendar the Greek and Syrian sun-calendars, April 24 (the feast of St. George) is noted also as the day of Chidhr-Elia. This day is in Persia, Arabia, and in Turkey known as CHIDHRELI, a festive day at the beginning of the beautiful time of the year in which Chidr or Chisr, the guardian of the life of the source, makes green all trees and meadows.” Nowhere is the name Chidr held in greater esteem today than in Syria, where the adoration of Chidr-Elias goes hand in hand with that of St. George. The mingling of Muslim and Syrian legends is demonstrated also on April 24, when both Chidr-Elias’ and St. George’s Day is celebrated. Taken from rom kitab masalik an-Nazhar. In the fourteenth century an Egyptian Jew who lived in Alexandria, by the name of Sa’id ibn Hasan, converted to Islam. He wrote a treatise that contains his thesis that the prophet Mohammad was predicted in the OT. He claims in his work that the Jews knew that an offspring of Ishmael would appear in the world but they did not want to announce it. There is no historical information on this writer’s conversion to Islam. History does show that many Jews did convert to this new tradition for a variety of reasons. Some converted because of their firm conviction that Muhammad had a new message. But others converted because they wanted a personal advantage. Sa’id stated that his conversion was connected to his miraculous recovery from an illness. He became very zealous in his new faith and he became somewhat of a fanatic who showed great intolerance toward Judaism and Christianity. 17 In his treatise, “al kitab musalik an-Nazhar”, he shares the story of Elijah, whom he calls al-khidhr. As was mentioned earlier, it was common practice for Muslim storytellers to associate Elijah with al-khidhr. Apparently by the fourteenth century Elijah and al-khidhr were accepted as the same person in Islamic literature. The story of Elijah shared by Said is very similar to the story found in the OT,

290 …In the rule of the son of Solomon the kingdom of Israel was divided. There were the, nonbelievers who killed their prophets and desecrated the covenant of God. Their king whose name was Joroboam was the cause of their unbelief. He was a tyrant and a philosopher. Now, al-khidhr, peace be upon him, was in the court and he said that it is written in the law of Moses: If you break the covenant of Allah then heaven will hold back the rain and the earth will not grow its vegetation: hai adunai im yesh tal wa18 mutar ki im lafi dabari…. Here he wrote the verse from 1Kings 17:2 but he did not write the complete verse: Then the king wanted to kill al-khidhr, peace be upon him, but Allah sheltered him from the king. Now, both the dew and the rain ceased for three years and people suffered because of that. After this event al-khidhr, peace be upon him, came to the king’s court and asked him to gather his priests and advisors. So four hundred men were gathered and he asked the king for two calves of the cattle, and al-khidhr, peace be upon him, said to the priests to select for yourselves a calf and slaughter it, put it on top of the wood and call upon your gods. And when they did so to the other calf and called upon their gods, they did not answer. al-khidhr, peace be upon him, mocked them and said: ‘Awake your gods. Do not let them sleep nor let them turn away from you in their journey.’ And then al-khidhr, peace be upon him, took the calf which was not slaughtered, put him in the trench, he put water instead of wood, and stretched his arms and said: anani adnai anani hayum yiwadh’a ki ata hu ha-la-him which interpreted means, Help Allah today you will show that you are the Allah and no god beside you. He had not finished yet his words, and a fire went down and consumed the calf and the water, and the people of Israel bowed saying: Allah is ours. There is no god beside him. Then al-khidhr slaughtered the priests with his own hands in the trench and the rain came down, but the king did not return from his disbelief and wanted to kill al-khidhr, peace 19 be upon him, but Allah sheltered him…

291

Endnotes – Appendix Chapter Three 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Al Bukhari, Sahih 125 in Muhammad Abul Quasem, Salvation and the Soul and Islamic Devotions, Kegan Paul International, London (1983), 118. al-Tha’labi, Qisasu ‘l Anbiya, Cairo, n.d., 345-353. al-Tha’labi, Qisasu’l Anbiya, Cairo, n.d., 124-129. al-Tha’labi, Qisasu ‘l Anbiya, Cairo, n.d., 577-586. al-Tha’labi, Qisasu ‘l Anbiya, Cairo, n.d., 72-73. It is the same use for the Temple in Jerusalem But here it is related to the Shrine in Mecca. Genre of Hebrew oral tradition which was Islamized. In the last few years there is a tendency among Muslim scholars to reject the notion that there is a connection between the genre of Kisasu ‘l Anbiya the stories of the prophet and the Hebrew Oral Tradition. This approach is a paradigm of the political attitude of these scholars toward Israel and the Jews. They do not understand that politicizing religion and literature begets nationalism that begets fascism. In the genre of the hadith we find three categories: Sahih- authentic, which was told by the prophet or his companions; (b) Hasan- good, somewhat authentic with possible doubts about the names (Isnad); (c) Dha’if- weak, better not to rely on it. The two books of hadith, al-Bukhari. Ghazwat Tabuk, the War of Tabuk, or better known as Ghazwat ‘l ursa. The town Tabuck is in northwestern Arabia. In Byzantine times it was a military post. In the Qur’an and in the Suratu l’Tawba, we find that the prophet did not encounter the enemy but there he accepted the submission of the local head of the tribes, and with John the Christian, Prince of Wales. We have translated al- Kurath as ‘onion’. ‘Kurath’ in Aramaic, Karti, is a green plant like a wild onion or garlic. 631 C.E. Sawaad al-Keefa, probably the name of a palace. Also, it could be translated as ‘in the darkness of al- Kufa’. Ibn kathir, Umar ad-din b. Isma’il, Qisasu ‘l Anbiya, Bairut, n.d. Ibn kathir, Umar ad-din b. Isma’il, Qisasu’l Anbiya, Markaz Al-Kitaab Lilnashar, Cairo (1991), 57-58. See Lydia (Schick) Einsler, Mar Eljas, el-Chadr and Mar Dschirjis (Mar Elias, el-khidar and Mar Girgis), Gerda Neu-Sokol (tr.). See S.A. Weston, “kitab masalik al-Nazar”, JAOS, 40 (1903-1904), 312-384. Ibid. Ibid.

Chapter Four I will Show Thee Elijah was called by four names, for this it is written… (1Chron. 8:27.). Why was he thus called? Because when God desired to shake (le-har-‘ish) the world he reminds him (maz-kir) of the merit of the fathers, and God 1 has mercy (me-ra-hem) on His world.

A. For We Shall Surely Live ube-shit me-ah shnin le-shitat-ah yit-pat-hun tar-‘eh de-hokh-ma-ta le-‘elah u-ma-bu-‘eh de-hokh-ma-ta le-tita ve-yit-ta-qen ‘al-ma le-‘a-‘ala besh-vi ‘aah ke-bar-nash de-mit-ta-qen… And after six hundred years of the six thousand there will be opened the gates of wisdom above and the fountains of wisdom below, and the world will make preparation to enter on the seventh thousand as man makes 2 preparation… Jewish tradition posits many aspects of the Messiah and the Messianic era. In some writings we find that the Messiah is compared to Moses. In post-biblical literature we find the following teaching, R. Berekiah said in the name of R. Isaac: as the first redeemer was, so shall the latter Redeemer be. What is stated of the former redeemer? ‘And Moses took his wife and his sons, and sat them upon an ass.’ (Ex. 4:20.). Similarly will it be with the latter Redeemer, as it is stated: ‘Lowly and riding upon an ass.” (Zech. 9:9.). And the former redeemer causes manna to descend, as it is stated, ‘Behold I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you.’ (Ex. 16:4.), so will the latter Redeemer cause manna to descend, as it is stated, ‘May he be as a rich cornfield in the land.’ (Ps. 72:16.). As the former redeemer made a well to rise, (Num. 21:17.), so will the latter Redeemer bring up water, as it is stated, ‘And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.’ (Joel 3 4:18.). Moreover, the Sages of the Talmudic literature attributed the suffering that the Messiah accepted, because of the transgressions of the people as it is shared in

293 4

Jewish legend, as having been accepted by Moses, too. This is similar to the Christian notion of vicarious suffering. But the concept of the Savior is found in early Israel. In the Book of Judges we get introduced to the temporary redeemers like Gideon and Deborah, who are heroes sent to redeem the people. However, these heroes only possess political leadership. They came to lead one tribe of Israel, or led a few of the people, but they did not come to redeem the whole people. Then who is the Messiah? The prototype of the Messiah is David, and from his seed the Messiah will come. This idea concerning the Messiah is introduced because of David’s great political achievements. The Jewish prophets presented the idea of the Messiah as a messenger of the covenant who will clear the way before the Lord. Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah prophesized about the coming day of judgment not to the gentiles, but to the Israelites. The prophet Joel uses the phrase, …before the great and terrible day of the Lord. (Joel 3:31/2:31.). This notion is also found in Malachi, …before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 5 (3:23/4:15.). Malachi makes an interesting statement that connects Moses to Elijah, Remember the law of Moses my servant…behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet… Although some scholars dispute this verse and suggest that it does not belong to nd Malachi, we should take into consideration that in the beginning of the 2 century B.C.E. that Elijah is already known as the one who will turn the heart of the children to their fathers. In Ben Sira’s work, written in c.200 B.C.E., we read the following verse: Who was taken up in a whirlwind of fire in a chariot of fiery horses. Who was ordained for reproofs in their time, to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgment, before it breaks forth into fury, and to turn the heart of the fa6 ther unto the son and to restore the tribe of Jacob. The fact that this idea is presented in Ben Sira’s time means that this tradition was already well known before it was recorded in Ben Sira’s time. In this same text we not only find an allusion to the end of the Book of Malachi, but we also come upon the idea that Elijah will herald the coming of the Messiah. As a forerunner of the Messiah, the activities of Elijah will include interpreting the Bibli7 cal laws and the puzzles that had not been solved. Among Elijah’s roles is “…to 8 declare unclean or clean, to expel and to admit.” Surely, the Talmudic literature

294 emphasizes the idea that the coming Messiah will be human and a descendant of 9 the Davidic dynasty. In the apocrypha we read the prophecy that the house of David shall rule in a future time: David, for being merciful, possessed the throne of the everlasting kingdom. (1Macc. 2:57.). After listing David’s accomplishments, Ben Sira states, The Lord took away his sins and exalted his horn forever. He gave him a covenant of kings and the throne of glory in Israel. (Eccles. 47:11.). The Messianic expectation includes the belief in the Messiah and also the redemption from national subjugation. Moving forward past this short introduction, we will examine Messianism in the rabbinic literature, where Biblical values are intertwined with the teachings of the sages. We will also study the teachings from Medieval times, concluding with a study of the motif of walking. Finally, we will discuss the Christian and Muslim views on the concepts of redemption and on the Messianic expectation. In some Midrashim we find an interesting discussion where the writers expend the Biblical text beyond the text itself. In Isaiah 28:5 we read: In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people. The Targum translates this verse in the following way: be-‘ida-na ha-hi ye-he me-shi-ha d-YHWH se-va-ot likh-li-la de-hed-vah ul-khe-ter de-tush-beha lish-a-ra de-‘ameh In that time the Messiah of the Lord of hosts will be a paragon of joy and a crown of beauty to the rest of his people. The Talmud expends this view as follows: R. Eleazar further said in the name of R. Hanina: God will in time to come be a crown on the head of every righteous man, as it is said; ‘In that day shall the Lord be for a crown of glory.’ What is meant by ‘a crown of glory’ (zebi) and ‘a diadem (zefirat ) of beauty’? For them that do this will (zibyono ) and who await (mezapim) his glory. Shall he be so to all? (Not so), since it says, ‘unto the residue of (lish’ar) his people’, that is, to who10 ever makes himself a mere residue (Shirayim). But in Bsanhedrin there is a different version, which states,

295 What it means by ‘for a crown of glory’ and ‘for a diadem of beauty’? To 11 those who obey His will and hope for His salvation. The construction of u me-za-pin ye-shu-‘ato is based on a formula used to emphasize the expectation for the Messiah. The only difference we find between the translation of Yonathan and the interpretation of R. Eleazar is that in Yonathan we find the expectation is for the Messiah himself while for R. Eleazar the expectation is for salvation for all the righteous ones. 12 The phrase Me-shi-yah YHWH is found a few times in the Bible. The last day of the king of Judah is called, The breath of our nostrils, anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits… (Lam. 4:20.). The verse in Ezekiel 17:23, In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it. does not mention the Messiah. However, Rashi interprets the preceding verse this way: I will also take of the highest branch (ve-la-qah-ti)… and I will take the king Messiah… Rashi follows the pattern found in the Targum Yonathan where he says, kid-nan amar YHWH Elohim va-aq-rev ana mi-mal-khu-ta de-vet David dim-thil ke-ar-za ra-ma… …and then said Lord God and I shall bring forth from the kingdom of the house of David which is compared like a high cedar… Rabbinic literature describes the Messianic Era and the world to come in a very graphic manner. Most of these teachings are based on Biblical verses, which the rabbinic literature developed through their interpretations. In these interpretations new dimensions were added to the original Biblical verses. Yet when we examine these added dimensions we find that they are connected to the history of the Jewish tradition. So, let’s examine the following verse: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. (Zech. 2:9/2:5.). This verse is very interesting since it presents fire as a positive power, as an eschatological fire. In this form, the fire is a reward to be given to Israel. Yonathan ends this verse by translating,

296 u-vi-qar ash-re she-khin-ti be-ga-vah. And with honor my Divine Presence dwells within it. What is very interesting here is that in the Biblical and rabbinic literature fire is always seen as an agent of punishment, but here, in the verse above, there is no punishment connected to this new concept of fire. This verse is not included in the rabbinic literature but it is found in the Jewish literature of the oracle, which rd was developed in the 3 century C.E. There we find, Then again all the sons of the great God shall live quietly around the Temple rejoicing…For He Himself shall shield them…with a wall of flaming fire, free from war they shall be in city and country. The ‘flaming fire’ mentioned above has a special function, to act as a protector rd from war. Another text, probably from the 3 century C.E. also, appears in P. Jonathan: And my Memra shall be to her (the city), says the Lord, as the wall of fire surrounding her all around, and in glory I will make my Shekhina dwell 13 with her. The first time that the above verse from Zechariah is mentioned is in the literature of Amora’im. R. Joshua b. Levi, of the first generation of the Amora’im, explains the verse in Psalms, And his glory above the heavens…(113:4.). He wrote, It was intended to make known to the inhabitants of the world the high esteem of Israel…The Holy One, blessed be He, brings His presence down from heaven…Hence it is said: ‘And I will be to her a wall of fire…I will glory within her.’ The most important point here is centered on the noun ka-vod, or glory. In Psalms 113 this noun is not used as it is used Zechariah 2. In Psalms the poet speaks about the glory of God while Zechariah speaks about the glory of Israel. In Pesikta De Rav kahana we discover another version of R. Joshua b. Levi: You still do not know the high esteem of Jerusalem. However, from what is said, ‘For I will be to her a wall of fire round about…’ you may know 14 the high esteem of Jerusalem. Another version is tied to the writings of R. Yose b. Jeremiah: We still do not learn the high esteem of Jerusalem; from where do we

297 learn her high esteem? From her walls, as it is said: “And I will be to her a wall of fire.” R. Jose was known as the transmitter of R. Joshua’s teachings. Thus we may assume that his teachings presented above are just a variant of a tradition which began with the teachings of R. Joshua. Moreover, whatever was related to the people of Israel was now connected to the city of Jerusalem. This change is not because that was the eschatological expectation that Jerusalem would be the most important city but because of the eschatological expectation that the salvation of Israel depended upon the restoration of the city of Jerusalem. Examining a discussion between R. Nahman and R. Isaac in BSan. 96b-97a allows us to posit a few questions. One of these questions is: Does R. Nahman want to know the time of Salvation? If so, we can hypothesize that there is a certain date for Salvation. Here we can also argue the possibility that R. Nahman wants to know how his generation ought to behave in order to be ready for the coming of the Messiah, or how his generation can create the right conditions for the Messiah’s coming. We have to keep in mind that the general perception is that redemption will take place by a celestial decision maker and that decision maker is understood to not be human. Yet we can allow ourselves to see a connection between God’s ultimate decision and the human actions taking place on earth. A human being is understood to be an extension of God on earth. Man’s form and likeness are seen as not only a mirror of God, but both aspects of man are seen as being divine. The human is of the whole world. The human, a Jew, concentrates more on his actions in the world than on his thoughts. This human is seen as being responsible for everything, even for God. His actions are indispensable for the creation of universal peace. Without such human actions and sacramental rites there is no way to connect to the theurgical amendment of God. The answers offered in the Talmud are an attempt to answer the question: When will the Messiah come? Let’s examine the answer given by R. Isaac to R. Nahman: Thus hath R. Johanan said: In the generation when the son of David will come, scholars will be few in number and as for the rest, their eyes will 15 fall through sorrow and grief. According to his teaching, redemption is the function of the pangs of the Messiah, hev-le ma-shi-yah. In this respect he follows the Biblical perception of catastrophe occurring before the Messianic Era. This idea was prophesized by Ezekiel: And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. (Ez. 38:18.).

298 Or, as we can see in Joel: …for the day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and a thick darkness…(Joel 2:1-2.). We see the same in the Book of Daniel where in his vision he sees that salvation comes with suffering. Indeed, if we examine the conditions of the second century C.E. the generation of two prominent people, R. Akiva and Bar kokhba, and the emergence of the decree against studying the Torah (133-135), we may say that all the conditions were met for the coming of the Messiah. As R. Johanan states these necessary conditions, there were: (a) Scholars were few in number. (b) There was a multitude of trouble and evil decrees were issued. (c) Each new evil came with haste before the other evils had ended. The fact that a Sage described the conditions then so grimly is a sign that redemption was at the gate. The situation in Palestine in the second century C.E. was just as the Sage described. That presents this question: Why did the Sages of the third and fourth centuries in Babylonia maintain the notion that catastrophic events would precede the arrival of redemption? Moreover, why did this perception become part of the general teachings of the Messianic Era? The catastrophes described in the Talmudic literature are not based on historical events. They are beyond any actual event of any certain time. But the significance of the coming of the Messiah after a catastrophe continued to be described very powerfully: Our Rabbis taught: In the seven year cycle at the end of which the son of David will come-in the first year this verse will be fulfilled, ‘And I will cause it to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another city.’ In the second, the arrows of hunger will be sent forth; in the third, the great famine, in the course of which men, women, and children, pious 16 men and saints, will die and the Torah will be forgotten… No doubt that the famine above is a decree from heaven. But the real catastrophe is ve-to-rah mish-ta-ka-hat, that the Torah will be forgotten. Will the Torah be forgotten because of the famine? In fact, Rashi states that the Torah will be forgotten because the people will have nothing to eat. If we pay attention to the text, then we find support for this idea. It was written: Ve-to-rah ho-ze-ret le-lom-de-ha And the Torah will return to its disciples. Here we may follow Rashi’s interpretation stating that voices or rumors were heard that the Son of David, the Messiah, had arrived. But it is also possible to

299 understand the voices as being blasts of the Shofar, as it’s used in the following verse: And it shall come to pass, in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown…(Isa. 27:13.). In another response, the Talmud offers us the teachings of R. Judah. In his description of the coming catastrophe the place of learning becomes a whorehouse. He sees that the Galilee and the Golan will be destroyed, and he states that refugees will ask for help and no help will be given. Again the study of the Torah is in shambles. This is all part of the pre-redemption condition, as well as a sign for the end of the catastrophes and the beginning of the redemption process. If we wish to date these teachings, we could say that most of them are the teachings of the Tanna’im of the second century C.E. and thus from the land of Israel. Here was a record of catastrophic external events as well as a catalogue on the decline of morality. R. Nehorai emphasized the decline of morality in his teachings: R. Nehorai said: In the generation where Messiah comes, young men will 17 insult the old, and old men will stand before the young… This is his description of the time that will come before the Messiah arrives. The concepts of shame and justice are two elementary values that create the foundation of any society. Without these two values being present, no society can truly exist. Here R. Nehorai emphasized the moral situation and the loss of fundamental values. Yet he does not preach here to reinstate these values but he sorrowfully records the negative aspects of his time. He does emphasize the cost of living at such a time and suggests that life will be perverted, ye-‘a-vet, even among those considered most honorable within a society. In the seven different teachings of the Sages we are introduced to their conflicting views concerning their attempts to set a date for the coming redemption. R. Zera’s teaching on this topic, for example, sums up the problem the Sages faced while attempting to determine the time set for the coming of the Messiah. He states that if we wish to see the coming of the Messiah, then we do not have to limit ourselves to wondering about the date of his coming. He states we can become actively involved in making the coming of the Messiah happen by going back to the Land of Israel. His suggestion that the people return to the Land of Israel demonstrates the conflict that he had with R. Judah who had objected to R. Zera’s teaching on this topic. In another discussion between Shemuel and Rab, we are introduced to two different teachings. While Rab argues that everything is dependant on repentance, Shemuel counters that, like a mourner, the people of Israel will have to fulfill the time of their ‘mourning’, and then, when the time of redemption comes, they will be redeemed. Shemuel’s perception is the one most commonly

300 accepted. Some of the Sages taught that redemption is not related to repentance. This viewpoint is related to the idea that during the days of the Second Commonwealth, the people did not worship idols and they practiced no transgressions as they had in Biblical times. Yet, during that time the people had lost Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed. They lost the uprising in the time of Bar Kokhba so their redemption was still perceived as being still afar in the future. From these events the Sages created their teaching that redemption is an expected but timeless experience. In some periods there was a strong belief that the Messiah will only appear when the current generation is guilty, or according to Ze’iri in the name of R. Hanina, until there were no conceited men, ga-se ruwah, in Israel. This perception is based in the perception some had that a meritorious generation would never exist. These Sages objected to the teaching of R. Akiva, who expounded, ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth’, but the first dynasty (the Hasmonean) shall last seventy years, the second 18 (Herodian) fifty-two, and the reign of Bar koziba two and a half years. The response to R. Akiva’s teaching was, Ya’a-lu ‘a-sa-vim bil-ha-ye-kha Grass will sprout among your jaws. This saying can be interpreted to mean that the coming of the Messiah is very far away in time and, as such, we can’t foresee or project his coming. But there is another possible way to interpret this saying. Perhaps R. Akiva was being told that the coming of the Messiah will occur long after his death, or that the Messiah’s coming will occur long after the grass has grown over R. Akiva’s corpse in his grave. The Apocalypse in Israel during the Second Commonwealth era is completely different when it is compared to the Hebrew worldview that existed during Biblical times. This theory is attached to the social structures of the Second Commonwealth, which were attached to the social movements of that time, like those created by the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Christians. Each had a distinct worldview, as well as a vision of the End of Days and the belief that redemption would be an important part of the End of Days. The difference between these two periods is that during the Biblical period the Hebrew tradition was focused on its struggle against mythology and its efforts to distance itself from the worshipping of idols. Its climax can be seen in the prophecy of Jeremiah and of second Isaiah. During the Second Commonwealth the focus was on mythologizing Judaism. This New Judaism turned into a religion of myths. Here was the beginning attempt to create a dialogue and partnership between God and man. Because of the desire for that partnership, this myth did not em-

301 brace a return to idol worshipping. It was connected very strongly to the perception that the celestial world and the earthly world are one. Any myth is constructed from mythogenes that generate a whole and complex mythology about God. These mythogenes are the foundations of culture and for that reason the mythogenes are historical. We do not have any historical clue as to whether Elijah ever existed, but his image is so powerful and strong that he was understood and accepted as the forerunner for the Messianic Era. Elijah is seen as the person coming to help the needy, so he is the one that all Jews pray will appear. These mythogene structures support not only Judaism, but they also support Christianity. One can even say that there is no historical proof confirming the existence of God, but the fact that people long for God’s closeness points out 19 that God is a mythogene structure. In this way we can see that God is a structure, a small gene, which can generate a whole concept about religion. The myth that Judaism was developed through the Second Commonwealth is a very strong point. During this period many ideas were developed. Here we are introduced to the concept of a personal God who emanates the Mem-ra, the Holy Spirit, the angels, and Shekhinah, or the Divine Presence. The Shekhinah accompanies Israel everywhere. It is during this time that we are told that the angels gave the Torah to Moses from atop Mount Sinai, as it was impossible at that time to view God as coming down the mountain to do this. During this era angels were not perceived as abstract. They appeared and they talked to people. Here God is said to have created the world by Mem-rot (sing. Mem-ra), the ‘Word’. This Mem-ra is the logos, which according to Philo is the first act of God, as it is also understood within Christianity: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. (John 1:1.). But for Philo the Mem-ra is the prince of angels, while for Christianity the Memra is identified with Jesus. But the most important concept developed during this period is te-shu-vah. This noun is not found in the OT, although its meaning is found in Malachi: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children. (Mal. 3:24/4:6.). The Biblical meaning of this stem is ‘to come back to God’. In the Second Commonwealth we encounter the noun te-shu-vah with its new meaning, that one should come back to himself. This perception appears several times in the Book of Lamentation (Lam. 1:16; 2:14; 3:3; 5:21.). In the NT the noun te-shu-vah is translated into me-ta-no-ya, which means ‘to change one’s mind or idea’. Yet, in the Book of Psalms we find: Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

302 Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest, return ye children of man. (Ps. 9:2-3.). From these verses we gather that God established te-shu-vah before God created the mountains. Here is the concept of the human being coming back to himself, coming back to his or her better self. It is in this concept that we can assume that there is a relationship between the idea of rebuilding Jerusalem and the gathering of the Exiles. The idea of gathering the Exiles was certainly one of the many ideas that were developed during the Second Commonwealth. The return to Zion and the longing for the gathering of the Exiles became much stronger following the second destruction of the Temple. Here the eschatological belief in the gathering of the Exiles began with the return of the Jews from Babylon. There is another cross-cultural point that is shared between Judaism and Christianity. In Ben Sira’s work, Eccleisiasticus, we find the following verse: …and to return the heart of the father to the son and to restore the tribes of Jacob. (11:10.). The meaning of this teaching is that Elijah is the one who will bring the people of Israel back to their land, while Jewish tradition also emphasizes the role of Elijah is to ‘…turn the heart of the fathers to the children’. In the NT tradition, we read in the third gospel: And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah) to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17.). This verse from the Gospel of Luke is understood to be speaking about the role of John the Baptist. The phrase, ‘to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’, as it appears in the Gospel of Luke, is almost the same phrase found in the work of Ben Sira: To return the heart of the father to the Son and to restore the tribes of Jacob. It seems as if Ben Sira sees that the gathering of the Tribes of Jacob will be parallel to the resettling of the land. He states that Elijah’s role was to gather the people. Ben Sira, who lived around 180 B.C.E., presents a certain creativity in his time. We discover that this wise man objected to many of the perceptions of his day relating to the End of Days. But Ben Sira did not reject all of those ideas. As is seen in his eschatological passage, he begins,

303 Those who fear the Lord shall live, for their trust is in one who can keep them safe. The man who fears the Lord will have nothing else to fear, he will never be a coward, because his trust is in the Lord. Then he continues his eschatogical song, ending it with a request to gather the people and to re-establish the bond between God and the people, How the tears run down the widow’s cheeks and her cries accuse the man who caused them. To be accepted a man must serve the Lord as he requires and then his prayer will reach the clouds but he is not consoled until it reaches its destination…Gather all the tribes of Jacob and grant them their inheritance as thou didst long ago. Have pity, O Lord, on the people called by thy name Israel, whom thou hast named thy first born. Show mercy to the city of thy sanctuary, Jerusalem, the city of thy rest. Fill Zion with praise of thy triumph, fill thy people with thy glory. Thou didst create them at the beginning; acknowledging them now and fulfill the prophecies spoken in thy name. Reward those who wait for you; prove thy prophets trustworthy. Listen, O Lord, to the prayer of thy servants, who claim Aaron’s blessing upon thy people. Let all who live on 20 earth acknowledge that thou art Lord, the eternal God. In this eschatological passage Ben Sira speaks about the End of Days by stating, The Lord will not be slow. Neither will he be patient with the wicked. (35:18.). At the restoration of the world at the End of Days, injustice will end. Ben Sira uses a beautiful literary device to present the mercy of God and the restoration of justice: His mercy is as timely in days of trouble as rain-clouds in days of drought. (35:20.). In the following verses we find that Ben Sira turned back to the Biblical images in the OT that describe the might of God, as it is found for example in Isa. 11: 15-16 and in Micha. 7:15-16, just to mention a few, Renew thy signs, repeat thy miracles, win glory for thy hand, for thy right arm. Rouse thy wrath, pour out thy fury, destroy thy adversary, wipe out thy enemy. (36:6-7.). Our attention can next examine the following verse: Remember the day thou hast appointed and hasten it.

304 At the beginning Ben Sira speaks about the care God gives to the meek and to the poor and suddenly, in verse 18, we read, The Lord will not be slow. From this verse onward we may see as being parallel to the events in the history presented by the OT. The general picture painted here is that the last redemption is to be similar to the first one, the redemption from the people’s bondage in Egypt. However, in 36:8 we find, Remember the day thou hast appointed and hasten it. And that verse has a different meaning. The meaning of the ‘appointed day’ does not mean the ‘end’, but instead it does mean a ‘certain time’ as we find it recorded in the Book of Daniel. This idea goes along well with the worldview of the Second Commonwealth: that there is a divine plan and that everything comes from His plan. The word qets in the Book of Daniel does not mean the ‘end’ but it means ‘ time’. The noun qets used in the Book of Daniel in 8:9; 11:27, 35; and 12:7, 9 and in the work of Ben Sira plead to God to change His plan and to bring salvation soon. Medieval commentators present their view in the following way. Rashi says, The time for the end is many days. Ibn Ezra states: This vision will be for many days. In Mesudat David we find: To the time of the end, the end of the exile…where still be an end to the time of the exile and He will not be wrathful anymore. The noun qets, which also appears in Chapter 11 of the Book of Daniel, has the same meaning and is interpreted the same way as ‘time’ rather than as meaning ‘end’. Rashi states: In every generation, still the qets (time), the redeemer comes for Israel. Ibn Ezra states: (The time) redemption is here. The verse in Ben Sira’s work shares: Reward those who wait for thee… prove thy prophets trustworthy. And it reminds us of the verse found in Numbers 23:9: Far from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him.

