The Awesome Tale of Rabbi Yosef della Reina

Translator's note

This translates the Navarro version as printed in Warsaw 1899, from the Hebrew Wikisource transcription; it has not been checked against the scan (hebrewbooks.org/62097).

• God-language is gender-neutral. The Tetragrammaton is Adonai; Havayah where the text speaks of the Name itself. Melekh is "Sovereign." Kudsha Brikh Hu is "the Holy Blessed One." No pronouns for God.
• People-language is inclusive where the Hebrew is generic. Bnai ("my sons") is "my children"; ben adam is "child of Adam"; bnei Yisrael is "the people Israel."
• Gender stays where it carries the plot. The cast is male, the purity rules exclude women, Samael and Lilith are a male–female pair, and the queen's violation drives the ending. Neutralizing these would hide the story's own logic of holiness, desire and the demonic, which is much of what makes it worth reading.
• Kabbalistic terms are kept in transliteration (Shekhinah, sitra achra, kelippot, yichudim, tzerufim, kavvanot, Shem ha-Meforash) and defined in the glossary at the end.
• Biblical phrases are translated fresh and cited, since the Hebrew leans on them constantly.
• Variants from the 1905 printing are noted in brackets.

I. The resolve, and the night at Meron

A great and awesome tale of Yosef della Reina, a great and wise man, expert in the wisdom of practical Kabbalah, who lived in the land of the Galilee, in Safed, may it be rebuilt speedily in our days.

One day he set his heart on pressing for the Redemption, to bring it about and remove the reign of arrogance from the earth.

He had five students who were with him day and night, ready for whatever he asked. They were also versed in that wisdom, having learned it from him.

He said to them: "My children, I have set my heart to search and explore by the wisdom God gave me. It is no good to spend our days to no purpose. God did not grace us with this wisdom for nothing, but so that we might give pleasure to our Creator: to remove the spirit of impurity and the idols from the earth, to bring our Messiah, and to free us from our oppressors."

The five students answered with one voice: "Our master, our teacher, our rabbi, we are ready for all you command, and whatever you desire we will do. Adonai Elohim is with you, and we are your servants and your students. Do all your soul longs for."

He said to them: "Then do this. Purify yourselves, change your clothes, and be ready in three days. Do not approach a woman. Prepare provisions, for on the third day we go out to the field, and we will not return to our homes until the people Israel each inherit their portion in the Holy Land. We go with the help of the One awesome in deeds, who gives strength to the weary (Isaiah 40:29), the right hand of Adonai, glorious in power (Exodus 15:6)."

When the students heard their teacher's words they rose quickly and with great resolve. They put on clean garments, purified themselves, changed their clothes, and took provisions: bread prepared in purity, which no woman had touched.

On the third day they came to him. There he stood alone in his house of study, in great holiness and purity and separation, in solitary meditation, his head between his knees.

When they came in he lifted his head and said: "Come in, my children, blessed of Adonai. May the pleasantness of Adonai our God be upon us (Psalm 90:17). May it be God's will that the Shekhinah rest on the work of our hands, that the Holy Blessed One agree with us and help us for the sake of the glory of the Name."

They answered: "Amen, so may Adonai say. And may Adonai's purpose prosper in your hand (Isaiah 53:10)."

After this Rabbi Yosef took all kinds of spices, and a scribe's inkhorn at his waist, and said to them: "Rise, let us go out."

They went to Meron, to the grave of Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. They prostrated themselves on the grave and spent the night there, sleeping only fitfully.

Toward morning, a little before dawn, Rabbi Yosef dozed. Rashbi and his son Rabbi Elazar came to him in a dream and said: "Why put your head under a heavy load you cannot lift? Your intention is welcome, if you can carry it through. So take great care, and guard your life."

He answered: "God, Adonai Elohim, knows my intention, and the Merciful One desires the heart. May God help us for the sake of the glory of the Name, which has been profaned."

