The origin of the immortal nature of the city of Luz is also linked to the bone at the bottom of the spine known as the luz bone, which survives longer than any other part of the body.
The legend of the city of Luz is the source of the legend of Shangri-La found in James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon. Those who left Shangri-La immediately turned old and gray, just as those who departed from the city of Luz immediately encountered the Angel of Death. For another tale about the city of Luz, see the following story, “An Appointment with Death.”
Sources:
B. Sota 46b; Genesis Rabbah 69:8; Dos Buch fun Nisyoynes.
605. AN APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
One morning, as King Solomon awoke, he heard a chirping outside his window. He sat up in bed and listened carefully, for he knew the language of the birds, and he overheard them say that the Angel of Death had been sent to take the lives of two of his closest advisers. King Solomon was startled by this unexpected news, and he summoned the two doomed men. And when they stood before him, he revealed what he had learned of their fate.
The two were terrified, and they begged King Solomon to help them. Solomon told them that their only hope was to find their way to the city of Luz. For it was well known that the Angel of Death was forbidden to enter there. Therefore the inhabitants of Luz were immortal—as long as they remained within the walls of the charmed city. Very few knew the secret of how to reach that city, but King Solomon was one of those few.
So it was that King Solomon revealed the secret to the two frightened men, and they departed at once. They whipped their camels across the hot desert all day, and at nightfall they saw finally the walls of that fabled city. Immortality was almost within reach and they rode as fast as they could to the city gates.
But when they arrived they saw, to their horror, the Angel of Death waiting for them. “How did you know to look for us here?” they asked. The angel replied: “This is where I was told to meet you.”
This myth derives from the reference in Genesis 28:19 to Luz as the original name of the place where Jacob had his dream of the heavenly ladder. The Talmud (B. Sot. 53a) identifies the city of Luz as a city of immortals. Since the Angel of Death was not permitted to enter, the old people who had grown tired of life had to leave the city, where the angel was waiting for them. The location of the city of Luz was regarded as a well-kept secret, since it would otherwise be deluged by those seeking immortality, but such secret knowledge was easily accessible to King Solomon. See “The City of Luz,” p. 476.
The primary moral of this tale is that it is impossible to escape that which has been fated. It is one of several tales concerning King Solomon in which he tries to outfox fate and fails. See “The Princess in the Tower” in Elijah’s Violin, pp. 47-52. See also “The City of Luz” in Elijah’s Violin, pp. 279-293, which recounts many of the traditions associated with this city of immortals.
Many cultures have a myth about a city of immortals, and it is a theme that appears in many works of fiction, including John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra and James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. The version in the Talmud appears to be the earliest form of the myth.
Sources:
B. Sukkah 53a.
606. THE WORLD OF TEVEL
There are six worlds beneath the earth. The best known of them is called Tevel. The sun in Tevel rises in the west and sets in the east. There are 365 kinds of creatures who inhabit Tevel, all of them different from those who live on this side of the earth. Some of them have the head of a lion and the body of a man; others have the head of a man and the body of a lion. Some have the head of a snake and the body of a man; others the head of a man and the body of a snake. So too are there beings with human heads and bodies of oxen, who speak like humans. Strangest of all the creatures in Tevel, however, are those who have two heads and four arms and four legs, but only one trunk and one stomach. When they sit at the table, they seem like two people, but when they stand up and walk around, they are like one.
These creatures of Tevel are rarely peaceful. They quarrel among themselves over every little thing. Sometimes one head says, “Let’s go in this direction!” and the other answers, “No! Let’s go the other way!” Since they only have one body, they take one step forward and one step back—and they end up in exactly the same place where they had started. Neither head wants to give in to the other, and so they stand around all day quarreling, until it is time for the next meal.