305 Rashi says: I observe their origin and at the beginning of their roots, I behold them founded strongly like roads and mountains (because of the sake) of their patriarch and their matriarch. In PT we find the following extension on this verse: Amar Bilam re-shi-‘ah mist-ta-kel a-na be-uma ha-den de-hin-nun me-dabbrin biz-khut av-ha-te-hon sad-diqa-ya. Said Balaam the wicked: I see this people who are led by the merit of their righteous fathers, (who are like the mountains, and by the merit of their 21 mothers, who are like the hills). The ‘end’ is understood here to be in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the person who prays to Him can only ask God to hasten its arrival. In the Talmud we find the following teaching: R. Alexandri said: R. Joshua b. Levi pointed out a contradiction. It is written ‘in its time’ (will the Messiah come), whilst it is also written, ‘I (the Lord) will hasten it.’ If they are worthy, I will hasten it; if not, (he 22 will come) at the due time. It is possible that the Sages thought that God had His own plan for the sake of His people and that God would send the Messiah at the due time. It was commonly accepted that the king of the End of Days would come out of the house of David. This belief is found in the post-Biblical literature as well as in the Biblical literature. Yet the noun ‘Messiah’ for the king of the End of Days does not appear in the Bible. At the beginning of the Second Commonwealth, Haggai the prophet expressed the view of his generation that Zerubbabel is the one who will be appointed as the Messiah: In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. (Haggai 2:23.). Indeed, Zerubbabel is not mentioned anymore. We do not know of the events related to him. However, it is possible that the Messianic hope was not strong once the political and economic conditions of the people had improved. However, the Messianic hope is found in some of the creative work of that time, especially when the Hasmoneans controlled Judea. An echo of the opposition to the dynasty of the Hasmoneans is found recorded in the Talmud:

306 Now, an elder named Judah, son of Gedidiah, was present there, said he to the king Jannai: O king Jannai, let the royal crown suffice thee, and 23 leave the priestly crown to the Seed of Aaron. It’s possible that the Messianic hope at that time also included the hope that the Messiah coming from the house of David would rise again. In the Psalms of Solomon, dating from the middle of the first century B.C.E. we find: Lord, you chose David to be the king over Israel and swore to him about his descendants forever that his kingdom should not fail before you… And he will be a righteous king over them taught by God, there will be no unrighteousness among them in his days for all shall be holy and their king shall be the Lord Messiah. (Ps. of Sol. 17:4, 32.). We can view this idea as a valid one and understand that the later Messianic movement resulted from desperate conditions. The worldview of the people became affected by intertwined despair and the attending belief of those suffering such despair in the resurrection of the savior from the house of David. However, it’s important to realize that the belief in a savior and redeemer is found in the literary works produced before the time of Hasmonaen around 140 B.C. and that the End of Days in those works are described as being almost pastoral in nature: But the sons of the great God will all live peacefully around the Temple, rejoicing in these things which the Creator, just Judge and sole ruler will 24 give. Here is a very strong perception of the Messiah. He has an important role. The belief in the Messiah was obviously one developed before the rise of the house of Hasmonean and as that new dynasty rose to power this belief became a political movement. Judaism emphasizes the role of the Messiah but within the teachings on the Messiah we see that the Messiah played a role within the divine realm and according to the divine plan. The Messiah is seen as a king, as a judge who will even judge the resurrected ones. In some of the teachings the Messiah is presented as having been created when the universe was born. Among his tasks is the gathering of the Exiles, but the Messiah’s role does not include saving or atoning for the sins of the Exiles. The notion of atonement was developed in Christianity, where Christian faith emphasizes the concept that Christ died and as the Lamb of God he atoned for the sins of Israel (the new Israel). Here the role of the Messiah was developed to include the task of saving the world from sins. Who is the savior? In the Second Commonwealth we find the teaching that

307 at the End of Days the Messiah will judge both the living and the dead. In that period there are two saviors: one is a cosmic savior and the other is a human savior. Thus it can be argued that John the Baptist, who believed in a cosmic savior, did not see Jesus Christ as such because John saw him as a human savior. Later Christianity developed the notion that the cosmic savior appeared in human form and was Christ. In the third book of the Sybylline Oracles we can read a prophecy concerning the End of Days. It states that during that time God will send a king from the east and this king will save the universe from the evil wars. Then when the nations gather to bring death upon the Jews and to burn down the house of God, then He will gather together all of the nations and judge them. This is understood to be foretelling a cosmic event: …judgment will come upon them from the great God and all will perish at the hands of the immortal. Fiery swords will fall from heaven on the 25 earth torches, great gleams... In contrast to this cosmic description of the End of Days, we have the description of that event found in the Psalms of Solomon where there is no doubt that the writer opposed the power exerted by the hose of Hasmonean. In Psalm 17 the author describes the punishment inflicted upon the people and within that description he includes the transgressions of the house of Hasmonean and the Pharisees and he begins his praise of the house of David. The Messiah in this work is the one who will gather the people and who will not leave any evil 26 among them. This description of the coming Messiah and the End of Days differs from the other descriptions since it is more spiritual and it is not seen as being cosmic. Here the ideal king as Messiah is similar to that described in the prophecy of Isaiah. In Second Isaiah we read: be-khol sa-ra-tam lo sar u-mal-akh pa-nav ho-shi ‘am In all their affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. nd

The LXX, which probably dates from the 2 century B.C.E., differs in its translation. Pa-nav in Hebrew is constructed with the noun panim, face or presence, and the preposition for his. The Greek text, instead, translated this to be auto, meaning myself. Thus we suggest that the Messianic idea now had found itself appearing in the creative works of the Jews. In a desperate time, or during a political struggle, this idea also sprang out of the creative works and found itself in the midst of the lives of the people. In The Wisdom of Solomon, a work most likely composed before the first century B.C.E., the Hellenistic perceptions are intertwined with the many traditions of Israel. Here we find the following description:

308 For a while all things were in quiet silence and that night was in the midst of her swift course. Thine almighty word leaped down from heaven out of the royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of the land of destruction. And brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth. (18:14-16.). Here Logos, the Word, stands ‘as a man of war with a sharp sword in his hand, touches heaven but stands firm on earth’. This perception probably dates from the second century B.C.E. and it is also found in the Book of Revelation: And I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse and the one that set upon him was called Faithful and True…His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns…and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God…And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he could smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron… (19:11-16.). The author of the Book of Revelation describes Logos, the Word of God, as going forth to fight the nations. In both texts shared above God is seen as the one who fights and makes order in the world. The ‘white horse’ described in the Book of Revelation is reminiscent of another story found in Talmudic literature: R. Alexandri said: R. Joshua (b. Levi) opposed two verses, it is written: and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, whilst it is written, lowly and riding upon an ass. If they are meritorious, with the clouds of heaven, if not, lowly and riding an ass. King Shapur said to Samuel, Ye maintain that the Messiah will come upon an ass. I will rather send him a white horse of mine. He replied, Have you a hundred-hire steed? Our assumption that the Messianic aspirations never ceased to be developed as an idea during the Second Commonwealth, either in the creative works of that time or as a result of a political struggle of that time, is supported by evidence found in the translation of the LXX to Pentatuch, which is a work written in the rd 3 century B.C.E. Certain verses in the Book of Numbers were perceived and understood to be relating to the Messiah and this to the Messianic idea. In the verse found in Num. 24:7 we read: He shall put water out of his bucket and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted. The Aramaic Targum (Onkelos) is similar to the LXX as it, too, translates literally. His translation or interpretation contains a very significant Messianic idea:

309 Yis-ge mal-ka de-yit-rab-ba mib-bnohi ve-yish-lot ba-‘a-ma-min sag-gi-in ve-yit-qof me-a-gag mal-kah ve-tit-ne-tal mal-khu-te. The king will be greater than his sons and he will govern over great nations and will be stronger than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted. The same idea is also found in the PT. The LXX translates: A person shall come forth from his seed and he will govern over many nations. The kingdom of God shall be great and his kingdom shall be exalted. It’s important to note here that LXX translates yi-zal ma-yim mid-dal-yav as ‘A man comes forth of his seed. While Judaism endowed the world with the expression ben-Adam antropos as the higher adjective to a member of the human race, Christianity uses this adjective as the title for the Messiah. However, in Aramaic the expression is bar enasha. bar-nasha was in use in that spoken language to address someone, too. In the Book of Daniel we find this verse: But the saint of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever and ever… until the ancient days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. (Dan. 7:18, 22, 27.). This verse may suggest that the words ‘One like a son of man’, who was lifted by the clouds and granted eternal life, is, indeed, the climax of Daniel’s dream. But 27 from this dream , until the end of the first century C.E., we cannot find any religious meaning for the expression ‘son of man’. In 4Ezra we are presented with a dream where he shared, And I looked and behold this wind made something like the figure of a man come up out of the heart of the sea… and from his lips a flaming breath, and from his tongue he shot forth a storm of sparks…And when all the nations hear his voice, every man shall leave his own land and the warfare that they have against one another… But he will stand on the top of Mount Zion, and Zion will come and be made manifest to all people. (4Ezra 13:3-36.). The author of 4Ezra indeed portrayed a Messianic event and the figure he described is understood to be a son of man, a Messiah. In the second century C.E., R. Akiva made the same statement about the ‘son of man’ as a figure of the Messiah:

310 …When he came to the generation of Rabbi Akiva, he (Adam) rejoiced at 28 his learning but was grieved at his death. The heavenly city of Jerusalem appears in the fourth vision of 4Ezra. In this vision Ezra sees a woman weeping and to his question concerning her weeping she states that she is barren. Her allegorical explanation is that she had a wellnurtured child but he had died just before entering his wedding chamber, causing his mother to mourn for him until she dies. Ezra rebukes her for mourning her son while Zion is mourning for her children. At this point, the weeping woman disappears and Ezra sees a great city. Urial comes to Ezra to explain to him that the weeping woman he had seen was Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, which mourns the destruction of the earthly Jerusalem while also serving as a vision foretelling the revival of the earthly city. The Day of Judgment is described in 4Ezra this way: But the Day of Judgment shall be the end of this age and the beginning of the eternal age that is to come; wherein all corruption is passed away, weakness is abolished, infidelity is cut off while righteousness is grown 29 and faithfulness is sprung up. Philo observes the following in the verses from Deutoronomy: That then the Lord will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations where the Lord thy God hath gathered thee…And the Lord thy God will bring you into the land which thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers. (30:3-5.). and in that passage he points out the events of the future and emphasizes the views the Jewish Sages had expressed on their perception of the coming Messianic Era. However, it’s important to note in the passage quoted above that the noun ‘Messiah’ is absent, in spite of the fact that Philo had a wide knowledge of Jewish works. The century before Philo the third vision of 4Ezra depicted the action of God. In this vision we are introduced to the fifth day when two monsters are created. Here it is most likely that we first find the notion that Israel must follow the Law. In 4Ezra we learn that those who are righteous will be able to pass the dangerous path but those who are evil will be unable to do that. During the passing time, a heavenly city and a heavenly land are predicted to appear and witness the wonders of God. It is at this point, according to this work, that the Messiah will come and his appearance will be a cause for great rejoicing. But then the Messiah and all of humanity will die as heaven shall emerge and only the few who are righteous will be saved.

311 In Sa’adya Gaon ’s magnum opus, Emunot ve-De’ot, the Messianic Age is discussed. He shares that when prophecy reestablishes itself within Israel, then it will be known by all the people, even the slaves. In a hyperbolic manner he states that if a member of the people of Israel travels to a strange land and introduces himself there, then he will be asked to foretell the 30 future. Christianity, as it is presented in the fourth gospel, accepted the notion that the ‘son of man’ grants eternal life to the believers. We find: Labour not for the food which perisheth, but for that food which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed . (John 6:27.). In another place, in the Gospel of John, we see that the writer links two events: the lifting of the serpent by Moses and the lifting up of the son of man: And as Moses lifted up the serpent into the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. That whoever believed in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (3:14-15.). It’s important to emphasize that since Jesus was a Jew he most probably objected to some of the mythological motifs that were attached to him. We know that Jesus rejected the perception of magical medication. All wonderous characteristics attributed to him were not part of Jesus’ personal view of himself. If his peers had told him that he was the Son of God, or that he was the Messiah, he most likely would have answered them in a very ambiguous manner. For example, when the Samaritan woman tells Jesus, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming’, Jesus responds by saying, I who speak to you am he. (4:25-26.). In the Gospel of John we learn that Jesus felt annoyed when people told him: How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus’ reply to that was: I told you, and you do not believe me. (John: 10:24-25.). Jesus cured people but he did not want to be known as a miraculous one. He was certain that Rome would fall, but he was not among the rebels fighting against Rome nor was he a leader of these rebels. He also objected strongly to the belief some of his contemporary Jews maintained that the Messiah would create a political heavenly kingdom on earth and he objected, as well, to the simplicity and cosmic changes others had connected to the notion of the End of Days.

312 It is possible that Jesus believed he was the Messiah, perhaps even at the moment that he realized his death. Here we see the idea of the Messiah’s death as atonement. The idea that the death of a righteous person atones for the transgressions of others is a universal idea and it was known among the Jews. Evidence of that is seen in this verse: …ve-khip-per ad-ma-to ‘amo …and will be merciful unto his land and to his people.b (Deut. 32:43.). The text in Hebrew does not state ‘will be merciful’ but instead it states ‘will atone’. PT translates: (a) ve-he be-mam-re ye-khap-per ‘al an-fe ar-‘eh v-‘am-me. …and he by his Mem-ra will make atonement for the sins of his land and of his people. In another translation we find: (b) u-be-ho-ve ‘am-me lak-ye ar-‘ah vi-khap-per ‘al ar-‘eh ve-‘al ‘am-meh …in his mercy he will make atonement for the land and for the people. In the NT text of 1Corrinthians we find: …I also received that Christ died for our sins. (15:13.). In Jewish texts this idea that the death of a righteous person atones for sins is evident. However, the question that must be asked is: Whose sin is atoned by the death of Christ? The sins of the people of Israel? The sins of all humanity? Or just the sins of the Christians? Professor David Flusser lectured on this topic at the Hebrew University in April 1962 and he stated: Christian scholars begin to find their interest in the Messianic idea in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They wanted to find the connection between the Scrolls and the Christian movement. Moreover, they wanted to find traces of Christian faith there. But they found the idea of two Messiahs, one of the house of Aaron and the other of the house of David. In this work the Messiah of the house of Aaron is more important than the Messiah of the house of David. When these scholars found this information they assumed that it is absent from Jewish writings. He continued,

313 They could not know that the idea exists in Judaism because they are lacking knowledge of Judaism. Zechariah the Prophet mentions the two sons as “these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (4:14.). Ben Sira mentions the covenant with the house of David: The third in glory is Phineas the son of Eleazar because he had zeal in the fear of the Lord…Therefore was there a covenant of peace made with him…According to the covenant made with David son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah, that the inheritance of the king should be to his posterity 31 alone, so the inheritance of Aaron should also be unto his seed. PT gives us a hint of who will reveal the Messianic age. In the blessings of Jacob found in Gen.49, we find: …tre-sar shiv-te yisrael maq-fin dar-ga-sha de-da-ha-va dir-vi- ya’ ‘a-lah u-min de-it-geli ‘i-qar she-khin-ta da-ado-nai qi-sa le-‘atid mal-ka me-shi-ha le-may-te. …the twelve tribes of Israel gathered around the golden bed on which he lay, and after the Lord’s Divine Presence (she-khi-na) has been revealed to him the time when the king Messiah (is) going to come. But PT does not emphasize that the Messiah will come from the house of Judah. It is possible that this perception is connected to the fact that it is found in the blessings of Jacob for his son, Judah. Here we are also introduced to the description of the Messiah: Aramaic a-sar har-tsoi um-sad-dor sid-re qe-ra-va ba’ale de-va-voi… ma ya-in hin-nun ‘e-noi de mal-ka me-shi-ha …ke-ham-ra za-ki-kha ve-shi-noi naq-yan min hal-va…

English He has girded his loins… …Will set order of battle with his enemies… How beautiful are the eyes of the king Messiah… (They are) clear like wine… 32 His teeth (are) cleaner than milk…

In some other fragment of the Targum, we read that Jacob called his sons so that he could reveal all that will happen when the footsteps of the Messiah are heard, and to share with them the event which will fall upon the wicked and which will reward the righteous.

314 While we debate the Messiah as coming from David’s house or from Aaron’s line, we must become aware of the Messiah who was the son of Joseph and of his tragic end. This debate is found in the rabbinic literature and it continues into the modern period. In the Hassidic literature this discussion is vigorous. In Liqqute Mo-ha-ran, the major work of R. Nahman of Bratslaw, we find the beginning of the struggle with the motif of the Messiah, the son of Joseph, which is in the kabbalah, in the ninth Sefirah, Yesod, or, ‘the foundation’. This Messiah is not mentioned explicitly, but since this Messiah was understood to be a warrior who will appear before the Messiah, the son of David, it is obvious to associate him with the Messiah, son of Joseph. In the Talmud we find the following story: R. Johanan related: Once we were traveling on board a ship and we saw a fish that raised its head out of the sea. Its eyes were like two moons, and 33 water streamed from its nostrils as (from the two rivers of Sura). There is an interpretation that in R. Nahman’s circle these words quoted above were understood to mean that there are two Messiahs, one of Joseph and one of David. Within this circle the belief was established that the Messianic Era would begin in the year 1805, which is 5565/5566 according to the Jewish calendar, for 34 the creation of the world. In the Zoharic literature we find the association of the Messiah, son of Joseph, with king Jeroboam. This association in this literature is very complex. What we find here is the belief that a Messiah will arise from the seed of Jeroboam. However, this Messiah is understood to be the son of Abijah, who was the son of Jeroboam who had died at a very young age, as we find in 1Kings 14:7. For this verse, …and all Israel shall make lamentation for him and bury him. (1Kings 14:13.). we find this interpretation in the Talmud: Is not more due now? Why, if Abijah, Jeroboam’s son, who had done but one good thing-as it is written ‘because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel’- was mourned in such universal manner, how much more is due the son of Ishmael. What was the good thing? R. Zeira and R. Hanina b. Papa; one saying that he left his charge and went on a festive pilgrimage (to Jerusalem); the other saying that he removed the military guards Peristoixos, that his father had posted on the 35 roads to prevent the Israelites from going on a pilgrimage (to Jerusalem). This child of Abijah, who was nourished in the desert, is protected from his 36 grandfather’s sins.

315 It is important to note here that the Messiah, the son of David, comes from the Davidic Dynasty, so we can assume that the Messiah, son of Joseph, is a descendant of the Northern Kingdom. To sum up the Messianic Era we may make these generalized statements: Messianism is a movement which has as its purpose the creation of a new world, a better world, and it connected to the time of Tiq-qun ‘O-lam, or, the renewal of the world. Messianism is a time for creating a new society without the use of bondage. It involves the redemption of humanity from alienation and exploitation. The religious perception of Messianism follows these aspects listed above but it adds that everything is done by the spirit of the Holy Scriptures and by God. Yet each tradition emphasizes a particular aspect of the Messianic Era. Judaism, for example, emphasizes the idea of equality, person to person. The moment one human is enslaved to another human, then he can not serve God. Thus, any society that aspires to serve God ought to implement a policy of equality among its members. Yet in Isaiah we read these verses: …and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks, nation shall not lift up swords against nation, neither shall learn war anymore. (2:4.). and: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together… (11:6.). These descriptions are of fantastic situations. As Maimonides states, Isaiah presents unreal situations as being probable. Yet when we read other Biblical texts we see that redemption shall begin outside of Israel and at the same time that radical change will occur. This radical change is an eternal repentance, as it is found described in the language of the Deuteronormist: And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thine seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thine soul, that thou mayest live. (11:16.). The prophet is seen to be the accomplished person who is perfect in his moral and in his intellectual pursuits. In the Jewish tradition Moses is such a prophet, even though at one time Moses was disobedient. Moses will be forgiven in the Messianic Era and he will participate in the redemption. When Maimonides shares the concept of Messianism in his Mishne Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim (Law of Kings), he states that the king Messiah will restore the kingdom of David, build the Temple, and that the old laws will be reinstated. This king who will rise up is said to be the one will ponder on the Torah and the

316 laws of his forefather, David, will be set in place. This king will be the one to observe both the written and the oral laws. But the most important test will be his success in doing all those things plus rebuilding the Temple and gathering the Exiles. This king will then, undoubtedly, be the Messiah. But if this king is unable to carry out all of these things, and if he will be killed in one of the battles, then he will most surely not be the Messiah. Here it’s critical to note that Maimonides does not indulge in the worldly successes of a king who follows in the footsteps of David if that king is solely a political leader. Maimonides sees Moses as the paradigm, as the lawgiver and as the one who attained the high prophetic level. This anti-political emphasis that is present in the doctrine of Messianism was argued before Maimonides by Juda Halevi. After Maimonides, th it was also argued by the 15 century philosopher, Don Isaac Abravanel, who had adopted the Messianism that had been envisioned earlier by Halevi. Abravanel hoped to expand upon Halevi’s thoughts and to maintain the high hope of the people of his time who were devastated by expulsion from their land in Spain where they had lived for over 800 years. Jewish tradition views Moses as the first redeemer. But who was this first redeemer? He was educated in the house of the Pharaoh and he did not initially live among the Israelites. He raises his family in the house of his father-in-law, who was a priest of Midian. Yet in this place Moses was being prepared for his future role as a redeemer. The Messiah from the house of David is an offspring of Ruth the Moabite, and she was the offspring of Moab, the son of Lot, an offshoot of an incestuous relationship. In the Talmud we discover an interesting encounter between two sages. One sage is R. Isaac who lived in Eretz-Yisrael and who came to Babylonia to learn and to teach. The second sage is R. Nahman, a Babylonian, who appreciated the teachings of the Sages of Eratz-Yisrael. R. Nahman liked to host the sages who came from Eratz-Yisrael so he could listen to their teachings on matters he found interesting. In the Talmud B. Sanhedrin 96b, we find the following dialogue between R. Isaac and R. Nahman: R. Nahman said to R. Isaac- Have you heard when Bar-Nifle will come? R. Isaac asks R. Nahman- Who is Bar Nifle? R. Nahman- Messiah! R. Isaac asks R. Nahman- Do you call Bar Nifle Messiah? 37 R. Nahman- Even so…as it is written, in that day I will rise up. Three times in this dialogue we are introduced to the name of Bar Nifle. A reader of Hebrew associates the name of Bar Nifle with the stem NFL, meaning ‘to fall’ and with this verse found in Amos: In that day, will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen. (9:11.). But in fact there is no stem NFL here. The noun Bar Nifle is related to the idea

317 that the Messiah shall come riding on a cloud. Bar Nifle is the son (bar) of Nephle (Nifle). Nephle is the feminine form of e’ nef’ele that is translated to mean ‘cloud’ or ‘man of clouds’. It matches the vision Daniel had where a son of man comes out of a cloud. And in both Judaism and in Christianity this son is perceived to be the Messiah. Christianity was obviously influenced by the description of the Messiah found in the Book of Daniel. There are two questions to ask here. The first question is: Why is there a need to present this dialogue between two rabbis? R. Nahman could have asked in plain words if R. Isaac knew when the Messiah would come. The second question is: Why did this story present the Messiah in such a mysterious manner using the word Bar Nifle (Nafle)? Reading the text in the dialogue we discover that the noun Bar Nifle is used three times, which, as was shared above, may make the reader think of the stem NFL, or ‘to fall down’. So we can assume that the reason behind R. Nahman requiring an answer from R. Isaac is really focused on him trying to learn how to prepare the right conditions for the coming of the Messiah. In fact, the Talmud presents in San. 97a-98b approximately fourteen passages where the Sages express their understanding of what the conditions will be for the coming of the Messiah. If we examine the Biblical text, we discover that in Ezekiel, in Joel, in Amos, and in Daniel, the people are expected to endure sufferings and tribula38 tions before the coming of the Messiah. According to the teachings of R. Yo39 hanan, suffering is a pre-condition for redemption. Here we can examine the following possibilities: a) The teaching of R. Johanan is a reflection of the tribulations of his own time. b) To comfort the people, and to emphasize there will be an end to suffering, the redeemer is said to be coming. 40

R. Zeira presents an interesting teaching. According to him one should not deal with the question asking when will the Messiah come. He teaches that there is no value in speculating on when the Messiah will come. Such speculation will not hasten his arrival. Instead of asking that question R. Zeira states one should hasten instead to return to the land of Israel. He himself did just that. In contrast to R. Zeira’s teaching we can examine the teaching of Samuel, which stated that the condition of the people will be one of punishment, which will endure for a 41 set period of time, and that this will be explained to the people. According to Samuel this time of punishment is for a set period of time when “All predestined dates (for redemption) have passed.” The coming of the Messiah, in this view, is not dependent on repentance but that the people shall be able to have passed through the mourning period. Despite all the variations found in the different sources, one thing remains clear: there is no traditional perception of redemption

318 that does not also include the return of the people to their land, as it is pointed out in a work still under consideration for publication, “R. Shalem Shabazi: Between Holiness and Messianism”, It has always been in the history of the Jews that they prefer to endure the bitter yoke of exile, to wander from one place to another, to be persecuted, and to pray for the return to Zion, waiting for Him to return to Zion. ‘Let our eyes behold thy return in mercy to Zion,’ It is accentuated ‘thy return in mercy to Zion’. But it does not say our return. The promised coming of the Messiah became a justification for the people to endure their sufferings but it did not hasten their return to their land. They waited for God to show them the sign by sending Elijah to the world. Indeed, one of the central images in the literature dealing with Elijah and the Messiah is the itinerant. This image is a strong motif in the socio-history of the Hasidic Movement as it relates to the role of the wandering preachers, Mag-gidim ( sin. mag-gid), or as it was termed in their special jargon, ba’ale shem, which means somewhat ‘exorcists who seek to invoke the spirit’. We should understand that this image of the Spiritual Itinerant was already present in early Jewish creative th works. In the 10 century Sa’adya Gaon describes the benefit that comes out of each itinerant. The sources of the second and third generation of the Hasidic Movement can be overlooked and this image can still be acknowledged. Travel, journey, or walking, ne-si’ah, mas-sa’, ha-li-kha, in this literature are all interchangeable images used to present two fundamental interpretations of the stem HLKh, which describes walking, or even to travel by vehicle, from one place to another, in spite of the fact that ne-si’ah and mas-sa’ have one stem, NSA’. Images of walking, traveling, and whatever is related to those activities, and the images of taking a journey from one place to another, were understood to be a lifestyle. When we closely examine these images we discover that the motif of walking is contained within its spiritual advancement through different, dar-got, steps of which the last one is known as d’vekut, meaning ‘cleaving or attaining an attachment to or with God. This image is found in many Hasidic teachings. One of these is by th Ya’akov Yosef, who lived at the end of the 18 century. In his work we find that ha-li-kha, walking, is constructed with Binah, understanding the third sefira in the kabbalah. In essence, the Jewish tradition can be defined as a very cosmo-political one and that there is no overt search for a political border in this tradition. This tradition can pass from one place to another as it constantly looks for the freedom from living within a limited circle and within a closed political reservation. But this tradition was always at odds with those who wished to have this tradition exist within a closed circle, as this was seen as a way to carefully preserve the tra-

319 dition. Both points of view see the ha-li-kha, walking, as a way for preaching, for publicly declaring the cultural or religious principals to “confirm feeble knees”, and this motif is very dominant in modern Hebrew literature as well. Hasidic literature wished to see the Zad-diq, the righteous one, as walking from place to place while preaching and strengthening the faith of the common people, to confirm their religious belief in the coming of the Messiah. Yet the Messiah viewed his primary role to conform the religious rituals of the common people. This is highly visible in the role Elijah plays in the Biblical literature and in the folk literature. Elijah walks from place to place in these tales, from Gilead to Zarephath, to Samaria to Carmel, to Be’er-Sheba to Mt. Horeb to Damascus. Elijah is described as a man who does not belong in just one place and he is understood as one who does not recognize political borders as being of primary importance. He finds his followers and together they cross over political borders. Elijah emphasizes the importance of spiritual borders, which have no visible signs with which to identify them. In the oral tradition, he passes from one place to another always helping the needy and the meek as he goes. He is the character that everyone is expecting, the one who will bring salvation to the world. This search for truth is also found in the Hasidic literature and it is recognized as coming from two directions. In the first, Elijah brings the people back to their tradition, and in the second, he often helps the people find the truth in their tradition. The people’s border is defined as being the whole world and the world is seen as being just one and of God, with a place for everyone in it. The Zad-diq’s quest is that the Jew will examine himself and that he will assume the responsibility for his community and tie it to the destiny of his fellow men. Elijah emphasizes freedom and that within that freedom he stresses the importance of the Jewish myth of Jerusalem, of Zion, and of our return to the genesis of the world that existed before the disharmonic element caused us to be expelled from it. The walking now from place to place is tied to the human search for truth. If we wish to understand the role of the Mag-gid, the preacher, then we need to understand that Judaism is not a missionary religion and it does not involve itself with the marketing of God. The main principal of Judaism is the meeting point between man and God. In Jewish history this was defined as the central tenet of Judaism. Unfortunately, some today are trying to empty this substance from Judaism. Instead, the emphasis is that the destiny of the Jewish person is connected to the acceptance of the Torah as the supreme Jewish principle. Without the acceptance of the Torah, there is no significance to the personal, the national, or the universal redemption. Religion today is perceived as anti-national. Jewish history teaches that for many years the Jews had a political state with political boundaries. But during those years their religious leaders were in opposition to those political boundaries which they viewed as a trap. These religious leaders were the prophets who

320 stressed the universalism found in this tradition: universal justice, light for all the nations, but without having secured political borders. Throughout Jewish history some religious movements have emerged opposing the idea of political borders and statehood. During the Second Commonwealth the religious leaders of the Hasidic Movement, as well as the Pharisees at a later point in time, viewed the nation state as one without political borders. Thus, they turned to God, reduced Him to a single nation, and they reduced the land to a Torah. The orthodox, hare-dim, and Shas of today, and with them all those who worship stones and amulets made by ‘rabbis’, still preach for God and Torah but they sadly have forgotten that the meeting point between man and man, and between man and God, must continue to be at the center of the true Jewish tradition.

B. Not By Faith Alone No longer will there be deceitful gold or silver or acquisitions of land, or laborious slavery, but one friendship and one manner for a merry people. All will be in common, and one equal light of life. On earth evil will sink 42 into the wonderous sea. Then the harvest of articulate man is near. From the beginning Jewish tradition was interested in two concepts: the End of Days and Salvation. The Jewish tradition also contains the absolute acknowledgement that the God of Israel is the God of the universe who created that universe and selected the people of Israel as his people. This belief was the fundamental faith that the events of End of Days and Salvation will happen in the future. In some Biblical passages we find evidence of this belief. Some prophets shared details about a new covenant that God would make in the future with the house of Israel, And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they will not depart from me. (Jer. 32:40.). However, the vision of the End of Days is not exclusively a Jewish belief. It is found as a belief among many diverse people where the motif of destruction and fire continued to be the main destructive elements describing that final day in 43 western mythologies. The End of Days within the Jewish tradition is always connected to the concept of Salvation while simultaneously being connected to a harsh description of punishment said to be awaiting the wicked. The original meaning of Apocalypse was ‘to reveal’. The vision of the End of Days is the revelation of the secret contained within the End of Days, and it is

321 what is known as eschatology. In its present form the concept of Apocalypse is the great endowment of the Jewish tradition to the Western world. Because of the influence of these concepts within Jewish tradition, some Westerners developed a fear of the End of Days and others awaited that time with a spiritual gladness. The eschatological tension in Christianity weakened at the beginning of the second century C.E. mainly because the Christian hope that Salvation would accompany the death of Christ did not occur. In some historical periods we witness the appearance of apocalyptic movements, but these movements were oppressed and the Church persecuted their members. From this point of view, then, it can be argued that the concept of the End of Days is realized more within Christianity than it is within Judaism because Christians maintain a hope for the second coming of Christ where Salvation will be fully and completely realized. Although Judaism is less apocalyptic than Christianity, the hope of Salvation is stronger in Judaism because the Christians believe that the start of Salvation has already occurred. For Christians the Messianic tension is not as strong as it is in Judaism where, from time to time, apocalyptic movements emerge. This Messianic tension within Judaism began with the belief in the ‘return to Zion’, which had been viewed by the prophets as being the End of Days. This bitter disappointment of the failure of these apocalyptic movements left some Jews with a feeling of deep depression. The start of the Jewish apocalypse can most likely be traced back to just before the beginning of the Hasmoneam Period. The roots of this idea are found in the Book of Daniel. This first apocalyptic movement appears to have begun in the second century B.C.E. and it continued until the start of the Bar Kokhba rebellion in the second century C.E. Ironically, with the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. the need for hope within the Jewish tradition was replaced by eschatology and the Messiah. At that point the world was facing its own destruction as the Roman Empire and its unique culture caused the cultures in the Eastern world to crumble and the people in that region began an earnest search for protection. Redactors of the Biblical literature tried very hard to demythologize the Biblical stories. However, myth was and remains part of the Bible. The redactors of Pentatuch had some success with their demythologizing efforts but the mythical elements remained in the works of the prophets and in the Book of Job. This undercurrent of myth persisted in the oral tradition as well. Demythologizing the Bible is based on the idea in Judaism that the God of the universe is the active creator of the world and that God had elected Israel to its high status. The God of Israel is not emphasized in the other traditions. Within Judaism there was only one God and there was no room for other gods. For that reason in its canon Judaism rejects all other gods. From its beginning Judaism has struggled with mythology. During the period between the time of the first Temple until

322 the year 586 B.C.E., we witness the disapproval of myth within this tradition. But, from that time to the present, Judaism is defined as a mythological religion, without any return to the worshipping of idols, because within this tradition the celestial and the earthly worlds were seen as being one complete and intertwined world. Examining Christianity, we see aspects of Jewish mythology are present. Most of these inherited mythological motifs were focused on the belief in the Messiah as he was understood to be the Christian Messiah. As was noted earlier, Jesus objected to the concept of the cosmic apocalypse as well as to the existence of magical healing. However, Jesus realized he had to close the gap between his special characteristics and his objection of the wondrous aspects that people of his day claimed he possessed. He objected to people waiting for divine signs. The Gospel of Mark states, And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after sign? Verily, I say unto you. There shall no sign be given unto this generation.( 8:12.). Christianity rose up within the circle where Jesus had grown to adulthood. So mythology was a part of the new Christianity because it had played a strong role in Judaism at the time of Christ. Yet Jesus objected to belief in myths. Whenever he cured someone, he stated that the person was cured by that person’s connection to the power of faith. Among the many mythical motifs found in Christianity two very dominant Jewish mythical motifs are present: Bar Ensh and heavenly kingdom. The first motif, Bar Ensh, the son of man, appears many times in the Synoptic Gospels and in John. This phrase is not a new one when it appears in the Gospels. It is found in the OT and it appears in the vernacular Aramaic, the language spoken in Jesus’ time, as bar ensh or as bar nasha. It is only when the gospels were written that the phase Bar Ensh appears. It is used to denote ‘son of man portrayed as the Messiah’, or as it appears in 4Ezra, as ‘the final judge’. This image is also found in the words of John the Baptist when he spoke about the coming destruction of the wicked. When the high priest asks Jesus if he is the Messiah, Jesus’ reply is about Bar Ensh, the son of man sitting by the Lord. It seems as his death approaches that Jesus is unable to relinquish his belief that he is a Messiah. With Jesus’ death came the idea that his death alone can atone for human sin. It is connected to a belief that the death of a righteous person atones for the sins of others. In Christianity this belief is expressed as, …Christ died for our sins. (1Cor. 15:3.). This means that the death of the Messiah was necessary if humanity was to live.