They said to him: "May Adonai your God accept you" (2 Samuel 24:23).

II. Tiberias, and the summoning of Elijah

In the morning they went to Tiberias. They walked out through the fields until they came to a forest of many trees, and they stayed there all that day, never pausing from study and fasting. They saw no human being and no animal, only the birds of the sky. They occupied themselves with the tzerufim of the holy Names and the yichudim known to them, in holiness and great awe.

Every morning they went to immerse in the Sea of Tiberias: twenty-six immersions in a row, corresponding to the Name Havayah. With each immersion they directed their minds to the tzeruf and yichud known to them.

They kept this practice three days and three nights running, fasting night and day. At night they ate nothing that had lived, no meat and no fish, and drank no wine or strong drink.

Toward evening, at the hour of Mincha, Rabbi Yosef and his students rose and prayed Mincha in a sweet voice, with great kavvanah, their eyes closed. At Shema Koleinu they said Aneinu. Wherever the Havayah is normally spoken by its substitute, Adonai, they pronounced the Great Name as it is written, with its known vowels and the necessary yichudim.

He went on at length, pressing in prayer, with great adjurations to all the supernal angels known to him. At last he spoke the Havayah combined with the Name of Forty-Two: "Answer us at this time and this hour!" By the power of this Great Name he adjured Elijah the prophet to come to him at once, while he was awake, to speak with him and teach him what to do to bring his intention into action.

He finished his prayer, and they fell on their faces in nefilat appayim. Immediately afterward Elijah the prophet came running and suddenly appeared to them. He said: "Here I am. What shall I do for you? What is your request, that you pressed so hard in prayer?"

Rabbi Yosef and his students rose to their feet and bowed to the ground. They said: "Peace to our master, my father, my father, chariot of Israel and its horsemen (2 Kings 2:12), true prophet, holy one of Adonai, bearer of good news, announcer of salvation. Do not be displeased that I pressed to bring you here. It is revealed and known before our God that I troubled you not for my own honor or for myself. I have been zealous for the honor of the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah. And you are the one fit to be zealous with the zeal of Adonai Tzeva'ot, for that is your craft. So let my plea fall before you. Show me the way to conquer the sitra achra and to strengthen the side of holiness."

Elijah the prophet answered: "Know that what you plan to do is too heavy for you, and you will not succeed. Because of sin, the kelippot, Samael and his company have grown very strong, and you cannot overcome them. It would take more purity, holiness and great separation: withdrawing from the matters of this world, adding mortifications and immersions. Without these you cannot prevail against them; they may strike you and harm you. But know that your intention is welcome. If you bring your intention into action, happy are you and good is your portion. Still, my counsel is: stop, lest Samael and his company strike you, for you cannot overcome him."

Rabbi Yosef answered: "Please, my master, do not weaken my hands. Strengthen me and encourage me. I have sworn not to return home until I bring to light and raise the holy Shekhinah from the dust. You too, blessed of Adonai, join your hand with ours. Teach us properly what to do, and I take it upon myself to keep all that my master commands his servant. I am ready and prepared to give my soul and spirit to death for the honor of the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah. Only let your word come: what should we do? Our eyes are on you."

When Elijah heard that he was ready to risk his life for the honor of the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah, he said: "What more can I say to you? If you succeed, if you can stand against Samael and his company and keep what I command you today, happy are you, good is your portion, and pleasant is your lot.

"This is what you and your students must do. Stay in the field, far from any settlement, as you have until now. Let no one see you, and let no one be found with you, human or beast. Stay there twenty-one days. Do not eat or drink except from night to night, and let your food be bread and water alone. Never eat to fullness, only as much as you know you need to live. Each night eat a little less, until you train yourselves to eat the smallest amount. Train yourselves to smell fragrant spices, so that your bodily matter becomes refined and clear, and you can endure the supernal angels you bring down to speak with you.

