Last week I wrote a post on werewolves which stirred up a great deal of interest (and by the way, I uploaded the original text of Rabbeinu Ephraim on werewolves as a PDF- you can download it here.). So now let us turn to vampires. I came across an interesting discussion about Eisav being a vampire. The following evidence was given:1. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 63:10) describes Eisav as "ensnaring" or, "hunting" people "with his mouth." While the Midrash itself explains that in a metaphorical sense, perhaps it is also intended literally. Hunting people with one's mouth is what vampires do.
2. The Midrash Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer (Ch. 37) says that Eisav wanted to suck out Yaakov's blood:
אמר עשו איני הורג את יעקב בחצים ובקשת אלא בפי אני הורגו ומוצץ את דמו שנ' וירץ עשו לקראתו וישקהו אל תהי קורא וישקהו אלא וינשכהו
3. Why would Eisav trade his birthright for lentil soup? The "red, red stuff" was instead blood. Blood! Blood!
4. The Midrash discusses how Yaakov "gave his life" for the birthright. But how is giving away lentil soup "giving one's life"? Rather, it means that he gave Eisav some of his blood.
5. When Eisav was reunited with Yaakov and "fell on his neck and kissed him", the word "kissed" has dots on it, which the Midrash explains to allude to the fact that Eisav tried to bite him. Who else would bite someone on the neck other than a vampire?
6. When Yaakov was struggling with Eisav's angel, the latter had to leave at daybreak. Why? Because vampires are harmed by daylight!
7. What did the angel mean when he says that Yaakov struggled "with God and with man" Which was it? Answer - it was with a vampire, which is immortal and thus has aspects of both God and man.
8. The Gemara (Sotah 13a) says that when Eisav tried to prevent Yaakov from being buried in Machpelah, Chushim Ben Dan killed him with a wooden stick and beheaded him. That is how you kill a vampire - with a wooden stake, and by beheading.
Finally, the reason given for why all this is not widely known, is that Jews are very sensitive about matters involving blood, due to blood libels.
UPDATE: In the comments, two more pieces of evidence were given:
9. Vampires have hair on their palms, and Eisav had hair all over his body, including, most significantly, on his hands - HaYodayim y'dei Eisav.
10. Eisav was known as "the red one" and this may have been due to the color of his hair rather than his complexion. Red hair is traditionally a sign of vampirism.
It's an ingenious explanation, no? I'm not revealing where I saw this explanation, because the interesting question to consider is this: How would your evaluation of this explanation differ depending on whether it was said by a thirteenth-century Rishon from Northern France, an eighteenth-century Acharon, a contemporary Gadol, or a regular Joe of today?
50 comments:
רבינו אברהם מסטוקר says this, no?
Lol . . . My opinion would be the same regardless of who it was sourced to - great sense of humor, hope nobody takes them seriously.
If it was said by someone in medieval times, I'll give him a pass. If it was said by anyone today, that person is either incredibly ignorant, incredibly naive, or out of his mind.
I have another proof! Vampires (or at least Dracula) have hair on their palms, and Eisav had hair all over his body, including, most significantly, on his hands!!!! (HaYodayim y'dei Eisav.)
I wasn't so sure before, but now that I have a stake in the theory (pun most definitely intended), I believe it!!!
The contrast between Akiva and Yehudah is curious.
FYI, Ismalic political artists depict Jews as Vampires sucking out the blood from the world. Ironically, they not only confused Ishmael with Issac, but Yaakov with Esav!
Isn't it a wee bit early for Purim Torah, laddie?
Besides, Eisav couldn't have been a vampire.
1) Yaakov Avinu kept all the mitzvos, we are told. Why was he cooking blood pudding (with real blood) when he and his brother were forbidden to eat it?
2) To get to Seir from Israel requires one to cross the Jordan River. Vampires cannot cross running water.
3) At the blessing incident, Eisav marches into Yitzchak's tent without so much as a by your leave. Vampires cannot enter a dwelling without first being invited.
4) The Eisav-Yaakov meeting at the beginning of Vayishlach took place during the day.