323 According to the same terms used in Christianity, such as glory, Word, Holy Spirit, and Angel, we can see that this new tradition was nourished fundamentally by the same mythological motifs found in Judaism. When reading Jesus’ life in the Synoptic Gospels its climax is reached in his death and resurrection. In these gospels we are introduced to the arguments regarding his ministry and his location. In the first chapter of John it states that Jesus is one with the Logos, the God who came to our world in human form. Around 100 C.E. Christians accepted the idea that Jesus was both the Messiah and the Logos. It’s safe to assume that there were those at that time who objected to this perception of Jesus and his role. Here is a very disturbing statement, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abided not in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. For he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. (John 8:44-45.). It is important to note that before the first Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. that some Christian Sages, such as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Hippolytus, agreed that Christ, the Divine Word, was lesser than God. Such a notion is connected to Elijah. In Midrash Tanhuma, as was pointed out in Chapter 1, it is shared that while God shares his power with Elijah in no way does that imply that Elijah had full equality with God. This is implied again in John, Then answered Jesus and said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth… (5:19-20.). The same concept is found expressed in Romans 1:3-4. In Pesikta De-Rav Kahana we find: A man, God (Deut. 33:1.) when Moses went up on high he was very much a man; but when he came down below, he was like unto God…Another comment on a man, God, when he fled from Pharaoh’s presence, Moses was very much a man, but when the Egyptians sank in 44 the sea he was like unto a God. Such a passage hardly suggests that Moses and God are equals. Considering the fact that Jesus was a Jew and that he lived within the Jewish milieu, his contemporaries would never have referred to him as God. To do so would be offensive

324 within a Jewish community. Thus in Judaism a Messianic king does not share the glory of God, as it appears in John, That all man should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. (5:23.). This verse in John is a contradiction to the perception held by the Jews during the time of Jesus. At that time Judaism contained a strong belief that the Messiah is the messenger who will play certain roles in the name of God, but the Messiah will not be God. In this particular matter, there is a gap between the beliefs in these two traditions. John continues to argue against the Judaic point of view in 1:41-52 where he states that Jesus is the Messiah and that there is no reason or continued value for the Jews to continue to pray for the Messiah’s arrival. John later states: …but that world through him might be saved. ( 3:17 and see 17:1-3.). which demonstrates the Christian view that only through Jesus can the world attain Salvation. In Jewish tradition, especially in the Bible, the Messiah is said to be the one who was, or will be, anointed. As was pointed out earlier in Chapter 1, in Jewish 45 history the anointed ones were the king and the High Priest. Yet in the Bible, non-Jews could be anointed, too. For example, Cyrus the king of Persia (Isa. 45:1.) was anointed. But there is no trace of evidence stating that the Jewish Messiah is an anointed one. This act of annointment has been related only to Bar Kokhba. Calling Jesus ‘Messiah’ meant he was anointed to become the king of the Jews, which was against the will of the Roman Empire and its representative in Judea, Pontius Pilate. The Jewish tradition opposed this act of anointment because they believed that the ‘anointed one’ needed to be a descendant of the house of David to become the king of Judea. As was pointed out earlier, the noun ma-shi-yah, ‘anointed one’, was used in Biblical times and it had the same meaning in Aramaic. In the NT this noun, in its Greek form, kristos, was the title given to Jesus. However, in fact this title is very complicated and often misunderstood. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls use this noun to mean ‘anointed priest’. When the Christians began to use this title for Jesus, they mistook its meaning, as well as the meaning of the Messianic expectation within Judaism. They also misunderstood the history of the Jews and their belief in a Messiah. The Messiah is not a central tenet in the Jewish tradition, while in Christianity this is the dominant belief, along with the belief in the second coming. In Judaism the Messiah, the anointed one, is expected to come from the house of David to restore the independence and the sovereignty of the Jewish people. This Messiah’s role is to arrange salvation from the bondage of

325 the Jews to a foreign empire, which in Jesus’ time was the Roman Empire. Christianity follows the concept developed in Judaism that the Messiah would come from the house of David. In the three main bodies of writing within the Synop46 tic Gospels, Jesus is, indeed, addressed as the Son of David. Jews, however, objected to giving Jesus this title and position. They argued against his position of Messiah within the Jewish tradition because they claimed Jesus was a Galilean and he was not from Bethlehem, where Jewish tradition taught was the origin of the Davidic dynasty. Another reason the Jews refused to accept the Christian view of Christ as the Messiah was rooted in their tradition’s teaching that the Messiah will appear suddenly, from nowhere, either in a cloud or on the back of an ass. The Jews said that Jesus was a man who came from Galilee and for that reason he can’t be the awaited Messiah. In 7:26-27 John was very aware of these Jewish views on Jesus. He most likely wrote his gospel to counter the Jewish views, and to defend the Christian views, on Jesus. It is in his work that we find the positive aspects of the Christian view of Jesus as the Messiah. At one point in the gospels, Jesus is addressed as Rabbi, or as the Son of God, or as the King of Israel (Phil. 1:49), or as the Son of the living God. Following the people’s reaction to the event at Lake Gennesaret, Jesus shares that he has no political ambition and he withdraws to a mountain to contemplate. But by riding on a donkey when he returns to Jerusalem (12:13), Jesus appears to make that act an allusion to the coming of the king Messiah that appears in the Book of Zechariah 9:9.When Jesus relates to the expression naming him the Son of God, we find distinct differences held by Jews and by Christians on this important issue. In the Jewish tradition any Jew is allowed to consider himself to be the Son of God because God had declared: Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first born. (Ex. 4:22.). A Christian views this as another expression addressing God. This expression appears in Judaism in the OT and it is part of the literary tradition created in the nd Second Commonwealth. Ben Sira of the 2 B.C.E. writes of it (4:10.). The Book of Jubilees speaks about it in 1:24. Among the Jews it was not deemed to be blasphemy for any Jew to say, ‘I am the Son of God.’ It seems that the expression is 47 judged to be blasphemous only in the gospels. The second prominent motif is Malkhut Sha-mayim, heavenly kingdom. This phrase is common in the NT and it was most likely used in the Jewish tradition from early on in the Hasmonean Period. It is difficult to accept the notion that the Jewish religion was an invention connected solely to one moment in history. It appears to be, instead, a religion that developed over time until it reached a desirable state. Yet from its beginning we are introduced to the concept that God is the God of Israel and He was identified as,

326 …the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. (Gen. 14:22.). The first identification of this God is linked to the notion that this is also the God of Israel. The patriarch discovers it. This God is the creator and his role in this tradition is to maintain his active involvement in what he has created. Here we encounter the concept of God as a national God, as the God of Israel, who is simultaneously the cosmic God and the creator of the whole world. In Psalms we find, Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations. (82:8.). Buber tagged this notion of the national God of Israel being the cosmic creator God of the kingdom of God. This phrase is found in the Gospel of Mark. A change in this phrase occurred during the Second Commonwealth. From the eschatological perspective, the kingdom of God is understood to be connected to the future. It is not seen as occurring in the present time. It is understood that all it promises will occur in the future. Although God is, indeed, the God of the whole world, in Jewish tradition this won’t be reality until the End of Days. However, in the apocalypse this phrase is emphasizing what is desirable. The perception is that God is always the king of the world in the present time, but in the End of Days the perception is that God will be the only king of the world. From the religious point of view, this tradition is teaching that as long as evil exists in the world, then the kingdom of heaven cannot be fulfilled until the End of Days, when evil will be defeated. Only then, in Jewish tradition, will the God of Israel be the God of the world. There is also a political perception contained in this phrase kingdom of heaven. This concept is explored in the Book of Daniel. There we learn that there are five kingdoms and the last one is said to be Greek or Roman. This book teaches that after this fifth kingdom, then the kingdom of Israel will occur, and from that kingdom the king Messiah will emerge. It shares that in the Second Commonwealth of that kingdom that the Messiah will exist. Jewish Sages felt there was a danger in the eschatological perception that God would only become God of the whole world in the future during the End of Days. Their fear is expressed in the interpretation they made of the verse ending the Song of Moses in Exodus, YHWH mal-khu-te qa-em le-‘a-lam ul-‘al-me ‘al-ma’ya. The Lord his kingdom lasting for ever and ever. Mahmanides interpreted this verse this way, ‘The Lord shall reign forever and ever’ it says that he showed that he is

327 king and ruler above all, that he saved his servants and destroyed those 48 who rebelled against him. So let it be to do so in all generations… At the beginning of the Second Commonwealth, Jewish faith rested in the hope that Zerububel would appear as the Messiah, but their hope wasn’t realized. The Prophet Zachariah mentions the Sons of Yzhar (4:14) and it is generally understood that these sons were thought to be the Messiahs. However, the Midrash emphasizes that the Messiah is to come from the house of David. It is important to note here that the belief in the coming Messiah has its roots in the Biblical text. In Ben Sira’s writings we find, According to the covenant made with David son of Jesse, of the tribe of Juda, that the inheritance of the king should be to his posterity alone: so the inheritance of Aaron should also be unto his seed. (45:25.). So, in this one verse Phinehas and David are mentioned but each has a separate and definite role to play in the Messianic movement. Investigating the text of Genesis 49, it’s apparent that with the blessings of the patriarch given to his sons we see that the two tribes of Judah and Joseph have attained the greatest importance. The Midrash ha-Gadol interprets the Biblical verse of Gen. 49: 3-4 this way: You (Reuben) have the first born right, the priesthood and the royalty, yours; now that you have sinned, the first born right was given to Joseph, priesthood to Levi, and royalty to Judah. The priesthood – the excellence of dignity (ye-ter Se’et) as ‘and Aaron lifted (va-yis-sa) up his hand’. The excellency of power ( ve-ye-ter ‘az ) is royalty. While the rabbinic literature calls the Messiah cohen tse-deq, or, the ‘righteous priest’, this wording does not appear in the Bible but it does appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls. While the general perception was that the Messiah will come from the house of David, it’s important to note here that the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Jubilees, and the Testimonies of the sons of Jacob, recorded the perception that the Messiah will emerge from the house of Aaron. At the beginning of the Second Commonwealth, two distinct ideas of the Messiah emerged: one said the Messiah would come from the House of David and the other said the Messiah would come from the house of Joseph (and in other sources from the house of Aaron). Simultaneously, another hope present at that time was that the other three foundations of Judaism, prophecy, priesthood, and monarchy, would be re-established in the future. According to the Mishna Aboth, the Jewish Sages viewed themselves as the rightful heirs to the prophets. They emphasized that their teachings would be considered the legitimate teachings from that time forward. Yet, among the people, their hope for the genuine

328 renewal of the prophecy continued to be strong despite the claims being made by the Jewish Sages of that time. According to Professor D. Flusser, this hope played a very important role in the political thinking during the Second Com49 monwealth. In the Book of Malachi we read the following: Remember of the Law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and ordinances. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.(3:20-24; 4:4-6.). The LXX version of this verse states ‘Elijah the Tishbite’ in place of ‘Elijah the prophet’. In fact, Biblical literature does not mention Elijah’s profession as prophet, except in 2Chronicles 21:12 where we discover, And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet… Thus, it’s important to ask why there is but one place in the Jewish canon where Elijah is said to be a prophet. Does it reflect the desire of Elijah not to be called a prophet in his time, since prophets were associated with the king and his court? Or does it mean that the last three verses of Malachi are not of the prophet and that the prophetic texts were concluded in this work? One possibility is that this reflects the Jewish hope for the renewal of the foundation of prophecy in the days to come. In Malachi, since Elijah is said to be the forerunner of the End of Days, he is identified there as the manifestation of the renewed prophesy. In the Book of Maccabees we find: And laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to show what should be done with them . (4:46.). So was there a great affliction in Israel, the like whereof was not since the time that a prophet was not seen among them.(9:27.). Also that the Jews and Priests were well pleased that Simon should be their governor and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet. (14:41.). In these quoted passages, the first verse is connected to the stones of the altar that had been defiled by Antiochus. The second half of that verse, ‘Until there should come a prophet’, refers to Elijah because in rabbinic literature Elijah is 50 the one who is chosen to give instructions during difficult times. The second verse above suggests that there is hope for a prophet to appear at the start of the End of Days. This prophet is not identified by name in this verse but is simply called navi, prophet. The third verse emphasizes the Jewish belief and hope for

329 the renewal of prophecy and in this writing that hope is expressed as an unnamed ‘faithful prophet’. It seems that the use of the noun navi, prophet, was a particular reference to the prophet who would renew the foundation of prophecy in the End of Days. This concept is expressed often in the NT. For example, in Mark we discover, And king Herod heard of him, for the name was spread abroad, and he said that John the Baptist was risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. Others said, it is Elijah, and others said, it is a prophet, or like one of the prophets.( 6:14-15.). In contrast to the Jewish tradition, Mark presents another tradition that deals with the question of Jesus. He shares that Christ asked, ‘Who do men say that I am?’ And Mark shares that there were many answers to Jesus’ question, such as he was John the Baptist, or that he was Elijah, or that he was one of the prophets. Peter, however, points out that Jesus was the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. In a parallel episode in Matthew we find an additional name in the answer to that question: And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist; some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. (16:14.). It is obvious that Matthew apparently knew the oral Jewish traditional belief that Jeremiah is expected to appear at the End of Days to bring back the vessels of the 51 temple that he had protected and hid. While in these two texts shared above the construction ‘one of the prophets’ could be understood to mean ‘one that is coming now’. John, however, emphasizes that it refers to the ‘prophet who is to appear in the future’: Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. (6:14.). Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, of a truth this is the prophet. (7:40.). Since the belief was strong that Elijah would appear before the beginning of the Messianic era, it was important for the early Christians to identify John the Baptist as Elijah. This perception is emphasized strongly in Mark: Elijah cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how is it written of the son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be treated with contempt. But I say unto you, Elijah is indeed come and they have done unto 52 him whatsoever they desired, as it is written of him. (9:12-13.). Judaism and Christianity shared a mutual idea concerning the role of Elijah. As

330 is pointed out above, Mark claims that “Elijah verily cometh and restoreth all things.” It is obvious that the belief of Elijah’s coming before the End of Days was firmly established in the Jewish tradition during the Second Commonwealth. Although the Jewish Sages had taught that the prophets were those 53 whose mission was to solve and interpret difficult problems in the law , it’s ap54 parent that Elijah is not going to deal with such work. Yet according to MEduyoth 8:7, R. Joshua in the authority of R. Yohanan b. Zakkai, Elijah’s role is to bring people closer to God and R. Simeon suggests that Elijah’s role is make peace in the world. R. Joshua shared: I have received as a tradition from Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai, who heard from his teacher, and his teacher, as a Halakhah given to Moses from Sinai, that Elijah will not come to declare, or clean, to remove afar or to bring nigh, but to remove afar those (families) that were brought nigh by violence and to bring nigh those (families) that were removed afar by violence. According to their interpretation, Elijah is not coming to make any changes in the Law but he is coming to end the injustices in the world. Relating to the verse from Malacchi shared earlier, they are emphasizing that Elijah is coming to bring all things to their proper place before the coming of the Messiah. The verse in Acts 3:21 and in Mark 9:12 where we find “restoreth all things” we are seeing the reflection of the teachings of the Second Commonwealth which defines the role of Elijah. ‘Restoring all things’, is, in fact, part of the belief concerning the End of Days. The idea of ‘restoring all things’, apokatastaseos panton, apokatistanei pantas, a ‘restoration of all’ or ‘restoring all’, is contained in the Christian belief that this tradition will ‘restore all things’ according to the Torah in the future. From the early days of Christianity, Jesus was known by the following names: Prophet, Messiah, Teacher, Son of Man, and Son of God. His followers considered Jesus to be the heir of an early prophet or to be the prophet of the End of Days. R. Hanina b. Dosa of the first century was also defined similarly. People of his day considered him to be the heir of Elijah. He was credited with the power to heal people not in his presence, even those who were far away. Jesus, too, performed healings. Just as the early Christians had regarded Jesus as the direct heir of the old prophets, the early Christians also saw John the Baptist as being another direct descendant of the old prophets and he was regarded as the successor of Elijah and Elisha. There are shared terms found in the dialogue between Judaism and Christianity. Terms like Messiah, Redeemer, Faith, and Salvation, however, have different meanings in these two traditions. Each tradition has a unique perception, and despite attempts to discuss these perceptions in an objective manner, it’s

331 important to realize that each tradition’s perceptions are subjective by nature. Although there is an element of rational objectivity in this endeavor, in the end it cannot avoid subjectivity at the core. In our view. Jesus’ teachings include ethics and the faith found within the realm of Jewish tradition of his time. We can question and discuss whether Jesus perceived himself to be the Messiah, or if his followers considered that to be true. If we study the Messianic fever that was present in Jesus’ time in Galilee and in Judea, then we discover that Jesus was not the only one in his day who was considered a Messiah. As much as we try to understand the complex events and their nuances from the first century B.C.E. and C.E., we must acknowledge that we can never attain a comprehensive understanding of that era. We can hypothesize as we recognize that at this point in time we lack information concerning the events shared by Jerusalem with Rome. Medieval religious philosophers like Philo and Maimonides, or the Christian Sages like St. Augustine and St. Aquines, each presents his view within the confines of his tradition. Thus a rationalist like Maimonides finds it easy in his work to eliminate any belief in miracles or in a mythical entity. Yet not all the Jewish philosophers or Sages followed this rationalistic approach to Messianism. In Jewish tradition, the religious hero is the prophet and Moses is considered the Lawgiver, and that Elijah will be the forerunner of the End of Days. According to the 55 Jewish Sages the Messiah is also a prophet. The Book of Enoch was very well known to the early Christians and the Jews of that era. The third section of this book, chapters 37 to 71, is known as the Book of Parables. The second parable in chapters 45-57 deals with the idea of the Messiah who is called the Elect One or the Son of Man. In this parable this Messiah existed before the world was created. This Messiah sits on the throne to judge humanity and when the time comes, then the righteous ones will be resurrected while the evil ones will be handed over for punishment. In this work we are introduced to the concept of rewards going to those who are righteous and of suffering being given to those who are evil. Also, in this work the history of the world has been given ten time periods, which are called ‘weeks’. The sixth ‘week’ is known as ‘Elijah week’ and the eighth ‘week’ is known as when the Messianic Era begins. The Book of Enoch does not mention the tradition that the prophet will re56 store the dynasty of David. When we examine Psalms 89: 3-4 and 20-37, we discover the poet saying: ‘I have found David, my servant.’ In the Book of Isaiah we find the everlasting promise that from the son of the house of David the restoration of the people begins. Biblical literature consistently emphasizes that hope and the messianic relief will come from the house of David. Since in this tradition the coming of the Messiah is linked to the End of Days, then Elijah was appointed to be the forerunner of both the Messiah and the final judgment. Here it’s reasonable to claim that the many ideas relating to the Messiah found

332 in the Jewish tradition were affected and influenced by each Messianic claimant. Jesus was not the first, nor was he the last, whose disciples claimed as the Messiah. In the second century C.E., a full century following Jesus’ life, another person was ‘appointed’ as the Messiah. His name was Simeon bar koziba and he was better known as Bar Kokhba (132 C.E.). The explanation for the Messianic Era is found in sources that pre-date either Jesus or Bar Kokhba. Descriptions of the Messianic fervor are found in the Book of Enoch, chapters 85 to 90, and in the th th Benediction of Sibylline in the 12 and 19 Benedictions. But the concept of Elijah as the forerunner is clearly presented in the Gospel of Mark where Elijah is seen as appearing as John the Baptist. It’s possible that the Christian association of Elijah with John the Baptist originates from the legendary Jewish material about Elijah as he walked from place to place in various time periods and as he appeared in the guise of others. Here we can see how the early Christians saw John the Baptist as Elijah and serving as the forerunner for their Messiah, Jesus. Mark shares: And Jesus went out, and (with) his disciples into the town of Ceasarea Phillipi; and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, whom do men say I am? And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say Elias (Elijah), and others, one of the prophets. (8:27-28.). So some people thought that Jesus was the resurrected John the Baptist, who had been executed: And King Herod heard of him and he said, that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.(Mk. 6:14.). However, when Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Whom say ye that I am?’, then Peter 57 answered by saying, ‘Thou art the Christ.’ The Gospel of John suggests another version: Then those men when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. (6:14.). Here is evidence that John, unlike the writers of the other gospels, understood Jesus to be the prophet who is to come just before the End of Days. By reading the different gospels we discover that some people identified Jesus as the resurrected John the Baptist, some identified Jesus with Elijah, and others defined Jesus as the prophet of the End of Days. The truly perplexing problem among these divergent points of view is focused on why some had mentioned the resurrection of John the Baptist. As for the name ‘Jesus Christ’, we should examine the Gospel of Philip, who shared that ‘Jesus’ is the hidden name and that ‘Christ’ is the revealed name. Thus

333 the name Jesus is not part of any particular language and throughout his life he was always called by this name. However, the name Christ appears in many languages. In Syriac it is Messiah. In Greek it is Khristos, as we see in the Gospel of Philip. The apostles called him ‘Jesus the Nazarean’ and the ‘Messiah’. For them his first name was ‘Jesus’, his middle name was ‘Nazarean’, and his last name was 58 ‘Messiah’. When Gustav Flaubert (1821-1880) wrote Herodias, he reconstructed a legendary historical event that he placed within the time of the Second Commonwealth. In this work John the Baptist is the protagonist in the character of Jokanaan. Flaubert suggests a very interesting idea: perhaps one of the crucial reasons behind Herod’s decision to execute John the Baptist was that with his death Herod believed that Elijah is eliminated forever. However, according to the Jewish tradition, anything identified with Elijah cannot die because with Elijah’s ascension to heaven he became eternal. Since the executed John the Baptist was identified with Elijah, some of the new Christians needed to establish his resurrection within their tradition. As Flaubert shared in Herodias: The priests having consulted together, Eleazar spoke up. To begin with, he said, the Messiah would be a son of David and not of a carpenter, then, too, he would uphold the Law…He would be preceded by the coming of Elias. But Elias has come! replied Jacob. Elias! Elias! Repeated the crowd down to the far end of the hall…Do you think he has come to life again? Why not? said Jacob. He was bound by his word, and the people were waiting. But then he thought that if the death which had been predicted to him were inflicted on another, his own might be averted. If Jokanaan were really Elias, he would be able to avoid it, and if he were not, 59 killing him was a matter of no importance.

334

C. May Allah Have Mercy

O God, Thou hast taken a limb, but other limbs remain; Thou hast taken a son but hast left other sons behind; and if Thou hast afflicted me, so didst Thou aforetime keep me whole. When he then returned to Medina 60 he betook himself to his castle in al ‘Aqiq. From some of the verses found in the Qur’an and in sections of the prophet’s hadith there is no doubt, as Christianity had done in the early and late Middle Ages, that Islam also objected to Judaism and to the Jews. At first Islam targeted its objection to the Jewish theology, but later it came to include their rejection, as well, of the Jews. The early encounter of the Jews and the Muslims was very violent, as is seen in the massacre of the Jews at al-Medina. The violent encounter between the Christians and the Jews occurred, relatively, later. It is difficult to accept and understand the Muslim’s violent encounter with Judaism at alMadina. The results were a terrible religious and cultural dislocation for the people of the Law. In 624 the two tribes, Qaynuq’a and Nadhir, were expelled from their city. Then 627 men from the tribe Qurayzha were exterminated, while the women and children of that tribe were sold into slavery. It is an accepted notion that while Christianity viewed itself as a new Israel and that Paul carried this message to the pagan world, the Arabs viewed themselves as the descendants of Abraham and Ishmael. Their historical awareness was strongly accepted with the coming of the prophet. Islam did not meet the ‘New Israel ’. With the conquest of the Middle East, Islam became a dangerous competitor of Christianity. At that point in time, Islam released its deep aggression toward Judaism. The prophet Muhammad never considered himself a Messiah. Islam, unlike Christianity and Judaism, never developed a Messianic aspiration since it viewed itself fundamentally as a religion that would purify and reestablish the religion of Abraham. For that reason it did not need the Bible and it’s why this tradition views its religious text, the Qur’an, as the original and heavenly text. It is important to note that the notions of redemption and of Messianism are both absent in the Islamic tradition. To discover why these two concepts are absent the historical facts need to be examined. For example, Islam never lost a country, and it never experienced the destruction of its holy city or of its holy Temple. All of that was experienced within Judaism. These facts are central in the Jewish tradition and completely absent in the Islamic tradition. Judaism aspires to rebuild its religious center and to prepare for the start of the Messianic

335 Era. It yearns for the return of all of its people and for the reestablishment of God’s Law. Islam has its ka’ba and its great Mosque where pilgrims visit and which has never been destroyed, even when attempts were made to hit their blessed black stone. Moreover, Muslims, unlike the Jews, were never expelled from their land and they never experienced exile. This is true if we do not include their expulsion from Granada after its conquest by the Catholic monarchs in Spain in January 1492. Islam also has no fasting days commemorating the destruction of their holy temple as the Jews do, nor did it develop the idea that when there is difficulty interpreting the holy laws that Elijah will be the one to interpret those laws correctly in the Messianic Era. All of that is not present in the Shari’ah. Minus their experience in Granada, Islam was never persecuted. The idea developed that anyone who belongs to the Ummah, the Muslim community, is saved. It is by relating to or by belonging to this community that redeems the Muslim people, who face their holy place, Mecca, ahl al qibla, while praying. Their place in the Garden is secure. They feel that their place is secure based on a special concept that developed within this tradition. According to this special concept, the prophet Muhammad serves as a living intercessor for any believer of Islam. It is known as a Shafa’ah and we can read about it in Sura 78:31-40, where it is said to be the reward for those who preserve themselves from evil doing. The prophet is said to intercede for the sake of the believers at the Day of Judgment. Muslims believe that every human is born with a fitrah, nature, or as the prophet states, Al-Islam din-ul fitra This makes Islam the religion of ‘nature’. By becoming a believer in Islam, every person can become redeemed. At the same time, there is a tradition that in every century a great man will rise up to renew the Islamic tradition and thus prevent Islam from becoming decayed or corrupted over time. The role of this righteous guide is to restore the tradition. However, this idea of a restorer of the tradition is found as early as in the time of Umayyad, where the restorer was called the Mahdi. Although this noun is not found in the Qur’an, the stem of this noun is found in the Suratu ‘l Fatiha, which a Muslim recites a few times each day: Ah-di-na ‘l tsi’rat ‘lmus-ta-qi-ma. Guide us in the straight way. Here we are introduced to a divine guidance that can be viewed as a messianic appearance. It is taught that the khalif Sulaiman, who ruled for two years (715717), was the first to emphasize the belief in this divine guidance where the Ma-

336 hdi will appear to reestablish divine justice in the world. In his long entry in the The Encyclopedia of Islam, W. Madelung writes: 61

In Medina conservative religious opinion generally accepted ‘Umar II as the Mahdi. This acceptance was facilitated by the fact that ‘Umar I (ibn al khatab) who together with his son ‘Abd Allah enjoyed the highest reli62 gious authority among conservative median scholars. But in general, it’s safe to state that the Qur’an does not contain the Messianic concept. Islam is a tradition based on law and on the necessity to believe in God. Thus in the Islamic tradition any belief in any other form of a deity is considered a great sin and such believers deserve death. If we want to judge Islam, then we should not criticize its holy text, the Qur’an. It should be understood as a religious text that contains many contradictions and ambiguities. The stem of the verbs ih-dina and ha-dan is HDY and the noun Mahdi is derived from the same stem. Another verb mentioned in the Qur’an is fa-ra-qa, to separate, or far-riqta-sud, divide and rule, or the noun far-riq ‘l mu-ta zha-hi-rin, the cast of demonstrators. But in Sura 8:29 we are presented with this word and its meaning, which is close to the Aramaic and Hebrew word, Pur-qan and Pur-qa-na, relief, 63 deliverance. Here we have an Aramaic word, and a Syriac influence is present, when we find the noun po-ruq being used for ‘Savior’. The title of Sura 25, it is important to note here, is Suratu ‘l Fur-qan. This noun is used in some verses of the Qur’an and in 2:50 we read: Wa-‘idh fa-raq-na bi-kum ‘lbah-ra So, we parted the sea. In another verse we find: Wa-la-qad ‘itai-na musa wa-harun ‘l fur-qana Wazhi-yanan wadhik-run ‘l il muta-qina (21:49.). We gave Moses and Aaron the criterion… What is obvious here is that the Qur-an and the Suratu ‘l Furqan contain no explicit language telling the Muslims how they should prepare themselves for the day of salvation and redemption. But in the Suratu ‘l Furqan we do find a fearsome description of the punishment in a hellish place and how believers can repent, believe, and do the right things. The Omnipresence and the Omniscience of God is mentioned frequently in the Qur’an where God is presented as the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He controls everything. He hears everything and he possesses supreme wisdom. The impression that is made is of a powerful God, but it is difficult to find God por-

337 trayed as a loving being unless we understand the stem of Rahman, RHM, which is related to both Aramaic and to Hebrew, meaning love. God’s creation of man that is given in the Qur’an follows, in many ways, the Biblical story of the creation of mankind. However, confusion sets in when the issue of sin is examined. In Islam deliverance from sin follows the believer’s total devotion to God, which is a complete submission, by which the believer will be redeemed from the fires of hell. Earlier in this chapter the concept of repentance was raised. The sura, chapter, dealing with this concept is Suratu ‘l Thawba and its 129 verses do not contain any explanation of the idea of repentance. Instead, we find the meaning of repentance being attached to the concept of returning from a state of sin. Redemption within the Islamic tradition, therefore, can be viewed as a rescue for the believer from the terror that the sinner expects to receive at the Day of Judgment. While Messianism and Messianic ideology cannot be found in the Qur’an, these ideas can be found in the hadith, within the Islamic oral tradition. These discussions within the hadith were obviously heavily influenced by Jewish and Christian sources. Within these sources is the idea of the Mahdi. In The Encyclopedia of Islam looking up the word mahdi we discover, from the work of W. Madelung, that the various Muslim sects and Muslim Sages presented this idea differently. The eschatological role of the Mahdi is that he will rule over the Muslim community during the time of the second coming. However, there are other Muslim teachings which ascribe to the Mahdi all the acts that Jesus is traditionally believed to have performed. The Mahdi is defined as the one who will help Jesus kill the dajjal, the anti-Christ. Others within this tradition teach that upon his appearance, the Mahdi will gather an army and cross the Straits of Gibraltar to reach al Andalus and that the Mahdi will deliver a sermon in the 64 Mosque of Seville before he conquers seventy cities and before he robs kanisat ‘l dahab, the golden church. It is shared that Mahdi’s followers will quarrel over the staff used by Moses which will be found there. Yet, there are some other Islamic teachings related to the appearance of the Mahdi. In some of these teachings it is stated that he will impose Islamic Law by the force of the sword, that Jesus will subject himself to the Sha-ri’ah, Islamic Law, and that he will be appointed by the Mahdi as his wazir, minister. Some Muslim theologians rejected the teaching found in some early writings that the first Mahdi was either the khalif Abu Bakr or that he was Umar ibn al-Khatab. Among the Shi’i Muslims, the Mahdi is given the title al-qa’im, the living one. A doctrine then was developed among the Shi’i that the Mahdi will rise after he dies. The followers of this Shi’i teaching believe that with the resurrection of al-qa’im that everyone will then accept the Shi’i beliefs and that those who refuse to accept these beliefs will then die or pay Jizya, a poll tax or a protection tax. In other teachings we find the belief that the followers of al-qa’im will learn

338 the Qur’an anew. Here we find some striking similarities between the role of Elijah and the Mahdi: Elijah is expected to teach the Law and to solve difficult passages while the Mahdi is expected to teach the Qur’an anew. The struggle within the Muslim community with the dajjal, the anti-Christ, can be viewed as an event that presents a Messianic idea: the redemption of the world. As professor H. Lazarus-Yafeh has pointed out, this Islamic concept of the ‘redemption of the world’ is equivalent to the desire for world peace found expressed in the prophecy of Isaiah 11. Muslim scholars view this period of salvation as a period when all people will accept the Islamic Law and that Jesus will be the one who will break the cross and lead the world according to Islamic Law. Jesus is understood to be the muj-ta-hid, the one who masters seventy sciences and has no worldly bias. In the Jewish and Islamic traditions, there is an internal disagreement within each tradition concerning the length of the coming period of world peace. Some Islamic teachings contain a description of the dajjal, the anti-Christ. In one such teaching we discover that the dajjal, the anti-Christ, is identified as being an evil king who it is said will control the world for forty days (or forty years). This evil king will subjugate the people of the world and place them in bondage. The outcome of this evil period will be the triumph and ascendancy of Islam and the Islamization of the world and the abandonment of heresy. According to the Islamic tradition, the dajjal is blind in his left eye, while in other traditions the anti-Christ is described as being blind in his right eye. Ibn Hanbal 65 states that one of the dajjal’s eyes is like a ‘globe of green glass’. The descriptions of the dajjal go beyond showing him as having only one operational eye. In some descriptions he is shown to be red faced with a green, constantly tearful eye centered in his forehead. In Christianity the anti-Christ is to be killed by Jesus. In the Islamic tradition, when the dajjal sees Jesus coming down from heaven to lead the believers in their prayers, the anti-Christ gets dissolved like salt in water. However, Jesus won’t let the dajjal die this way and Jesus chooses to kill him using a spear. Other teachings say that the dajjal speaks Persian and that he even carries a Persian shield. In some teachings the dajjal is seen to be a Jew or it’s stated that his supporters are Jews. Al-Kisa’i describes the coming of Jesus this way: He remains alive in heaven until God will give him permission to descend to wage war against the anti-Christ whom he will slay. Then he will fill the earth with justice, as it has been filled with tyranny and oppression. Then he will marry a woman from among the Arabs, and she will give birth to a child who will perform a pilgrimage and have a long life before 66 dying.

339 The dajjal is described in this tradition as a human monster. Many legends are told about his appearance. Some share that the dajjal was a Jew who had opposed the prophet’s mission where it states that seventy thousand Jews will follow the prophet. Other legends describe the dajjal as possessing a defective human body that is one-eyed and is sterile. These stories emphasize the fact that the anti-Christ cannot enter Mecca or Medina. Are these legends suggesting that the dajjal cannot enter these two holy Islamic cities because of his gross defects? These many legends about him do present a human monster. Professor David Halperin introduces us to the tradition of Tamim al Dari, a Christian who converted to Islam where he shares that the dajjal is a guarded beast. Moreover, during the ninth century Islam developed the notion that the Jewish Messiah will appear riding on an ass by sharing that the dajjal will appear riding on an ass, as big as he is, to lead the Jews against Islam. The differences between the Shi’i tradition in Islam and the Sunni tradition is that the Shi’i claims the Mahdi, together with Jesus, will kill the dajjal, and that after the slaying that Jesus will let the Mahdi lead him in prayer. The Sunni, however, emphasize the tradition that Jesus is the only one chosen to slay the dajjal. One Shi’i tradition has echoes of the discussion found in the Talmud BSan. 96-98 where it states that the prophet had shared that the future events will grow more difficult and that the world will face its end. It shares that people will become more cold-hearted and insensitive and that evil will happen everywhere. Yet there were some attempts within Islam to name others, such as al-Mansur and Ali b. Ali Talib, as the Mahdi. Among the Shi’i there is debate concerning who will be the Mahdi. Some suggest that the Mahdi is Muhammad ibn alHanafia and they assert that he did not die. They maintain that he will rise again and rule the Arabs with a stick. Ibn Khaldun offers another point of view when he states that right after the Mahdi appears, then the dajjal will come and alter his appearance. At that point Jesus will come down from heaven to assist the Mahdi in the slaying of the dajjal. Then Jesus will allow the Mahdi to lead him in prayer. Bukhari shares a tradition passed down from the time of Anas: that the prophet said that all the prophets had warned mankind about the “one-eyed liar”. Some suggest that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism share apocalyptic and psychic intelligence. This contradicts, in some way, our hypothesis shared earlier that Islam had not developed or embraced the concepts of divine revelation and of redemption. Yet, the Islamic tradition did develop some fascinating stories about the image of the dajjal, the anti-Christ. Where did this belief originate? In The Cave of Treasures, containing a passage titled “Of the Coming of the AntiChrist”, the dajjal is called “the Son of destruction” who appears following the destruction of the wretches. The biography of the dajjal is introduced in this work as follows:

340 Conceived in: Chorazin Born in: Bethsaida Reared in: Capernaum This biography plays an important role in the appearance of the dajjal. In Matthew 11:12 we read that these places shall exult and emphasize this notion of the anti-Christ. Here the story about the anti-Christ continues by describing the war and the king who will deliver the Kingdom of God. This king is said to be the descendant of the Kushath, the daughter of Pil, the king of the Ethiopians. According to this tradition, Armelaus (Romulus), the king of the Greeks, took the daughter of Pil as his wife. In Psalms we read that Ethiopians (Cush) ‘shall soon stretch out their hands unto God’. (Ps. 68:31/32.). The Cross and the royal crown which were raised to heaven were also given as the reason for God to withdraw his provenance from the earth and why heaven had prevented rain from falling. According to the Book of Deuteronomy, in 28:23, the earth is said to be like iron and heaven to be like brass. After this disastrous turn of events, the son of Perdition, a seed from the tribe of Dan, is predicted to appear. Then the world will begin its new cycle. The son of Perdition will go to Jerusalem and sit upon the throne in the Temple and proclaim: I am the Christ. This era of the anti-Christ will last two years and a half, while others said it will last three years and six months. But as despair engulfs the people, Elijah will descend from paradise, convict the evil deceiver, and ‘turn the heart of the father to the children’ while he encourages and strengthens the hearts of the believers. The struggle against Armilus was known in Judaism, too. From the different Islamic sources describing the dajjal, it becomes clear that they mirror the many legends of the anti-Christ found in the Christian tradition. Since many Syriac teachings were known in pre-Islamic times in Arabia, it is very likely that the legends of the dajjal, the anti-Christ, became a part of the Islamic teachings. In Sura 108 we find: inna a’atinaka ‘lkaw-tha-ra. fa-sa-li li-rab-bika wan-har. inna sha-niyaka huwa ‘l ab-taru. Here kawthar (kaw-tha-ra) means ‘abundance of good’. But the legend shares that this comes from a heavenly fountain that carries this name. This river of abundant good is not made of water but of grace and knowledge, of goodness and mercy, and truth and wisdom flow from it. And all of this was granted to the prophet, who is considered a man of God in the Islamic tradition, as it is