"Each day perform twenty-one immersions, the number of Ehyeh. At the end of the twenty-one days, make a break and take on a fast of three straight days, night and day, still immersing twenty-one times each day.

"On the third day, after Mincha, speak the Great Name, the Name of Forty-Two that you know, with its combinations and kavvanot. And speak the Great Name drawn from the verse 'Seraphim stood above' (Isaiah 6:2), as you know its vowels and its source.

"When you do this, be wrapped in tallit and tefillin, with your faces covered, and by these holy Names adjure the angel Sandalfon and his camp to come to you.

"When they come, strengthen yourselves by breathing in the good fragrance, for fear, trembling and great weakness will seize you at the roar of the earthquake and the great fire. Immediately throw yourselves to the ground and say in a very loud voice: Barukh shem kevod malkhuto le-olam va-ed, blessed be the name of the glory of God's sovereignty forever.

"At once Sandalfon and his company will say to you, 'Why have you done this?' The moment he speaks, the great roar and the force of his speech will drive your souls out of you. You will be left without strength, your words will close up, and you will not be able to answer him for fear and weakness. So at that moment have pure frankincense ready to smell, and ask the angel, pleading, to strengthen you and give you the power to speak.

"He will tell you what to do. He guards the road and the path so that Samael cannot enter the holy places. He knows his schemes, and the places where he grows strong, and on what their power depends, so that you can make war on him. May Adonai your God accept you in peace."

III. The twenty-one days, and Sandalfon

As soon as Elijah had gone his way, Rabbi Yosef and his students girded themselves together with one heart, adding extra holiness to their holiness. They did everything Elijah told them and let nothing fall. They did not stop studying day or night. They thought of nothing in this world, only of contemplative truths and Ma'aseh Merkavah, until the nature of matter had almost been stripped from them.

When they had completed the days as Elijah commanded, at the hour of the early Mincha, Rabbi Yosef and his students rose in great awe, fear and dread. They wrapped themselves in tallit and tefillin, covered their heads, and prayed Mincha with great kavvanah, saying Aneinu as before. In place of the Havayah they pronounced the great and awesome Name as written, with the vowels known to them, in melody and chant. They finished the prayer and fell on their faces, covered, in nefilat appayim. Then they rose at once to their feet and made confession for their sins and for the sin of the whole house of Israel.

After that they cried out in a loud voice with all their strength: "Answer us, God of the Merkavah, answer us!" They made the adjuration by the Name of Forty-Two, and by the Name Elijah had given them from the verse "Seraphim stood above," and by the power of the holy Names they adjured the angel Sandalfon to reveal himself to them now, he and all his holy company.

As they finished speaking, the heavens opened, and suddenly the angel Sandalfon came to them with all his camp. There were chariots of fire and horses of fire, a great camp, flaming fire filling the whole earth, a great earthquake, a great voice that did not cease.

Rabbi Yosef trembled with an exceedingly great trembling. No spirit was left in him or in his students. They fell on their faces to the ground, their hearts failed, and trembling seized them. They steadied themselves and breathed in the pure frankincense they held, and their spirit returned. But dread, trembling and great weakness stayed on them, so that they could not speak.

When the angel Sandalfon came to them with his camp, he said: "What do you want, child of Adam, maggot and worm? How did your heart dare to shake the upper and lower worlds, without looking at your own lowly worth? Take your glory and stay home (2 Kings 14:10), lest my hosts strike you and burn you with the breath of their mouths."

Rabbi Yosef answered in a low voice, broken by weakness and great dread, his whole body and every limb shaking: "My master, holy angel of God, what can this servant say before you? I am left without breath or soul, like the dead, from fear of you. Great dread and trembling have fallen on me, for I feared this great fire. I cannot answer my master. In your kindness, strengthen me and encourage me, and give me permission to speak before my master."

As soon as the angel heard his words, he touched him and said: "Rise and speak your words. See, I have strengthened you."

