{"id":1343,"date":"2015-06-21T17:41:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T21:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/?page_id=1343"},"modified":"2015-06-21T17:41:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T21:41:00","slug":"son-of-samael","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/research-projects\/medieval-jewish-pseudepigrapha\/son-of-samael\/","title":{"rendered":"Son of Samael"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translated from the Hebrew text published by Louis Ginzberg, \u201cBeno shel Samael,\u201d Ha-Goren<\/em> 9 (1913): 38-41; reprinted in idem, \u2018Al halakhah wa-aggadah<\/em> (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1960), 227-28.\u00a0 He says he copied it from a Yemenite manuscript ma\u1e25zor<\/em> in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.\u00a0 For a valuable analysis of the few extant Muslim versions of this tale, see Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, \u201cThe Death and Life of the Devil\u2019s Son: A Literary Analysis of a Neglected Tradition,\u201d Studia Islamica<\/em> 107 (2012): 157-83.<\/p>\n

\u2018For the inclination of the heart of humanity is wicked from their youth\u2019 (Gen 8:21).\u00a0 I will now reveal to you the secret of this verse.<\/p>\n

At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, Samael came down (to earth) and with him was what appeared to be a small boy.\u00a0 He went to Eve and said to her: \u2018Can my son stay with you while I make a journey to a distant place?\u2019\u00a0 She said to him: \u2018He may stay.\u2019\u00a0 Then Samael went on his way.<\/p>\n

Now on that day Adam the Protoplast had been walking about in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 The moment Adam came back to his house, he saw that boy crying.\u00a0 He said to Eve his wife: \u2018Whose son is this?\u2019\u00a0 She said to him: \u2018He is the son of Samael.\u2019\u00a0 He said to her: \u2018Why must we put up with this trouble?\u2019\u00a0 Now the boy kept weeping ever more loudly and bitterly to the point that he was aggravating Adam the Protoplast.\u00a0 What did Adam the Protoplast do?\u00a0 He arose and slaughtered him, but the boy continued weeping all the more!\u00a0 Adam the Protoplast (again) arose and chopped him up into little pieces, but afterwards each piece was individually screaming!\u00a0 What did Adam the Protoplast do?\u00a0 He (again) arose and cooked him, and he and Eve his wife ate him.<\/p>\n

As soon as Samael realized that they had eaten his son, he came to them and said to them: \u2018Give me back my son, and I\u2019ll be on my way.\u2019\u00a0 They said to him: \u2018We have not seen (him), nor do we know (where he is).\u2019\u00a0 He said to them: \u2018Are you telling a lie!?\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, will eventually give the Torah to Israel, and it is written within it that you should keep your distance from one telling a lie!!\u2019\u00a0 While they were talking, the son of Samael began speaking from within (\u05de\u05dc\u05d1) Adam and Eve, saying to Samael: \u2018Go on your way.\u00a0 I have now entered into their heart, and I will never depart from their heart, whether they or their descendants or the descendants of their descendants until the end of all generations.\u2019\u00a0 At that time Samael went on his way.<\/p>\n

Thereupon Adam the Protoplast was sad, and he put on sackcloth and ashes.\u00a0 He was afflicting himself with innumerable periods of fasting until the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself unto him and said to him: \u2018My son, do not be afraid of him!\u00a0 I am providing for you a remedy, for he came to you only as My emissary.\u2019\u00a0 He said to him: \u2018What is this remedy that you are giving to me?\u2019\u00a0 He said to him: \u2018The Torah.\u2019\u00a0 He said to him: \u2018Where is the Torah?\u2019\u00a0 At that time he handed over to him the Book of Raziel the Angel<\/em>, and he was studying it both day and night.<\/p>\n

After some time the ministering angels came to Adam the Protoplast, for they were jealous of him.\u00a0 They told him that he was a divinity superior to them and were worshiping him.\u00a0 But Adam the Protoplast said to them: \u2018Do not be worshiping me!\u00a0 Magnify the Lord your God with me, and let us extol His Name together, for I also like you am a created being!\u2019\u00a0 What did the ministering angels do?\u00a0 On account of the great jealousy they felt toward Adam the Protoplast, they took from him the book which the Holy One, blessed be He, had given to him and pitched it in the sea.\u00a0 They then went on their way.<\/p>\n

Adam the Protoplast searched for the book but could not find it.\u00a0 He was highly distressed, and put on sackcloth and ashes.\u00a0 He afflicted himself with innumerable periods of fasting until the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself unto him from the supernal heavens and said to him: \u2018Do not fear!\u00a0 I will restore the book to you!\u2019\u00a0 At that time the Holy One, blessed be He, summoned the Prince of the Sea and said to him: \u2018Go under My agency to the sea, rescue the book, and give it to Adam the Protoplast!\u2019\u00a0 The Prince of the Sea, whose name is Rahab, went and rescued the book and gave it to Adam the Protoplast.\u00a0 It is the one mentioned in the verse \u2018this is the book of the generations of Adam\u2019 (Gen 5:1).\u00a0 May the Lord, blessed be He, deliver us from the evil inclination!\u00a0 Amen, may God\u2019s will be done!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translated from the Hebrew text published by Louis Ginzberg, \u201cBeno shel Samael,\u201d Ha-Goren 9 (1913): 38-41; reprinted in idem, \u2018Al halakhah wa-aggadah (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1960), 227-28.\u00a0 He says he copied it from a Yemenite manuscript ma\u1e25zor in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.\u00a0 For a valuable analysis of the few extant Muslim versions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"parent":124,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1343","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-lF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1345,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1343\/revisions\/1345"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}