341 stated in the Qur’an, 2:269. The stem of Bataru here is closely aligned to the Hebrew stem BTR, which is found in Genesis, Chapter 15: B’rit ben ha-beta-rim In the Qur’an it means that the one who hates the prophet and all of his house will be cut off and there will be no hope for him in the future to come. These verses of Sura 108, Suratu ‘l kawthar, on abundance, are probably the only ones that can vaguely be interpreted as relating to the dajjal, especially with the use of the words kawthar and bataru. However, some scholars suggest that the idea of the dajjal, the anti-Christ, is found in the literature of the hadith, as was mentioned earlier in this chapter. Indeed, the figure of the dajjal was developed in that literature. David Halperin points out in his work that the prophet suspected a Jew named Ibn Sayyad of being the dajjal. When Umar wanted to ‘strike his neck’ of this monster, the prophet said: Leave him alone. If it is he who you fear, you will not be able to kill 67 him. It is possible that the idea of the dajjal was developed during a period when there was opposition to the prophet. Since we know there were opponents to the prophet, not only among his family and tribe, but also among the Jews in alMedina, it is easy to see the beginning of a growing Islamic animosity, or at the very least, the ambiguity of the prophet’s teachings toward the Jews and against the Jewish tradition. This animosity and ambiguity toward the Jews grew with the development of the Islamic hadith. We’ve examined the defective figure of the dajjal, the one-eyed giant, whom the Muslims believe will destroy the righteousness in the world. He is presented as the type for the non-believer, so he could never enter the holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina. It appears likely that the dajjal most likely is an extension of the Christian belief in the antiChrist, as he, too, is described as a monster. Judaism and Christianity each have intense connections to the concept of the Messianic Era and with the necessary preparations for his coming. For each tradition, this is perceived as a major event and that means that many teachings are related to it. In Islam, on the other hand, the two concepts of Messianism and redemption are judged to be very minor or trivial. Jewish philosophy and mysticism discuss these concepts in great detail. Islam does not. One plausible reason for this is that in Islam there are no parallel historical events to those found in Jewish history. Thus the Muslim believer can become redeemed only by following the Islamic rituals and by accepting the yoke of the commandments, especially his submission to God. This reward comes from God. So it is important

342 that the Muslim believer follows the Islamic tradition since God bestows the reward and because God is the One who can see into the heart of man: a) Wa’an abu ‘l ad-darda an ‘l nabi ( tsala Allah ‘alaihu wa salam) qal, man ha-fidh ‘a sha-ra ayatin min aw-wali surati al-k’ahf (the cave) (18) ‘utsi-ma min fi-ta-niti ‘l ddajjali Abu ad-darda said that the prophet of Allah said: Whoever memorizes ten verses from the beginning of surat al kahf (the cave) (18.) will be saved from the trial of the dajjal. b) ‘an abu Umama, qal rasul Allah (tsala Alla ‘alaihu wasalam) man qa-ra‘ah ayata ‘l kursi fi du-bu-ri kulli tsa-latin mak-tu-batin lam yam-na- ‘ahu min dukh-li ‘l jannati illa an yamuta. Abu Umama said that the messenger of Allah said: Whoever recite ayat al kursi (the verse of the Throne 2:255.) at the end of every obligatory prayer, nothing will prevent him from entering Paradise, except he must die (first). The custom of reading the Qur’an to obtain wisdom and to accumulate merits is th well established in the Islamic tradition. In the 12 century we discover that Jesus is mentioned in this tradition as being the son of Maryam and sometimes he is referred to as the Messiah. In this tradition Jesus is believed to be a Muslim prophet who was closely associated with the prophet Muhammad. Jesus is said to be the one who will reveal the End of Time through his second coming. The most important theme in Islamic tradition connected to Jesus is the one where Jesus is considered to be the Mahdi, the guided savior. In a tradition of khaythesma (d. 709) Jesus’ mother responded, as we see below, when a woman blessed her: No, but blessed the one who reads the Qur’an and follows what is written there. As we discovered earlier in The Cave of Treasures, we learn of a war that will happen and of a famine that will fall upon the people. In this tradition we are introduced to the rumi (Byzantine), the son of Shaytan, the devil. And it is while the Muslim people are facing such hard conditions that the dajjal, the anti-Christ, takes over. But during their time of great misery, a voice comes down to them from heaven which tells them that Jesus, the son of Mary, is descending, that Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufyan will lead them in prayer, and that Jesus will be praying behind him and then Jesus will use his spear to kill the dajjal. At this point Jesus 68 will die, the Muslim people will wash his body, and then they will bury him. In the seventh century a story is told. This story is found in the two texts of the Aramaic Targum to Isa. 11:4 and to Deut. 34:3, where we read:

343 ve-yat ‘a-qat kol dar vedar u-pur-‘anut ar-mal-gos ra-shi-‘ah ve-sid-re qe-ra-va de-gog u-be-‘idan sa’ara rab-bah ha-hi michal ye-qum bid-ra-‘ah le-fa-ra-qa …and in distress of any generation and the upheaval violence of Armalgos (Armilus) the evil and the battle arrangement of Gog, in that time of great trouble, Michael (the angel) will arise the arm of the redeemer to redeem the people. The Targum of Isaiah expands on this description above by adding that the ‘shoot of the house of Jesse’ will slay Armilus with the breath, or by the speech, of his lips. Jellinek’s work, Bet ha-Midrash, contains an Islamic story about a marble stone in Rome that gave birth to a male child. This child measured twelve cubits, his eyes were red, his hair was golden, and his footprints were green. He had two skulls and was named Armilus. This description of the monster is very similar to 69 the description of the monster found in the Islamic text. The storyteller is like the sea. He has many voices, many murmurs, and many sighs. Through each of these devices in his voice he conveys his teaching, his ideas, and his ethics within each story. He uses each device to either suggest or to impose his point of view, his new way, and his new morality. While the storyteller speaks, we, his audience, enter his realm in the process of listening. His audience not only takes part in the listening process, but the audience also hears the silent music hidden within the story being told. That music lies hidden in the shared anecdote, or in between the lines, and it is gradually revealed to the audience by the voices hidden within the sea. When we observe the river we see its flow and we can follow its stream. Eventually the stream has lost its limits as it enters the sea. So it is with the stream of the storytelling. It reaches the sea of human interpretation. There it faces unlimited possibilities of explaining and interpreting each passage and certain phenomenon. But when the listener, the audience, searches for his interpretation that listener does not want to consider countless possible explanations. He wants the possibilities to be narrowed down. Thus, each listener will choose to follow one or two possible meanings and then he often builds fences around these meanings and calls them ‘holy’, or deems them to be ‘canon’, or the correct interpretation. However, whenever a listener does this it does not mean that the audience has understood exactly what the storyteller meant when he chose to convey his poetic story. Stories and fables contain religious and secular elements. Simultaneously, religious elements may be all that the listener can understand if strong fences are built around the meaning of the story. At this point the audience is limited in this capacity to create its own interpretations that are free of any boundaries or restrictions. If we want to free a story from its religious elements and to see it

344 containing all of its literary elements, then each possible interpretation should be considered valuable minus its religious limitations and indoctrinations. Jewish tradition characterizes Elijah as a person who walks from place to place on earth. Since his body maintains its human form he is seen as still being connected to events taking place on earth. He can talk to the people and he can care for those in need. This view, in fact, has been developed from all the homiletical traditions of the Sages. Indeed, their Elijah appears to pious people and he teaches them, and in some stories of the Sages he rebukes the people. All the references related to Elijah in both the homiletical and in the folkloric traditions point out that he wanders from place to place, from community to community, and he assumes different roles for the sake of the merited people. It seems as if Elijah corresponds to each world, the heavenly one and the earthly one.

Endnotes – Chapter Four 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Ex. Rab. 40:4. Zohar Gen. 117a. Ecc. Rab. 1:9. See BBera. 32a ; BSota. 14a. In the Hebrew text this phrase verbatim, ‘the same’, in Joel as in Malachi: lif-ne bo yom YHWH ha-ga-dol ve-ha-no-ra. Ben Sira, Eccles. 48:9-10. BMen. 45a ; BBab. Mez. 3a. BQid. 71a. In Yalkut 1:160 we read that his mother is of the tribe of Dan. His name was created before the creation of the world, Gen. Rab. 1:15 and BNed. 39b. However, in BSan. 98b he is called Ben David and David. He is known by the names Menahem and Zemah. Both names have the same numerical value of 138. BMeg. 15b. BSan. 111b. Eleven times we find the expression ‘The Lord’s anointed’ or ‘anointed of the Lord’, and twenty times we find the word ‘anointed’, and the pronoun, his, and the pronoun and adjective, my, and the possessive pronoun yours. Some scholars suggest that Pseudo-Jonathan’s translation is from 132 C.E. Pk. 20. BSan. 97a. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid, 97b. ‘Gene’ as in ‘genetic’ or ‘generative’, meaning it determines the color of one’s eyes, so the stories about God (myth, oral tradition) grow similarly and determine the type of person

345

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52.

we each become. To develop in a certain way due to what we know of and hear about God. Eccles. 35:15-36; 17 in The New English Bible, The Apocrypha, Oxford University Press, 1970. In Num.Rab. 8:10 we find that it says: ‘From the top of the rocks’, that is, ‘from the patriarch’, and the phrase, ‘from the hills’ refers to the matriarch. BSan. 98a. BQid. 66a. Sib. Or. 3:702-704. Sib. Or. 3:670-680. Ps. of Sol. 17. The Book of Daniel was composed in the middle of the second century B.C.E. See BSan. 38b; BHag. 14a from the passage that begins with …”When he came to the generation of R. Akiva, he (Adam) rejoiced at his learning but was grieved at his death.” 4Ezra. 7:113-114. Emunot ve-De’ot. 8, 6. Ben Sira, Eccles. 45:23-25. PT Gen. 49: 11-12. BBaBath. 74a. It is in this year that his son, Shlomo Ephraim, was born as J. Weiss suggests and his own male heir shall be the redeemer. See J. Weiss’ Megilat Sefarim le R. Nahman mi-Braslaw, Qiryat sefer (1969), 44. BMo. Qat. 28b. See Zohar Hadash Balak. 56a. BSan. 96b. See Ezk. 38:18 ; Joel 2:1; Amos 5:18. See BSan. 97a Ibid. Ibid. Sib. Or. Book 14, 351-356. German mythology emphasizes the burning of the world and the death of the gods. Pes. De-Rav Kah. Sup. 1:9. See 1Sam. 24:6; 2Sam. 22:51; PS 18:50; 89:38. See Matt. 9:27; Mk. 10:47-48; Luke 18:38-39. This expression is also found in the Qumran text 4Q 174 and 10S a: 11-12. This particular text is written in Aramaic. See Nahmanides (Ramban) in his interpretation of this verse. Lectures from his class at Hebrew University, March 1962. See Ch. 1. See Ch. 1 Professor D. Flusser compared the events in the time of Jesus to the events in the time of Sabatai Zvi. He asked the question: What caused the collapse of the Sabataen Messianism? There was a dispute between a certain person and Sabatai Zvi. This person argued the Messiah Son of David should not appear as long as the Messiah son of Joseph has not yet appeared. In this dispute Sabatai Zvi was unable to convince this person and this person complained about Sabatai Zvi to the court of the State. For this reason Sabatai Zvi was arrested and he converted to Islam. It is the same with Jesus. For the Christians of

346

53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64

65 66 67 68 69

the time it was important to identify John the Baptist with Elijah. Otherwise Jesus was not believed, as he shared in his lecture in March 1962. This idea was developed then because the Jewish Sages viewed themselves as the rightful heirs of the prophets. See Mishna Abot 1:1. This is also found in Maimonides’ interpretation to the Mishneh Torah, Hil-khot Melakhim. See BSan. 93b. See Jer. 25: 5-6; 33:12-14; Ezek. 34: 20-31. The Greek word khristos, meaning ‘the anointed one’, ‘Messiah’. The Gospel of Philip II. 62:8-12. Flaubert, G., “Herodias” , Three Tales, Penguin Books, New York (1961), 115-122. Aghani XVII, 241:12-242:5; taken from Josef Horovitz, The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors, Lawrance I. Conrad (ed.), The Darwin Press, Inc. Princeton (2002), 21. Came to power in 717 and ruled for three years. d. 720. Ency. Is. 1231b. From the same stem comes pe-req, which also means a segment, a part of. It is important to note that this is the great dream of all Muslims. It could be parallel to the dream of the Jews to return to Zion and to the dream of the Christians for the Second Coming. But these concepts are not discussed since no one knows when this event will be realized. Judaism emphasized that it’s necessary for believers to wait for the Messiah. Islam does not contain the concept of Messianism since Islam emphasizes that its believers must wear the yoke of complete submission to God and they must say ritual prayers as part of their submission to God. In Islam, since God alone knows what is good for each human being, then God alone will reward each accordingly. While there is no “waiting for the Messiah” in Islamic tradition, there is a “dream” in Islam that is always alive and being hoped for by believers. This “dream” is for the Muslims to return to Spain, to al-Andalus. This “dream” is as strong for the Muslims as is the expectation for the Messiah is in Judaism. The Muslim dream of returning to al- Andulus is not only connected to their belief that they will one day return to ‘their land’, but it is equally important to Muslims that they will return one day to this special place which they identify as being their ‘jumping board’ to their conquest of Europe and to the forced conversion of Europe to Islam, and from Europe to the rest of the world. See A.J. Weronic, J.P. Mensing (eds.), Concordance et indices de la tradition musulmane, Leiden, 1936-69, Vol. II, 111. al-Kisa’i, Tales of the Prophets, W. M. Thackstone (tr.), Twayne Pub., Boston (1978), 334. Halperin, David J., “The Ibn Sayyad Tradition and the Legend of al-Dajjal”, JAOS, 96, (1976), 213-225. For more information about Jesus, see Al Asakir, Qisas al Anbiya, and see Suleiman A. Mourad, “Jesus According to Ibn Asakir.” A. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash 4: 124-126. Also see R. Patai, The Messiah Texts, Wayne State University Press (1979), 158-164.

Chapter Five Chariot Across the Clouds The people imagine that when it thunders the prophet Elijah’s riding 1 across the sky in his chariot…

A. I’ll Burn You With My Fire Alyosha quickly got ready Mounted his steed Took his sharp sabre in hand 2 And rode to meet Tugarin Dragonson. In Walter Stein’s work, Criticism as Dialogue, he states, Literary interpretation is essentially dialogical. The word dialogue means to meet with the other and the otherness. It is unlike the concept presented in the word dialectic, which means to present different points of view. Thus a critic can’t do his work from the outside, but his response ought to be the center of his personality. The dialogue works only when we bring ourselves together with the touchstone of the reality to meet the literary works and to open an avenue to the touchstone of the author to converse with us. In Walter Ong’s work, The Barbarian Within, he offers us literature as a wellwrought urn wherein a genie resides. This genie is the personal voice that criticism cannot destroy. This is the voice of the I declaring of the Thou that comes forward to declare: A literary work can never get itself entirely disassociated from this I-Thou situation and the personal involvement which it implies…Poetry is often involved and mysterium, but by its very existence within our kin it is destined to communicate. Ong’s perception is that the personal involvement points out a changing openness in our interface with literature. When we are becoming aware of “the existential and interhuman trust”, our readiness to respond without any prior obligation points out that the human character in our meeting point with literature becomes alive. Only personal involvement which includes listening and offering

348 truthful answers to the other voice calling to us from within the story allows to get the literary work out of the breaks of the pure aesthetic, or didactic, literary workswhich emphasizes the human character. When we are searching for the character of Elijah in Russian literature it is important to consider that the voice of Elijah has been heard throughout the th centuries. When Russia was Christianized in the 10 century some of the folk, or pagan, beliefs were adopted by the new Christians. For example, the god of thunder, Perun, gradually became assimilated with St. Ilia (Elijah). In the early folk tradition his purifying function were performed by the oxen and a bull. Yet there are some other gods in the Russian folk tradition that carry out a similar role. In Baltic literature we find the god, Perkon, who is a mighty warrior who causes great suffering by using a whip as a means of punishment. But on the other hand, Perkon is considered to be the god of fertility and the one who controls the rain. In early times farmers offered him a sacrifice when there were plagues and other maladies. Some considered him to be the guardian of law. Since the oak tree is often struck by lightning, it served as a sacred place for this god. When Vladimir I proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of the Kievth an state in the 10 century, that act marked a new era for the Russian people. However, Christianity existed side by side in Kiev with the older folk religion. Olga, the grandmother of Vladimir I, had been a Christian and already by the th middle of the 10 century churches were being built in Kiev. Yet scholars consider Vladimir’s conversion to Christianity as a religio-cultural revolution that became remembered as the most important event in Russian history. In the pantheon of the Slavic folk religion, Perun was the central figure. His characteristics as a warrior, as the god of thunder and lightning, are still alive in the heart of modern Russia. When Vladimir I converted to Christianity he threw the idol of Perun into a stream that flowed into the Dnepr River. Slavic folktales are rich with the images of gods that were part of the folk religion that preceded the arrival and adoption of Christianity in Russia. In this literature a deity, named Voles, is also thrown into a small stream and it is in the water of that small stream that the people of Kiev later became baptized. A folkloric dragon named Troyan is presented in the folkloric tradition as being an eternal opponent of Perun and one that demanded human sacrifice. One folk song describes 3 St. George as fighting this dragon. th The Bible was introduced in Russia toward the start of the 10 century. From that time on Biblical references began appearing in Russian folktale. David confronting the dragon is an example of this influence as is the Biblical story of 4 David that is found in Daniel 14. The Bible served as a mold for the Russian tales. The Book of Revelation could be seen and understood as a source for the description of the dragon. In this text the dragon has “seven heads and ten horns

349 and seven crowns upon his heads…” In a war between the dragon and Michael with his angels the dragon gets cast out of heaven where we find the motif of water, And the serpent cast out of his mouth water like a flood…(12:15.). The dragon had intended to drown the woman but the earth opened instead and swallowed the water. The woman symbolizes the Church in its struggles against satanic power. In Revelation XI St. John is given “a reed like a rod” so he can “measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship in it.” Robert Mann’s doctoral dissertation suggests that the “rod”, as it appears in Revelation, is a symbol of divine authority. “It functions against dragons and demons in numerous leg5 ends about the saints.” The measuring of the temple is done in order to separate the righteous from the unrighteous: The two “witnesses”, Elijah the Prophet and Enoch the Righteous, dress in sackcloth and deliver their prophesies before doing battle with the 6 beast from the netherworld. His argument strongly suggests that the figure of Ilia, who is allied with St. John, the legendary Ilia of Muron, is the Russian version of the prophet Elijah. Since 7 Elijah is associated with rain by being the one who controls rainfall, the Russian farmers expected thunderstorms and rain to fall on Ilia’s feast day. In the folk tradition Elijah is connected to three things in the Bible: the Red Sea, because it was divinely parted; the sneh, burning bush, where the fire didn’t consume it; and Jacob’s ladder, which is the connection between heaven and earth. Elijah is given the keys of fire and water and he is reflected in the image of John the Baptist. Elijah walks from place to place in the bible and he acts in the name of God. In the Russian epic Elijah walks from Constantinople, the center of the Orthodox Christian Church, to help Vladimir and to free him from his belief in the folkloric idols. He carries the rod mentioned in Revelations XI, the rod of St. John, which he uses to destroy the idol of Perun. It’s also stated that he was accompanied by another person, the righteous Enoch. He also slew the dragon, Troyan, and saved the sacrificial maiden. This aspect corresponds with the Christian tale of St. George who slew a dragon in order to free a city from its terror. It also corresponds to the rescue of the sacrificial maiden as we find in Revelation: And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (12:14.). Oral tradition removes Elijah from the religious context and makes him a warrior and a hero. Yet some of the same characteristics of Elijah that are found in

350 the Bible are still intact in the oral tradition, especially those characteristics that relate to his different journeys. But gradually the Biblical sources were forgotten as he changes into being a Russian epic hero. He becomes the mighty warrior from Muron, At that point St. John becomes known as Big John: The old cossack Elijah of Muron was gone, The young Dobrynya Nikitich was gone… Elijah of Muron was riding by Constantinople town 8 And he learned of the great misfortune in Kiev town… On his way to fight the Tatar Army, he meets the “man of God”, And he came upon a man of God, an old pilgrim. An old pilgrim, the powerful Big John… “Hey, there, powerful Big John. Why don’t you 9 clean up Kiev town? Why don’t you wipe out the pagan Tartars?” Elijah of Muron acts, Then the old Cossack, Elijah of Muron leaped forward with his two-ton staff and hit the idol on his reckless head and his head popped off like a button… and he cleaned up all of Kiev town, and he saved the sun-prince Vladimir from that great siege, and now we sing praise to Elijah of Mu10 ron. In the story of St. Arraamii of Rostov there are similarities with details found in the story of Kiev’s rescue by Elijah of Muron and with the story of St. George’s conversion of many people after he saved them from a similar monster. The story contains the motif of the miraculous abridgement of journey, which is a motif found in the Jewish tradition. He was sent to Constantinople by a pilgrim, and he was told that if he prayed in the house of St. John that “The Lord will shorten your journey for you.” The legend of St. George, which is shared in the Appendix to Chapter 3, appears in a song that describes an event where, In the eighth year of the eighth millennium, where a maiden is to be offered to a fierce dragon… St. George wins the ensuing battle and he gains a quick victory over the dragon. That victory is then followed by the hero’s demand that the rescued people accept Christianity, Calm down, now, you fierce cave dragon, calmer than the quiet cattle! Take off, fair maiden, your silken waistband and give it to me, the bold young George! He took the waistband and tied up the fierce dragon, tied the fierce dragon to the silken band and handed it to Sophia Agafievna, away to your Arabian town to your father, the Emperor Agafin, and tell

351 our father: If you’ll accept the Christian faith… then I’ll bind this fierce 11 dragon in solid iron! It is often hard to comprehend Russian paganism. It appears to be very closely linked to the Mother Earth and to the Greek belief in Earth goddesses, like Gaia, and to the Roman belief in the Earth goddess Demeter. Russian paganism also contains a belief in the cult of the ancestors and to a special term, rod, which accentuates vitality. However, there is no evidence to support the idea that Mother Earth was ever considered to be a goddess. The relics of Perun are also a challenging issue since the conversion to Christianity in Kiev began as the idols of Perun were being destroyed. Only the existence of the prophet Elijah within the Christian Russian cult suggests that Elijah took the place of the pagan god of thunder. Fedotov shares in his work that at the beginning of Kiev’s conversion to Christianity it was considered to be an “urban religion” that practiced by the aristocrats. Only later did Christianity become more nationalistic in its scope as it inherited the earlier pagan deities, with Elijah replacing Perun, the lord of thunder. St. Blasius became known as the protector of cattle. St. George’s legends later became known almost everywhere as he assumed the mythological functions of 12 Volos, the pagan god of cattle and of wealth. Volos and Perun are the more stable in the literary works and they are considered to be the greatest. Volos functions beyond being the god of cattle and wealth , as he was also the patron of poets. Robert Mann’s works carefully examine some of Elijah’s activities, such as his ability to perform miracles. Elijah was able to clear seventy acres of oaks in two hours. He once bought a sick mare for a very low price and then cured her. Elijah was also able to tie the Nightingale Brigand to his saddle on his way to the prince’s palace. All of these events are similar to events retained in the folk leg13 ends found in the Jewish and Islamic traditions. In the Russian Orthodox tradition it is interesting to note that Elijah’s violent act against the prophets of Ba’al is absent. In its place much emphasis is placed on Elijah’s selfless zeal for God. Yet, it’s a point of interest to note that the Orthodox Church professes a justification of Elijah that is very similar to the Jewish justification of Elijah that is found in the OT. In the Russian Orthodox tradition there are hymns that focus on Elijah being fed by ravens, including the wedding/crowning service. Elijah is mentioned, along with Moses, as being the collocutor of Christ during the Transfiguration 14 and during the resurrection of the widow’s son. Apart from that, there is also a translation of his name into the etymological components of the Book of Psalms (118:27.), where there is a hidden and a no longer consciously understood quote that is still found at the beginning of mattins: El yah(u) va-ya-er la-nu

352 that was switched to Barrukh hab-ba be-shem yah God is the Lord and hath revealed Himself unto us. 15 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. There is something that was totally lost in the Orthodox Church’s morning prayer. They begin with the Psalms. The basis for the prayer is the verse shared above. Although this particular verse is known by heart and sung by the community, no one pays attention to the name El Yah(u), the Lord. In all the translations El Yah Weh is translated as God is the Lord. In Luke this name does not appear, but when the angel appears to the Virgin he is quoted as saying, di-na-mis hippis-too epis-kia-sei soi (the ) power of the Most High will overshadow you.

16

The meaning of this missing name is Gabri’el and it appears later in Christian literature. As far as the understanding of Elijah’s ability to come to any home at any time, or the tradition of leaving him a glass of wine on the table at Passover, no single tradition of these things exists. But, there is a commonly accepted notion in these traditions that Elijah can transcend time, which is demonstrated by Elijah being taken to heaven alive, as were Enoch and Moses. It’s also demonstrated by Elijah’s ability to talk to Jesus on Mount Tabor in another distinct point in history. It appears that Elijah’s greatest appeal to the Russian soul consists of his constant testimony of faith in a specific guise and by his opposing truth to verisimilitude as he thoroughly soaked his sacrifice and everything in around them in water before he started to pray for the fire to consume them. This deliberate opposition of truth to verisimilitude is something that is extremely attractive to the Russian sensibility, to the point that they may be far too eager to forgive Elijah 17 for the terrible massacre of the false prophets of Ba’al. 18 In his work Fedotov offers a long description of the development of the th th Russian literary works. He suggests that the writers of the 14 and 15 centuries th left behind a very rich compilation of literary collections. One 14 century work titled Izmaragd, along with another work titled The Golden Chain. Both have their roots in the Byzantine tradition, as well as in some Greek anthologies of the th 11 century. The general perception of the Izmaragd is that this collection is one of the sacred and divine pieces of religious literature. Within this Izmaragd collection the “divinity” of these works and other religious collections is discussed as follows:

353 Books are similar to the depths of the sea, whence the divers bring forth 19 precious pearls. The Izmaragd emphasizes the importance of learning in Christian ethics. Ignorance is perceived as being “worse than sin.” This collection also stresses the importance for intense attention while praying: When you sit down to read or to listen to the divine words, first of all 20 pray to God that He may open the eyes of your heart… Together with the prayers and the need to pay close attention, one also needs to understand the sacred text. The Izmaragd does not place much emphasis on having a good education since it may be relying on the natural affection of any parent to teach a child. But this collection does contain some Biblical verses or stories that emphasize the importance of a good education, such as, Teach him (your son) in (his) youth and he will tend your old age. Some words are shared from the Fathers of the Church, Chrysostom says that he who does not teach his children the will of God will be condemned worse than a brigand; for the brigand kills the body, 21 but the parents who do not teach their children will destroy their souls. This collection contains portraits of good and bad women. Among the examples of bad women is the story of Jezebel: No wild beast can equal a malicious and bitter-tongued woman. The liars venerated the prophet Daniel in their den, but Jezebel murdered Naboth. The whale preserved Jonah intact in the belly, but Delila having shorn Samson, her husband, betrayed him to his enemies. And in another section: Elijah found Jezebel and (he) fled to the desert. Alas the prophet was afraid of a woman…Worse than any evil is a malicious woman. If she is poor, she is rich with hatred. If she is rich, double is the evil, innumerable 22 the disease, untamable the beast… This collection also contains notes on good women and what is shared contains echoes of the definition of a virtuous woman that is found in the Bible (Prov. 31.): (She) cheers her husband and fills his years with content and peace…A good wife is more valuable to you than precious gems. Having found her 23 the husband rejoices in her as having found honor and glory.

354 It is in this section of the Izmaragd that Elijah is mentioned. It does not emphasize his struggle against the false prophets but it does focus attention on the differences between good and bad women. This collection also doesn’t focus on Elijah’s zeal for the Law but it does share his fear. The stories in this work stress that Elijah’s name is known and that his story continues to live among the people. Russian literature is fascinated by the image of Elijah the prophet. Stories about him, or about the power of his character, have passed on into modern literary woks from the rich Russian folk tales and from the church’s liturgy. Mar24 meladov shares in his work that the rain storm which begins just before the arrest of Dimitrii Karamazov has a symbolic association with Elijah. In 1916 Isaac Babel wrote a story, “Elia Issakevich and Margrita Prokofevna” which can 25 be read as a modern Jewish story focused on Elijah the prophet. In Bunin’s 1916 story, “Elijah, the Prophet”, the story is reminiscent of Russian folktales. The story begins on St. Elijah’s Day, the day when summer storms begin. As Christianity replaced pagan worship in Russia, Perun, the god of thunder, was replaced by St. Elijah. With the passing of time the Russian people considered th th the 20 of August (the 20 of July OS) as being St. Elijah’s Day. The folk belief is that no one should drive or work with grass or grain that day. As Christianity became the dominant religion, Russian folklore passed on to Elijah some of the traits of their pagan god of thunder as Elijah uses thunder and lightning to clean heaven from the evil powers that were revolting against God. The encounter of Semyon Novikov, the protagonist in Bunin’s story, with Elijah happens on St. Elijah Day when …ripe ears of oats shone gloomy and grayish like sea sand. Against the folk belief, Semyon enters the field. …(he) walked out of the house and into the field of fluttering oak-stalks that stood as pale as ghosts. In this story Bunin deftly intertwines elements of Russian folklore with Christian symbols. When Semyon can no longer tolerate the threatening lightning, he closes his eyes and makes the sign of the cross as he kneels down. Lifting his head skyward he sees the image of a church on a cloud and then the image of a “whitebearded Elijah himself appeared.” And like God, he was clad in “fiery chitons”. Elijah then begins his cross-interrogation of Semyon by asking him about some evil actions. Elijah then asks if Semyon has used evil witchcraft. He questions if Semyon can tell ahead of time when hail is about to appear so that he alone can profit by quickly selling his crops. Finally, Elijah asks him why he is in such a rush to build a new house and to move away from his brother. An interesting image is created before the first question when Elijah states, “Stand there,

355 Semyon Novikov! And hear me, ye princely Christian peasants.” Then Elijah presents a description that echoes images from the dream of Joseph in the Bible, And the whole field, shining there as if covered with white sand, and all its stalks of grain seem to rush forward and bow before Elijah, and in the midst of their fluttering the Prophet’s voice rose again. Folktales emphasize the custom of making vows. So, to appease Elijah in this tale, Semyon makes three vows. In his first vow he promises to buy a candle for three roubles, but Elijah points out he can’t do that as he has already spent all of his money on his new house. Next he vows to go to Kiev, or to the White City, even though it would be a waste of his time and he would wear out the soles of his shoes. Elijah then asks him who will take care of his hose while he is away. In his third vow he promises to kill his two-year old girl, Anfinka. Elijah reples, Hear my Christians, I agree. At that point thunder shakes the sky as an earthquake and lightning arrive. Here we see the use of two components from the Biblical story of Elijah: the fire, or lightning, and the thunder, or a low voice. The still small voice is present in this story when Semyon whispers, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, have pity on us. That prayer echoes Isaiah 6:3. Then Elijah leaves, but not before he kills the two-year old girl, And in the cradle lay a little girl, dead, her body turned black blue, while on her head a night cap, made of scraps of cloth, was burning slowly. Scholars consider Dostoevsky as a prophet. They claim that he foresaw the coming revolution and the way that the Socialist and Communist system would degrade the human image. While the Kievan era is considered to have been the time when legends and oral epics achieved maturity, the period when Dostoevsky was writing in St. Petersburg is judged by scholars to be the time when Russian literature flourished. At this precise time Russian literature presented the country’s nationalistic awareness and the unique spirit of its people. In the late th 19 century Dostoevsky made St. Petersburg the capital of Russian literature as he combined literature, legend, and theology in his works. In the prelude of Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, the third son’s name is Alyosha, which was the name of Dostoevsky’s only son, who died in 1878 at the age of three. In the prelude he presented, First of all let me say that this young man Alyosha was not at all a fanatic and, at least in my opinion, not even a mystic. (P.16.).

356 While considering the greatness of Dostoevsky ‘s works it’s important to pay attention to the way he intertwined the Book of Revelation with the Book of Job in his writings. Freudian s can offer up a wide range of possible and plausible explanations for the father’s and the sons’ relationships. All of Karamazov’s sons hated him, except for his youngest son, Alyosha. th In the second half of the 20 century Vladimir Nabokov wrote a short story 26 entitled “The Thunderstorm”. He created a mystical ambience at the beginning of this story by introducing the “wind, a blind phantom” and the iron shutter on the barbershop that “swings like a pendulum”, along with a woman who sings a lovely song in a courtyard. When she finishes her song he tells us “there was a moment of extraordinary stillness.” The wind, which moved with a twisting motion, then reaches upward once again, regaining its initial power, and forms a silhouette of arms and heads. At that point in the story the light goes out. Three phenomena in this story, the wind, the extraordinary stillness, and the light, are all elements that are also found in a Biblical story. With these three phenomena Nabakov’s protagonist creates the ambience that is related to the appearance of Elijah in the Biblical story. In “ a moment of dull sound” the sound of thunder that is trembling precedes the silence that follows the end of the woman’s song as the protagonist falls asleep. Then the dream begins, A wild, pale glitter was flying across the sky like a rapid reflection of co27 lossal spokes. Then the loud voice of thunder crashes across the sky as the rain pours down in a “specious and sonsorous flow”. It’s at this point that the readers are introduced to the story that is well known in Russian folktales. The prophet’s chariot is seen as roaring, making a loud cry, as it crosses the cloud. Here the readers are presented with the image of the pagan thunder-god, who is a white haired giant with a furious beard, as he leans backward in the “fiery chariot” pulled by his jetblack steeds. When Elijah loses a wheel to his chariot he asks Elisha to look for it. Then Elijah finds the wheel to a baby carriage. He tells Elisha, “Turn away…” This request is very different when it’s compared to Elijah’s request of Elisha in the Biblical narrative, Shev na po Tarry here, I pray Thee. In Nabokov’s tale Elisha is cast out of the scene by Elijah. Although Nabokov denies it, he does present his readers with a religious perception. He does not negate the fact that in our time people still believe in the thunder-god as Elijah in his chariot of fire. For this reason Nabokov’s tale unfolds within the small talk occurring in a simple kitchen because Elijah is known to choose the people he

357 helps and he also chooses the time period. By doing this Elijah is beyond the confines of time. Similar stories exist in the homilies and in the stories of the saints. St. Nicholas helps people he does not know or see. He stays in his house and prays for those he helps. So, why is Elijah close to the Russian heart? It’s because as a prophet he can do everything that’s deemed impossible. And this is his special appeal in the Biblical stories, too. Before Elijah burns the sacrificial offering, he pours water on it. In Russian literature faith is a very important component. Elijah acts to prove he is right. He presents everything to stand against him and then he meets God in a still small voice proving that God exists even within this still small voice. It’s as if God tells his prophet that ‘I can tell you that I am in this still small voice. And all that you have done by power, my power exists also in the weakness. I have none to say to myself.’ Here we find a contradiction between what seems to be the truth and with what is the truth. This is the contradiction between illusion and truth. From the Christian point of view, the Lord on the cross does not use his power and chooses instead to die. In Elijah’s narrative God tells him that He does not exist only within his powers. He demonstrates that God’s existence is even present in a still small voice where power appears to be absent. Nabokov’s Elijah appears in our time when he is really needed, as it is true in many saints’ vitae, especially St. Nicholas. But there are stories about many Russian elders who, without ever leaving their homes or cells, mysteriously appear to people in order to save their lives. Here we can conclude that we are witnessing the midrashic notion of divine intercession. In Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, Myshkin enters the hotel gates just as a thunder cloud “swallows the evening light” and as rain pours down on the city. After the storm clears, Myshkin sees a figure and most likely it’s Elijah that he sees. This figure gives Myshkin a glimpse, a divine light. In Nabokov’s story he describes this special glimpse of divine light twice, …he pushed me aside and snatched the rusty hoop. With a joyful wink he said: “So that’s where it rolled… Then he stared at me, his white eyebrows came together in a frown, and, as if remembering something, he said, in an impressive voice.