Then, since both heads are hungry, they agree that it is time to make something to eat. But when it comes to cooking the food, they can never decide on what to make. One head says, “I want something hot!” and the other, “I want something cold!” They do manage to solve this problem by cooking for both heads. First they prepare the cold dish, and then they prepare the hot one, so that the hot meal doesn’t get cold while the other is being made. Finally they sit down to eat. Then, for just a little while, there is peace. But as soon as the meal is finished, the heads start arguing again. “You ate more than I did!” cries the first head. “No, you ate more!” cries the second, accusing the first of the very same thing.
In his encounter with King Solomon, Ashmedai, King of Demons, put his hand in the earth and brought forth from Tevel a man with two heads and four eyes. This creature married a human wife and had six sons that resembled her and the seventh who looked like him. The one with two heads wanted two portions of his inheritance and they went to King Solomon to decide the matter. Solomon scalded one head and both cried out in pain. Then Solomon observed that they must be the same person, since they both experienced the pain.
Just as there are seven heavens, so there are seven earths, of which the one with which we are familiar is only the top level. Each subsequent level is a world in itself under the earth, and one of these underground worlds is Tevel, with strange inhabitants, such as those with two heads, as described here.
Sources:
Midrash Konen in Beit ha-Midrash 2:36.
607. THE MANNA
While crossing the wilderness of Sinai, the children of Israel began to grow weary in their wandering, for no food was to be found. Then one morning a north wind swept the surface of the desert, rain washed the ground and cleansed it, and bread rained down from the sky, as it is said, He gave them bread from heaven (Ps. 105:40). The people went out to gather it, and enjoyed it while it was still warm. There was no need to cook or bake it. They called it manna, as it is said, And He rained manna upon them for food (Ps. 78:24). God had sent it from heaven, where loaves of delicate white bread are said to be abundant. Some say that letters of the Torah descended together with the manna, and the Israelites collected these words as well. Others say that the Torah was only given to those who ate the manna, for only they were worthy of it.
Every day enough manna fell to sustain the Jewish people for two thousand years, so that the Israelites had no need of carrying it in their wanderings. They gathered the manna every day, for it only lasted one day before it melted into many streams that went through the wilderness and passed into the lands of many nations. No one gathered more than he or she needed. Those who gathered much had no excess, and those who gathered little had no lack. But on Friday they collected enough for two days, and that manna lasted till the end of the Sabbath. In this way the Sabbath was blessed and sanctified with the manna.
The manna was one of the ten things created on the sixth day, on the eve of the first Sabbath. It was a very ethereal food, the food of the angels, as it is said, Humans did eat angel’s food (Psalms 78:25). Some say it was ground in heaven by the angels, as a bread for the angels to eat. Others say that it is prepared by the angels for the souls of the righteous in the World to Come. Thus it was the angels who ground the manna for the people of Israel and prepared it to send down to them. Some say that it had the taste of milk and honey, while others say it had the taste as well as the fragrance of whatever the one who ate it most desired. For all the different tastes of the foods in the world, and all their various appearances
, as well as all the pleasant fragrances, were included in the manna, which didn’t require baking or cooking. The young men would eat it as if it were bread, the old men as if it were a wafer covered with honey, and the infants as if it were milk from their mothers’ breasts. But to the other nations of the world it would taste as bitter as coriander.
Normally, wheat ascends from below and water descends from above. But God did not follow that procedure with the manna. He sent wheat from above, as it is said, I will rain down bread for you from the sky (Exod. 16:4), while God caused water to ascend from below, as it is said, Spring up, O well, sing to it (Num. 21:17). For all forty years of their wandering, the manna came down, until the people reached the Promised Land.
In B. Yoma 75b, Rabbi Akiba states that the manna was the food of the angels. However, Rabbi Ishmael contradicts him, saying, “Do angels eat?” And he quotes Exodus 34:28: And he was there with Yahweh forty days and nights; neither did he eat bread or drink water.
According to Rashi, commenting on Psalms 78:25, the manna was a spiritual food that produced no waste products. According to Ben Ish Hai in Derushim, the manna was given to them so that they would become wise in Torah.