This is turning into a fantastic B-movie plot:
"Vampires VS. Werewolves"!
The Tanach indeed depicts a Binyamin-Amalek rivalry. Eisav was the grandfather of Amalek. And time and again it is Binyamin who is called to confront Amalek...
1. Ehud ben Gera "Hayimini" called to defend Israel from Amalek (Shoftim 3:15)
2. Shaul Hamelech, commanded to wipe out Amalek
3. Mordechai Hayehudi "Ish Yemini" facing Haman
Then there's the pasuk: "From Ephraim, their root with Amalek, after you is Binyamin, with your peoples." (Shoftim 5:14)
This seems to mean that after Ephraim takes a first crack at Amalek, it's Binyamin who goes after them for the final kill.
And here we are today, the seed of Amalek and Binyamin still among us, silently waiting in the shadows to once again engage in epic battle! Who will win in the end, the evil vampire or righteous werewolf? Stay tuned...
this is deff entertaining and the author id very creative but this creativity should be put to a better use , esav a vampire? come on get real.
I have another proof! Vampires (or at least Dracula) have hair on their palms, and Eisav had hair all over his body, including, most significantly, on his hands!!!! (HaYodayim y'dei Eisav.)
Wow, that's good! Yes, hairy palms are indeed part of the vampire legend.
my responses would be...
Rishon: interesting!
Aḥaron: weird.
Gadol: uh....
Joe: ha, cute!
But David Meir has the best response.
A friend of mine in Yeshivah had the same theory. He would be thrilled if it turned out to be some Rishon.
Great post!
If it was said by anyone contemporary during the month of February/March (presuming the anyone in question had a sense of humor), I would jump straight to Purim Torah. If it was said by anyone before that, I would presume they were grossly mistaken, no matter the credentials. But then again, you never needed to convince me of anything.
Just one thing, one of the reasons that you pointed out was that Eisav bit Yakov on the neck, and said who else does that? Well, Eisav wanted to kill Yakov. If he bit his neck, then he could have ruptured some important parts of his body. Just because he wanted to bite him on the neck does not mean that he is a vampire, it could mean that he wanted to rupture the passageway for Yakov's oxygen and kill him.
You realize that I don't actually think that Eisav was a vampire, right?
Stuff like this is why Tanach would make a good anime...midrashim are especially helpful.
"You realize that I don't actually think that Eisav was a vampire, right?"
R' Slifkin, do you often get comments that you are condescending?
Maybe you don't but Pharoah was clearly a Time Lord.
Think about it: he appears first in Avraham's time, then Yosef's time, and then finally in Moshe's time, spanning centuries but there's enough evidence to suggest that people don't recognize him as the same person even though the Midrash tells us that he was. Clearly he had regenerated into a new appearance between episo... I mean, appearances.
"The following evidence was given:
1. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 63:10) describes Eisav as "ensnaring" or, "hunting" people "with his mouth." "
it's almost explicit in the passuk, which says that he hunted with/in his mouth. but that would include canines, felines, reptiles etc.; medrash tells us the victim: man, so that would include man eaters.
garnel said, "Yaakov Avinu kept all the mitzvos, we are told. Why was he cooking blood pudding (with real blood) when he and his brother were forbidden to eat it?"
if cooked blood is m'derabanan it wasn't forbidden yet, unless you hold like kofer bear in the video that yaakov kept d'rabanans.
but that's why Yaakov cooked it, to take off the d'oraisah.
BTW,kofer bear was also a vampire, so he said his vurt to get the other bear's brain to bleed. yummmm...;)
Glad my comment of the werewolf post is gaining traction. Keep up the great work, and love your new book!
I suppose we might as well ask, Did Yaakov cook his lentil soup with or without garlic?
Please don't tell me there's a Torah remez to a Slayer.
For the benefit of the masses, let me reproduce here a discussion that took place about a week ago here on this blog.
Lakewood Falling Down said...
My son wants to know if Eisav who was born with teeth, and was Binyamin's Uncle was also possibly a werewolf? He did bite Yaakov's neck!
