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Prayers of Jews to Angels and Other Mediators in the First Centuries CE

Chapter · December 2004

DOI: 10.1163/9789047401605_007

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Meir Bar-Ilan
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 Prayers of Jews to Angels and Other Intermediaries
during the First Centuries of the Common Era
Meir Bar-Ilan

I. Introduction

It has been claimed that angels with divine power have no place in Judaism, a
monotheistic religion, as the strength of such a religion lies in the exclusivity of the
divinity.1 Angels can thus be no more than messengers, fulfilling God’s
commandments. Indeed, in traditional Jewish prayer there appears to be no mention of
the status of angels in general, nor of their role as intermediaries in prayer in
particular. On the surface, the Siddur, or prayer book, would seem to indicate that
Jews do not pray to angels or other divine agents, but solely to the Lord.2

This, however, is not the case. Extensive analysis of the various sources of Talmudic
literature reveals that there is some substance to the polemical claims of early
Christians that Jews at that time did pray to angels.3 The current paper seeks to bring
together all the evidence of Jewish prayers to angels and other intermediaries that can
be found in sources from the first centuries C.E.

Although no actual prayers have come down to us from this time, a strong indication
that they did exist is the fact that a not inconsiderable number are known from a later
period, the Middle Ages. We therefore begin with texts from the Middle Ages which
are still being recited, and which clearly reveal a relationship to this type of prayers to
Angels. In an area as conservative and traditional as prayer, it is more than reasonable
to assume that these represent the continuation of a pre-existing convention.

Several examples of post-Talmudic prayers to angels can be found in the Jewish

service even today. One such invocation, one of the most famous and most familiar to
those who participate in daily prayer, is a piyyut generally included in the prayers for
forgiveness (Selihot) recited before and after Rosh Hashana. The precise date of
origin of this piyyut is difficult to establish. It is entitled ‘Usherers of Mercy’, and
begins with the words:

1
In the Thirteen Principles of Faith, according to Maimonides, it is stated: “I believe
with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name – to him alone is it
proper to pray and it is not proper to pray to any other”; Siddur Kol Yaacov –
Ashkenaz, New York: Art Scroll, 1990, p. 179.
2
The existence of the prohibition goes back to Scripture, see: A. Rofe, Faith in
Angels in Scripture, Jerusalem: Makor 1979, p. 101 ff. (Hebrew). For the
conventional approach in research to ‘intermediaries,’ see: M. Stern, Greek and
Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, 1980, II, pp. 234, 265, 295.
3
S. Carroll, ‘A Preliminary Analysis of the Epistle to Rehoboam’, Journal for the
Study of Pseudepigrapha, 4 (1989), pp. 91-103.

1
 Usherers of mercy, usher in our [plea for] mercy, before the Master of mercy,
You who cause prayer to be heard, may you cause our prayer to be heard
before the Hearer of prayer, You who cause our outcry to be heard, may you
cause our outcry to be heard, before the Hearer of outcry, You who usher in
tears, may you usher in our tears, before the King Who finds favor through
tears. Exert yourselves and multiply supplication and petition before the King,
God, exalted and most high, etc.4

In other words, the petitioner turns to the angels, asking them to pray on his behalf
and to intervene for him so that his prayers and outcries come before God, as if the
angels were the ‘gatekeepers’ or guards of God’s palace, determining what God
should and should not hear. A similar plea is voiced in the song recited in the Ne‘illah
service, (the concluding service of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement): ‘Angels of
mercy, servants of the Supreme, accost God with the best thoughts, perhaps he will
show pity to the poor begging people [perhaps he will show pity]’.5

Another piyyut, included in the Selihot until the present time, was composed by
Amittai, a paytan who lived in Italy (Oria) at the end of the ninth century. It opens
with the attributes of the Lord: ‘The Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness,’
and continues with the supplication: ‘Attribute of mercy, turn on our behalf and enter
your pleas before your Creator, and ask for mercy on behalf of your people,6 for every
heart is ailing and every head is sick’.7 From a later period comes a prayer, familiar
as well from the prayer book, recited just before the blowing of the shofar (while
‘seated’):8

And so may it be Thy will Lord our God and God of our fathers that all the
angels appointed to oversee the shofar and its various sounds will ascend