The Hasidic Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov, suggested that the manna had a spiritual as well as a material benefit. Since bread (lehem), in his view, represents the Torah, the falling of the manna represented new insights into the Torah that are constantly being revealed. Another Rebbe, Simcha Bunam of Parsischa, suggested that manna still comes down, meaning that God still makes His abundant blessings available to us.
Sources:
Exodus 16:4-36; Numbers 11:7-9; Targum Yonathan on Exodus 16:4; Septuagint on Psalms 78; Pseudo-Philo, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 19:5; Josephus, Antiquities 3:26-28;B. Avot 5:6; B. Hagigah 12b; B. Yoma 75a-76a; Midrash Tehillim 19:7, 78:3; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, be-Shalah 1:201-203; Midrash Aggadah, be-Shalah; Mekhilta va-Yissa 4; 4 Ezra 1:19;Midrash Tanhuma, be-Shalah 22; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Bereshit 4, Shemot 25; Midrash Avkir; Yalkut Shim’oni; Makhon Siftei Tzaddikim on Exod. 16:4; Siah Sarfei Kodesh 2:83; Eliyahu Rabbah 1:2; Derushim.
Studies:
Bread From Heaven by Peder Borgen.
BOOK TEN
MYTHS OF THE MESSIAH
On New Moons and holy days and Sabbaths, the Messiah enters those halls of longing, lifts up his voice, and weeps. Then the Garden of Eden trembles and the firmament shakes until his voice ascends all the way to God’s throne. And when God hears his voice, God beckons the enchanted bird, and it flies from the Garden of Eden and enters its nest and begins to sing.
Zohar 2:8a-9a
608. THE CREATION OF THE MESSIAH
Some say that even before the world was created, King Messiah had already come into being, for he existed in God’s thought even before the creation of the sun and the moon and the stars, as it is said, His name bursts forth before the sun (Ps. 72:17). At the time of the Messiah’s creation, God told him in detail of the suffering that would befall him in the future, for he would be bent down by the sins of souls as yet unborn, which were kept beneath God’s throne. God asked him if he was willing to endure such things.
The Messiah asked God, “Will my suffering last many years?”
God replied, “I have decreed it will last for seven years.”
The Messiah answered, “Master of the Universe, I take this suffering upon myself as long as not one person in Israel shall perish. And if not only those who are alive will be saved in my days, but also those who have died from the days of Adam until the time of the Redemption. These things I am ready to take upon myself.”
God replied, “Not one breathing creature of your generation shall I cause to perish. So too will the dead among the righteous rise from their graves to greet you.” Then God appointed the four creatures who would carry the Messiah’s Throne of Glory at the End of Days. Thus was the covenant completed between God and the Messiah.
Others say that the Messiah is subjected to suffering in every generation, according to the sins of that generation. About this God said, “In the hour of the Redemption, I shall create the Messiah anew and he will no longer suffer.”
Jewish tradition holds that the coming of the Messiah was always part of God’s plan. This is emphasized here by asserting that the Messiah was brought into being before the creation of the world. The proof of the Messiah’s pre-existence is said to be found in the verse, And the spirit of God moved (Gen. 1:2), words that are linked to the Messiah, of whom it is said, The spirit of Yahweh shall alight upon him (Isa. 11:2). Indeed, the Messiah is included in the lists of things that were created before the rest of creation, where it is said that the Messiah’s name was engraved on a precious stone on the altar of the heavenly Temple. See “Seven Things Created before the Creation of the World,” p. 74.
This myth describes a strange covenant of suffering between God and the heavenly Messiah. The Messiah agrees to take on terrible suffering for seven years as a sacrifice for the people of Israel. This has a distinct echo of the Christian belief that Jesus suffered for human sins. But more than that, it mirrors the suffering the Jewish people were undergoing, and their hope that somehow they would be credited for all that suffering and be rewarded by God in the future. This suffering and these hopes are then projected onto the heavenly Messiah in this myth.