358

B. Shone Through The Lilac Bushes In life’s dark moments when with care And grief my heart is sore, The accents of a wondrous prayer 28 I whisper o’er and o’er. Martin Buber wrote Elijah, which he called a`”mystery play”, in 1956. This work was first published in German in 1963, two years before Buber’s death. The play was first produced in 1965 at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. The theme of this work and the figure of the prophet Elijah were of great interest to Buber dating from his days as a young man living and studying in the th first years of the 20 century. At that time he was actively involved in the Jewish Renaissance Movement. That movement was central and parallel to the Zionist Movement of Theodor Herzl, which Buber espoused and opposed simultaneously. Martin Buber believed that the need for the cultural renewal for the Jewish people of Europe took precedence over the need for political renewal. The Biblical figure of Elijah captured Buber’s imagination and thought. His plan to dramatise this figure’s life was formed decades before Buber created this play. Through this prophet Buber conveyed his own ideas on the need for cultural renewal, which included a new commitment to the Jewish faith as a living faith, for renewed unity among the scattered Jewish people, for clarity about their identity and their religious practices, and for renewed hope for a better world. Last, but not least, for Buber this figure could serve for clearly differentiating the material from the spiritual aspects of life on earth. This dramatic figure could also serve in the process of re-learning and of re-educating the Jewish people, many of whom had forgotten the true essence of Judaism or had become wholly estranged from their Jewish roots. Additionally Buber may have aimed to educate and remind gentiles, too, living in his homeland of Austria and in Germany where he had studied and lived until he emigrated, of their roots and religious inheritance. The figure of Elijah as a mystery figure is clear in Buber’s play. However, after the first reading of this work what is most striking is the mystical aspect of Buber’s Elijah. His mysticism is apparent on many levels of the definition of mysticism: he knows; he is in direct relationship with his God; his actions are determined by this relationship alone. The Voice (of God), the still small voice at the beginning, becomes clearer and stronger as the play progresses. The Voice is there with him, next to him, at times seemingly in him, or coming out of him. And Elijah obeys and is guided by this voice. To be sure, he does not always willingly obey this voice and he often struggles against its extreme demands at times. He

359 argues with it and is puzzled by it and he is clearly reluctant to obey it at times, but he inevitably obeys the voice nevertheless. In some sense Elijah seems incredulous that he should be the one chosen to be in dialogue with his God, the God of Israel, the One God. A crucial aspect in Buber’s play is that Elijah immediately knows or recognizes, The Voice. He clearly knows who is speaking to him, and consequently, he knows what he must do , no questions asked except for the very brief questioning words he uses at several points in the play, such as “Why me?” or “Must you ask this of me?” But each brief question is immediately followed by the expected action, the “doing” of whatever he has been told to do. The obedient servant Elijah then takes on the role of prophet for his One God. Some call Elijah a “free prophet” because he is one who knows immediately who stands before him and he is one who knows he is speaking to the Holy One. When king Ahab receives Elijah and is given bad news by him, Ahab recognizes Elijah as a “free prophet”. He makes this realization after Elijah has only spoken a few words to him. King Ahab knew immediately how to interpret the sign on Elijah’s forehead. Buber’s play suggests that Ahab, who “sits on two twigs”, is perpetually torn between two gods and that he will not commit himself to the One God. Ahab comes from a long line of kings. Omri, his father, had revered the One God and had carried out His commands. However, Ahab, married to Jezebel and living in decadent luxury and amid illusions, is prone to being persuaded by the other side, by the other deity, by the Tyrian god, Ba’al, and by his horde of prophets. Buber’s play does not depict the murderous deed of the prophet Elijah when he kills all the prophets of Ba’al on Mount Carmel. The play only alludes to this Biblical event. One scene in the play depicts a kind of juxtaposition of two ritual ceremonies in order for the rains to return. One of these ritual ceremonies is performed by Ba’al’s prophets. In the course of their ritual they go into such a wild frenzy that they severely wound themselves. The audience may get the sense that they nearly kill themselves. The contrasting ritual performed by Elijah is reminiscent of the God-Abraham relationship where God allows Abraham to sacrifice a ram instead of his son, Isaac. During Elijah’s ritual in this play the prophet points to and touches all the parts of the sacrificial animal’s body identifying each part with the parts of his own body, symbolically suggesting the parallel elements found in the body of the “true” prophet, of the “true servant”, and of the “runner and messenger for the God of the Israelites”. The ideas of sacrifice, of suffering, of isolation, and of endless wandering about, together with the idea of the unio mystico, the relationship between the mystic person and with his or her God through the Logos, the language, in the dialogue, are all central motifs in Buber’s play. The play is short and consists of twenty-three scenes. In the first scene Elijah appears on a fall morning standing next to his sleeping goats and bending toward

360 the Voice which comes, at first, very softly from a distance. Following a period of silence, The Voice changes location and, according to the stage directions, it sounds like it has come “out of the standing man”. Elijah’s immediate reaction to The Voice is resistance when he says, “No”. Then The Voice commands, “Go!” and Elijah replies, “I resist you. You cannot compel me.” He then calls The Voice, his God, “a cruel driver”. He immediately follows that statement by saying, “My Lord, where shall I go?” This dialogue strongly demonstrates the tension and quality of the relationship that Elijah has with his Lord. It’s clear that Elijah is free to argue and to say “No” to God’s demands while mysteriously knowing that he must follow his God’s command, to do what his God directs him to do. Elijah is a simple goatherd with no family ties. King Ahab discovers that Elijah is totally alone in the world when he asks the prophet about his origins and about his family. Elijah replies: My name is Elijah. I am a goatherd from Gilead, a Tishbite. I was cut out of the body of my dead mother. No one knows who my father is. I have 29 neither brother nor sister, neither male nor female cousins… Here it’s apparent that Buber expands upon the Biblical text which gives no data about Elijah but states only this detail, And Elijah the Tishbite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead… The attributes that Buber added to the life of the Elijah in this play increase the curiosity of his audience as Buber depicts Elijah as a lone person, as almost as a pariah. Elijah’s world initially centers on the care of his goats. They are his friends and companions and naturally he does not want to leave them, even though his Lord commands him to do so. But Elijah complies and begins his journey to the palace of king Ahab even though he has no idea what his mission there could possibly be. When he asks what he is supposed to say or do once he reaches the palace of the king, The Voice informs him to “Speak” to king Ahab. In the reply 30 to Elijah’s question, ‘What shall I say?” , The Voice informs him, “What you know.” Elijah replies, “I know nothing.” And The Voice responds, “You will know it.” And so this theme of Elijah knowing is repeated throughout the play as it covers all of Elijah’s life. He always knows somehow what to say and what to do. He knows when to speak and when to do the right thing. It is as if The Voice has become one with him and is speaking out of Elijah’s body. Elijah even knows who his successor on earth will be. He knows when to appoint Elisha before he himself miraculously ascends to heaven in a Chariot of Fire. Buber creates a dialogical scene between God and Elijah that is reminiscent of the dialogue God shared with Moses in his encounter with the Burning Bush

361 when The Voice says to Elijah, “You will know it.” In Buber’s view, this is a glimpse into a genuine relationship shared between God and his chosen prophet. There is no logical way for Elijah to understand what The Voice is telling him unless there is Das ewige Du, which points out the beginning and the endless Thou that occurs only within a genuine relationship. The same thing happened to Moses. At the moment when Moses was able to be in the same cyclic motion with the Burning Bush, he then became able to carry The Voice with him. Yet, in Elijah’s case The Voice is also opposing and tormenting him. The Voice is absent at times, or seemingly indifferent to the reality that Elijah encounters. That often results in Elijah feeling despair or extreme suffering. In Buber’s play Elijah suffers when he witnesses others suffering. He wants and needs to help others and is Christ-like in his total identification with those who are poor and simple, those without means and without hope. Elijah is kind to all animals and he speaks as a friend to the ravens he meets in the fifth scene in this play. These ravens, in turn, recognize Elijah’s holiness and they offer him food 31 along with the news report that “Samaria is parched.” and they tell him that the poor there have hardly any food. Although Elijah had predicted this severe drought in his meeting with king Ahab, he is shocked, nevertheless, when he hears there are folks going hungry. So Elijah departs from the ravens, never touching the food they so kindly and miraculously offer him, because he can not bear to eat while others have to starve. After more walking, Elijah comes upon the house of a widow who is most kind. Her husband had been killed for resisting the new religion of king Ahab and his queen, Jezebel. He had rejected the religion of Ba’al, as had others. Some had not been killed but had been driven out of their land by Ahab and were wandering about in the woods or in other lands. The kindly widow offers Elijah her last remaining food and drink. He receives it with thanks not knowing that he is consuming her last morsels. When Elijah later discovers in this play the extent of the people’s hunger in the entire region, he curses his God by saying, Most cruel one! You are crueler than the king of Sidonia…You have carved human figures for yourself and play with them a game of droughts against yourself! You win figure after figure and throw it away! O woe, 32 that I must serve you! Woe that I live! And after just a short pause, Elijah goes on to relate his first encounter with The Voice of his God, remembering the early trials and tests he had to endure: I was a youth, three times as old as this boy (the woman’s son, who later dies) when you frightened me out of my sleep. Into my mouth, opened by sleep, your breath passed. And you spoke to me, not into my ear but into my throat, and out of my throat it shouted, “Taken into service, into

362 service! Guard yourself, guard yourself well! You stand in the service of 33 the Lord! Elijah’s accusation against God continues for a while, but then, after a long silence, he speaks again: I have ever loved you, Lord. Why do you make it so hard for us to love 34 you? Here God hears Elijah and responds by filling everyone’s oil jar and by producing bushels of grain for all who have been hungry. Elijah feels reassured and praises his Lord. He recognizes God’s power in the form of this miracle. When he witnesses another miracle, and participates in it by breathing his breath into the nostrils of the woman’s young son who had died so suddenly, Elijah seems reconciled to his God as he sees life return to the boy. He is willing to continue “running” for his Lord saying, The stars and Elijah do not run themselves weary; they are appointed to 35 run; running is good. The presence of a cosmic energy in Elijah’s body is implied in these lines, like that found in the stars which move endlessly and shine forever. Likewise, Elijah will continue to “run” in the service of the Lord, compelled to do so by some cosmic order or law. And he will do this until the end of his earthy life: wandering, running over many lands and cities for many years. The agony, the suffering, and the tension he experiences between wanting to serve his Lord and at the same time rejecting the extreme demands placed on him, combine to give Buber’s play and the figure of this prophet great force and deep meaning. Elijah’s direct opposite in this play is king Ahab. Despite Ahab knowing the God of Israel, and despite his lineage from a long line of kings who earlier had adhered to this God’s commands and laws, he chose again and again to follow instead the false god, Ba’al, just as he fell deeply for Jezebel, even though she brought out all the negative qualities he possessed. When Ahab meets Elijah he instantly recognizes the prophet’s holiness. He sees and recognizes the sign on Elijah’s forehead and calls him a “free prophet”, a “truth-speaker”. Elijah tries to win king Ahab over to the One God. He instructs him by making the differences very clear between the One God and Ba’al, He demands nothing for himself. He does not wish to have. He is. He is here. Ba’al wants to have. He wants only to have. The people are full of his lies. The people, too, want only to have. Let the house of Ba’al be de36 molished.

363 Later on Mount Carmel, when the two competing rituals and invocations take place to bring back the rains, Elijah also warns the people: You cannot serve God and the idols at the same time. And, He, the Lord, does not share might with nothingness.

37

Elijah goes on, …you try to hop on two tables at once… and, All your lives you have had God on your lips and have served Ba’al. He who desires to be serves the God who is, but he who wants to have and have more and have yet more, serves Ba’al. Rightly he is called the possessor for he is nothing else than vain nothingness that fills the empty belly 38 with possessions. For Buber, the spirit of dialogue can be defined in the involvement, the acceptance, of a person in the moment and in the acceptance of the potential of that person. This confirmation, or the desire to be accepted, is a deeply held yearning in humans. However, confirming the other is a very complex interaction. One can affirm the other’s will and identity, but to do so he has to be able to move toward the direction of the other. This requires an inner transformation which opens one to enter completely into the presence of the other, in an Umkehr, or as Buber terms this process, a turning, which is the unconventional response to God’s Voice. This is a turning which calls for a deep relationship and which comes from separation. For Buber his play is a call for …building the covenant of peace with other nations and of building a true community faithful to the covenant to set the dialogue right through 39 free and wholehearted response. From reading Buber’s Elijah this question arises: Why does this play not hint at the unspeakable catastrophe which had befallen the Jews of twentieth century Europe? Buber had emigrated to Israel and daily he must have confronted Israelis who had survived Shoa. The quote above from Friedman’s book makes Buber’s intention for his play very evident. At that time Buber must have felt the need for a cultural and religious renewal of the Jewish people in the newly created state of Israel. He apparently felt this need then as strongly as he had felt it as a young man living in Berlin, and before the Shoa entirely destroyed the worlds of European Jewry. Still, although this play is ahistorical, or perhaps because of this, it is most effective in its portrayal of the relationship between Elijah

364 and God in a pure, fresh, and very expressive way, poiting out the possibility of a new covenant, of a renewed dialogue with the old God. The poem which follows, by Erich Fried, was written at approximately the same time, between 1950 and 1955, as was Buber’s Elijah. It also portrays Elijah in a dialogue with his God, but what a different dialogue is found in this poem! It presents a temporal, angry, and accusatory Eli, as the poet calls his figure. This name, Eli, may have its roots in the name of Elijah. Eli confronts his God with facts from a world gone mad. Erich Fried was born in Vienna in 1921 and he died in Baden-Baden in 1988. He fled to England when the Nazis annexed Austria. He lost many family members in the concentration camps. From 1946 on he worked as a writer and as a translator from the Greek, Hebrew, and English to German. He lived in London, Vienna, and in other European cities. He received a number of the most prestigious literary prizes from a number of European countries for his many volumes of poetry, essays, and prose. 40

Eli Erich Fried Eli! Mein Gott? Sein Gott? Wessen Gott? Kein Gott?

Eli! My God? His God? Whose God? No God?

Der du Eva und Adam belongen hast (Nur die Schlange hat die Wahrheit gesagt und du hast sie dafür bestraft und du selbst hattest beide verführt durch dein Verbot dieses Baumes) und sie vertrieben hast und dann den Kain aufgebracht hast gegen Abel indem du sein Opfer wegwarfst und Abel erhobst und zu Kain sprachst von der Sünde

You who lied to Adam and Eve (Only the snake has spoken the truth for which You punished her. And You yourself had seduced them by your prohibition of the tree.) and expelled them. and then Cain whom you provoked against Abel by disparaging his sacrifice to elevate Abel and to Cain you spoke of sin

365 die alf ihn wartete (wie auf Eva und Adam der von dir verbotene Baum!)

which would await him (as the forbidden tree was awaiting Adam and Eve!)

Wessen Gott bist du? Kains Gott! oder keiner? Wurdest du immer mehr Kain mit jedem neuen von dir geschaffenen oder geduldeten Mord?

Whose God are you? Cain’s God! Or no God? Have you become more like Cain with each new murder arranged by you and tolerated?

Bist du unstet Und flüchtig geworden? Bist du gegangen oder vergangen? Bist du wirklich gestorben?

Are you fickle? Have you been fleeting? Have you left or expired? Have you actually died?

Eli! Eli? “In feiernde Flammen hoben sie mich gebrennt! Eli, Eli! lamah safthani?!”

Eli! Eli? “In flames of celebration they’ve burnt me! Eli, Eli! lamah safthani?!”

Bist du wirklich ein Niemand geworden? Bist du Niemand? Oder ist das nur deine List Niemand zu scheinen im Bereich der Ungeheuer von heute (deiner Geschöpfe!) vielleicht um dich so zu retten vor deiner eigenen Schöpfung so wie Odysseus der sagte sein Name sei Niemand um sich zu retten aus der Gewalt des Polyphem?

Have You truly become a No-body? Are you a No-body? Or could this be your trick to seem like NO-body in the realm of today’s monsters (your creations!) perhaps to rescue yourself from your own creation just like Odysseus who said his name was No-body to rescue himself from the violence of Polyphem?

366 The poet uses lama safthani in the fifth sranza, which is similar to the cry of Jesus as he was dying on the cross: Eli Eli lama Sabachthani. (Matt. 27:46 and also Mk. 15:34.). where he quotes a verse from the Book of Psalms 22:2. The verb used in this poem is safthani, which is probably an incorrect spelling of the Hebrew verb sh’fathani. The verse in this poem means: Eli, Eli, why have you judged me, or punished me? In Luke 4:24 we read, No prophet is accepted in his own country. Coelho used this from the Bible as the prologue to his novel, The Fifth Mountain, where his character named Elijah appears as the antagonist. The story begins as Elijah flees from his native city, Gilead, and his country, Israel. Elijah has had a vision while working in his carpenter’s shop. A voice has told him that a drought is coming and that he has to bring this news to king Ahab. Elijah does this without fear and with no hesitation. Immediately after his encounter with king Ahab, he learns that his prophecy has brought on the wrath of Ahab and his queen, Jezebel. These two rulers decide to have Elijah killed without giving him their standard offer to convert to their new deity, Ba’al. All the other prophets could choose to die or to convert. The rulers’ most expert archer is sent to hunt down Elijah. When this archer aims his arrow directly at Elijah, the arrow misses Elijah. The soldier is amazed and then realizes he was not meant to harm this man. While Elijah begins to comprehend this miracle that has saved his life, he knows he has to flee. And he begins to sense that God has plans for him. However, first and foremost, Elijah is overcome with guilt and despair because he feels he himself has caused the death of the other prophets who had refused to be converted. He could hear their cries as they were executed all over his city of Gilead. Elijah is ready to die with them, thinking that will be best, though he knows he must obey his God. From the beginning of his work Coelho introdueces his readers to a man who has very common human emotions. This Elijah has fallen deeply in love, head over heels, for queen Jezebel and with her beautiful green eyes. Despite the fact that he is a prophet who has “visions” and that he is guided by “voices” and is visited by an angel from time to time, he is simultaneously entirely human. He wrestles with questions regarding his duty, with the directions he must, or must not, take. The most human thoughts pass through his head whenever he must go on without knowing why he should do so or whether he is supposed to choose instead to stop or to turn around. These trials he suffers make him like contemporary readers who are seeking guidance, or are searching for “answers” from an

367 inner voice to help them along the path of life, especially during times of crisis or tragedy. Paulo Coelho has many readers all over the globe and his books have been translated into over thirty languages. The reason for all of his success as a writer lies in the identification his many readers have with the characters he presents to them, like the prophet Elijah found in The Fifth Mountain. The Elijah in Coelho’s work does not ask to be a prophet. He views himself as an ordinary man and a carpenter. As a child he recalls he had many strange visions causing his parents to consult a high priest who spoke with their son. The priest identifies the boy Elijah as a nabi, a prophet, a “man of the spirit”, as one 41 who “exults himself with the word of God”. The boys’ parents advise their son to keep the words of the priest to himself. When the boy comes of age, his parents help him set up his carpenter’s shop. In due time, following in his father’s footsteps, he becomes an excellent craftsman. A customer of his, a woman baker, observes him work and tells him he must be “a man of the spirit” because of the way he works, which includes his movements and his countenance reflecting true pleasure as he works with wood. Elijah does not reply although he knows he is deeply content with his life, his work, and his shop. Again, Coelho presents a situation that is focused on the concept of identification. Every person has a deep need to love their work or to make changes whenever necessary when “called away” from what one loves to do. He parallels certain aspects of Elijah’s life to the story of Jesus of Nazareth. As a youth Jesus, too, had spent time in his father’s carpentry shop. His parents were also worried about certain of his character traits. And Jesus, like Coelho’s Elijah, though much earlier in his life, is called away to fulfill his mission to build a new faith based community. This modern Elijah is called away from his contented life to renew and strengthen the old faith and to destroy the “false prophets”. Before that can occur, though, he must first rebuild a beautiful city. He discovers this long after he flees his native city. On his flight Coelho’s Elijah takes a flight high above a desert where he is tested yet again in an extreme situation. He overcomes this test but not without the miraculous help of a crow he sees sitting on a branch each day near the almost dried up river, Cherith, where he rests from exhaustion. The crow brings him morsels of food each day and saves him from starvation. Elijah sees this bird as a divine sign and he is strengthened in his belief that the path he is on may be the correct one. Though the crow cannot speak, Elijah invents a dialogue with this special bird, telling it, I am a prophet. I saw an angel as I worked, and I cannot doubt what I am capable of doing, even if the entire world should tell me the opposite. I brought about a massacre in my country by challenging the one closest to the king’s heart. I’m in the desert, as before I was in my carpentry shop,

368 because my soul told me that a man must go through various stages be42 fore he can fulfill his destiny. Elijah’s dialogue with the silent crow continues for quite some time and it helps him clear his mind. Here the reader is exposed to a great model for inventing dialogues for and with himself whenever confusion is present. When the bird doesn’t return one day, Elijah then knows he has to move on. Promptly his angel tells him to go to Zarephath where a widow will take him in. Although the wdow is awaiting him when he arrives in the beautiful city of Zarephath, terrific trials and dangers lie ahead for Elijah. He is given refuge in this city only because of an old custom of welcoming all strangers is still being observed there. Most of the city’s officials and many of the citizens distrust him. He does find an ally, the governor, who recognizes him as a wise and most trustworthy man. When the widow’s young son becomes ill suddenly, the people believe that “the foreigner” has cursed the widow’s house. Elijah is then blamed when the boy dies and a high priest condemns Elijah to death. The high priest demands that Elijah must first meet the local gods atop the Fifth Mountain where, according to local belief, he will most likely perish from the fire and wrath of these gods. Should this not occur, however, then the high priest states that Elijah will be executed publically in the marketplace. Elijah does as he is told and he is resigned to die feeling totally abandoned by his God. Elijah begins to doubt the existence of God and he decides that if his God does exist, then he will disavow him. When he gets to the mountaintop, instead of perishing he is visited once again by an angel who instructs him on to bring the widow’s son back to life. Elijah returns unscathed from the mountaintop and revives the young boy. As a result he is proclaimed a hero and is declared a prophet for the people of Akbar, which is the local name for the city of Zarephath, and the people believe Elijah has been blessed by their gods! The widow, however, converts to Elijah’s One God because of the miracle that revived her son. From this point Elijah’s stature and reputation increases daily in the city. He wins the complete trust of the governor who has not been a religious man. The high priest remains the only person who is clearly and continually disturbed by the presence of the obviously powerful and prominent foreigner and believer in the One God. As the high priest impatiently waits for his chance to do away with Elijah, a war looms with the Assyrians. Elijah and the governor suggest ways to avert the war, to keep peace, and to spare the beautiful city, while the high priest and the elders do not see the wisdom in the recommended negotiations and eventually the war becomes inevitable. So the beautiful city of Akbar is destroyed. The widow, who had learned from Elijah to write in the new alphabet called Byblos and who had come to love Elijah as deeply as he loved her, is killed. Witnessing the destruction of the city

369 and the death of the woman he loved, Elijah falls into deepest despair. He decides to leave the ruined city with the widow’s boy, even though the boy is reluctant to leave because he had heard his mother, who loved her city, say “I am Akbar.” At this point in the novel the boy exhibits signs of being a visionary, a prophet-type himself, as he pleads with Elijah to stay and rebuid the city. They do leave for a while before returning to begin the tremendous task of rebuilding Akbar. In time their efforts are successful as the new city becomes more beautiful than the old one. During the rebuilding process the citizens who chose to remain, mostly the old, the poor, the infirm, and many women and children, become reinvigorated in marvelous ways. Community building and city building are parallel and harmoniously undertaken. Eventually Elijah is elected governor of Akbar. In his remaining years he chooses to teach the widow’s boy and other citizens to read and write using the new alphabet. He asks those who study writing to record everything they can remember of their old destroyed city. Years later Elijah is called again by his angel and told to return to his homeland and doing that creates a great dilemma for him once again. He feels at peace and at home in Akbar, so he wonders why he should leave. And what of the boy? Again Elijah struggles to understand the divine command but he obeys understanding that he has been “called” once again to leave. He takes the boy, almost a man, to the Fifth Mountain to show him where Israel is located and he suggests the boy can go there whenever he needs to see Elijah. This Fifth Mountain, which long ago was believed to be the house of the local gods, a place where no one dared to climb, has become a “holy” place for anyone to visit to encounter any gods whenever the people are in need. Elijah tells the boy that it is now good to climb the mountain from time to time as it offers changed perspectives and affords the climber clearer visions and thoughts. The novel ends as Elijah departs Akbar. But on the Day of Atonement, not long before he leaves, Elijah addresses his God once more, breaking a long silence between them as he attempts to settle accounts between his God and himself. Atop the mountain Elijah lists all of his sins and his list is quite long. As he finishes his list, he says, Still, Lord, I have a long list of thy sins against me. Thou hast made me suffer more than was just, by taking from this world the one I loved. Thou hast destroyed the city that received me. Thou hast confounded my search. Thy harshness almost made me forget the love I have for Thee. For all that time that I have struggled with Thee, yet Thou dost not accept the worthiness of my combat. If we compare the list of my sins with the list of Thy sins, Thou shalt see that Thou art in my debt. But, as today is the Day of Atonement, give me Thy forgiveness and I shall forgive 43 Thee, so that we may go on walking at each other’s side.

370 Elijah’s speech prompts God’s reply. The wind starts blowing and Elijah hears his angel say to him, Thou hast done well, Elijah. God has accepted thy combat.

44

Then Elijah is ready to return as commanded to Jerusalem. He takes along a walking staff made of the beautiful wood native to Akbar. He feels ready to to face his final mission to free Israel of its connection to the false prophets and to the idols of its corrupt rulers. Despite his own struggles with his God, Elijah remains a loyal fighter for his God’s cause. In many parts of this novel it is apparent that Coelho is quite familiar with the Jewish stories about Elijah. Clearly through this author’s Christian upbrining and tradition he views Elijah as a Jesus figure, as one who has the power to cure the sick while simultaneously establishing a new order focused on faith in God and His order. The deep feeling of love shared between Elijah and the widow in this novel hints at the teachings of the Jewish sages that suggest that the initial curse placed on the widow’s house causing the untimely death of her young son was caused by the sexual relationship Elijah shared with the widow. The widow’s son in this novel acquires early signs of prophetic powers and this also has its parallel in the Jewish tradition where the Jewish sages suggest that the child of the widow is the prophet Jonah, the son of Amitai.

Endnotes – Chapter Five 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Turgenev,Ivan, Fathers and Sons, New York (1966), 39. Mann, Robert, Russian Apocalypse, Coronado Press (1986), 62. See Appendix for Chapter 3. The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday (1968), 1254. Mann, Robert, Oral Composition in the Slovo o Polku Igareve, (1964), 50-57. Ibid, 30. See chapter 1. Mann, Robert, Op. Cit., 15. Ibid, 16. Ibid, 18. Ibid, 122. Federov, George P. The Russian Religious Mind, Vol. 1, Nordland Pub. Co. (1975), 357358. 13 Mann, Robert, Op. Cit., 34-35. 14 This is part of the 15 OT readings of the Holy Satyrday vesperal Liturgy. 15 We are in debt to our friend and colleague professor Olga Meerson. Through her knowledge and wisdom we were able to comprehend and grasp some of the materials she offered us. She added, regarding the verse in Psalms, “I do not think there is any awareness

371

16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

any longer that the original Hebrew sound, like Elijah’s name (El Yah (u)) and aimed at reminding us of the prophetic function of Elijah’s name only (just as ‘Mi-cha-el’ did.)” In Hebrew the translation is ge-vu-rat El Elion tagen (tatsel) ‘a-la-yikh. Professor Olga Meerson adds the following: “It is a key opposition for Dostoevsky. In general, Dostoevsky’s opposition involves not antonyms but real living things versus its own surrogate: faith/superstition, freedom/the utopian talk about it; love/possessing the other as an object; and many others, including truth versus plausibility. This is what makes me feel that the guy who wrote that semi-apocryphal piece of Crime and Punishment and the imagery of the fire in Elijah-like terms was, after all, up to something true there.” Fedotov, G.P., Op. Cit., Vol. 4, Ch. II. Ibid, 41. Ibid, 43. Ibid, 75. Ibid, 76. Ibid, 77. Marmeladov, Yuri I., Dostoevsky’s Secret Code: The Allegory of Elijah the Prophet, Jay MacPherso (tr.) Coronado Press (1976), 118-123. Bunin, I.A., “Elijah the Prophet”, The Russian Review, I, (1916), 155-158. Nabokov, Vladimir, Details of a Sunset and Other Stories, McGraw Hill Book Company (1976), 119-123. Ibid, 120. Lermontov, M.J., “The Prayer”, Lindsay S. Perkins (tr.), The Russian Review, I (1916), 154. Friedman, Maurice. Martin Buber and the Theater.Funk and Wagnalis. Reader’s Digest Books, Inc. (1969), 120. Ibid., 115 (Scene 1). Ibid. 126 (Scene 5). Ibid. 123 (Scene 6). Ibid. 129 (Scene 6). Ibid. Ibid. 135 (Scene 8). Ibid. 120 (Scene 5). Ibid. 137 (Scene 10). Ibid. 137 (Scene 10). Ibid. 106. “Eli” in Josef Brillen’s Feuerharfe. Deutche Gedichte Juedischer Autoren des 20. Jahrhunderts Reclam Verlag (Leipzig), 1997. Coelho, Paulo. The Fifth Mountain.Alan Clark (tr.). One Spirit and Harper Collins. 1998. Ibid. 30. Ibid. 218-219. Ibid. 219.

372

Appendix Chapter Five Prince Svatosa of Cernigov This blessed and devout Prince Svatosa, with the assumed name of Nicolaus, the son of David, and the grandson of Sv’atoslav, recognized the deception of this futile existence, and that all that is here passes by and slips away while future goods are permanent and eternal, and that the heavenly kingdom is infinite, created by God, who loved him. So he left the Princedom, and honor, and glory, and power, and everything that was laid upon him, and came to the Caves Monastery and became a monk on the 17 of February in the year 1106. All the Cave Monastery monks around him were witnesses to his virtuous livelihood and obedience. He spent three years in the kitchen, working for his fellow monks; with his bare hands he cleaved wood for meal preparation, often carrying it on his shoulders all the way from the shore; and with great difficulty his brothers, Iz’aslav and Vladimir, dissuaded him from that task. Nevertheless, this true novice pleaded to be allowed to work in the kitchen for his fellow brothers for an additional year. Since he was so skillful and accomplished in many tasks, after a year elapsed he became a monastery gatekeeper and he spent three years without ever leaving his post, except for church. Afterwards he was directed to serve in the refectory. Finally by the will of the abbot and his fellow monks he was made to get a cell that he himself built, which hitherto is called “Svatosa’s”, as well as a garden that was planted by him. It was also said that throughout his monkhood no one has ever seen him unoccupied; he was always busy with his handicraft, with which he earned some amount for his clothes. The Lord’s Prayer did not leave his lips; he repeatedly said: “Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, have mercy on me.” Never did he eat anything but the monastery’s food, although he had much in stock, but everything went to the needs of the pilgrims, the poor and for church construction. Many of his books remain to this day. While still reigning, this blessed Price Svatosa had a talented physician from Syria, named Peter, who came to the monastery with the prince. However, this Peter, seeing Svatosa’s voluntary poverty, his laboring in the kitchen and at the gates, left him and settled in Kiev, where he treated many. He often visited the Blessed One and upon seeing his great suffering and continuous fasting, kept persuading him, saying, “Prince beloved, you should think about your health, not to ruin the flesh by boundless work and abstinence. You will weaken at some point to a degree when you will no longer have the strength to carry the weight you burdened yourself with for God’s sake. God does not wish for you to work and fast incessantly, but only from heart pure and repenting; you are not used to such a way of living that you are carrying on now, working as a subordinate

373 slave. And your most pious brothers, Iz’aslav and Vladimir, reproach your poverty. How could you descend from honor and glory to the worst wretchedness; you are exhausting your body and may get sick from such inappropriate nourishment. Amazed am I at your belly, that was previously loaded with pleasant food, and now raw vegetables and dry bread is all it accepts. Beware! At some point infirmity may seize you whole, and you, lacking strength, may lose your life and I will no longer be able to aid you, and you will plunge your inconsol1 able brothers into great lamentation. So your boyars , who once served you and thought that some day they will become great and glorious through their service, are now deprived of your love and blame you; they built themselves big houses and now just sit there in great melancholy. You yourself have nowhere to put your head, sitting on this pile of rubbish, and many think you have lost your mind. When did any Prince behave the way you have? Did the blessed father of yours, David, or your grandfather Sv’atoslav, or any of your boyars, ever act similarly or wish to pursue this course, except for Barlaam, who was an abbot here? If you do not listen to me, then you will be punished by God’s court.” And so he repeatedly told Svatosa, instructed by Svotosa’s brothers, sometimes sitting with him in the kitchen and other times at the gate. The Blessed One responded: “Brother Peter! I thought a great deal and decided not to spare my flesh lest not to wake the struggle within me; let it be humbled under the weight of labor. So it says, brother Peter, strength ought to be achieved through feebleness. Present temporary suffering is worth nothing in comparison to the glory that will be born within us. I am only grateful to the Lord that he liberated me from worldly cares and made me a servant slave to these blessed Cave Monastery monks. Let my brothers worry about themselves,; everyone has to carry his 2 own burden and let my volost off of their load. I left a wife, children, house, power, brothers, friends, slaves, and villages for Christ so that I could inherit eternal existence. I impoverished myself for the Lord in order to attain Him. And do not you, when treating others, advise them to abstain from eating? For me to die for Christ is a gain, and to sit on a garbage pile, like Job, is to reign. If no other Prince has ever acted so before me, let me serve as an example to them; maybe someday they will imitate my example and follow me. Those, such as yourself and those who have taught you, should hold your peace.” Whenever the Blessed One became ill, the physician, upon seeing this, would begin preparing health potions against the sickness, which was either a flaming, burning sensation or a sickly fever, but before Peter’s arrival, the Prince would get well and would not allow himself to be treated. And so it happened thus many times. Once Peter himself got sick and Svatosa sent him a note: “If you do not take the medicine, you will recover; however, if you disobey my words, much pain will you endure.” However, Peter, relying on his skills and hoping to

374 get better, drank the potion and almost lost his life. Only the prayers of the Blessed One cured him. Again the physician got sick and the Blessed One sent a message: “ On the third day you will recover unless you take the potion.” The Syrian listened and on the third day he was healed just as the Blessed One had promised. The Saint called for him, and ordered him to cut his hair and to become a monk and said, “In three months I will leave this world.” He said so, prophesying the death of Peter. Peter, the Syrian, however, did not understand the prediction and he fell on his knees in front of the Prince and with tears in his eyes, he spoke, “ My Lord, my benefactor, I cherish you more than my own life! Who will look after me, the foreigner? Who will feed the many in need of nourishment, who will be the defender of the hard-favored, who will have mercy upon the poor? Did I not warn you, oh dear Prince, that you would plunge your inconsolable brothers into tears? Did not I say, oh dear Prince, that you saved me not only through the word of God and His power but through the prayers of yours? Where will you now go, kind pastor? Show the deadly wound to me, to your slave, and if I fail to cure you, let my head be exchanged for yours and my soul for your soul. Please do not leave me in silence, open up to me, my Lord: where did you receive such news. Let me give up my life for you. If God brought the news, please plead with Him, so I could die instead of you. If you are leaving me, where will I have a place to sit, to weep over my loss; will it be on this garbage pile or by the gates where you subsist? What will I inherit from your riches? You are almost bare; when you die you will be laid in these patched rags. Bequest me with your prayer, as in antiquity Elijah bequeathed a sheepskin to Elisha, so that it will penetrate into my heart and I will reach the marvelous divine home in Paradise. The beast knows where to seek refuge when the sun rises and therefore he lays in his den, and the bird finds its home and the turtle-dove creates a nest where she puts her offspring; you have lived in a monastery for six years and there is yet to be a place there of yours.” The Blessed One responded: “It is better to trust in God rather than to rest your hopes on a man; the Lord knows how to feed every being and can protect and save the poor. My brothers should not cry over me, but over themselves and over their children. In medicine I had no need while living; the dead can not be revived and doctors can not resurrect them.” And so he went with him to a cave, dug a grave for himself, and said to the Syrian: “Who, you or me, wants this grave more?” And so the Syrian said, “ Let it be how everyone desires, but you continue living and put me here instead.” Then the Blessed One said, “Let it be as you wish.” And so the Syrian cut a piece of his hair and consecrated himself to the service of God; and he was crying night and day for three months. The Blessed One comforted him, saying, “Brother Peter! Do you want me to take

375 you with me?” He answered through tears: “I want you to release me so that I can die for you and you would pray for me.” The Blessed One answered: “Be brave, child, and be ready: you will depart in three days.” And so he received the last sacrament, full of divine and eternal secrets, and laid on his deathbed and readjusted his clothes and stretched his legs and put his soul into the hands of God. The Blessed One, Svatosa, outlived Peter by 30 years and he did not once step outside of the monastery until his departure into eternity. And on his last day almost the whole town came. And when the brother of Svatosa found out, he sent a plea to the abbot ask3 ing for the blessed cross from Svatosa’s paraman , for his pillow and for a board of his, on which he bent his knees. The abbot gave it to the Prince, saying, “Based on your faith, you shall receive.” The Prince accepted the gift and took great care of it and gave the abbot 4 three grivnas in gratitude for the gift of his dead brother’s tokens. Later this Iz’aslav became so ill that everyone lost hope and thought that his death was approaching and his wife, children, all the boyars sat by the dying one. Meanwhile, he raised himself slightly and asked for water from the Cave Monastery well and turned numb. The water was sent for and obtained; the abbot took Svatosa’s 5 hair-shirt and he wiped the Sepulchre of Saint Feodosius with it and ordered that the Prince be dressed in his brother’s hair-shirt. And before the carrier of the water and the shirt entered, the Prince suddenly spoke: “Quickly go to the outskirts of the city to meet Saint Feodosius and saint Nicolaus.” When the carrier of the water and the hair-shirt entered, the Prince cried: “Nicolaus, Nicolaus Svatosa.” And they gave him a drink and clothed him with the hair-shirt and he immediately recovered. All praised God and His Saints. And every time Iz’aslav became ill, he wore the hair-shirt and thus was cured. In all battles, he dressed himself in this hair-shirt and he remained unscathed. Once he sinned and did not dare to wear it and he was killed in combat; and he requested to be buried in it. People speak of other great deeds of this Saint. Hitherto Cave Monastery monks know of the Blessed Prince Svatosa. (Translated from the Russian by Ainur Begim.)