4
D. Goldschmidt, The Order of Selihot (Penitential Prayers) According to the Polish
Rite, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1965, introduction pp. 11-12 (Hebrew). For
the controversy over ‘Angels of Mercy’, see: M. Saperstein, Decoding the Rabbis,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980, pp. 192 ff. J. Yahalom, Poetry
and Society in Jewish Galilee of Late Antiquity, Tel-Aviv: Hakibutz Hameuchad,
1999, p. 54 (Hebrew).
5
D. Goldschmidt, Mahzor for the Days of Awe, 2, Yom Kippur, Jerusalem: Qoren,
1970, p. 764 (Hebrew). The use of the Hebrew word higayon hints at the post-
Talmudic period as the period in which the hymn was composed.
6
Goldschmidt notes that the precedent for this notion can be found in Hekhalot
Rabbati 13,2 (S. A. Wertheimer, Batei Midrashot, Jerusalem: Reuven Mass, l980,
I, p. 88; P. Schäfer, Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1981,
p. 76, paragraph 172).
7
Goldschmidt, The Order of Selihot, p. 208. The hymn is also recited in the Ne'illah
prayer on Yom Kippur. See: Goldschmidt, Mahzor for the Days of Awe, 2, Yom
Kippur, pp. 663-664 (Hebrew). A similar hymn is Shlomo ben Menachem’s
‘Thirteen Attributes’ also recited in the Selihot service (Goldschmidt, The Order of
Selihot, p. 95).
8
It is worth citing here the end of the “personal” prayer recited by the Cantor before
the Mussaf service entitled ‘I am but poor of deed’ (Goldschmidt, Mahzor for the
Days of Awe, 1, Rosh Hashana, p. 147): ‘That all the angels who are masters of
prayer bring my prayer before the Seat of Your Glory,’ etc.

2
 before Your Seat of Glory and recommend favorably for us to atone for our
sins.9

It seems then that prayers to angels are preserved to this day in the Orthodox Jewish
prayer service,10 and for one reason or another, most of them seem to be recited in
proximity to the period of the Days of Awe.11 Not surprisingly, such invocations
aroused the rage of halachic authorities, who sought to expunge them from the prayer-
book or, at the very least, to disguise their meaning.12

As stated above, these prayers, composed over hundreds of years during the Middle
Ages, are still being recited while no Talmudic prayers of this kind have survived.
However, it is assumed that these late prayers were continuing a tradition from the
Mishnah and Talmud periods or the first centuries C.E. (if not earlier). Now we can
begin to work backwards, and after having referred to the relatively well-known
prayers to angels from “recent” times, we can confront those ancient prayers that have
escaped notice since they were somehow “rejected” during the centuries. In spite of
the general belief that there were no prayers to angels from these early times, we shall
attempt to show, upon closer examination of the sources, various indications of their
existence.13

PT Ber 9:1, 13a, cites the following (presumably in the name of the Lord):

If a person faces trouble, he should not cry out to the angels Michael or
Gabriel. But he should cry out to me, and I will immediately answer him. In
this regard [it says], ‘All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be
delivered’ [Joel 2:32].14

This is presumed to be the only source in Rabbinic literature from which we learn
that Jews had been accustomed to praying to angels,15 and that the sages prohibited
the practice.16 However, in spite of this prohibition, prayers to angels can still be

9
Goldschmidt, Mahzor for the Days of Awe, 1, Rosh Hashana, p.145; M. Bar-Ilan,
‘The Fate of Joshua Prince of Presence in Scientific(?) Research,’ Sinai, 101
(1988), pp.174-181 (Hebrew).
10
Additional examples: ‘Angels of the tears of the wretched endure for hours like the
scent of a consuming fire’ (by Moshe bar Shabtai. See: D. Goldschmidt, Mahzor
for the Days of Awe, 1, Rosh Hashana, Jerusalem: Qoren, 1970, p. 125)
11
The proximity of prayers to angels to Rosh Hashana may derive from the mystic
character of Rosh Hashana (and Yom Kippur) as evident in the many times angels
mentioned in the liturgy of these days, as opposed to the other days in the year.
12
Avraham ben Eliezer Halevi, ‘Instruction on the Question of the Angels,’ Kerem
Hemed, 9 (1856), pp. 141-148 (Hebrew).
13
See: Nils Johansson, Parakletoi, Lund 1940.
14
Translation from: Tzvee Zahavy, The Talmud of the Land of Israel, vol. 1,
Berakhot, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989, p. 314.
15
Not only Rabbinic Jews were praying to Angels), as is stated in I Enoch 104,1: ‘I
swear unto you that in heaven the angels will remember you for good before the
glory of the great One.’
16
According to J. Heinemann [Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns (translated
by Richard S. Sarason), Berlin – New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1977, p. 249]: ‘It

3
found in Talmudic texts. In reference to the Midrash of Canticles, for example, Tanya
Rabbati, laws of Rosh Hashana, paragraph 72, there is this quotation:

In the Midrash of Canticles on the verse ‘I adjure you’, the community of

Israel says to the angels monitoring the gates of prayer and the gates of tears:
convey my prayer and tears to the Holy One blessed be He and be you
advocates before Him to forgive me the wicked deeds and the unintentional
sins.17

Although this passage does not appear in the various versions of the midrash available
today, it is claimed to be authentic, and if this is the case, the text was probably
deleted by internal censorship because of its ‘problematic’ content which did not seem
to suit religious teachings.18 As we shall now see, despite these attempts, Talmudic
literature reveals examples of appeals to intermediaries.