When the angel touched him he rose, strengthened. He bowed to the ground and took his shoes off his feet. But his students still lay with their faces to the ground and could not rise.

Rabbi Yosef said: "Peace to you, and peace be your coming, angel of Adonai Tzeva'ot, and peace to all your holy camps. I ask you, strengthen me and encourage me and help me fulfill my will. It is revealed before the Sovereign of sovereigns of sovereigns, the Holy Blessed One, that I act not for my own honor or the honor of my father's house, but only for the honor of the living God, Sovereign of sovereigns of sovereigns, to whom alone sovereignty belongs. Now you, holy one, and your holy hosts, agree with me to make war on Amalek and his prince. Teach us the way to remove the reign of arrogance from the earth: how, and by what, I can bring Samael down from his heavenly dwellings, and raise the camps of the holy hosts to exalt the One high above the high, as it was in days of old."

The angel answered Rabbi Yosef: "Your words are good and right. Would that someone listened to you, and may God be with you. All the delight of the multitude of holy ones, seraphim and erelim and all the holy camps, is to sit and wait for the time when Adonai Elohim's vengeance comes and the Shekhinah of God's holiness is raised up. Because of sin, she is brought low into the lowest exiles.

"But know, child of Adam, that everything you have done until now is nothing. If you knew the place where Samael and his camp are now, you would never have entered into this. Who can overcome him except the Holy Blessed One alone, in person, when the time for God's word comes?

"I have come to you now for the honor of the Great Name you spoke. But what can I do for you? I cannot grasp how great the power of Samael and his camp is, or on what his descent and ascent depend. Only the great angel Akhatriel and his hosts, and Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, and his hosts, can. If not for them, Samael would break in and have the power to annihilate 'the enemies of Israel' (a euphemism for Israel itself). My only power is to guard the holy paths in Olam ha-Asiyah, the World of Action, through which the prayers of Israel pass. I guard them until I hand them over to those angels. They are the ones who know, and can tell you, on what Samael's great power depends.

"But who can stand before those mighty angels? You could not bear the great sight and the great dread, the consuming fire. Even the fire of the angels beneath their rank was too much for you. If you were terrified before me, how could you bear it, and stand, and survive before them?!

"As for the separation you have practiced, you must add to it again and again. 'Withdraw and receive reward,' as they say. But truly, if you could do this thing properly, your reward would be very great. And who can stand in their presence?"

Rabbi Yosef answered: "I am young and small, and I know I am not worthy to do this. Who am I to come before the angel? But I know that a broken and crushed heart, God will not despise (Psalm 51:19), for God has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted (Psalm 22:25). I have made up my mind to give my soul and spirit for the holiness of the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah, to unite them in complete yichud. Whatever is needed I will do. I will pour out my soul, my blood and my flesh as an offering before the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah. So, ministering angel, holy to the Name, teach me what to do to bring down Akhatriel and Metatron. What separation must I add in holiness and purity? By which Name should I adjure them? For I said: let me die this time, after seeing the faces of holy, supernal angels (Genesis 46:30). In that I will have eternal life."

The angel went on: "Hear my words, and may God be with you. Do this, and God will command you, and you will be able to endure it (Exodus 18:23). May it be God's will that you succeed and bring your intention into action.

"This is what you must do. Everything you have done until now, the immersions and the fasts and the purity of thought, do for forty days. Do not let your thoughts move from contemplative truths even for a moment, day or night. Each day cut back your food a little, until you are used to eating very little. Increase the pleasure of fragrance, for it is the main life of the neshamah.

"After forty days, speak the Shem ha-Meforash, the Name of Seventy-Two, with all its epithets and vowels and its source, as you know them. By it, adjure the two great and mighty angels. Before the adjuration, pray and plead before God to help you and give you strength to bear the great dread and the great fire, so that you do not die. After that, plead with these angels to act for the honor of the Shem ha-Meforash and come to you. Steady yourself as you did now, and ask them for strength and power for your words. They are mighty and great angels, and they will make known to you the ways of Samael and how you can bring him down.