376

Endnotes – Appendix Chapter Five 1

2 3

4

5

boyar: “a member of a Russian aristocratic order next in rank below the ruling princes until its abolition by Peter the Great.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary On-Line, ed. 2005, Merriam-Webster Inc., 12 September 2005, www.webster.com. volost : “a district including several villages.” The Complete Russian-English Dictionary. 4th edition. paraman: (or analav) “a small square cloth worn by monks with a depiction of the Cross, the instruments of the Lord’s Passion, the head of adam, etc.” The Russian Dictionary. 1978 ed. Ainur Begim (tr.). grivnas: “a basic unit of currency in Medieval Russia, a silver or gold bar weighing roughly a pound; a silver or gold medallion worn around the neck in Medieval Russia.” Dictionary of the Russian Language. 1968 edition. Ainur Begim (tr.). hair-shirt: “a shirt made of rough animal hair worn next to the skin as a penance.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary OnLine. 2005 ed. Merriam-Webster, Inc., 12 September 2005, www.webster.com.

377

Epilogue I have searched for people of sensitive awareness who respond to the world with wonder and joyous appreciation for the beauty and diversity they see, with awe for the mysteries not fully grasped, and with compassionate help for the needy and suffering. I have found such persons in 1 each religious group.

A. And the Prophet said: ‘Lord reveal to me. the punishments and Paradise.’ And the angels led me away to the east and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there Enoch and Elijah and Moses and Peter and Paul and 2 Luke and Matthew and all the righteous and the patriarchs.

In Jewish imagination no one is compared to Elijah. As was noted earlier, he did not die but was taken by a fiery chariot to heaven. Indeed, in the case of Enoch (Gen. 5:24.) and in the case of Elijah (2Kings 2:5.) we discover the stem LQH, but in v. 11 we discover the stem ‘ALH. In these two cases God himself takes action as He transports these two righteous people to heaven. The Psalmist in Psalms 73 presents a more personal relationship between the pious people and God, as in, Nevertheless, I am continually with thee; thou hast held me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. (Ps. 73: 23-25.). While Enoch is known to be the ‘Prince of Israel’, or Metatron, Elijah remains known as ‘the wanderer’, and Elijah is an invisible guest at Passover and at circumcisions. Elijah helps the needy and the meek and serves as the protector of the people. At the End of the Days he will serve as the herald and announce the coming of the Messiah. Among the many roles he performs, he is considered to be the person who confronts those who betray the old covenant and he took upon himself the duty to act against those he defined as unfaithful. Thus, the Jewish tradition views Elijah as someone who will return, not solely to announce the Messianic Era, but to reestablish its faithfulness on earth. The Elijah of Mount Carmel, who is zealous and full of fervent devotion to God, is not the same Elijah of Mount Horeb, the prophet who had a mystical experience and heard the still small voice. On Mount Carmel, Elijah could not be saved. He ac-

378 ted in a jealous manner while he was in the desert. He is overwhelmed by theophanies. Here Elijah calls upon that God to save the covenant and to save his life. There are two Biblical stories where the supernatural phenomena are worthy of comparison. In the Book of Exodus, Ch. 3, the angel of God appeared to Moses in a fiery flame that erupts in the middle of a bush. The bush was not, however, consumed by this fire. While Moses faced the ‘flaming bush’, he could not hear God’s voice. Moses eventually hears the voice, but only after he has established a relationship with the sneh. He can only hear the voice of God when he is in a cyclical motion with the sneh, in effect, becoming ‘one with it’. This is an imaginative (mystical) encounter Moses experiences. It’s a human encounter with God. While Moses was able to establish this relationship through one experience, Elijah needed to experience the appearance of God by first having three encounters: the tempest, the quake, and the fire. It is only on his fourth encounter that Elijah experiences the still small voice and that he is able to hear God. The voice does not appoint Elijah to any role, but the voice does question Elijah’s presence in that place. We can point out another similarity shared by Moses and Elijah and the fire. Moses encountered a burning bush and then he heard the voice coming from the burning bush. Elijah prayed to God on Mt. Carmel and then fire came down from heaven and consumed all. However, in the Midrash theological sophistication was developed concerning the miracle of the fire, as well as with the bulls that refused to be sacrificed to Ba’al, and with the water that flowed from Elijah’s fingers. It is in the Midrash that we read that when the priests of Ba’al began their sermons, the whole world was silent. We cannot imagine that fire descended from heaven and consumed the sacrifice or that the whole world was silent. It is a religious text that shows us it was the main idea, as well as a moral teaching, given to prove that God is the one and only god and that His messenger’s role is to lead mankind to defy the practices of other gods. There are many ways to offer concluding remarks on the role of Elijah, but Buber’s words present the best way to do that, as in, The central portion of my life’s work is pointing to the deep connection between man’s relationship to God and man’s relationship to man. This quote from Buber demonstrates the special interest he had in Elijah. Using the manner of Buber’s interpretation, let’s try to follow in his footsteps. God said to Elijah, ‘Go and anoint (Elisha) to be prophet in thy stead.’ Here we encounter a close relationship between God and Elijah and one between Elijah and Elisha. The encounter in Horeb (Sinai) prepares Elijah for the coming encounter with Elisha, but in this encounter Elisha does not initially listen when Elijah tells him God’s wish. But then,

379 “Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him…” Elisha: “…left the oxen and ran after Elijah…I shall follow thee.” Elijah: “Go back again for what I have done to thee.” Elisha: “Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him.” Elisha was commanded, ‘Go back’, but instead he goes after Elijah. Here a tension is created between ‘to stand’ and ‘to travel’ and between ‘standing still’ and ‘walking’. While one stands still, one can also go, and while one ‘goes’, one can also ‘stand still’. Here we find the true meaning of the tension. When Elijah ‘went’, God told Elijah to ‘stand still’ and then ‘to go’. Elijah stood still first, for his relationship with God, but by ‘walking’ as he obeyed God’s second command, Elijah recognized that he was chosen by God to establish relations with the people of Israel with their God and to call for them to return to their God. The ‘message’ is that Elijah is supposed to bring back the kingdom of heaven and so he walks among the people of Israel. With his travels, he brings salvation. When the prophet hears the still small voice coming from the de-ma-mah, did God tell Elijah, ‘Stay with God’? Does God attempt to establish a face-to-face meeting, a Pa-nim el pa-nim, a tete-`a-tete relationship with Elijah? It seems to us that in all his wanderings, God does require Elijah to take a stand. But, like Job and like Abraham, Elijah complains to God: when a person has a relationship with someone, he also has to maintain his own points of view while opening up a way for continuous walking. There is a possibility that something happened in Sinai which opened Elijah’s perspective allowing him to recognize that he has to fulfill God’s mission. When Elijah is in the cave and the voice tells him to ‘come out’ and to ‘stand before me’, God appears to be acknowledging that Elijah needs to leave the cave, where he is by himself, in order to establish a face-to-face relationship with God. There is no other way for the relationship between Elijah and God to be created. Elijah is called by God to establish a direct relationship with Him. Here God ‘casts his mantle’ upon Elijah and requires him to establish a relationship with Him. Later Elijah does the same when he casts his mantle upon Elisha. Once Elijah’s mantle falls upon him, then Elisha becomes the one required to establish a close relationship with God. The prophet has a mystical experience, encountering a still small voice. This mystical voice moves Elijah from the position of a prophet who had killed four hundred and fifty men, the prophets of Ba’al, to a new position closer to God. This new and unique closeness between Elijah and God is central to the change in Elijah’s position. There is an Elijah/Elisha connection between 1Kings 19 and 2Kings 2 when Elijah ascends to heaven. Let’s examine what happened in Sinai. There Elijah hears a voice asking him, ‘What doest thou here Elijah?’ Hearing God’s question, Elijah makes a complaint but he doesn’t answer God. He does not say, ‘I

380 am here…’ but instead he says, ‘I have been very jealous…’ God then replies, ‘Go forth and stand upon the mount before me.’ Since Elijah hasn’t answered God’s question, God requires Elijah to come directly before him and to take a position in order to come back to his genuine relationship with God. Elijah is told that he is not an individual but is instead the representative of the people, and as that representative Elijah must stand before God. Here God manifests himself four times to Elijah using the four natural phenomena of the wind in a tempest, the earthquake, the fire, and then the still small voice. Again we are introduced to these forms of theophany, but when God asks Elijah just once more, What doest thou here Elijah? once again Elijah makes his complaint directly to God. Since Elijah cannot commit himself by responding, hin-ne-ni, ‘Here I am’, Elijah is showing God and himself that he is no longer able or capable of maintaining a close relationship to God. Because of that, God commands Elijah to anoint Elisha, son of Shafat, “…to be prophet in thy stead”. Between verses 11 and 15 there is a hyperbolic description of God in his manifestation, and it begins and ends with God’s demand for a close relationship with man, as in verse 11, Go forth and stand upon the mount before me. which shows the ‘God-man’ relationship, and in verse 15 we see the ‘man/man’ relationship expressed in, Go…annoint (Elisha) to be prophet in thy stead. These relationships are from both sides of God’s manifestation. In verse 19 Elijah anoints Elisha by casting his mantle upon him, but there are no words exchanged. There, God tests Elijah, and Elijah tests Elisha. Then Elijah tells Elisha to ‘go back’. God is alive in the ‘God/man’ relationship but Elijah is not. Elijah is alive in the ‘man/man’ relationship. It is in the episode of Elijah’s ascension to heaven that we see the strength of Elijah’s and Elisha’s relationship. Three times Elijah commands Elisha to, Tarry here I pray thee. Three times Elisha responds by saying, As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave you.(vs. 2, 4, 6.). In verse 9 Elijah agrees with Elisha’s position and he asks Elisha for his final request. Elisha replies, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

381 Here Elisha requests the traditional portion of the first-born, the ‘double portion’, and then, while they went on talking, …there appeared a chariot of fire and Elijah and Elisha establish the ‘man/man’ relationship. Only then do they depart from one another. Elijah ascends to heaven and Elisha cries, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and his horsemen… and the storyteller shares that, …the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. When we examine Medieval Jewish thought, we encounter the vying perceptions of the Messianic Era. One is naturalistic and one is super-naturalistic. Maimonides claims that the primary role is to reestablish the Jewish nation. Joseph Albo defines the difference between a messenger and a prophet. The prophet’s veracity is proved, as in, Either when he truly foretells the future… or when he performs miracles… the Torah specifically commands us to obey the prophet no matter what he tells us to do, even if, as a temporary measure…(it) violates the law of the Torah, as Elijah did on Mount Carmel, unless he bids us to 3 worship idol. For Albo a messenger is the one sent by God to communicate the law. But the prophet cannot say whether it is true or not. The prophet prepares and God carries out his proposals. In the case of Elijah, ‘he caused the fire to come down from heaven to revive the dead.’ Albo strongly suggests, …the prophetic power was communicated by Elijah to Elisha without preparatory degrees…for only when God wanted to take Elijah away did he say to him in Horeb, ‘And Elisha, the son of Shapat of Abel-Meholah, 4 shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy stead.’ When Elijah asked Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken from thee. Elisha responded with, I ask thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 5

And when the miracles performed by each prophet are counted , Elijah performed eight miracles, while Elisha performed sixteen. Thus, one can assert that Elisha’s request was granted. Joseph Albo also discusses Resurrection Day. In his discussion he presents the teaching of the Sages that only the righteous people will be resurrected. Indeed, in the Midrash we find that,

382 With the King of kings, the Lord, blessed be He, the souls of the right6 eous sect, and were consulted by God when He created the world. Elijah’s case is special since he never tasted death and thus he alone doesn’t need the miracle of the resurrection. For a human being to attain this special position, he first dies but then comes to life again. The soul of such a person ‘goes up and down.’ When the Sages discusses the will of Rabbi Judah ha-Nassi, they share the following, He used to come home again at twilight every Sabbath Eve. On a certain Sabbath eve a neighbor came to the door speaking aloud, when his handmaid whispered, ‘Be quiet for Rabbi is sitting there.’ As soon as he heard this, he came no more in order that no reflection might be cast on 7 the earlier saints. The Sages also suggest that we’ll find the same thing with some other righteous people but that their visits after death never lasted longer than twelve months. However, in the case of Elijah, the Sages shared that he went ‘up and down’ all the time, as in, We find a mystery in the book of Adam, which says that among the generation of the world there will be one spirit that will go down to earth and clothe itself in a body. His name is Elijah. In this body he will go up, put it off and leave it in the storm. Then he will put on another body of the light in which he will remain among the angels. Later he will go down again and put on the body that remained in the storm, and appear in it down below…This is the mystery contained in the words: ‘Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended?’ There is no human being whose spirit ascended to heaven and then came down except Elijah. He it is who 8 ascended above and then descended. The question of the resurrection was an important concept for the Sages to attempt to understand. The Sages also suggested that the law, which God will cause to descend upon the earth, will have the same power as the semen of males ‘…which gives the form of a person.’ Maimonides argues the resurrected persons will use their sense in ‘the natural way’ and then return to dust. Nahmanides, however, argues that the resurrected persons will live in their natural capacity and then their bodies will be purified and become like that of Elijah. But the most interesting comment on this issue appears in the Talmudic literature, Three were mere nonsense: Does the Wife of Lot convey uncleanness?…Does the son of the Shunamite convey uncleanness?…Will the dead in the hereafter require to be sprinkled upon?…He replied when 9 they will be resurrected, we shall go unto the matter.

383 The text says neh-kam la-hen, meaning ‘when they will be resurrected, we shall be wise about these matters by consulting them’.

B.These are my empire, for to me is given the wonders of the human world to keep. And Fancy’s this creation to endow with manner, being, and reality. Therefore a wonderous phantom from the dreams of human error’s dense and purblind faith, I will evoke to meet thy questioning. 10 Ahasuerus, arise! One can argue that in its essence the Jewish tradition is a cosmo-political one. As such, it refuses to have any political borders, and at the same time, it prefers to always live in a symbiosis with other nations, trying to create partnerships within the nations where it dwells. In the Book of Numbers we find a verse which is a part of the blessing of Bala’am, …lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. (23:9.). We do not consider this verse a blessing but see it as a curse. It restricted Jews and prevented them from acculturation with their neighbors and it prevented them from living in symbiosis with other people. From Jewish history we know that in the time of the pogroms and the massacres, the people preferred to move to another area where they could find refuge, but they never tried to return to their land to establish political borders. They adopted, so it seems, the verse of Isaiah: And the nations shall come to thy light. (60:3.). which means that this teaching would occur not within a Jewish nation’s borders but as a spiritiual teaching taking place everywhere. But, if we pay closer attention to the Hebrew text of this verse, we read ve-hal’khu, shall go. The stem HLKh is essential in our discussion of the meaning of ha-li-kha in the narratives of Elijah and within Jewish tradition. In the Jewish tradition within the Diaspora, we encounter people who are wandering from one land to another, from one place to the next. Even when the Jews had lived for over eight hundred years in Spain, and had contributed to its th land, economy, and culture, they became unwelcome in Spain. In the 14 century when Spain suffered from ice, flood, and the Bubonic plague, the Jews were the scapegoats. The outcome was that 100,000 Jews were killed and about the same number of Jews were converted to Christianity. Indeed, the Jews had searched for freedom but the freedom they had sought was the freedom from being enclosed by political borders, from mental borders, and from the resulting

384 rise of mediocrity that results in such confinements. This general perception or principle was so profound within Jewish tradition that Jews encountered opposing forces that were intent on creating legal fences in the name of religious laws or in the name of religion. As a result, Jewish people throughout history fenced themselves in within high walls where they attempted to preserve their values and ethnicity. In fact, Judaism presents a culture which steps beyond its existence as a religious ethnicity. There are no doubts about the endowments that Judaism made to humanity, to monotheism, and to social justice as the prophetic movement presented it. These ideas were adopted and acknowledged by the believers of Christianity but not by the believers of Islam. All the attempts of some Muslim theologians to deny these endowments were a result of hatred or of ignorance. Yet some Jewish orthodoxy factions in the Diaspora, as well as within the present State of Israel, have fenced Jewish tradition within high walls in the name of the religious laws interpreted by them. They became the interpreters of the laws following their ideologies and thus they slowly extinguished the light of this tradition. With these walls they built, they tried to impose the ‘blessing’ of Balaam, …lo, the people shall dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. (Num. 23:9.). The imposition of the religious interpreters contradicts the prophetic statement of Isaiah, And the gentiles shall come to thy light,and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isa. 50:3.). While presuming to fence in their tradition, they forgot the ideals of their prophets. Yet the secular followers of Judaism inherited these ideals and then adopted the message of the prophet for Israel to be ‘the light for the nations’. Orthodoxy does not pay attention to the Bible, and doesn’t stress the teachings of Biblical literature, but it emphasizes instead the teachings of the Mishnah and the Talmud , which suffocated the earlier tradition. Judaism is not a missionary tradition and, as a result, it doesn’t commercialize God. Its important principle is to search for the point where God and man meet. Judaism brought to its followers two very essentials things: Law, or, ha-la-kha, and freedom. The Law is meant to establish social justice, moral life, and a reverence for the Creator. Freedom is the way chosen to reach these goals. Ritual is not an important Judaic goal, even though some of the interpreters of the Jewish traditions emphasized its importance. The Hasidism of the Second Commonwealth, as well as the Pharisees, didn’t want to view the state as the supreme value, so they made God a nation and the Torah became the land of Israel. So it is today. The ultra orthodox and the new casts of the so-called ‘lover of

385 the Torah’ are mostly worshipping stones, amulets and graveyards. They continue to promote the concept that the Torah is the state and they do not value 11 discovering the meeting point between man and his God. Elijah, whose main purpose was to bring the people back to this important meeting point, wandered around the land where he met both human kings and the Divine King. Elijah wanted to re-establish this meeting point between the people and their God, but his methods were so harsh that even God opposed them. For the people Elijah became a paradigm of the wanderer who does not recognize any political borders and who appears everywhere. This wandering of ha-li-kha, walking from one place to another to preach, to publicly declare religious principles, and to ‘confirm the feeble knees’, became the people’s interpretation of Elijah’s actions. Thus ha-li-kha, or, walking about, frees the people from living within the confines of a political border. The stem HLKh appears more than thirty times in Elijah’s narrative. So, is there a special significance to the repeated use of this particular verb? Elijah walks from place to place, from his hometown in Samaria to the Brook of Cherith, on to Zidon (Zarephath), again to Samaria, on to Mount Carmel, to Beer-Sheba, to the wilderness unto Horeb, and back to Samaria. These all placed great emphasis on Elijah’s continuous wanderings. In Hasidic literature the motif of ha-li-kha is understood to mean ‘walking in search of the truth’. This motif is developed in two directions. On the one hand, the he-lekh, or the walker, is the wanderer who is usually a pious man, a Zad-diq, who goes around preaching to the people, bringing the heart of his audience to the tradition. He views his role as one who lives within these fences of the tradition, not as the one who recognizes any political borders. He wants the people to discover the Truth in the tradition, Truth that has been fenced in by rituals and by the religious laws, while in his journey he cannot find any such borders. The general perception is that the whole world is one as God’s world and in it there is a place for everyone. The pious wanderer, the Zad-diq, asks the Jewish person to examine himself and to assume responsibility, not only for his or her own fate, but also for the fate of his fellow man. Yet, the ha-li-kha, or the wandering, did not bring any essential change in the life of the Ha-si-dim. The Hasidic movement indulged in their religious myth. With the pious wanderer we observe the aspiration for change. The Zad-diq, in his wanderings, wasn’t always successful when he emphasized the importance of personal freedom. Instead, he emphasized mystical elements, sharing esoteric steps that pointed to the special relationship shared by man and God. Or he accentuated religious myths in order to strengthen the people’s connection to their religion, to their God, and to the Zad-diq. But the Zad-diq wasn’t able to do it successfully and he failed to establish it as a part of the whole tradition. His failure was due mainly to the other forces in this tradition which were searching for new ideas and which strongly refused to be fenced in by the teachings of the Zad-diq.

386 Most of the legends of the holy men point out that the wanderer goes from one community to another, from one Jewish street to another, moving around the Jewish world to deliver his words or thoughts to ‘bring the people back to God.’ Sometimes, even the Zad-diq’s followers shared, he performed miracles outside the borders of the land. The members of this tradition expressed their love to the Land of Israel but refused to live in it. Maimonides wandered from Spain to Morocco to Fustat, Cairo, but he never came to Zion, even for a short visit, although he didn’t live far from it. However, he was buried in the Holy Land. The legend about Maimonides coming to his disciples prior to his funeral passed from one generation to the next and became viewed as historical truth. Members of this tradition preferred, despite their fear to admit it, to live in a symbiosis within other nations. It is here that we can discern the continuation of the ideas found among the Sages, that Elijah is the source for all interpretations and that he is the high authority in teaching and in interpreting the Torah. Throughout the history of interpreting the Torah, as it’s noted by R. Joseph Candia in his book, Metzaref le-hokh-mah, in fact, there is no debate in the Talmud. To be able to receive a teaching from Elijah the Prophet, one should be gifted with the divine spirit in order to distinguish between what is correct and what is false, as it is written in Malachi, …for the Priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, for his is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. (2:7.). The story of Elijah contains an important phenomenon: the manifestation of God. Among the Biblical stories, God manifests Himself to Moses while allowing Moses to see His back while Moses is behind a rock. The prophet Isaiah experiences another instance of the manifestation of God when he sees the glory of God as it ‘filled the temple’. Ezekiel experiences God’s manifestation as, …a whirlwind… great cloud and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it. (Ez. 1:4.). And then Ezekiel sees, … the likeness of the appearance of man upon it. And his description ends with an astonishing manifestation description, And I saw the color of amber, like the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of its loins even upward, and from its loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. (1:27.). All these phenomena are visions of the prophets that are described using concrete

387 images, like the burning bush, Mount Sinai, the throne, and the fiery horses. These concrete images all truly hyperbolic manifestations of God that are represented in common language that could be called ‘primitive’. Elijah feels the quake, he sees the fire, and he hears the wind, the tempest, in his experience of these three manifestations of God. He’s unable to feel God’s presence and he does not experience the awe of God. God, however, chooses to manifest Himself to Elijah in the most abstract manner, by using the unheard still small voice. Here is the great and most unique manifestation of God that is not found in any other Biblical narrative. It is the most revered moment for this prophet. This experience Elijah had can be seen as God’s invocation of Elijah to prophesy, as well as an invocation that Elijah’s future role would extend to him becoming the herald of the Messiah. Indeed, Jewish tradition views Elijah as the one who will proclaim and announce the beginning of the Messianic Era. This tradition is still awaiting the second coming of Elijah and prayers continue for the prophet to arrive soon to deliver the believers from their plight. Elijah is a mythical image, as he is seen as the one who saves the poor, who is the teacher or guide, and who will be the herald of the Messiah. This tradition created some rituals connected to Elijah’s presence. For example, in circumcision ceremonies, in Passover, and every Saturday night, the hav-da-lah, songs, are sung in Elijah’s honor, even though there is no proof of his actions, except what is told in these traditional stories that were developed in the mind of the people. Christians are awaiting the second coming of Jesus Christ, even though there is no valid historical proof for their expectation, nor is there any valid way for them to predict the timing of Christ’s second coming. In fact, in both cases, the Jews and the Christians have no need for such proof because their belief is rooted in their faith. Their faith is the proof. As for historical proof, it is possible that a wanderer, by the name of Elijah, lived during the reign of king Ahab. He took upon himself the role to educate the people of Israel who, at that time, were worshipping two deities, the God of Israel and the Ba’al of the Canaanites. Being very zealous, Elijah approached the people of Israel severely, and through bloody punishments he showed them the way to reunite solely with the one God of Israel. This description could be historical, but Elijah’s ascent to heaven was a myth that developed in the minds of the people. Likewise, for the Christians, there is an historical possibility that in Galilee there lived a teacher who, like Elijah, wandered about the country and taught the people of Israel, who were, …astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribe. (Mk. 1:22.).

388 This teacher, named Jesus, conveyed his teachings through the use of parables, letting his audience examine them and evaluate this form of teaching. At the same time, it is possible that he mesmerized his followers with the quality of his moral teachings. He is indeed the most eloquent moralist Judaism ever endowed to humanity. Finally, his followers believe the myth that he was resurrected and ascended into heaven, as had Elijah. In the Act of Pilate, Nicodemus conveys the mythical ascent of Jesus, We saw Jesus on the mountain Mamilch with his disciples. He taught them what you have heard from them. And we saw him, they said, taken up into heaven. And no one asked them in what manner he was taken up. Just as the Holy Scripture tells us that Elijah was also taken up into heaven and Elisha cried in a loud voice, and Elijah cast his sheepskin coat 12 upon Elisha… The Biblical storyteller tells us of Elijah’s ascent into heaven in the following manner, …and behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and separated them, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven. (2Kings 2:11.). Each of these two traditions, which looked at each other, one with admiration and high levels of animosity and the other with questions and idiosyncrasies of the tradition that had diverted from Judaism, in the end, entered a long period of waiting for the ‘second coming’.

389

Endnotes – Epilogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Morgan, Kenneth W., Recalling For The Moon: An Asian Path, Anima Pub. (1990), 5. GkApEzra. 5:20-22. Albo, Joseph, “Sfer ha-Ikarim”, Isaac Husik (tr.), JPS, Philadelphia (1929). Ibid. III, 11,4. See above. Gen.Rab. 8. BKet. 103a. Zohar II, Vayakhel. BNid. 70b. Shelley, Percy, Queen Mab in Shelley’s Poetical Works, Thomas Hutchinson (ed.), Oxford University Press, (London) 1968. 11 While religious interpreters allow themselves to expand the Biblical laws or to reestablish religious institutions like the Sanhedrin, they allow and encourage followers to kiss the stone of the grave of R. Me’ir ba’al ha-nes, or of R. Simeon bar Yohai, to bow to the amulets given by R. Kaduri, or to have a feast around the grave of Babi Salah, all of which is total paganism. These religious interpreters forgot the teaching of the prophets and of the Torah: There are poor among you who need help, there are social problems to be solved, and that, overall, you can be a good Jew, even if you don’t go to the synagogue to pray, if you are just a good human being. These religious interpreters established themselves as the direct representatives of God on earth. In some ways, I believe they are the destructive elements of the Jewish tradition. 12 NT Apocripha, Vol. 1, Wilhelm Schneemelcher (ed.), Westminister/John Knox Press, Louisville (1990), 516.

390

Bibliography

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27)

Abbot, Nabia. Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967. ‘Abd al-Rahman, Aisha (Bint al-Shati). al-Isra’iliyyat fi al-Ghazu al-Fikri. Ma’had al-Buhuuth Wal-Dirasaat al-Arabiya. Cairo, 1975. Abulafia, Abraham. Pe-li-ot Ha-hokh-ma (The Wonders of Wisdom), n.d. “The Acts of Peter.” NTAcrocripha. 1992. Aggadat Breshit (Agg.Br.). S. Buber (ed.). Vilna, 1925. Aghani XVII in Josef Horovitz’s The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors. Lawrence I. Conrad (ed.). Princeton: The Darwin Press, Inc., 2002. Aida, Rashid. Tafsir al manar Isra’iliyyat. al-Asakir. Qisas al Anbiya. Albo, Joseph. Sfer ha-Ikarim. Isaac Husik (tr.). Philadelphia: JPS, 1929. al-Bukhari. Sahih 125 in Muhammad Abul Quasem, Salvation and the Soul and Islamic Devotions. London: Kegan Paul International, 1983. al-Damiri. Hayat al Hayawan. A.S.G. Jayakar (tr.). London and Bombay: 1906. al-Kisa’i (Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah).Tales of the Prophets. W.M. Thackstone (tr.). Boston: Twayne Publishing Co., 1978. Allah, Sha Wali. “Tawil al-Hadith.” J.M.S. Baljen (tr.). A Mystical Interpretation of Prophetic Tales by An Indian Muslim. Leiden: Brill, 1973. al-Nasi. ‘amal al yowm wal layla. n.d. al-Tabari, Jarir. Tafsir. Vol. III. Cairo: 1373h. ____________. T’arikh ar-rusul wal-muluk. Cairo: 1960. al-Thalabi (abu Ishaq Ahamad) . Qisasu ‘l ‘anbiya. Cairo: n.d. Ancient Christian Writings. Newman Press, 1948. “Apocalypse of Paul” in New Testament Apocripha (NTA). W. Schneemelcher (ed.). Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. R.H. Charles (ed.). Oxford, 1913. Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach Ecclesiasticus. 1820? Arne, A. and Stith Thomson. The Types of the Folktale. Helsinki: 1961. Arthur, Stanley Eddington. The Nature of the Physical World. N.Y.: 1919. Aston, J. Understanding the Fourth Gospel. Oxford, 1991. Ayoub, Muhammad. “Uzayr in the Qur’an and Muslim Tradition.” Studies in Islamic and Judaic Traditions. W.G. Brinner and S.D. Ricks (eds.). Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986. Babel, Isaac. “Elia Issakevich and Margrita Prokofevna.” Baruch. “Ethiopic Apocalypse of Baruch” in Wolf Laslau’s Falasha Anthology. N.Y.: Schocken, 1959.

391 (28) (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (55)

Ben-Amos, D. and J.R. Mintz (eds.) In Praise of the Ba’al Shem-Tov. Bloomington, IN. 1972. Ben Sira. Ecclesiasticus. Berger, A. “The Messianic Self-Consciousness of Abraham Abulafia: A Tentative Evaluation”. Essays on Jewish Life and Thought Presented in Honor of Salo Wittmayer Baron. J.L. Blou, et al. (eds.). 1989. Braude, W.G. Pepikta Rabbati. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968. Brillen, Josef. Feuerharfe. Deutche Gedichte Juedischer Autoren 20. Jahrhunderts Reclam Verlag. Leipzig, 1997. Brinner, W.G. “An Egyptian Anti-Orientalist in Islam.” Nationalism and Radicalism in Egypt and the Sudan. Gabriel W. Narburg and Uri M. Kuferschmid (eds.). N.Y. : 1983. ____________. An Elegant Composition Concerning Relief After Adversity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. Brinner, W.G. (tr.). The History of al-Tabari 3. The Children of Israel. N.Y.: New York State University Press, 1991. Brinner, W.G. (ed.) “An Islamic Decalogue”. Studies in Islamic and Judaic Traditions. W.G. Brinner and S.D. Rice (eds.). Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986. Brown, E.G. The Literary History of Persia. 1928. Buber, Martin. “Church, State, Nation, Jewry.” Jewish Perspectives on Christianity. Fritz A. Rothschild (ed.). N.Y.: Continuum, 2000. ___________. Israel and the World. N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1948. ___________. On The Bible. Nahum N. Glatzer (ed.). N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1968. ___________. Tales of the Hasidim: The Later Masters. Olga Marx (tr.). N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1961. Budge, Ernest A. Wallis. The History of Alexander the Great: Being the Syraic Version. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Bultman. The Gospel of John: A Contemporary. Westminster Press. 1971. Bunin, I. A. “Elijah the Prophet.’ The Russian Review. Vol. 1. 1916. Canaan, T. “Muhammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine.” JPOS 4. 1926. 1929. Candia, Joseph. Metzaref le-hokh-mah. n.d. Carlson, R.A. “Elie a l’Horeb”. VT 19. 1969. Carroll, R.P. “The Elijah-Elisha Sagas.” VT 19. 1969. Caspi, M.M. Eve in Three Traditions. Edwin Mellen Press: 2003. __________. Mizkenim Etbonanm. Midreshet Sdeh Boker. 1968. __________. “R. Shalem Shabazi: Between Holiness and Messianism.” Unpublished, 2005. __________. Take Now Thy Son. Bibal Press, 2001. Caspi. M.M. and S. Milstein and G. Neu-Sokol. Why Hidest Thy Face: Job in Tradition and Literature. Bibal Press, 2004. The Chronicles of Jerahmeel. M. Gaster (tr.). N.Y.: KTAV House, 1971. Chryostom, St. John. “Discourse IV”. Fathers of the Church.