II. Prayers To Angels and To Celestial and Earthly Bodies

A. Aggadic Literature

Eleazar ben Dardoya19

One of the best-known stories in the Babylonian Talmud describes a prayer to

celestial bodies as intermediaries between man and God. It relates the story of
repentance of Eleazar ben Dardoya, and appears in BT AZ 17a:

It was said of R. Eleazar b. Dordia that he did not leave out any harlot in the
world without coming to her. Once, on hearing that there was a certain harlot
in one of the towns by the sea who accepted a purse of denarii for her hire, he
took a purse of denarii and crossed seven rivers for her sake. As he was with
her, she blew forth breath and said: As this blown breath will not return to its
place, so will Eleazar b. Dardoya never be received in repentance. He
thereupon went, sat between two hills and mountains and exclaimed: O, ye
hills and mountains, plead for mercy for me! They replied: How shall we pray
for thee? We stand in need of it ourselves... So he exclaimed: Heaven and
earth, plead ye for mercy for me... Sun and moon, plead ye for mercy for
me!… Ye stars and constellations... Said he: The matter then depends upon me
alone! Having placed his head between his knees, he wept aloud until his soul

is a well-known fact that there are no prayers from the Talmudic period which are
addressed to intermediaries of any sort – neither to angels, nor to saints or
patriarchs’.
17
R. Yehiel son of R. Zedekiah (?), Tanya Rabbati, Warsaw 1879 (photocopy,
Jerusalem 1963), 77d (p.154).
18
See: M. Bar-Ilan, ‘The Occurrences and the Significance of the Yoser Ha’adam
Benediction,’ HUCA, 56 (1985), Hebrew section, pp. 9-27. On this type of internal
censoring see below.
19
In the printed edition and in manuscripts the name of Elazar’s father appears
slightly different.

4
 departed. Then a bath-kol was heard proclaiming: ‘Rabbi Eleazar b. Dordia is
destined for the life of the world to come’.20

Here is a man, not necessarily from rabbinic circles, who, on feeling the need to offer
up a prayer of supplication, a heartfelt plea for mercy (just before his death), turns to
heaven and earth,21 and to the sun and the moon, perceiving the celestial bodies as if
they were angels mediating between him and the Lord.22 Moreover, the narrator does
not seem to express any objection to this prayer, since it is clear that after praying to
the intermediaries, Eleazar b. Dardoya was invited into the world to come, and even
granted the title ‘Rabbi’. As we shall see below, however, not only common people
prayed to celestial bodies; the elite of Israel did so as well, at least according to the
Aggadah.

Moses

R. Yehuda Hadassi, a famous Karaite scholar of the twelfth century and author of
Eshkol Hakofer, cites an aggadic midrash which is not found in Talmudic literature.
As part of his criticism of the Oral Law, he claims that when God sought to end the
life of Moses, he tried to prevent this from happening:

When Moses saw the situation, he pleaded to the Lord to be a bird in His
land... and was refused by the Lord. He went and beseeched the Land of Israel:
plead for mercy for me from your Creator… he went and pleaded to Heaven…
he went before the stars... he went before the sun and the moon… he went to
Mt. Sinai and all the mountains... he went to the sea, the rivers and the lakes...
he went to the deserts… he went in the footsteps of Joshua... he went and fell
at the feet of Eleazar the Priest... and likewise [he did] to Caleb ben
Jepphunne, and likewise to the princes of Thy people Israel...23

Although the story of Moses entreating intermediaries to plead for him before God
does not appear in any ancient rabbinic source known today, it is likely that the
Karaite scholar did not invent the story, but derived it from some type of rabbinic
source. This supposition is supported by a seemingly parallel homily preserved only
in an obscure Yemenite midrash.24 According to this source:

20
Translation from: I. Epstein, The Babylonian Talmud: Seder Nezikin, IV, London:
The Soncino Press, 1935, p. 87 (hereafter the citations are from this edition). See
also: M. Baer, ‘On the Atonement of Penitents in the Literature of the Sages’, Zion,
46 (1981), pp. 159-181 (Hebrew), especially 163; M. Bar-Ilan, Some Jewish
Women in Antiquity, Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, 1998, pp. 138-139.
21
Quite a similar prayer to the sun and the moon see in the Book of Adam and Eve
36, 2.
22
For the personification of celestial bodies, or more precisely, their perception as
angels, see: M. Beit-Arié, Perek SHIRA: Introductions and Critical Edition, Ph.D.
Thesis submitted to the Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1967 (Hebrew,
unpublished), 1, p. 47.
23
R. Yehuda Hadassi, Eshkol Hakofer, Goslaw 1836 (reprint: Israel 1969), 140b.
24
S. Lieberman, Yemenite Midrashim, 2nd edition, Jerusalem: Wahrmann Books,
1970, p. 33 (Hebrew). The Yemenite community preserved several midrashim in
full, without subjecting them to internal censorship.

5
 Moses raised his voice with cries and pleas, and pleaded to the earth: plead for
mercy on my behalf before the Holy One Blessed Be He... Moses approached
Heaven and said: I implore you, plead for mercy on my behalf before the Holy
One Blessed Be He… He went to the sun and moon and pleaded before them
to plead for mercy on him… Moses went to Mt. Sinai and pleaded that it plead
for mercy on him… He went to the rivers and pleaded that they plead for
mercy on him...25

Thus the text in Eshkol Hakofer is an adaptation of an ‘original’ homily preserved in

Yemen without the benefit of editing or ‘improvement’ by internal Jewish censors.26
It would appear, therefore, that according to this tradition, even Moses prayed to
intermediaries, including the heavens, the sun and the moon, Mt. Sinai(!),27 rivers,
some other “cosmic beings” and even to humans, such as Joshua, Eleazar and other
leaders of Israel. Clearly, then, a Talmudic source (which was probably censored in a
later period) reflects the belief that Moses prayed to various intermediaries, both
celestial and human, to intervene on his behalf and ask the Lord to have pity on him.