December 22, 2011 2:46 AM
Lord Voldemort said...
My son wants to know if Eisav who was born with teeth, and was Binyamin's Uncle was also possibly a werewolf? He did bite Yaakov's neck!
No, Eisav was a vampire (obviously).
December 22, 2011 8:01 AM
Natan Slifkin said...
No, Eisav was a vampire (obviously).
I've actually heard people say that.
December 22, 2011 11:45 AM
Snape said...
>> No, Eisav was a vampire (obviously).
> I've actually heard people say that.
This is getting better and better!
So the red, red stuff -- not exactly lentil soup, was it?
December 22, 2011 5:33 PM
Yannai Segal said...
>> No, Eisav was a vampire (obviously).
> I've actually heard people say that.
This is getting better and better!
So the red, red stuff -- not exactly lentil soup, was it?
Heh, my 10-year old actually hypothisized this at the Shabbat table last week based on the evidence:
1) The neck biting
2) The red, red stuff
3) The fact that his angel had to flee before sunrise
4) Stereoypical vampires are also recognizable by thick luxurious hair (v-shaped widow's peak)
December 22, 2011 8:40 PM
Hey guys i have a proof. Esav was born with red hair. Red hair is a sign of a vampire
I just checked, and you're right! Good one!
You realize that I don't actually think that Eisav was a vampire, right?
So you think that Eisav was a literal flesh-and-blood human being indistinguishable from any homo sapien of today?
How would your evaluation of this explanation differ depending on whether it was said by a thirteenth-century Rishon from Northern France, an eighteenth-century Acharon, a contemporary Gadol, or a regular Joe of today?
Regular Joe - very creative, yesher koach!
Gadol - his handlers quoted something (from him and/or to him) out of context
Acharon - literary fiction
Rishon - must be a forgery
Hey guys, just stirred up another proof. The midrash relates to the unborn esav, saying that whenever rivka passed a place of avoda zara he was drawn to it.
We know that vampires are unholy creatures.
This could possibly mean that since he was a vampire he was drawn to unholy places i.e avoda zara.
I have developed a shiur and source sheet on this exact subject; I don't believe anyone has mentioned yet that (Breishit 32:26) "וַיַּרְא, כִּי לֹא יָכֹל לוֹ, וַיִּגַּע, בְּכַף-יְרֵכוֹ" . "Vayiga" is commonly translated as "injured" however the shoresh also can mean "to taste"; the groin ('yerecho') is the second most popular place for vamps to bite, as the blood flows most freely from the femoral artery. I'd love to send you my source sheet if you're interested!
"You realize that I don't actually think that Eisav was a vampire, right?"
Classic :)
Now, this is what one would call "Shteiging in Shtusim"...
It's a good question.
If it was a regular Joe, I would say that their books should be banned and they should be publicly vilified.
If it was a contemporary Godol, I don't see how the question is relevant as I don't know a single Godol (other than perhaps GH) that know what a vampire is.
If it was a 18th century Achron it could be considerd as Daas Torah, depending on if the Achron had any ties to the Hassidic movement.
If it was a 13th century Rishon who was also a rationalist, then we could still explain it by saying it was perfectly fine to believe in vampires when they lived.
But if it had been written by a bronze age tribesman living in the middle east during the second century, then I would accept it unquestioningly as the words of God.
Finding nothing on the connection between Eisav and garlic (except for a video of chef David Esau giving a tutorial about garlic), I resorted to this:
Esau, according to a kabbalistic teaching, is a reincarnation of Cain, and "that is why [Cain] killed his brother Abel with his mouth, as is known."
I guess it's known now.
"He bit him profusely, not knowing where his soul would leave him." (Zohar I:54b) (Sorry, I could not find this phrase on an online English translation of Zohar.)
ok, ok...enough.
Can you now, finally, confirm where you found this discussion?
וַיַּרְא, כִּי לֹא יָכֹל לוֹ
Couldn't see himself in the mirror...?
With all that's going on in the world, I love posts like this to keep the stress off. One of the best parts about posts like these is it exposes who has a sense of humor and who doesn't. I hate people who take themselves to seriously!