392 (56) (57) (58) (59) (60) (61) (62) (63) (64) (65) (66) (67) (68) (69) (70) (71) (72) (73) (74) (75) (76) (77) (78) (79) (80) (81) (82) (83) (84)

_________________. “Hom. I” and “Hom. II”. and “Hom. LVI.’ Fathers of the Church. _________________. “Orations Against the Jews”. 6.2. Fathers of the Church. Coats, G.W. “Healing and the Moses Tradition.” Canon, Theology, and OT Interpretation. G.M. Tucker, et al (eds.). Fortress, 1988. Coelho, Paulo. The Fifth Mountain. Alan Clark (tr.). One Spirit and Harper Collins, 1998. Cohen, Hermann. Religion and Reason: Out of the Sources of Judaism. Simon Kaplan(tr.). N.Y.: Fredrick Unger Publishers, 1972. Cohen, Martin. “In All fairness to Ahab: A Socio-Political Consideration”. Erets-Yisrael. Vol. 12. 1975. th The Complete Russian-English Dictionary. 4 edition. Coote, R.B. “Yahweh Recalls Elijah”. Traditions in Transformation. B. Halper and J.D. Levenson (eds.). Eisenbrouns, 1981. Concordance et indices de la tradition muslmane. Vol. II. A.J. Weronic and J.P. Mensing (eds.). Leiden: 1936-69. Cordovero, M. Pardes Rimonium, n.d. The Dictionary of Russian Language. 1968 edition. Dinur, B. B.Yisrael ba-Golah.Volumes Jerusalem, 1962. Dostoevsky(Dostoyevsky) Fyodar. The Brothers Karamazov. Penguin Books, 1985. El-Shami, Hasan M. Folktales of Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980. Einsler, Lydia (Schick). Mar Eljas, el-Chadr and Mar Dschirjis (Mar Elias, elKhidor and Mar Girgis). G. Neu-Sokol (tr.). “Eli” in Josef Billen’s Feuerharfe. Deutsche Gedichte Juedischer Autoren des 20. Jahrhunderts. Reclam verlag. Leipzig. 1997. The Encyclopedia of Islam. Brill, 1978. The Father of the Church. Washington: The Catholic University Press, 1981. Firdusi. In E.G. Brown’s The Literary History of Persia. 1928. Fedotov , George P. The Russian Religious Mind. Nordland Pub. Company, 1975. Flaubert, G. “Herodias”. Three Tales. New York: Penguin Books, 1961. Flusser, D. Judaism and the Origins of Christianity. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1988. _________. Lectures at The Hebrew University, March 1962. Friedleander, Israel. Die chadirlegende und der Alexanderroman (The Legend of Khidhr). Leipzig: 1913. Friedman, Maurice. Martin Buber and the Theater. Funk and Wagnalis. Reader’s Digest Books, Inc. 1969 Friedmann, M. (ed.). Seder Eliahu Zuta. Vienna: 1904. Gaon, Hai. Otzar ha-Geonim, Sukkah. 1934. Gaon, Sa’adya. Emunot ve-De’ot. n.d. Gaster, M. Exampla of the Rabbis. N.Y.: KTAV Publishing House, 1924.

393 (85) (86)

Ginzberg, L. The Legends of the Jews. Philadelphia, 1936. Goldziher, Ignaz. Die Richtungen der islamishoen koranauslegund .Leiden: JPS,m 1920. (87) Gomez, E.G. “Polemica Religiosa Entre Ibn Hazam y Ibn al Nagrila”. AlAndulus 4. 1936-39. (88) The Greek Alexander Roman. Richard Stoneman (tr.). N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1991. (89) ha-Levi,Yehudah, Judah b. Samuel. Kitab al Khazari (Sefer ha Kuzari) n.d. or Book of Kuzari. Hartwig Hirchfeld (tr.). N.Y.: Pardes Publishing House, 1946. (90) Halperin, David J. “The Ibn Sayyad Tradition and the Legend of al-Dajjal”. JAOS, 96. 1976. (91) Hirshberg; Z. “Rabeau Nissim b. R. Ya’akov mi-Kairouan”. Hibbur yafeh mehay-Yeshu‘ah. n.d. (92) Hodgson, M. The Venture of Islam. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. (93) Horovitz, Josef. The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors. Lawrence I. Conrad (ed.). Princeton: The Darwin Press Inc., 2002. (94) __________. Koranisch Untersuchugen. Berlin, 1926. (95) Ibn, Kathir. “Umar ad-din b. Ishma’il.” Qisasu ‘l Anbiya. Cairo: Markaz AlKitaab, 1991. (96) _________. Tafsir al Quran al ‘azim. n.d. (97) Ibn, Khaldun. In The Muqaddima, An Introduction to History. Franz Rosenthal (ed.). N.Y.: 1958. (98) Ibn Yahya, Shalshelet ha-Qabbalah. n.d. (99) Jellinek, A. Bet ha-Midrash. (100) Jerome, St.. “Against Jovinianism.” Book 2, and “On Virginity.” The Nicene and the Post-Nicene Fathers. (101) Jeremais, J. Theophanie. 1965. (102) Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities (Ant.). Philadelphia, n.d. (103) Klausner, J. The Messianic Idea in Israel. London: W.F. Stinespring, 1956. N.Y.: MacMillan Pub. Co., 1955. (104) Knappert, Jan. Islamic Legends. E.J. Brill, 1985. (105) Lazarus-Yafeh, H. “Moses’ Death”. Gerschom G. Scholem Jubilee. Jerusalem, 1975. (106) _______________. Studies in al’-Ghazzali. Jerusalem, 1975. (107) Lermontov, M.J. “The Prayer”. Lindsay S. Perkins (tr.). Russian Review, Vol. 1, 1916. (108) Leslau, Wolf. “Abba Elijah” in Falasha Anthology. N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1959. (109) Lessons From The Studies of the Qur’an. Lahore: 1965. (110) Lowenstann, S. “Moses’ Death”. Gerschom G. Scholem Jubilee. Jerusalem: 1958. (111) Madelung, W. The Encyclopedia of Islam. 1231b.

394 (112) Maimonides, Moses b. Maymun (Ramban). The Guide of the Perplexed. Shlomo Pines (tr.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963. (113) Maimonides, Moses b. Maymun. Mishne Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim (Law of Kings). (114) Mann, Robert. Oral Composition in the Slovo Polku Igareve. 1984. (115) ___________. Russian Apocalypse.Coronado Press, 1986. (116) Marmeladov, Yuri L. Dostoevesky’s Secret Code: The Allegory of Elijah the Prophet. Jay MacPharso (tr.).Coronado Press, 1976. (117) Maximus the Confessor. Comtemplation of Elijah’s Vision in Horeb 1:2. (118) ___________________. “Difficulty 10”. Fathers of the Church. (119) Merriam-Webster Dictionary OnLine. 2005 edition. Merriam-Webster Inc. 12 September 2005. www.merriam-webster.com. (120) Meyouhas, Joseph. Bible Tales in Arab Folklore. London: 1928. (121) Midrash ha-Gadol. (122) Midrash on Psalms (MP.) 8:5. William G. Broude (tr.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959. (123) Midrash Rabbah. H. Freedman and Maurice Simon (eds.). Soncino Press, 1979. (124) Midrash Talpiyot (MTl.). Eliyahu b. Shlomo ha-Kohen (ed.). Lublin: 1889. (125) Midrash Tanhuma. Solomon Buber (ed.).Vilna, 1951. (126) Morgan, Kenneth. W. Recalling For The Moon: An Asian Path. Anima Pub, 1990. (127) Mourad, Suleiman A. Jesus According To Ibn Asakir. n.d. (128) Munro, D.C. “The Western Attitude Toward Islam During The Period of the Crusader.” Speculum, Vol. 6, No. 3, July 1931. (129) Nabokov, Vladimir. “The Thunderstorm” in Details of a Sunset And Other Stories. N.Y.: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1976. (130) The New English Bible, The Apocrypha. London: Oxford University Press, 1970. (131) New Testament Apocripha (NTA). Wilhelm Schneemelcher (tr.). Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990. (132) The Nicene and the Post-Nicene Fathers of the Church. The Christian Literature Company, 1892. (133) Oberman. “The Origin of the use of the Term Isra’iliyyat in Muslim Literature.” Arabica 46, 1999. (134) Ong, Walter. The Barbarian Within. N.Y.: Macmillan, 1962. (135) Orhan, Veli Kanik. Just For The Hell of It. Talat Sait Halman (tr.). Istanbul: Multilingual, 1997. (136) Origen. The Fathers of the Church. (137) Patai, R. The Messiah Texts. Wayne State University Press, 1979. (138) Pepikta Rabbati. W.G. Braude (tr.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968. (139) Perlman, M. “Andalusian Authors on the Jews of Granada.” PAAJR. 18 (1948-49). (140) Petuchowski, Jacob J. “Jewish Prayer Texts of the Rabbinic Period”. The Lord’s Prayer and Jewish Liturgy. Jacob J. Petuchowski and Michael

395 Brocke (eds.). N.Y.: Crossroads Books, 1978. (141) Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer (PRE), Gerald Friedleander (tr.). Sepher-Hermon Press, 1981. (142) Prophets in the Qur’an. Brannon M. Wheeler (tr.). London: Continuum, 2002. (143) Prudentius Apotheosis II. H.J. Thompson (ed. and tr.). Cambridge, MA: 1949-53. (144) “The Pseudo-Titus Epistle” in New Testament Aprocrypha (NTA).Wilhelm Schneemelcher (ed.). Westminster Press, 1992. (145) Quasem, Muhammad Abul. Salvation and the Soul and Islamic Devotions. London: Kegan Paul International, 1983. (146) Radak, R. David Kimhi. Mikhlol. n.d. (147) “Reply to Faustus the Menichean”. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. (148) Rosenthal, Franz.“The Influence of Biblical Tradition on Muslim Historiography”. Historians of the Middle East. Bernard Lewis (ed.). London: Oxford University Press, 1962. (149) Rubin, U. “Pre-existence and Light: Aspects of the Concept of Nur Muhammad.” IOS.1975. (150) The Russian Dictionary. 1978 edition. (151) Sa’adia, Gaon. The Book of Beliefs and Opinions. Samuel Rosenblatt (tr.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948. (152) Said, ibn Hasan. “Kitab masalik an-nazhar” in Weston, S.A. JAOS, 40 (19031904). (153) Scharm, Peninnah. “Elijah Lullaby.” Tales of Elijah the Prophet. Jason Aronson, Inc., 1997. (154) Scholem, G. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. 1955. (155) Schurer, E. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. G.Vermes , et al. (rev. and eds.). London: 1995. (156) Schwartz, Howard. (ed.). Lilith’s Cave.London: Oxford University Press, 1988. (157) Schwarzbaum, H. “Jewish and Muslim Versions in Some Theodicity Legends.” Fabula 3. 1959. (158) ______________. Mimkor yisrael ve-Yishmael. Tel Aviv, 1975. (159) Seder Eliahu Zuta. M. Freidman (ed.). Vienna, 1904. (160) Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabriol. Peter Cole (tr.). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. (161) Sepharadi Mah-Zor. n.d. (162) Shelley, Percy. Shelley’s Poetical Works. Thomas Hutchinson (ed.). London: University Press, 1968. (163) Shelomo, bar Yerahmeel. The Chronicles of Jerahme’el. M.Gaster (tr.). N.Y.: KTAV Publishing House, 1971. (164) Speyer, H. Die Biblischen Ezratilungen im Qoran. Hildescheim, 1971. (165) St. Augustine. The City of God. (166) ___________. “On the Gospel of St. John.” The Nicene and the Post-Nicene Fathers.

396 (167) ___________. “Reply to Faustus the Manichean.” The Nicene and the PostNicene Fathers. (168) St. Jerome. “Against Jovinianism.” Book 2. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. (169) ________. “On Virginity.” The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. (170) Stein, Walter. Criticism as Dialogue. Cambridge University Press, 1969. (171) Stoneman, Richard. (tr.). The Greek Alexander Romance. N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1991. (172) Tanna Debe Eliyyahu. W.G. Baude and I.J. Kapstein (trs.). Philadelphia: JPS, 1981. (173) Tertullian. “Adversus Judacos.” Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 3. N.Y., 1926. (174) Thompson, Arne and Stith Thomson. The Types of Folklore. Helsinki, 1961. (175) Tottoli, Roberto. “The Qisas al-Anbiya of ibn muttalib Tarafi.’ Al-Qantara 19. 1998. (176) “The Treatise On The Resurrection” 48. Nag Hamadi Library. James M. Robinson (ed.). San Francisco: Harper, 1990. (177) Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons. N.Y., 1966. (178) van der Ploeg, J. “Le rôle de la tradition orale dans la transmission du texte de l’Ancien Testement.” Revue Biblique, 54: 1947. (179) Vital, R. Hayyim. Sefer ha-Hezyonot. n.d. (180) Watt, M. Muhammad at Al-Medina. 1956. (181) Weiss, J. “Megilat Sefarim le R. Nahman mi-Braslaw”. Qiryat sefer. 1969. (182) Williams, A.L. Adversus Judaeos- A Bird’s Eye View of Christian Apologian Until the Renaissance. Cambridge, 1935. (183) Wolfson, Harry A. Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948. (184) The Works of Flavious Josephus. W. Whiston (tr.). Baltimore, 1836. (185) “The Works of St. Chrystostom Hom. II.” The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. (186) Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez. H. Vegshel. Jerusalem, 1978. (187) Yosef, R. Ya’akov. Toldot Ya’akov Yosef. Warsaw, 1881. (188) The Zohar. Soncino Press, 1949.

397

INDEX

‘ ‘Aisha ‘Abd al-Rahman 217, 218 ‘Ashuut 275 ‘ilm al-ghyb 189, 197, 201 ‘Isa 224 ‘Umar 175, 181, 183, 218, 229, 280, 336 ‘Uthman 174, 181, 183, 229, 231

1 1Kings ii, xii, xiv, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 28, 29, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 49, 51, 52, 56, 57, 59, 66, 67, 71, 72, 76, 77, 103, 104, 107, 108, 110, 114, 115, 118, 131, 135, 160, 162, 163, 208, 236, 238, 239, 314

2 2Kings ii, 17, 28, 34, 36, 56, 67, 76, 100, 115, 131, 132, 135, 148, 153, 161, 205

4 4Ezra 130, 195, 237, 309, 310, 322, 345

A A. Yusuf Ali 178 Aaggadah 190 Aaron 22, 46, 105, 106, 115, 120, 121, 125, 131, 166, 169, 186, 188, 191, 193, 200, 211, 217, 224, 225, 241, 279, 280, 303, 306, 312, 313, 314, 327, 336 Abbot, Nabia 182, 236, 390

Abel 68, 141, 364, 381 Abraham i, xiv, 42, 54, 66, 74, 77, 82, 84, 85, 87, 101, 102, 116, 117, 120, 122, 131, 132, 133, 151, 169, 174, 175, 176, 186, 187, 200, 215, 217, 218, 235, 256, 257, 280, 285, 334 Abravanel 142, 316 Abu Bakr 175, 181, 183, 200, 228, 250, 261, 280, 282, 337 Abu Dharir 228 Abulafia, Abraham 101, 102, 122, 390, 391 Academy 100, 113 Adam 7, 37, 47, 94, 99, 116, 117, 120, 160, 173, 182, 186, 188, 192, 196, 216, 217, 229, 267, 273, 275, 276, 281, 283, 285, 309, 310, 345, 364, 382 ad-de-ret 67 Aderet, Abraham 102, 122 Adhra Mariam 204 Adonis 207 Aesop 232 aesthetic xii, 235, 348 Aggadat Breshit 34, 117, 390 aggression 334 agony 362 Ahab ii, xii, xv, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 28, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 50, 55, 56, 72, 105, 115, 118, 131, 159, 160, 167, 187, 208, 224, 225 Ahab, the king of Israel xv, 159, 225 Ahasuerus 94, 95, 383 Ahasver 197 Ahaziah xv, 13, 105, 205 ahl ‘l kitab 181, 183 ahl al qibla 335 Akbar 368, 369, 370 akhbar 183, 229 Akhtub 215, 226, 280

398 al adab al sha’abi 221 al Andalus 337, 346 al Isra’iliyyat fi al-ghazu al-fikri 234 al khidhr 79 Albo, Joseph 381, 389, 390 al-Buraq 221, 223, 250 Alexander 136, 213, 214, 215, 222, 223, 239, 256, 257, 391, 393, 396 Alexander Romance 214 al-Iskander 222, 223 allegorical 149, 310 al-Muhraqa 207 al-Tabari 178, 193, 212, 215, 216, 228, 234, 237, 239, 390, 391 altars 17, 39, 54 Alyosha 347, 355, 356 Amo-ra-im 79 amulets 320, 385, 389 Anfinka 355 Angel of Death 104, 227, 284, 285 Angels 7, i, 1, 18, 116 anger ii, xiii, 5, 9, 39, 58, 74, 201, 226, 243, 246, 264, 270 animosity 178, 218, 341, 388 Ant. xvi, 116, 118, 119, 121, 137, 170, 236, 239 antichrist 142, 215 anti-Christ 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342 Antiochus IV 215 Apocrypha 5, 109, 120, 122, 139, 170, 171, 190, 237, 345, 390, 394 Aquinas, St. Thomas 142 Arabian Peninsula 173, 219 Aramaic Targum 15, 16, 308, 342 Arbil. 224 Armelaus Romulus 340 Armenian 5, 7, 8 Armilus 25, 26, 340, 343 Arthur, Stanley Eddington xvi Asasiah 211, 225 Asherah 39, 45, 49 ass 88, 89, 105, 122, 194, 208, 292, 308, 325, 339 Audiences xi

Austria 358, 364 author xi, xii, 6, 21, 22, 40, 84, 101, 110, 122, 123, 131, 133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 151, 165, 168, 197, 228, 286, 307, 308, 309, 347, 370 Ayat al kursi 230 Ayoub, M. 178, 236, 390

B Ba’al xvi, 1, 10, 12, 13, 18, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 56, 57, 68, 69, 70, 84, 107, 131, 140, 153, 160, 161, 186, 224, 241, 243, 244, 279, 287 Ba’alabek 243 ba’ale shem 318 Babel, I. 194, 354, 390 Babylonia 25, 61, 93, 113, 193, 298, 316 Babylonian 223, 316 Bal‘am 79 Bal’am 22, 78, 79 Baltic 348 bananas 282 bani Isra’el 176, 225 Bar Ensh 322 Bar He-He 80 Bar kokhba 298 Bar Nafle 82 Bar-Nifle 316 Baruch 130, 195, 390 Basra 233 Bataru BTR 341 bath kol 111 Bayla 200 Beersheba 52, 162, 256 belief 2, 37, 62, 71, 83, 85, 88, 90, 102, 105, 111, 113, 114, 124, 126, 129, 130, 133, 136, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 150, 155, 163, 164, 174, 178, 179, 182, 206, 207, 208, 209, 213, 221, 229, 244, 255, 261, 264, 265, 288, 294, 300, 302, 305, 306, 311, 314, 319, 320, 321, 322,

399 324, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 335, 336, 337, 339, 341, 346, 349, 351, 354, 367, 368, 387 Ben Hadad, the King of Damascus xv Ben Sira 76, 77, 293, 294, 302, 303, 304, 313, 325, 327, 344, 345, 391 Bethlehem 206, 325 Bethsaida Born in 340 Biblical scholars xiv, 3 Binah 318 binding of Isaac 2 Book of Daniel i, 44, 142, 298, 304, 309, 317, 321, 326, 345 Book of Jonah 14, 52 Book of Jubilees 112, 132, 327 Book of Malachi 61, 135, 293, 328 Book of Numbers 2, 22, 23, 24, 79, 84, 185, 308 Book of Psalms 351, 366 Book of Revelation 134, 135, 147, 148, 348 Book of Revelations 148, 150, 308, 356 Book of Samuel 2, 12, 18 boyar 376 branch of David See Brinner 177, 236, 237, 239, 390, 391 Brothers Karamazov 355, 392 Bsanhedrin 294 Buber xvi, 117, 120, 121, 122, 147, 170, 171, 239, 326, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 371, 378, 390, 391, 392, 394 Bubonic plague 383 Buddha xii Bukhari 196, 236, 280, 285, 291, 339, 390 bull 268, 270, 348 bullock 39, 41 Bunin, I.A. 354, 371, 391 Byzantine 206, 219, 291, 342, 352

C Cain 141, 364 Calvin 142 Canaan, T. 202, 203, 204, 205, 207, 209, 232, 238, 391 Candia, Joseph 386, 391 Capernaum Reared in 340 carpenter 333, 366, 367 cave 14, 56, 60, 62, 72, 73, 75, 95, 107, 108, 109, 121, 209, 225, 243, 247, 249, 280, 286, 287, 342, 350, 374, 379 Cave Monastery 372, 373, 375 Cave of Treasures 339 chair of Elijah 77, 85 Chair of the Covenant 85 Chariot of Fire 151, 360 Cherith 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 19, 35, 40, 55, 162, 208, 367, 385 CHIDHRELI 289 Chorazin Conceived in 340 Christian Church 133, 142, 349 Christianity xvi, 74, 83, 123, 128, 129, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 153, 168, 170, 171, 176, 179, 228, 234, 289, 301, 302, 306, 307, 309, 311, 317, 321, 322, 323, 324, 329, 330, 334, 338, 339, 341, 348, 350, 351, 354, 383, 384, 391, 392, 396 Chronicles 108, 109, 122, 391, 395 Chrysostom 141, 143, 153, 154, 155, 156, 171, 353 Church Fathers 140, 141, 143, 148, 149, 153, 156 circumcision 20, 21, 77, 85, 92, 129, 209, 387 Clement of Alexandria 134, 323 cloud i, 13, 14, 15, 40, 41, 57, 59, 120, 133, 149, 151, 155, 226, 249, 254, 317, 325, 354, 356, 357, 386 Coelho, Paulo 366, 367, 370, 371, 392

400 Cohen, Herman 88 command 7, 8, 19, 21, 43, 51, 57, 61, 65, 98, 101, 117, 125, 133, 162, 164, 177, 233, 360, 369, 379 commandments 12, 17, 62, 81, 94, 111, 287, 341 Communist 355 complex xi, xii, xiv, 301, 314, 331, 363 Confucius xii congregation 88, 109, 145, 161 Constantinople 286, 287, 349, 350 contemporary 109, 235, 256, 311, 366 Copts 222 Corinthians 150, 151 cosmo-political 318, 383 cossack 350 Council of Nicaea 323 covenant 15, 17, 21, 22, 50, 53, 54, 66, 68, 69, 70, 77, 84, 85, 92, 96, 103, 107, 108, 132, 153, 174, 207, 290, 293, 294, 313, 320, 327, 363, 364, 377, 378 critic 347 Cross 107, 155, 158, 163, 340, 376 Cross of Light 158 cruel 4, 13, 30, 50, 76, 140, 198, 246, 264, 360, 361 cultural xi, xiv, 19, 83, 84, 133, 160, 231, 235, 302, 319, 334, 348, 358, 363 Cyrus 324 Czar of Russia 203

D d’vekut 318 dajjal 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342 Damascus 57, 58, 68, 73, 143, 208, 279, 280, 319 Damiri 181, 199, 237, 238, 239, 390 dar-got steps 318 darkness 40, 56, 64, 91, 118, 160, 222, 230, 270, 273, 291, 298

David xii, xiii, 12, 26, 27, 45, 60, 77, 80, 81, 82, 83, 87, 90, 102, 106, 112, 113, 116, 117, 125, 130, 131, 132, 145, 151, 159, 186, 212, 293, 294, 295, 297, 298, 304, 305, 306, 307, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 324, 327, 331, 333, 339, 341, 344, 345, 346 Day of Atonement xiii, 98, 369 Day of Judgment 63, 133, 196, 256, 261, 263, 310, 335, 337 days to come 142, 146, 328 Dead Sea Scrolls 125, 312, 324, 327 Deborah 293 Delila 353 de-ma-mah 70, 379 Demeter 351 demon 98 Deuteronomy 17, 43, 48, 340 Deutoronomy 35, 40, 310 dew 3, 10, 33, 35, 54, 67, 108, 135, 150, 290 dialectic xi, 347 dialogue 3, 10, 69, 84, 124, 128, 154, 156, 164, 208, 211, 300, 316, 317, 330, 347, 359, 360, 363, 364, 367, 368 Diaspora 25, 85, 383, 384 divine power 43, 196, 208 Divine Presence 8, 85, 101, 107, 119, 232, 296, 301, 313, 323, 385 divine voice 23, 41, 61, 75, 111, 133 Dnepr 348 Dobrynya Nikitich 350 doctrine 25, 104, 129, 130, 142, 143, 146, 166, 168, 175, 229, 316, 337, 387 donkey 133, 190, 192, 193, 325 Dostoevsky 355, 356, 357, 371, 392 dragon 134, 222, 223, 225, 348, 349, 350, 351 Dragonson 347 drought xvi, 7, 9, 12, 13, 33, 67, 209, 226, 249, 303, 361, 366 Druze 207

401

E earthquake 15, 16, 56, 58, 60, 69, 71, 73, 75, 107, 133, 148, 152, 164, 355, 380 Ecclesiasticus 110, 120, 135, 390, 391 Egypt 16, 17, 24, 25, 46, 57, 78, 86, 100, 122, 129, 140, 148, 190, 217, 222, 223, 237, 239, 288, 289, 304, 391, 392 el-chadr 286, 287, 288, 289 Elect One 331 Eli See , See , See , See , See , See , See , See , See , See Elias 5, 7, 76, 77, 110, 115, 124, 127, 135, 136, 148, 151, 152, 155, 157, 158, 159, 164, 166, 168, 169, 187, 188, 197, 200, 202, 203, 206, 209, 224, 241, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 265, 279, 283, 285, 286, 289, 291, 302, 332, 333, 392 Elijah 7, i, ii, xiv, xv, xvi, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 179, 184, 186, 187, 188, 189, 191, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 224, 225, 226, 227, 237, 239, 286, 292, 293, 301, 302, 318,

319, 323, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 338, 340, 344, 346 Elijah cup 86 Elisha xv, 6, 7, 32, 34, 36, 44, 55, 67, 68, 139, 150, 151, 164, 171, 208, 215, 226, 227, 330 Eliyyahu 4, 19, 22, 25, 78, 83, 115, 146, 396 Eliyyahu zuta 19 el-Khadhr 202, 203, 204, 205, 206 el-Kuba 207 Elohim Eli 3, 295 End of Days 124, 126, 151, 157, 300, 302, 303, 305, 306, 307, 311, 320, 321, 326, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332 Enoch 76, 94, 98, 99, 126, 131, 132, 136, 138, 139, 148, 150, 152, 164, 196, 207, 214, 224, 237, 280, 331, 349, 352, 377 epic hero 350 Epic of Gilgamesh 213 episode xvi, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 39, 50, 52, 104, 109, 110, 143, 185, 198, 199, 208, 209, 213, 217, 222, 329, 380 Eratz-Yisrael 316 eschatological 64, 100, 127, 134, 142, 148, 151, 295, 297, 302, 303, 321, 326, 337 eschatological description 64 Essenes 300 Esther 38, 62, 94, 109, 110, 134 Ethbaal See Ittobaal, See Ittobaal Ethbaal, King of the Tyrians xvi Ethiopic text 138 Evangelists 74 everlasting life 21, 22, 161, 211, 311 evil ii, xii, xiii, xiv, 5, 12, 13, 17, 19, 29, 32, 38, 49, 63, 79, 81, 82, 103, 104, 110, 112, 138, 140, 141, 175, 182, 203, 222, 223, 242, 244, 246, 259, 260, 267, 298, 307, 310, 320, 326, 331, 335, 338, 339, 340, 343, 353, 354 Exiles 26, 112, 302, 306, 316

402 Ezekiel 31, 34, 63, 64, 191, 233, 293, 295, 297, 317, 386 Ezra 87, 109, 178, 191, 193, 195, 310

F faith ii, 10, 19, 26, 55, 61, 63, 88, 112, 114, 144, 147, 152, 153, 154, 160, 161, 163, 173, 175, 182, 187, 209, 220, 236, 245, 253, 262, 272, 289, 306, 312, 319, 320, 322, 327, 331, 351, 352, 357, 358, 367, 370, 371, 375, 383, 387 faithful 7, 26, 95, 152, 169, 176, 246, 328, 329, 363 famine 67, 76, 81, 83, 105, 110, 163, 226, 298, 342 Faustus the Manichean 157, 396 Fedotov, G.P. 351, 352, 371, 392 Firdusi 217, 392 fire ii, 2, 4, 15, 16, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 56, 58, 59, 60, 63, 67, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 92, 94, 100, 103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 115, 127, 131, 133, 135, 148, 151, 152, 161, 164, 184, 205, 206, 207, 213, 215, 223, 226, 227, 245, 246, 253, 256, 264, 266, 270, 272, 274, 280, 290, 293, 295, 296, 297, 308, 320, 349, 352, 355, 356, 368, 371, 378, 380, 381, 386, 387, 388 fish 92, 96, 97, 136, 185, 199, 213, 214, 215, 219, 220, 225, 229, 230, 233, 281, 314 fitrah nature 335 flame 48, 53, 111, 308, 378 Flaubert, Gustav 333, 346, 392 Flusser 134, 170, 312, 328, 345, 392 folk literature. 221, 319 folk religion 348 folklore 3, 83, 167, 184, 188, 209, 230, 354 forefathers 46, 47, 66, 95, 99

forerunner 3, 61, 88, 151, 155, 157, 162, 164, 165, 293, 301, 328, 331 forsaken 17, 53, 107, 209 forty days and forty nights 14, 47, 72, 73, 162 forty nights 14, 72, 280 Freedom 384 Freudian 356 Fried, Erich 364 Friedleander 116, 191, 196, 213, 237, 238, 239, 392, 395 Fustat 386

G Gabriel i, 1, 45, 47, 97, 187, 188, 193, 229, 239, 391 Gaia 351 Galilee 11, 86, 92, 96, 127, 299, 325, 331, 387 Garden of Eden 132, 160, 182, 214, 217 Gaster, M. 122, 199, 238, 391, 392, 395 Genesis i, xiii, 3, 7, 14, 26, 29, 32, 33, 45, 56, 83, 105, 117, 132, 141, 176, 205, 327, 341 gentile 57, 102 genuine xi, 236, 327, 361, 380 Germany 114, 358 Gibraltar 200, 337 Gideon 293 Gilead 3, 10, 11, 20, 21, 36, 50, 115, 131, 211, 319, 360, 366 Ginzberg 33, 117, 122, 238, 239, 392 Giris 206, 213 glory ka-vod i, 60, 63, 73, 77, 110, 119, 128, 130, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 160, 165, 170, 198, 199, 237, 294, 295, 296, 303, 313, 323, 324, 353, 372, 373, 377, 386 gnosis 193, 197, 201 God Almighty

403 'azza wajal 279, 280, 283 God of justice and severity 3 God of righteousness and justice xiii Gog 63, 81, 86, 112, 297, 343 Goldziher, I. 196, 238, 393 gospel 64, 124, 126, 140, 144, 145, 152, 155, 158, 165, 302, 311, 325 Gospel of John 130, 150, 156, 170, 311, 332, 391 Gospel of Mark 126, 137, 322, 326, 332 Granada 236, 335, 394 grapes 97, 193, 194, 282 graveyards 385 Greek 70, 120, 134, 151, 170, 185, 191, 203, 205, 206, 214, 232, 238, 239, 286, 289, 307, 324, 326, 333, 346, 351, 352, 364, 393, 396 Gregory the Great’s 151 grivnas 375, 376

H Habakkuk 151, 160, 212 hadith 183, 196, 229, 230, 232, 233, 280, 281, 282, 291, 334, 337, 341 Hai Gaon 25, 26 hair-shirt 375, 376 halakha 79 ha-li-kha walking 318, 319, 383, 385 Hallel 62, 86 Halperin, David 339, 341, 346, 393 Haman 94, 109, 122, 123 ha-metz 92 hanif 175 ha-re-dim orthodox 320 Harun Aaron 200, 280 Hasidic 87, 88, 98, 110, 114, 318, 319, 320, 385 Hasmonean 24, 300, 306, 307, 325 hav-da-lah 92, 387 Hayat al Hayawan 181, 237, 390

heaven i, ii, 5, 17, 19, 20, 25, 37, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 54, 55, 58, 62, 64, 66, 67, 72, 76, 77, 80, 86, 93, 94, 95, 97, 100, 103, 105, 108, 109, 110, 114, 115, 125, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 139, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 181, 187, 188, 192, 197, 198, 205, 206, 207, 208, 213, 215, 218, 221, 222, 224, 225, 227, 250, 253, 254, 259, 265, 274, 275, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 284, 285, 290, 292, 296, 298, 307, 308, 310, 326, 333, 338, 339, 340, 342, 349, 352, 354, 360, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 387, 388 heavenly kingdom 64, 311, 322, 325, 372 Hebrew 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 21, 23, 37, 41, 42, 49, 53, 55, 64, 69, 70, 73, 82, 83, 115, 116, 118, 122, 142, 153, 159, 167, 176, 181, 190, 207, 211, 233, 287, 291, 300, 307, 312, 316, 319, 336, 337, 341, 344, 345, 364, 366, 371, 383, 392 Heliopolis 241 Hellenistic 307 hero xii, xvi, 89, 134, 184, 193, 331 Herod 127, 138, 140, 150, 329, 332, 333 Herodias 333, 346, 392 heroic xii heroism xii Herzl, Theodore 358 hev-le ma-shi-yah pangs of the Messiah 297 Hibbur 189, 198, 202, 237, 393 hidden name 332 Hiel 17, 18, 19, 41, 42, 48, 58 hin-ne-ni Here I am 380 Hirqal 195 Historians xiv, 239, 259, 260, 261 Hizqil 233 Hodgson 229, 239, 393 Holy Throne 22