B. Halachik Texts

The issue of appealing to intermediaries is addressed in M Hul 2:8:

If a man slaughtered [an animal] as a sacrifice to mountains, hills, seas, rivers,

or deserts, the slaughtering is invalid.28

This mishnah is cited in BT Hul 40a, where it is discussed in respect to a baraita

found more concisely in T Hul 2:18:

He who slaughters for the sake of the sun, for the sake of the moon, for the
sake of the stars, for the sake of the planets, for the sake of Michael, prince of

25
From a collection of homilies about Moses and his death: A. M. Haberman, Helkat
Mehokek (The Portion of the Lawgiver), Jerusalem: Shoken, 1947, pp. 62 ff.
(Hebrew); J. D. Eisenstein, Ozar Midrashim, (reprint), Israel 1969, II, pp. 368-369
(Hebrew).
26
R. Yehuda Hadassi’s addition of Moses turning to the ‘land of Israel’ and to the
‘deserts’ is not a substantive change. It seems to me that this Aggadic midrash can
be associated with an excerpt from another Aggadah cited in additions to S. Z.
Schechter, Avoth dR. Nathan, New York: Feldheim, 1967, pp. 156-157 (additions
to version A, XII, p. 50). See also: E. Glickler Chazon, ‘Moses’ Struggle for His
Soul: A Prototype for the Testament of Abraham, the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra,
and the Apocalypse of Sedrach’, The Second Century, 5 (1985-6), pp. 151-164.
27
Compare this tradition to that of the places where miracles occurred to the People
of Israel in the Exodus from Egypt. See: M. Bar-Ilan, ‘Wonder Sites in the Land of
Israel in Ancient Times,’ Judea and Samaria Studies, 5 (1995), pp. 229-239
(Hebrew).
28
I. Epstein, The Babylonian Talmud: Seder Kodashim, II, pp. 214-215.

6
 the great host, and for the sake of the small earthworm29 – lo, this is deemed to
be flesh deriving from the sacrifices of corpses.30

The Babylonian Talmud sought to comprehend the difference in the terminology of

the Mishnah and Tosefta, i.e., the “unfit slaughter” of the Mishnah and the “sacrifices
of corpses” (=for the dead) of the Tosefta. Abbaye explains: ‘One refers to the
mountain, the other to the divinity of the mountain’. More plausibly, however, the
disparity seems to reflect different textual versions without any real difference in
substance. Thus, uttering the name of one of those ‘intermediaries’ in connection with
a ritual slaughter makes it void.31 It was, therefore, the intent of both the baraita and
the Mishnah to ban sacrificial slaughter in which the slaughterer invokes an
intermediary, either by name or by uttering the name of the angel appointed over it.

Clearly then, although the sages had established that the blessing recited at the time of
the slaughter should be addressed to God,32 some Jews continued to invoke the names
of angels, such as Michael, or those of specific mountains, lakes, and the like.
Similarly, in M Hul 2:9 the sages state: ‘One may not slaughter [in such manner that
the blood runs] into the sea, or into rivers…’ and the Talmud explains: ‘Why is it that
a person may not slaughter into the sea?… because it might be said that he is
slaughtering to the deity of the sea?.’33

We might relate this answer back to the story of Moses appealing, for example, to Mt.
Sinai. The appeal is not made to the inanimate object itself, but to the angel appointed
over it, not to the earth of the Land of Israel but to its appointed angel. For instance,
when offering a sacrifice to the sea, a person would say: ‘god of the seas (Poseidon,
servant of the Lord) save me from this storm’.

In the same context, we might consider another law associated with this issue. BT AZ
27a cites a baraita34 dealing with the laws of circumcision, and states:

Surely it has been taught: An Israelite may perform a circumcision on a

Cuthean but a Cuthean should not [be allowed to] circumcise an Israelite,
because he performs the circumcision in the name of Mount Gerizim, this is
the opinion of R. Judah. Said R. Jose to him: Where is it at all to be found in

29
Michael appears together with a lowly earthworm by way of contrast. In other
words, the reference is to anyone who prays to intermediaries of any sort, from the
greatest angel to the least of the divine powers.
30
J. Neusner, The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, Fifth Division, Qodoshim,
Atlanta, Georgia, Scholars Press, 1997, p. 73. Neusner left the Hebrew word
shilshul untranslated while here the word was translated into ‘earthworm’.
31
See: J. Faur Halevi, Studies in the Rambam's Mishne Torah, Jerusalem: Mossad
Harav Kook, 1978, pp. 224 ff. (Hebrew).
32
T Ber 6:11, Lieberman edition, p. 36.
33
Translation from Epstein (supra, note 28), p. 220. See: R. Patai, Hamayim (The
Water), Tel Aviv: Devir, 1936, pp. 136-137 (Hebrew).
34
T AZ 3:13, Zuckermandel edition, p. 464.