The covenant has two parts, the suffering of the Messiah and the reward for all that suffering. In making this covenant, God appoints four creatures to carry the Messiah’s throne, thus clearly indicating God’s certainty that the Messiah will survive his time of suffering and receive the promised reward. That the Messiah is destined to sit on a throne makes this an enthronement myth about the Messiah. For another such myth, see “The Enthronement of the Messiah,” p. 487.
Note that this myth not only mentions the creation of the Messiah, but also the recreation of the Messiah. This remarkable re-creation, it is said, will take place at the time of the Messianic era. It may refer to the existence of myths about multiple Messiahs, especially the tradition of Messiah ben Joseph, the suffering human Messiah, and Messiah ben David, the celestial Messiah, where the former prepares the way for the latter. Here “re-creation” may be viewed as a way of establishing a direct link between these two Messiahs, one having been re-created out of the other. See “The Two Messiahs,” p. 517.
Note that God creates a chariot for the Messiah not unlike God’s own Chariot, the Merkavah in the vision of Ezekiel. This strongly implies that the Messiah is a divine figure of the utmost importance and power, not unlike the angel Metatron, who is sometimes identified as the “Lesser Yahweh.”
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 31:10, 33:6, 36:1; 1 Enoch 48:2-3, 48:6, 62:7.
Studies:
“Messianism in the Pseudepigrapha in the Light of the Scrolls” by M. A. Knibb. In Dead Sea Discoveries 2 (1995), 165-184.
The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality by Gershom Scholem.
609. THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH
The Messiah emerged in the thought of God even before the world was created, and the Messiah was born at the beginning of the creation of the world. His name was one of the seven things created before the sun was created, before the stars of heaven were made. Indeed, he was the firstborn of God. Some say that his name is Menahem, others that it is David.
At that time God appointed four animals to carry the throne of the Messiah. And while the sons of Jacob were busy with the selling of Joseph, while Jacob was busy mourning over Joseph, while Judah was busy taking a wife, God was creating the light of the Messiah, which will be revealed at the End of Days.
These myths point to a heavenly Messiah, while others refer to an earthly one. There are various names attributed to the Messiah, including Menahem and David. Midrash Mishlei (p. 87) gives seven names for the Messiah: Yinnon, Tzidkenu, Tzemah, Menahem, David, Shiloh, and Elijah. These seven names are associated with the verse We will set up over it seven shepherds (Micah 5:4).
Two primary messianic figures evolved in Jewish myth, Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph. The former was said to be descended from David, the latter from Joseph. Messiah ben Joseph was generally understood as a forerunner Messiah who would prepare the way for Messiah ben David.
There is another tradition that on the day the Temple was destroyed, the Messiah was born. It is found in Lamentations Rabbah 1:51.
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 33:6, 34:2, 36:1; 1 Enoch 48:2-3, 62:7-9; B. Pesahim 54a; B. Nedarim 39a; B. Sanhedrin 98b-99a; Y. Berakhot 5a; Genesis Rabbah 85:1; Lamentations Rabbah 1:51.
610. THE SCALES OF THE MESSIAH
The Messiah was created when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. At that time God commanded Elijah the Prophet to bring scales to him. On one side of the scales Elijah would place the captive Messiah, along with the souls of the dead, and Elijah would fill the other scales with tears, torture, and the souls of the Tzaddikim. And when this had been done, God announced that the face of the Messiah would be seen when the scales were balanced.
This orally collected myth portrays the conditions that would enable the coming of the Messiah—a balancing of heavenly scales with the Messiah on one side with the souls of the dead, and the suffering of Israel with the souls of the Tzaddikim on the other. The idea is that God is well aware of the suffering of Israel, and when the time is right, He will send the Messiah to ease that suffering. This suggests a kind of heavenly mechanism to trigger the messianic era and the End of Days.
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