404 homiletical 344 hope xiii, 63, 65, 77, 79, 81, 87, 90, 96, 113, 114, 130, 133, 141, 142, 145, 146, 169, 209, 210, 243, 295, 305, 306, 316, 321, 327, 328, 331, 341, 358, 361, 375 Horovitz, Joseph 192, 236, 346, 390, 393 human 6, i, ii, xiv, 3, 7, 24, 26, 33, 37, 53, 66, 68, 73, 74, 75, 79, 85, 86, 94, 105, 130, 133, 150, 154, 165, 166, 182, 183, 207, 214, 215, 218, 221, 235, 265, 270, 273, 275, 277, 280, 283, 294, 297, 302, 307, 309, 315, 319, 322, 323, 335, 339, 343, 344, 346, 347, 348, 355, 361, 366, 378, 382, 383, 385, 389 humanity ii, xii, xiii, 2, 65, 88, 89, 90, 133, 235, 310, 312, 315, 322, 331, 384, 388 Humans xi hyperbolic 311, 380, 387 hypothesis 181, 197, 231, 339 Hystaspes 134

ilm al-ghyb 197 immortal 157, 213, 221, 307 Injil 177, 182 intellectual xi, xii, 179, 218, 234, 315 Isaac 38, 45, 54, 59, 66, 74, 82, 83, 86, 87, 96, 122, 123, 131, 132, 142, 151, 174, 186, 188, 217, 225, 233, 280, 292, 297, 316, 317, 354, 359, 389, 390 Ishmael 174, 176, 186, 217, 280, 289, 314, 334 Islam xvi, 74, 142, 171, 173, 174, 175, 176, 181, 182, 186, 190, 216, 217, 218, 224, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 235, 236, 239, 264, 280, 289, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341, 345, 346, 384, 391, 392, 393, 394, 396 Isma’il 188, 280, 283, 291 Isnad 231, 232, 291 Isra’iliyyat 216, 217, 218, 228, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 240, 390 Iz’aslav 372, 373, 375 Izmaragd 352, 353, 354

I

J

ibn Abbas 221 Ibn Ezra 16, 304 Ibn Gabirol xiii, 87 Ibn Hazam 176, 179, 236, 393 Ibn Hisham 228, 234 Ibn IsHaaq 241 Ibn Ishaq 227, 228, 234, 260 Ibn Kathir 218, 225, 234, 393 Ibn Khaldun 221, 339 ideologies xiv, 384 ideology xiv, 24, 146, 337 idols 10, 13, 17, 18, 38, 46, 57, 140, 142, 153, 160, 187, 206, 215, 224, 225, 226, 241, 243, 244, 246, 272, 273, 300, 322, 349, 351, 363, 370 Idris 207, 224, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 283, 284, 285 ignorance 142, 182, 244, 282, 384 Illias 186

Jacob 13, 17, 20, 24, 27, 35, 54, 74, 76, 77, 110, 116, 117, 120, 129, 131, 132, 146, 151, 174, 189, 202, 204, 205, 217, 280, 293, 302, 303, 313, 327, 333, 349, 394 Jaffa 203 Jastrow 70 Jehoram xv, 13, 67, 93 Jehu xv, 7, 56, 208 Jellinek 119, 190, 237, 343, 346, 393 Jeremiah xiv, 55, 62, 80, 108, 109, 137, 148, 151, 155, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 237, 296, 300, 329 Jeremias, G. 119, 125, 170 Jerusalem 1, 19, 25, 80, 92, 99, 120, 140, 142, 143, 144, 146, 155, 156, 160, 170, 171, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 207, 208, 210, 221, 237,

405 286, 287, 288, 291, 296, 297, 300, 302, 303, 310, 314, 319, 325, 331, 340, 370, 392, 393, 396 Jesus Christ 126, 147, 155, 159, 170, 307, 332, 372, 387, 395 Jethro 32, 58, 120, 280 Jewish mystery i Jewish Renaissance Movement 358 Jewish sages 7, 8, 10, 16, 17, 45, 87, 208, 370 Jezebel 1, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 38, 52, 53, 54, 56, 58, 72, 92, 107, 108, 161, 206, 353, 359, 361, 362, 366 Jezrael 1 Jizya 337 Job ii, 8, 16, 23, 39, 40, 59, 60, 63, 64, 70, 73, 74, 75, 115, 116, 119, 184, 186, 233, 235, 240, 321, 356, 373, 379, 391 Joel 64, 71, 88, 292, 293, 298, 317, 344, 345 John the Baptist 77, 115, 127, 128, 134, 135, 137, 150, 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 164, 165, 172, 217, 302, 307, 322, 329, 330, 332, 333, 346, 349 Jonah 14, 30, 31, 37, 52, 55, 59, 70, 76, 97, 102, 105, 117, 119, 151, 186, 217, 226, 229, 230, 232, 235, 353, 370 Jordan River 67, 108, 200 Joroboam 290 Joseph 25, 26, 27, 78, 83, 93, 113, 116, 120, 176, 182, 184, 192, 193, 201, 217, 236, 237, 280, 289, 314, 315, 327, 345, 355, 381, 386, 389, 390, 391, 394 Josephus xvi, 21, 46, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 93, 118, 119, 127, 129, 137, 185, 214, 239, 393, 396 Joshua 19, 21, 42, 78, 93, 151, 189, 199, 219, 220, 297, 330 Josippon 108, 109 Judah b. Samuel ha-Levi 55 Judaic rational mystery i

Judaism i, xvi, 55, 88, 89, 114, 120, 125, 128, 129, 133, 146, 147, 153, 170, 171, 178, 179, 184, 207, 228, 229, 234, 289, 300, 301, 302, 306, 309, 313, 315, 317, 319, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 327, 329, 330, 334, 339, 340, 341, 346, 358, 384, 388, 392, 396 Judges 10, 26, 32, 110, 211, 293 justice xiii, 3, 12, 62, 68, 86, 89, 90, 111, 125, 133, 250, 299, 303, 320, 336, 338, 384 justification 188, 201, 261, 318, 351 Justin Martyr 134, 323

K k’ab al Ahbar 228 Ka’ab al Ahbar 190, 280 ka’ba 335 Kabbalah i, 87, 102 Kadhir 180 karfas celery, parsley 281 kawthar kaw-tha-ra 340, 341 Keter Malkhut xiii key 28, 30, 33, 34, 35, 117, 221, 227, 287, 371 khadhra 202, 204 Khadijah 187 Khidhr 184, 185, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 194, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 217, 219, 220, 221, 223, 224, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 280, 392 khulafa 175 Khulafa ‘l Rashadun 183 Kiev 348, 350, 351, 355, 372 King ‘Akhaab 241, 242, 243, 244, 245 King David 12 King of Hamath xv King Omri 1

406 kingdom of God 64, 65, 138, 309, 326 Kisa’i 187, 188, 216, 219, 220, 221, 225, 229, 236, 238, 239, 240, 338, 346, 390 Kishon 13, 49, 50, 131 Klausner, J. 112, 113, 123, 166, 172, 393 knowledge 6, 14, 38, 43, 56, 61, 125, 148, 149, 175, 176, 180, 181, 184, 185, 186, 189, 190, 193, 196, 197, 200, 201, 202, 210, 218, 219, 221, 228, 234, 246, 257, 261, 275, 282, 284, 310, 313, 340, 370, 386 Koran Qur'an 287, 288 kutb 288

L Lajab 224 Lake Gennesaret 325 Lam. Rab. xvi, 171 lamed vav 111 Land of Shaam 241 lap-pid 70 Law ii, 7, 14, 17, 24, 61, 69, 76, 87, 100, 124, 125, 158, 160, 162, 165, 168, 201, 310, 315, 328, 330, 333, 334, 335, 337, 338, 354, 384, 394 Lazarus-Yafeh, H. 338 Leah 24, 25 legacy 6 legends 2, 83, 86, 87, 93, 187, 190, 196, 211, 214, 217, 218, 219, 224, 228, 289, 339, 340, 349, 351, 355, 386 Leviticus 10, 125 lightning 15, 57, 59, 69, 71, 270, 348, 354, 355 limited power 34 Liqqute Mo-ha-ran 314 literature xv, xvi, 3, 6, 7, 9, 22, 32, 35, 36, 37, 39, 42, 45, 46, 47, 49, 54, 62, 69, 71, 79, 83, 86, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 99, 100, 103, 104, 110, 111, 112, 124, 126, 131, 146, 158,

166, 168, 169, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 191, 195, 199, 202, 207, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 230, 232, 289, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 298, 305, 308, 314, 318, 319, 321, 327, 328, 331, 341, 347, 348, 352, 354, 355, 357, 382, 384, 385 liturgy 64, 128, 354 logos 301 Logos 158, 308, 323, 359 Luke 9, 64, 65, 127, 128, 132, 135, 139, 140, 148, 155, 158, 160, 171, 302, 345, 352, 366, 377 Luqman 180, 232 Lurianic mysticism 99 Luzzato 100 LXX 69, 70, 122, 307, 308, 309, 328

M Maccabee 109 Madina 173, 174, 175, 180, 207, 229 Mag-gidim 318 Magog 81, 86, 112 Mahdi 335, 336, 337, 339, 342 Maimonides 26, 52, 81, 98, 102, 111, 112, 113, 116, 124, 315, 331, 346, 381, 382, 386, 393, 394 Malachi 61, 76, 77, 88, 89, 91, 101, 113, 125, 126, 128, 148, 151, 156, 157, 164, 167, 168, 170, 179, 293, 301, 328, 344, 386 Malkhut Sha-mayim 325 manifestation 23, 48, 67, 69, 70, 71, 73, 207, 218, 328, 380, 386, 387 mankind i, ii, xiii, 2, 20, 23, 62, 65, 88, 89, 93, 94, 100, 104, 112, 146, 154, 157, 160, 165, 229, 235, 337, 339, 378 Mann, Robert 171, 349, 351, 370, 394 mantle 6, 63, 67, 70, 143, 155, 188, 379, 380 Mar Djiris 206 Mar Elias 115, 206

407 Mar Girgis 222, 223, 286, 291, 392 Marmeladov 354, 371, 394 Mashiyah 166 mas-sa’ journey 318 Matthew 128, 132, 137, 145, 148, 149, 154, 155, 156, 160, 165, 329, 340, 377 Maximus the Confessor 149, 152, 170, 171, 394 Mecca 182, 207, 218, 291, 335, 339, 341 Medina al-Madina 181, 228, 236, 334, 336, 339, 341, 396 Mediterranean 145 Memra 296 Mem-ra Memra 301 Mem-ra Memra 301 Mem-ra Memra 301 Mem-ra Memra 301 Mem-ra Memra 301 Mem-ra Memra 312 mercy xiii, xiv, 3, 22, 54, 58, 68, 91, 95, 132, 152, 153, 163, 184, 193, 194, 212, 230, 249, 259, 264, 268, 271, 273, 274, 282, 292, 303, 312, 318, 340 merit 22, 35, 46, 80, 92, 96, 111, 112, 163, 292, 305 messenger 17, 18, 21, 37, 77, 93, 96, 176, 177, 184, 186, 209, 215, 225, 230, 232, 281, 293, 324, 342, 359, 378, 381, 386 Messiah 7, 3, 25, 26, 27, 28, 36, 50, 66, 77, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 97, 99, 101, 106, 109, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 119, 120, 123, 125, 129, 130, 131, 133, 138, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 151,

155, 156, 157, 159, 162, 166, 167, 168, 169, 195, 208, 292, 293, 294, 295, 297, 298, 299, 300, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 321, 322, 323, 324, 326, 327, 329, 330, 331, 333, 334, 339, 342, 345, 346 Messianic age 80, 313 Messianic Era 27, 61, 65, 81, 82, 83, 93, 101, 112, 113, 114, 167, 207, 209, 295, 297, 298, 301, 310, 314, 315, 331, 332, 335, 341, 377, 381, 387 messianic redemption 125 Messianic Speculation 83 Metatron 94, 101, 377 methods 13, 385 Meyouhas, Joseph 193, 237, 394 mi’iraj 223 Micaiah ii Middle Ages 59, 87, 101, 102, 334 Middle East xv, 82, 206, 223, 239, 334 Midian 78, 316 Midrash 7, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39, 41, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 65, 71, 82, 84, 97, 98, 99, 105, 115, 116, 117, 121, 122, 183, 190, 212, 237, 238, 239, 323, 327, 343, 346, 378, 381, 393, 394 Midrashim 40, 87, 294 min-ha 44, 45 miracle 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 33, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 60, 102, 107, 113, 126, 135, 147, 148, 151, 166, 193, 205, 208, 227, 235, 329, 332, 362, 366, 368, 378, 382 miracles 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 26, 30, 37, 67, 76, 77, 79, 83, 87, 88, 94, 100, 104, 105, 113, 114, 131, 135, 150, 152, 166, 206, 213, 222, 239, 288, 303, 331 miraculous abridgement of journey 350 Mirian 46 Moab xv, 316

408 Mohammad 2, 177, 183, 228, 289, See Muhammad moral conduct xii morality xii, xiii, 13, 88, 89, 299, 343 Mordecai 94, 95, 109, 123 Moses i, ii, xiv, 3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 24, 25, 26, 32, 36, 37, 41, 46, 50, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 66, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 82, 87, 90, 92, 95, 99, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 114, 116, 117, 119, 120, 122, 124, 126, 132, 133, 135, 138, 139, 143, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153, 155, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 165, 166, 171, 176, 177, 180, 181, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 204, 206, 214, 215, 217, 219, 220, 221, 225, 235, 237, 241, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 262, 264, 279, 280, 290, 292, 293, 301, 311, 315, 316, 323, 326, 328, 330, 331, 336, 337, 351, 352, 360, 377, 378, 386, 392, 393, 394 mosques 183, 213 Mother Earth 351 Mount Carmel 13, 14, 17, 18, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 66, 76, 107, 108, 287, 359, 363, 377, 381, 385 Mount Moriah 42, 194 Mount Olive 158 Mount Tabor 352 Mousel 264 Mt. Arafat 280 Mt. Horeb 14, 15, 60, 69, 114, 207, 208, 319 Mt. Sinai 14, 15, 57, 58, 59, 69 Mu’tazila 187 Muhammad 176, 177, 183, 184, 188, 190, 194, 196, 217, 221, 225, 227, 229, 235, 236, 237, 250, 253, 256, 258, 259, 261, 262, 264, 280, 281, 283, 284, 285, 289, 291, 334, 335, 339, 342, 390, 395, 396 muj-ta-hid 338

Munro 142, 171, 394 murder xii, 49, 52, 141, 201, 208, 243, 269, 364 Muron 349, 350 Mus‘udi 233 Muslim 173, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 182, 183, 188, 191, 194, 197, 205, 209, 215, 217, 218, 221, 224, 225, 228, 229, 230, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 239, 240, 251, 261, 264, 287, 289, 291, 294, 334, 335, 337, 338, 341, 342, 346, 384, 390, 394, 395 mysterium tremendum 75 mystery i, 23, 74, 75, 98, 143, 158, 358, 382 mythogene 301

N nabi prophet 203, 232, 342, 367 Nablus 202, 203, 204, 207 Nabokov, V. 356, 357, 371, 394 Naboth 1, 2, 208, 353 Nag Hamadi Library 125, 170, 396 Nahmanides 87, 98, 99, 101, 345, 382 Nahum of Gamzu 85 narratives xv, xvi, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 14, 15, 28, 69, 83, 84, 105, 107, 108, 110, 134, 183, 196 Nazareth 367 Nazis 364 Near East xv, 62, 83 Nebuchadnezzer 192 needle xi, 75 New Israel 334 New Testament 9, 115, 149, 170, 177, 232, 237, 390, 394, 395 Nicodemus 388 Nicolas of Lyra 142 nidhr 203, 204 Nile River 222 Northern Kingdom 2, 315 Novikov 354, 355

409

O Obadiah 8, 9, 64, 131, 208 Old Testament 115, 147, 149, 232, 237, 390 Omnipresence 336 Omniscience 336 Omri dynasty xv, 1, 6, 7, 13 Ong, Walter 347, 394 Ophelia 265 Oppression 85 Oracles of Hystaspes Oracles 134 Oral tradition 83, 84, 225, 349 Orations Against the Jews 141, 171, 392 Orthodoxy 74, 384 Oseh Pele 86

P pagan 238, 334, 348, 350, 351, 354, 356 Palestine 121, 129, 202, 203, 232, 238, 264, 298, 391 Palladius 152 parables 83, 214, 216, 388 paradigm 2, 136, 152, 176, 291, 316, 385 Paradise 7, 132, 139, 210, 214, 227, 230, 342, 374, 377 paraman 375, 376 pariah 360 Passover 86, 92, 93, 209, 352, 377, 387 Patriarchs 132 Paul 128, 129, 132, 134, 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 153, 155, 171, 237, 291, 334, 377, 390, 395 Pelagia 205 Pe-li-ot Ha-hokh-ma 102, 390 pendulum 356 Pentatuch 308, 321 people of Israel i, xiii, xv, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 33, 35, 36, 44, 55, 57, 58,

59, 61, 66, 68, 69, 73, 78, 82, 84, 88, 89, 93, 94, 102, 107, 114, 127, 174, 180, 192, 194, 197, 207, 226, 239, 297, 299, 302, 311, 312, 320 Perkon 348 Persian 134, 194, 200, 233, 289, 338 Perun 348, 349, 351, 354 Pesikta Rabbati (PR 40 Peter xvi, 132, 136, 138, 139, 148, 149, 152, 155, 161, 165, 170, 185, 329, 332, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 390, 395 phantom 356, 383 Pharaoh i, 32, 105, 106, 108, 252, 255, 256, 316, 323 Pharisees 300, 307, 320, 384 phenomena 58, 59, 60, 69, 70, 75, 80, 107, 112, 152, 356, 378, 380, 386 Philo 19, 70, 76, 115, 120, 134, 146, 171, 301, 310, 331, 396 Phinehas 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 77, 78, 79, 102, 103, 115, 116, 120, 127, 166, 225, 327 Phoenicia 1, 51, 119 Pilate 140, 324, 388 pilgrim 205, 350 pilgrimage 15, 224, 280, 314, 338 Pirke d’Rabbi Eleazer 216 poetry 25, 221, 347, 364 pogroms 383 post-Biblical literature xiii, xiv, 23, 24, 28, 45, 46, 49, 50, 56, 59, 64, 83, 90, 187, 208, 211, 216, 218, 305 poverty 4, 5, 6, 79, 80, 89, 91, 372 practical mystery i prayer 11, 33, 44, 45, 46, 63, 71, 80, 95, 126, 133, 150, 152, 153, 160, 199, 200, 205, 216, 225, 226, 230, 245, 246, 249, 275, 277, 281, 303, 339, 342, 352, 355, 358, 374 PRE 20, 21, 22, 29, 30, 31, 82, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 239, 395 Priest 22, 27, 116, 166, 167, 169, 195, 234, 324, 386

410 priesthood 21, 103, 116, 169, 225, 327 prince of angels 301 progress 65, 66, 77, 79, 144 Prophecy of Hystaspes Hystaspes 134 prophet ii, xiii, xv, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 26, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 54, 55, 61, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 75, 76, 77, 80, 85, 87, 88, 102, 103, 105, 109, 110, 124, 126, 127, 129, 134, 138, 148, 150, 165, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 190, 191, 192, 193, 195, 197, 199, 200, 204, 207, 208, 209, 210, 212, 217, 218, 221, 222, 225, 228, 233, 235, 236, 241, 242, 253, 256, 275, 281, 282, 283, 285, 287, 289, 291, 293, 305, 315, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 334, 335, 339, 340, 341, 342, 347, 349, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 384, 386, 387, 389 prophets of Ba’al xv, xvi, 2, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 30, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55, 60, 105, 108 Proselytes 81 protagonist 194, 333, 354, 356 proverbs 2 Psalms ii, 9, 10, 23, 27, 33, 44, 46, 61, 73, 97, 117, 127, 130, 132, 141, 162, 179, 210, 211, 212, 232, 239, 272, 296, 301, 306, 307, 326, 331, 340 Pseudepigrapha 125, 170, 237, 390 Ptolemy 110 Pur-qan 336 Pur-qa-na deliverance 336

Q qad-dish 64, 80 Qarqar (Karkar). xv qisas 184, 221, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235 qisasu’l anbiyya 186 Qur’an al karim 183 Qusas 231

R R. Abahu 45, 71 R. Abba 32, 99 R. Abina 82 R. Abun 143 R. Ada 8, 10 R. Aha 28, 34 R. Akiba 129, 201 R. Akiva 113, 298, 300, 309 R. Azariah 143 R. Berekiah 38, 106, 292 R. Bibi 33, 34 R. Eliezer 21, 22, 79, 80, 96, 99, 114, 211 R. Gamliel 111 R. Hainna 44 R. Hamnura 36 R. Hananel 35 R. Hayyim Vital 87, 101 R. Hiya 86, 99 R. Hiyya 75 R. Hizkiah 99 R. Hunna 59 R. Ishmael 50, 93, 116, 123, 208 R. Johanan 31, 71, 75, 90, 111, 297, 298, 314, 317 R. Jose 28, 53, 54, 56, 81, 92, 93, 103, 104, 297 R. Joshua 59, 80, 93, 98, 124, 189, 198, 211, 296, 297, 305, 308, 330 R. Judah 27, 31, 59, 119, 143, 166, 299 R. Kahana 79 R. Kattina 83 R. Levi 31, 106, 117, 122

411 R. Menahem Recanati 111 R. Menahema 33 R. Nahman 82, 86, 96, 297, 314, 316, 317, 345, 396 R. Nassim 189 R. Nehemiah 34 R. Nehorai 98, 299 R. Nehori 83 R. Salla 36 R. Samuel 53, 54, 114 R. Sheshet 69 R. Simeon 21, 40, 41, 87, 98, 104, 106, 116, 121, 330, 389 R. Simlai 40, 43 R. Soloman Kluger 85 R. Tanhuma 57, 97 R. Yishmael 23 R. Yohanan 22, 317, 330 R. Yose 296 R. Zera 299, 317 Rab xvi, 8, 28, 35, 40, 48, 90, 105, 113, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 143, 171, 201, 223, 238, 239, 299, 344, 345, 389 Rabbah 25, 36, 38, 84, 91, 171, 176, 238, 394 Rabbi Judah ha-Nassi 382 Rabbinic tradition 105 Rachel xiv, 24, 25, 32, 33, 117 Radak 60, 395 Radbaz 102, 103 Rahman RHM 218, 234, 235, 240, 250, 259, 337, 390 rain xv, xvi, 3, 5, 10, 13, 19, 28, 31, 33, 34, 35, 54, 57, 63, 67, 82, 91, 105, 108, 117, 135, 139, 148, 150, 161, 163, 209, 211, 212, 215, 225, 226, 227, 249, 274, 292, 298, 303, 340 Ramadhan 224, 280 Ramoth-Gilead ii, xv Rasag 111, 122, 123 Rashi 16, 29, 36, 37, 59, 60, 113, 117, 119, 123, 295, 298, 304, 305 rasul 230, 232, 342

raven 1, 7, 8, 160 reader xi, xii, 7, 19, 60, 176, 179, 208, 234, 316, 317, 368 Red Sea 86, 108, 200, 239, 349 Redeemer 106, 292, 330 redemption 17, 20, 23, 49, 66, 80, 81, 82, 85, 93, 94, 111, 112, 129, 154, 167, 209, 294, 297, 298, 299, 300, 304, 315, 317, 319, 334, 336, 338, 339, 341 religious war 49 repentance xvi, 12, 20, 21, 49, 127, 137, 211, 246, 282, 299, 315, 317, 337 restoration 76, 112, 168, 195, 297, 303, 330, 331 resurrection 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 77, 86, 110, 112, 113, 117, 119, 126, 129, 133, 150, 151, 157, 159, 168, 222, 233, 306, 323, 332, 333, 337, 351, 382 revealed name 332 revelation i, ii, 16, 23, 57, 59, 63, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 86, 87, 114, 138, 146, 158, 191, 218, 282, 320, 339 righteous 7, 20, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40, 60, 62, 72, 80, 86, 89, 93, 98, 111, 112, 116, 120, 131, 132, 134, 136, 139, 146, 164, 169, 183, 186, 199, 224, 226, 231, 286, 294, 295, 305, 306, 310, 312, 313, 319, 322, 327, 331, 335, 349, 377, 381, 382 Righteous Priest 166 rod 308, 349, 351 Roman Empire 82, 129, 134, 147, 321, 324, 325 Rome 83, 93, 112, 119, 120, 121, 168, 311, 331, 343 Rosenthal, Franz 182, 218, 239, 393, 395 royal crown 306, 340 rumi Byzantine 342 Russia 348, 354, 376

412

S s’mi-kha 92 Sa’adiah Gaon 26 Sa’adya Gaon 111, 311, 318 Sa’id ibn Hasan 289 Sabar 189, 191 Sabbath 24, 31, 77, 79, 85, 91, 92, 95, 96, 128, 129, 140, 216, 382 Sacrifice 2 Sadducees 300 sages 9, 10, 17, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 81, 102, 104, 176, 194, 196, 197, 208, 224, 237, 294, 316, 370 Sahih 196, 237, 291, 390 salvation 2, 45, 80, 88, 133, 141, 142, 155, 157, 208, 229, 295, 297, 298, 304, 319, 324, 336, 338, 379 Samaria 1, 208, 319, 361, 385 Samiri 184, 185 Samson 353 San’a 173 Sanhedrin 62, 78, 82, 316, 389 Sarafand 207, 213 Sarepta 207 Sassanians 219 Satan ii, 95, 109, 133, 141, 160, 161, 176, 233, 241, 243, 244 savior 81, 85, 89, 306, 342 scapegoats 383 Schwatzbaum 191, 238 scribe 139, 178, 193, 195, 237, 242, 246, 247, 387 scripture 38, 89, 128, 147, 210 second coming 3, 77, 90, 96, 146, 152, 159, 162, 164, 165, 169, 321, 324, 337, 342, 387, 388 Second Commonwealth 63, 124, 146, 167, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 306, 308, 320, 325, 326, 327, 330, 333, 384 Seder 86, 238, 392, 395 Sefer ha-Hezyonot 101, 396 Sefirah 314

Selected Poems of Soloman Ibn Gabriol xvi Semyon 354, 355 Sepharadic custom 80 Sh’khinah 99 Sha’leh 205 shaft of light 183 Shahadah 232 Shalmaneser xv, 11 Shalmaneser, The Third, (858-824 B.C.E.) xv Shalshelet ha-Qabbalah 111, 393 shari‘ah 229 Shas 320 Shaytan devil 342 Shekhinah 47, 301 Shemuel 299 Shi’ah 187 Shi’i 337, 339 Shimoni 93, 115, 121, 123, 238 Shittim 20, 21, 292 Shoa 363 shofar 83 Shofar 299 Sibylline Oracles 110 Sibyllines 136, 151, 170 Sidonians See Tyre silhouette 356 Sira 194, 228, 234, 293, 302 slaughter 50, 290 Slavic 348, 349 smoked fish 136, 185 sneh burning bush 349 Socialist 355 socio-political xi, xiv, xv, 1, 2, 6 sojourner 10, 11 soldiers xvi, 67, 140, 148, 194, 205, 222, 223, 254 Son of God 90, 134, 141, 143, 155, 162, 166, 178, 193, 311, 325, 330 Son of man 162, 165 Sophia Agafievna 350 soul 17, 23, 30, 32, 33, 53, 74, 77, 86, 90, 98, 99, 102, 103, 104, 111,

413 132, 133, 150, 173, 180, 182, 184, 194, 211, 230, 254, 255, 259, 266, 267, 274, 276, 277, 278, 315, 352, 368, 374, 375, 380, 382 spring of life 136, 200, 222 Spring of Life 222, 223 St. Ambrose 161, 162 St. Arraamii of Rostov 350 St. Augustine 149, 156, 157, 158, 159, 163, 165, 168, 169, 171, 172, 331, 395 St. Blasius 351 St. Cyprian 163 St. Ephram 140 St. George 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 212, 213, 223, 224, 225, 232, 238, 286, 287, 289, 348, 349, 350, 351 St. Ilia 348 St. Peter Chrysologus 153 Stein, W. 347, 396 still small voice 16, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 69, 70, 74, 75, 76, 103, 108, 114, 152, 158, 355, 357, 358, 377, 378, 379, 380, 387 storyteller xvi, 4, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 38, 39, 45, 46, 52, 53, 55, 66, 67, 69, 100, 105, 136, 164, 188, 194, 196, 208, 233, 343, 381, 388 struggle xi, xii, 18, 55, 84, 86, 105, 107, 138, 160, 213, 227, 300, 307, 308, 314, 338, 340, 354, 373 suffering 26, 53, 81, 86, 104, 133, 141, 159, 165, 226, 246, 292, 298, 306, 317, 331, 348, 359, 361, 362, 372, 373, 377 Suffi 187 Sunni 339 supernatural phenomenon 2 Sura 175, 176, 180, 182, 184, 188, 189, 198, 206, 213, 214, 221, 287, 288, 314, 335, 336, 340, 341 Suratu ‘l ‘an’am 224 Suratu ‘l Fatiha 335 Suratu ‘l safat 224 Svatosa 372, 373, 375

symbiosis 383, 386 symbol 46, 88, 160, 182, 186, 349 synagogue 102, 143, 144, 147, 183, 189, 389 Synoptic Gospels 322, 323, 325 Syrian 289, 374

T Ta’arikh 228, 230 Tabernacle 166 tafsir 231 Talmud 6, 19, 22, 78, 87, 101, 111, 146, 167, 201, 202, 213, 219, 223, 294, 297, 299, 305, 314, 316, 317, 339, 384, 386 Talmudic literature 93, 94 Tana Debe Elliyyahu 27 Tanna 36, 50, 78, 79, 83, 115, 146, 299, 396 Tannur 148 Targum 20, 22, 64, 106, 294, 295, 313, 343 Tatar Army 350 Taurat 177, 182 te-fil-lin 92, 96, 121 Teku 79 Temple 42, 80, 82, 85, 92, 98, 100, 108, 116, 127, 134, 143, 144, 192, 193, 194, 212, 291, 296, 300, 302, 306, 315, 321, 334, 340 temporary redeemers 293 Ten Commandments Decalogue 128, 178 Tertullian 140, 152, 171, 396 te-ru-mah 92, 96 te-shu-vah 301, 302 test xii, 36, 66, 69, 91, 226, 316, 367 Tha’labi 178, 188, 193, 216, 239, 250, 256, 259, 261, 279, 291 The Fifth Mountain 366, 367, 371, 392 The Idiot 357 The Lives of the Prophets 105, 131 the Pangs of the Messiah 26

414 the voice xv, 15, 16, 41, 42, 71, 73, 75, 107, 112, 133, 152, 156, 272, 347, 348, 359, 378, 379 Theodosius 205 theology 334, 355 theophany 71, 380 theophoric 3, 13 theophoric elements 3 theories xiv Thompson 223, 395, 396 thunder 57, 59, 63, 71, 103, 270, 348, 351, 354, 355, 356, 357 Tigris 195 Tiq-qun ‘O-lam 315 Toldot Ya’akov Yosef 99, 122, 396 tolerance 3 Torah i, ii, xiv, 7, 8, 58, 59, 65, 71, 80, 81, 83, 86, 87, 88, 90, 93, 97, 98, 111, 113, 120, 122, 126, 128, 146, 174, 177, 178, 179, 192, 193, 198, 201, 210, 211, 219, 225, 231, 232, 241, 298, 299, 301, 315, 319, 320, 330, 346 torches 69, 70, 307 Tosefta 36, 117 Tottoli, R. 233, 240, 396 Tractate Yoma 47 tradition xii, xvi, 3, 24, 26, 65, 76, 77, 79, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 92, 98, 99, 101, 105, 107, 110, 111, 114, 124, 125, 128, 130, 134, 136, 138, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 150, 159, 166, 168, 169, 174, 175, 176, 178, 179, 181, 182, 183, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 216, 217, 219, 220, 221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 233, 235, 236, 237, 238, 286, 289, 291, 292, 293, 295, 297, 300, 302, 315, 316, 318, 320, 321, 323, 324, 325, 326, 329, 330, 331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 346, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352,

370, 377, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 392, 396 transfiguration 138, 139, 148, 149, 150, 152, 161, 165 transgression 6, 8, 12, 49, 95, 282 Tree of Life 94 trench 2, 39, 42, 44, 47, 227, 290 tribulations i, 86, 317 Troyan 348, 349 Trypho 128, 166, 167, 168, 172 Tugarin 347 Turkey 223, 289 typology 105, 106, 135, 137, 148, 151, 155, 157, 158, 205

U Umkehr a turning 363 Umma 222 Ummah Muslim community 335 unio mystico 359 Uzair 193, 194, 196, 197

V Vatican 222 ve-to-rah mish-ta-ka-hat 298 vicarious suffering 293 Vienna 238, 364, 392, 395 vision 45, 52, 64, 97, 112, 137, 138, 145, 176, 191, 193, 195, 235, 298, 300, 304, 310, 317, 320, 366 Vladimir 348, 349, 350, 356, 371, 372, 373, 394 voice of God xv, 15, 23, 73, 152 Voles 348 volost 373, 376

W Wahb al-Munabbih 230 walking 262, 275, 294, 318, 319, 361, 369, 370, 379, 385 wandering Jew 79, 141, 197

415 wickedness 6, 138, 150 widow xiv, 4, 5, 6, 11, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 50, 51, 58, 67, 103, 105, 157, 161, 163, 199, 206, 209, 211, 213, 215, 226, 251, 303, 351, 361, 368, 369, 370 wilderness 43, 57, 58, 68, 73, 108, 137, 156, 166, 238, 311, 349, 385 witchcraft 46, 116, 354 womb 33, 34, 35, 39 Word of God 308 world to come’ 65, 80 worldview xi, xii, 300, 304, 306

Y Ya’akov Yosef 99, 318 Yah 3 Yahudiyyah 229 Yahya 111, 250, 259, 393 Yalkut 21, 30, 39, 72, 73, 84, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 344, 396 Yathrib See Yehoshua, A.B. 94 ye-hu-dit Jewish 153 Yemen 173, 238, 282 Yerahme’el Bar Shelomoh 108 Yerushalmi 15, 20, 22 Yesod 314 YHWH xvi, 3, 13, 18, 43, 48, 64, 164, 294, 295, 326, 344 Yinnon 90 Yom Kippur xiii

Yonathan 295 Yorde Merkaba 109, 110 Younis 247, 248

Z Zad-diq 319, 385, 386 Zaid Ibn Thabit 181 Zamzam 224, 225, 280, 281 Zarephath 6, 11, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 38, 50, 51, 55, 58, 163, 208, 226, 319, 368, 385 Ze’iri 300 zeal 23, 24, 49, 54, 55, 56, 68, 76, 78, 110, 152, 161, 313, 351, 354 zealotry 3, 22, 23, 68 zealous 7, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 49, 54, 68, 77, 84, 127, 144, 161, 289, 377, 387 zealousness xiv Zerubbabel 89, 305 Zion 1, 27, 192, 208, 302, 303, 309, 310, 318, 319, 321, 346, 386 Zionist Movement 358 Zipporah 211, 225 Zohar 32, 43, 47, 48, 53, 56, 87, 99, 100, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121, 122, 227, 239, 344, 345, 389, 396 Zoroastrianism 134 Zubur Book of Psalms 179, 232 Zuleika 217