7
 the Torah that circumcision must be performed specifically for its purpose?
But he may go on performing it even though he expires in the act.35

Thus, R. Jose differs with R. Judah by saying that the lack of intent does not nullify
the circumcision (as it does in the case of sacrifice, for example). Indeed, we learn
from this that in the second century, at least, it was the Samaritan custom to invoke
the name of Mt. Gerizim when circumcising, similar to Moses appealing to Mt. Sinai
in the Aggadah, or to the likelihood that some Jews regularly called on Mt. Moriah in
their prayers. It is assumed that the Samaritans appealed to the angel appointed over
the mountain not only at circumcisions, but also in the course of ritual slaughter, as
Jews were accustomed to do, a practice condemned by the sages. This may very well
explain why the sages taught in Mishnah Ber 9:2 that anyone seeing a mountain,
ocean, or something similar is required to recite a blessing such as ‘Blessed be He
Who created the Great Sea’. In other words, one should not invoke or be awed by the
angelic officer appointed over these natural phenomena, but offer thanks only to God.

In general, then, we can say that the halachic midrashim cited here appear to reflect
not only theoretical laws, but a reality in which the rituals of certain Jews included
reference to a variety of servants and attendants of God, such as angels, seraphim, and
the like. While the sages of the Mishnah considered this custom disgraceful and
banned it, for other Jews it was apparently common practice. Such a case is seen with
the author of Sefer Harazim who writes of purity on the one hand, but on the other
hand refers to prayers to Helios (the sun) or to consulting with a ghost, practices
already prohibited in the Pentateuch.36 In other words, the doctrine of the sages
alludes to Jews whose religious views were considered objectionable, as they were (in
the opinion of the sages) syncretistic, that is, they implied serving God in partnership.

It is interesting to note that certain examples of the Judeo-Christian polemic from the
fourth century onward reveal that the Jews condemned the Christians for worshiping
objects, trees, and stones, and that certain Christians of that era construed these items
to be sacred and viewed them more or less on the order of angels.37 However, it would
appear that these later views rebuked Christians for the very type of practices that had
existed among the Jews themselves centuries before.

Just how commonplace the appeal to angels was is demonstrated by a baraita in BT

Ber 60b (Dereh Eretz 11; Kalla Rabbati 9:13):

35
Translated from: I. Epstein (supra n. 20), p. 133. This version is the printed one, but
it is likely that an error has crept in and it should read: ‘continues to circumcise <or
continues to slaughter> until his/its soul expires’.
36
See: Sefer Harazim (Book of Secrets), M. Margaliot edition, Jerusalem: Yediot
Achronot, 1967, pp. 12-16. See also: Rachel Elior, ‘Mysticism, Magic, and
Angelology: The Perception of Angels in Hekhalot Literature’, Jewish Studies
Quarterly, 1 (1993/94), pp. 3-53 (esp. 41-43); H. Mack, ‘The Unique Character of
the Zippori Synagogue Mosaic and Eretz Israel Midrashim’, Cathedra, 88 (1998),
pp. 39-56 (Hebrew).
37
See: N. H. Baynes, ‘The Icons before Iconoclasm’, HTR, XLIV (1951), pp. 93-106.

8
 On entering a privy one should say: ‘Be honoured, ye honoured and holy ones
the minister to the Most High. Give honour to the God of Israel. Wait for me
till I enter and do my needs, and I return to you’.38

Presumably, then, several times in the course of an ordinary day, a Jew would turn to
angels and ask them not to accompany him to the privy. This custom, too, was later
abolished because of objections to praying to angels.39

III. Prayers to Saintly Individuals in Tannaitic Texts and Later

The custom of appealing to a revered holy person, whether a sage or prophet, is well
known from Scripture. The luminary would serve as an intermediary between those in
need of divine help and God by soliciting divine intervention and praying on their
behalf.40 Thus, for example, the people turned to the prophet and pleaded (Jer. 42:2):
‘Pray for us to the Lord your God.’ From the context it is clear that the Lord was their
God as well, but they were apparently too timid to appeal to him directly. Similarly,
the people begged Samuel (1 Sam. 12:19): ‘Intercede for your servants with the Lord
your God that we may not die’, behavior that is explained by the verse immediately
preceding this: ‘And the people stood in awe of the Lord and Samuel.’ Every
charismatic is typically assumed to have been granted the power to mediate between
his disciples and the divinity, and it seems obvious that a prayer could only be
effective if the individual to whom the supplicant turned for help was someone the
Lord was likely to listen to.