A request, as I am not s well versed as I should be. Is there anywhere in any scriptural source to show Hashem has a sense of humor?
We've had werewolves and vampires. Heaven forfend any of them sparkle.
Plenty of Middle Eastern Jews historically believed in djinn. Many still do.
If you can fit Azathoth and Cthulhu in there somewhere I will publicly squee and start wearing a gartle and Borsalino.
But if you want a quintessentially Jewish story that includes an even more horrible monster and will break your heart you must read Uncle Chaim, Aunt Rivka and the Angel by one of my favorite Brooklyn Jews, Peter Beagle.
thirteenth-century Rishon from Northern France... lo zochisi lehovin devorov hakedoshim
an eighteenth-century Acharon... a shevere zach to say
a contemporary Gadol... that is a godol ?
a regular Joe of today? ...get a life
I'm on Team JACOB!!!!! (even though binyamin was the werewolf, not Eisav :( )
Lakewood Falling Down, may I recommend the following?
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm
Looking over this week's parsha, I realized that while it's certainly debatable whether Binyamin was a werewolf and Eisav was a vampire, it's pshat that both Yaakov and Yosef were The Mummy.
There is a Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer (Ch. 37) which is perhaps of interest:
אמ' עשו איני הורג את יעקב בחצים ובקשת אלא בפי אני הורגו ומוצץ את דמו שנ' וירץ עשו לקראתו וישקהו אל תהי קורא וישקהו אלא וינשכהו
The above citation from Rafael should be moved up to the body of the post.
lol - great post!
For the next one can you somehow connect techiyas hamaysim to a zombie apocalypse? Ive been thinking about that one since my Walking Dead obsession
Rabbi,
I know there are important things going on in the world right now, but nu? My 10-year-old (inner and actual) is itching for more on this.
anyone else that we know of who was a vampire? how about a werewolf?
I blown away by the number of examples you were able to find...
Eisav may have been permited to drink human blood even if he followed the not yet written Torah... I remember reading somewhere that Human blood is only Assur because of Maris Ayin (similar to fish blood). And that even the subject of human flesh is up for debate where it has been declared usser by ashkenaz but not decided for sephard... so watch out for your sephardic friends... if it doesnt taste like chicken it might not be.
Anyways, the whole topic of human blood and flesh would make a whole new interesting post I am sure,
Eisav may have been permited to drink human blood even if he followed the not yet written Torah... I remember reading somewhere that Human blood is only Assur because of Maris Ayin (similar to fish blood). And that even the subject of human flesh is up for debate where it has been declared usser by ashkenaz but not decided for sephard... so watch out for your sephardic friends... if it doesnt taste like chicken it might not be.
Anyways, the whole topic of human blood and flesh would make a whole new interesting post I am sure,
I found something about Cain and Hebel!
בשעה שהרג קין את הבל' לא היה יודע איך יוצאת נשמתו ממנו˙ נשך אותו
נשמתיה מיניה˙ נשיך ליה בשיניה כחויא (=אמר ר, יצחק: בוא וראה'
"אמר ר, יצחק: תא חזי' בשעתא דקטיל קין להבל לא הוה ידע היך נפיק
בספרד באותה תקופה' בראשית נד ע"ב:
במקרה שלנו נראה כי המקור לאיור זה הוא ממה שמצינו בזהר' שידוע היה
מבוססות על מסורות יהודיות שהועברו לאמנים הנוצרים מאת ר, משה [6]˙
בקשתו של אחד מאצילי ספרד' והתמונות בדרך כלל
לקסטיליינית מאת החכם היהודי ר, משה ארגל שעשה את מלאכתו על פי
מתחת לגרונו' והדם שותת מנשיכה זו˙ ...כתב יד זה כולל תרגום התנ"ך
http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/bereshit/bereshith2.html
Pleace tell me the mekor of this, wath you wrote im wondering about it for years im serius thanks david
kiefer sutherland in the lost boys.
please im going serius tell me the mekor becouse i don´t belive you
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