A key religious (and charismatic) figure whose concern for the people was expressed
not only in his dealings with them, but also in his appeals to the Lord was Hanina ben
Dosa.41 M Ber 5:5 states:

38
Translation from: I. Epstein, The Babylonian Talmud: Seder Zera‘im, London: The
Soncino Press, 1948, p. 377.
39
Rabbi Joseph Karo, in Shulhan Arukh, Orah Haim, 3, 1, writes: ‘When one enters
the water closet, one says: be honored, you honored ones etc., but now it is not
said’.
40
M. Greenberg, ‘Prayer’, Encyclopedia Miqrait, 8 (1982), pp. 896-922 (Hebrew); M.
Greenberg, Lectures on Prayer in Scripture, Jerusalem: Akademon Press, 1981,
pp. 17 ff. (Hebrew); Y. Muffs, ‘Between Law and Mercy: The Prayer of Prophets’,
A. Shapira, ed., Torah Nidreshet, Tel-Aviv: Am Obed 1984, pp. 39-87 (especially
74 ff. Hebrew); Patrick D. Miller, They Cried to The Lord, Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 1994, pp. 262-280.
41
See: G.B.A. Zarfati, ‘Sages and Men of Deeds’, Tarbiz, 26 (1957) pp. 126-153
(Hebrew); S. Safrai, The Land of Israel and Its Sages in the Period of the Mishna
and the Talmud, United Kibbutz Publishers 1984, pp. 144 ff. (Hebrew); Y.
Frankel, Studies in the Spiritual World of the Legendary Tale, United Kibbutz
Publishers, 1981, pp. 23 ff. (Hebrew); G. Vermes, Post-Biblical Jewish Studies,
Leiden: Brill, 1975, pp. 178-214; S. Freyne, ‘The Charismatic’, G. W. E.
Nickelsburg and J. J. Collins (eds.), Ideal Figures in Ancient Judaism – Profiles
and Paradigms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1980, pp. 223-258.

9
 It was related of [R.] Hanina ben Dosa that he used to pray for the sick and
say, this one will live. They said to him: how do you know? He replied: If my
prayer comes out fluently, I know that he (= the patient) is accepted, but if not,
then I know that he is rejected.42

An expanded version appears in a baraita cited in BT Ber 34b:

Our Rabbis taught: Once the son of R. Gamaliel fell ill. He sent two scholars
to R. Hanina ben Dosa to ask him to pray for him. When he saw them he went
up to the upper chamber and prayed for him. When he came down he said to
them: Go, the fever has left him; [by the sun]. They said to him: Are you a
prophet? He replied: I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I
learnt this from experience. If my prayer is fluent in my mouth, I know that he
is accepted: but if not, I know that he is rejected.43

The baraita goes on to refer to another incident of interest:

On another occasion it happened that R. Hanina ben Dosa went to study Torah
with Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai. The son of R. Johanan ben Zakkai fell ill.
He said to him: Hanina my son, pray for him that he may live. He put his head
between his knees and prayed for him and he lived.44

The extraordinary figure of R. Hanina ben Dosa has already been discussed by many
scholars who study the world of the sages, and there is no need to expand. What is
relevant, however, is the fact that some (although not all) of the Tannaim, viewed as
authorities passing down the traditions of the Torah, sought a distinguished or saintly
individual to intervene with God in some way on behalf of the ill. Even the greatest of
the Tannaim, such as Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, appealed to such people. This was
accepted practice not only among the Tannaim, but among the Amoraim in Palestine
as well. This might be understood from the following: ‘R. Phinehas b. Hama gave the
following exposition: Whoever has a sick person in his house should go to a sage who
will invoke [heavenly] mercy for him; as it is said (Prov. 16:14): “The wrath of a king
is as messenger of death; but a wise man will pacify it”.’45

A similar statement is found in BT AZ 8a: ‘[So also] said R. Hiyya b. Ashi in the
name of Rab: Even though it has been said that one should pray for his needs only at
“Who hearest prayer”, still if [for example] one has a sick person at home, he may
offer [an extempore] prayer at the Benediction for the sick’.46 In other words, a person
is permitted to pray for a sick member of his household (his wife or children), and
indeed to this day Jews are accustomed to doing so.47 If this was accepted by the

42
Translation: I. Epstein (supra n. 38), p. 214.
43
Translation: I.Epstein (supra n. 38), pp. 215-216. Florence manuscript II I 7 9
contains minor discrepancies that are insubstantial.
44
Translation: I. Epstein (supra n. 36), p. 216.
45
BT BB 116a; translation: I. Epstein (supra n. 19), vol II, p. 478.
46
Translation: I. Epstein (supra n. 19), p. 35.
47
This is grounded in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 119; see also Yoreh Deah 335.
Compare BT Ber 34a: ‘R. Jacob said in the name of R. Hisda: If one prays on

10
sages and their disciples, who were familiar with the theological problems of such a
prayer, then it must certainly have been the norm among the simple folk.48

This notion of appealing to a distinguished individual to intervene with the Lord is

also reflected in the people’s plea to Honi the Circle Maker (Hame‘agel), another
charismatic figure (M Taan 3:8), ‘to pray for rainfall’. We learn in BT Taan 23a that
the sages also asked Abba Hilkiah, the son of the daughter of Honi, to pray (on their
behalf) for rainfall, as it happened with Hanan the Hidden (BT Taan 23b), and the
Gemara cites a number of similar examples in the same place.

Clearly, then, sources in Talmudic literature provide a wide range of instances of

human intermediaries in prayer, from the legend of Moses appealing to Joshua bin
Nun, Eleazar the Priest, and the nobles of Israel, and to the petitions to Honi
Hameagel and to other ‘distinguished figures’. These sources clearly demonstrate
what we are seeking to prove here, a fact which is not generally recognized: Jews in
the period of the Mishnah and Talmud (like those who came before them) prayed not
only to the Lord, but also to intermediaries.49

IV. Prayers to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Legend

Since contact with the dead was considered to contaminate the living, in Biblical
times, as in the tannaitic period, there were some people who took care not to be
rendered impure in this way.50 However, the gradual disappearance of the laws of
purity and impurity enabled the people to begin to visit graves and solicit the help of
the deceased. This practice is first related by Rava in Babylon, according to whom the
spies went up to Hebron to prostrate themselves on the graves of the patriarchs (BT
Sot 34b).51 Similarly, one of the Palestinian Amoraim of the third century believed in
visiting cemeteries on fast days, ‘so that the dead shall plead for mercy on us’ (BT

behalf of his fellow, he need not mention his name, since it says: “Heal her now, O
God, I beseech Thee”’ [Translation: Epstein, p. 212].
48
For example: 2 Enoch (Slavic) 4:6: ‘And they said to me: Man of God, pray for us
to the Lord’; ibid, 13. 105: ‘And now my son do not say our father is with the
Lord, and he will protect us and pray to offset our sins – none can help any one
who has sinned’; II Thessalonians 3.1: ‘Finally, brethren, pray for us’. The
Christian sources in this regard have been studied at length, see: A. R. C. Leaney,
‘The Johannine Paraclete and the Qumran Scrolls,’ J. H. Charlesworth, (ed.), John
and the Dead Sea Scrolls, New York: Crossroad, 1990, pp. 38-61.
49
In The Words of Gad the Seer, verses 108-109, Tamar, the daughter of David, turns
to her father (who is not present), appealing to him to mediate between her and
God. See: M. Bar-Ilan, ‘The Date of The Words of Gad the Seer’, JBL, 109/3
(1990), pp. 477-493; M. Bar-Ilan, Some Jewish Women in Antiquity, pp. 93-94.
50
T. J. Lewis, Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit, Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1989.
51
See further BT Hag 22b: ‘R. Joshua immediately went and prostrated himself on
the graves of Beth Shammai, saying: I have sinned against you, bones of Beth
Shammai, and if this is so with your hidden issues – then a fortiori with your open
issues’. Here, however, forgiveness is asked of the dead, whereas in the case of the
spies a request is made to the dead to intervene with God.

11
Ta‘an 16a).52 Once the practice became widely established in popular circles,
community leaders seem to have followed in their wake, also visiting graves and
pleading with the dead to bring their prayers before the Lord.53 The custom is
described in greater detail in Lamentations Rabba (Buber) Petihta 24:

The Holy One Blessed Be He said to Jeremiah: Today I resemble a man who
had an only son for whom he prepared the bridal canopy and the son died
under the bridal canopy. And you feel no pain for Me or for my son. Go
summon Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses for they know how to weep.54

In other words, the prophet Jeremiah is sent by God to summon the Patriarchs, that is,
to visit their graves and ask them to weep before Him. The preacher in Lamentations
Rabba depicts a rather dramatic scene in which the Patriarchs ‘tore their clothes,
placed their hands on their heads and shouted and wept up to the doors of the Holy
Temple’. In contrast, the preacher in Genesis Rabba, apparently earlier than
Lamentations Rabba, speaks not of the Patriarchs, but of the Matriarch Rachel:

‘So Rachel died and she was buried on the way to Ephrath…’ Why did Jacob
bury Rachel on the way to Ephrath? Jacob foresaw that the exiles would pass
by there [en route to Babylon]. Therefore he buried her there, so that she
should seek mercy for them: “A voice is heard in Ramah… Rachel weeping
for her children... Thus says the Lord, ‘Keep your voice from weeping… and
there is hope for your future’… (Jer. 31:15-16).55

Another reference to Rachel’s burial place appears in Pesikta Rabbati 3, and focuses
on why she was not buried together with the Patriarchs:

God commanded Rachel to be buried there because it was known to Him and
foreseen that a time was to come when the Temple would be destroyed and
Jacob’s children would depart into exile. Whereupon they would go to the
Patriarchs whom they would beseech to pray for them, but the Patriarchs
would not avail the children of Israel. Then, before the setting forth on their
way, they would go and embrace the tomb of Rachel, who would arise and beg
mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, saying to Him: Master of the Universe,
hearken to the voice of my weeping and have mercy upon my children, or else

52
BT Ta‘an 16a: ‘Why do people visit a cemetery? R. Levi bar Hama and R. Hanina
differ; one says: we are considered as dead before You, and one says: so that the
dead should plead for mercy on our behalf’...
53
This subject has been dealt with recently in: Z. Safrai, ‘Graves of the Righteous and
Holy Places in Jewish Tradition’, E. Schiller (ed.), Zev Vilnay’s Jubilee Volume, II,
Jerusalem: Ariel, 1987, pp. 303-313 (Hebrew); Y. Lichtenstein, From the Impurity
of the Dead to His Sanctification, doctoral dissertation, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat-Gan 1997, pp. 168-181 (Hebrew, unpublished).
54
Lam. Rabba, Pesikta, 24, S. Buber edition, pp. 24-25; Eicha Zuta, p. 64.
55
Genesis Rabbah (translated by J. Neusner), Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, 1985,
III, p. 173.

12
 pay the due bill which I present.56 Forthwith the Holy One, blessed be He,
would listen to the voice of her prayer.57

This midrash relates explicitly to what is not spelled out in the earlier one. In Genesis
Rabba, Rachel pleas for mercy from the Lord without being asked to, whereas in
Pesikta Rabbati, she does so only after her sons come and beg her to intercede for
them. In addition, the preacher was undoubtedly aware that Jews went to the Cave of
Machpela in Hebron to ask the Patriarchs for mercy, as he must have seen this for
himself. We can therefore deduce from Talmudic sources that the practice of
appealing to the dead Patriarchs began in the Amoraic period, most probably
emerging around their burial places in Hebron and Rachel’s tomb.

If we look outside of Talmudic literature we first encounter prayer at patriarchal

tombs in the elegy of R. Elazar Haqalir. This is recited to this day on the Ninth of Av:
‘Then when Jeremiah went to the burial places of the Patriarchs and declared:
Lovable bones, why lie you still? Your children are exiled and their houses are
destroyed. What is become of the merit of the ancestors in the land of drought’...58
Apparently, then, in the sixth or seventh centuries, the Jews in Palestine prayed at the
tombs of the patriarchs in Hebron. The poet was a leader in prayer (and probably
more) and although the custom is mentioned in rabbinical sources, the prayer itself is
unknown, so the poet apparently ‘reconstructed’ the words said by the prophet. As it
was composed only for the purposes of the elegy, however, it cannot be considered as
authentic.

Not long after the time of Haqalir, a prayer to be recited at the grave of the prophet
Samuel was, in fact, composed, and reads in part:

Fortunate are you the faithful and friendly, fortunate the modest and the
pious... because of your merit God will receive [the prayer of His people
Israel], because of your merit God will bring to end [of our exile]... our master
Samuel the prophet... [be dear] my soul in your eyes and the souls of your
servants believing in your prophecy, who come to prostrate themselves on
your grave, to implore the great and awesome Lord your God on behalf of the
surviving remnant…59

Thus, Talmudic literature retains a number of references to the custom of visiting

graves. What is more, by the ninth century at the latest, special prayers were being
written for the graves of the prophets of Israel, and it is more than reasonable to
assume that prayers meant to be recited at the graves of the patriarchs in Hebron
already existed at that time. Hence, praying at gravesites, a custom prohibited in

56
The translator added here in a footnote: ‘I.e., transfer my bones to Machpelah in
Hebron’.
57
Pesikta Rabbati (translated by William G. Braude), New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1968, I. pp. 75-76 (piska 3).
58
D. Goldschmidt, ed., Order of Elegies for the Ninth of Ab: Polish Rite, Jerusalem:
Mossad Harav Kook, 1968, p. 98 (Hebrew). The editor states that the hymn-writer
relied on Lam Rabbati, Petihta 24, a text dealt with by Z. Safrai (supra note 55).
59
S. Assaf, ‘Ancient Prayers on the Grave of the Prophet Samuel’, Jerusalem, 1
(1948), pp. 71-73 (Hebrew).

13
 Scripture and condemned in later periods, appears to have been a norm more than a
thousand years ago, even if the halachic authorities refused to admit it.

V. Conclusion

The sources presented above clearly indicate that the Jews in Palestine in the Talmud
period did not pray exclusively to God, but also to various intermediaries, including
celestial bodies and natural phenomena, leaders, and the saintly, both living and dead.
All of these were asked to pray to the Lord on behalf of the supplicant. This cannot be
considered only as ‘popular religion’, since even the greatest of the Tannaim appealed
to intermediaries to intercede with the Lord. At the same time, there are indications
that the sages sought to ‘popularize’ prayer by teaching that God welcomes the
prayers of all people, not only of the sages, the pious or the priest. Exodus Rabba 21:4
states:

‘Who hears prayer’—R. Judah bar Shalom reported in the name of R. Eleazar:
A human being, if a poor man comes to say something to him—he does not
listen to him; if a rich man comes to say something—he immediately listens
and receives him. But the Holy One blessed Be He is not so, but all are equal
before him—women and slaves and the poor and the rich... this is prayer and
this is prayer: all are equal before God in prayer.

Notwithstanding this teaching, which reflects an attitude of equality among all

believers in respect to prayer (precluding the need for intermediaries), it is clear that
the appeal to angels and other intermediaries in the Judaism of the Talmudic period
was not limited to a small circle. On the contrary, it was accepted by all levels of
society, from the sages representing the religious norm to the broad ranks of the
populace. Only later did theologians and religious philosophers seek to limit this
practice, or at the very least, to disguise it.

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