"Be strong, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God (2 Samuel 10:12). May Adonai guard you from all harm; may God guard your soul (Psalm 121:7)."

IV. The forty days, Akhatriel and Metatron

The angel of Adonai went up to heaven in a storm, while the students still lay flung on the ground in fear and dread.

When Sandalfon and his camp had departed, they got up from their faces. Rabbi Yosef said to them: "My children, blessed of Adonai, be strong and brave, and let us do quickly all that the angel commanded me."

They said: "We are ready and prepared. Happy are we, who have seen visions of God and heard all their words, even lying on the ground. Whatever you do, our master and rabbi, we will do."

He said: "Blessed are you to Adonai."

They set out through the wilderness to a mountain near Meron, found a cave, and settled in it. They kept all forty days in holiness and purity, just as they had been commanded, leaving nothing out, until they felt nothing of this world in themselves. All those days they saw neither human nor beast.

When the forty days were complete they went out into the wilderness, to the place where the Kishon stream runs above, near its source, for that was where they had immersed all forty days. They prepared to pray the early Mincha and said Aneinu as before. They prayed before God for this with prayer, supplication and great weeping.

They drew a circle on the ground and went inside it. Each gave a hand to the next, until they were bound hand to hand in the circle. After nefilat appayim they cried out to Adonai, spoke the Shem ha-Meforash, and adjured the angel Akhatriel and his camp and the angel Metatron and his camp.

As they spoke the Great Name, the earth quaked and shook. There was thunder and lightning. The heavens opened, and the angels came down with all their camps. They meant to strike Rabbi Yosef and his students, and would have, had the students' hands not stayed joined, and had they not held fast to the kavvanot and Names they knew, in thought though not in speech, for they had no strength to speak. They all fell to the ground, but their hands stayed linked and did not part.

As soon as the angels came down, they began in great fury: "Who is this, and where is the one who dared to use the Sovereign's scepter? How did your heart dare such a thing, you, flesh and blood, a putrid drop, maggot and worm? Who are you, that you called upon the Sovereign?"

When Rabbi Yosef saw this great sight, terror and great dread fell on him: the roar, the great fire, chariots of fire and horses of fire, angels and seraphim and their hosts filling the whole earth, a storm wind tearing mountains apart and shattering rocks, and the great fury of the angels who wanted to strike him. He and his students lay on the ground like mutes, as if asleep. No breath remained in them, and they could not answer the angels, so terrified were they.

The angel Metatron touched him and said: "Speak! Won't you answer, putrid drop? What is this great disturbance you have caused us? Woe to you, that you had no care for the honor of your Maker!"

When the angel touched him, he opened his mouth and spoke faintly, in great weakness, his eyes shut: "What can a worthless and lowly servant say before holy and pure angels, unless you strengthen me? Now, my masters, strengthen me and permit me to speak, for I am like a silent stone, and my spirit and soul are spent."

The angel Akhatriel also stretched out his hand, touched him, and said: "See, I have strengthened you. Speak your words."

Then Rabbi Yosef grew strong and opened his mouth. He said: "God, Adonai Elohim, knows whether I did all this in rebellion or in treachery (Joshua 22:22). I did it only for the honor of the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah, to raise her up from the dust where she lies brought low by our sins. Now you, high and holy angels, this commandment is yours, and let the glory of this deed not be counted as mine. It is fitting for you angels to be zealous with the zeal of Adonai Tzeva'ot. So I ask you, ministering angels, by the power of the great Shem ha-Meforash, on which the upper and lower worlds hang and stand: give honor to God's Name, and teach me where the power of Samael and his camp lies, and how I can bring him down."

The angels answered together: "You have asked a hard thing (2 Kings 2:10). If only you knew how mighty and how strong he is, because of the sins of Israel. No one knows him but us, for we guard the upper paths against the camps of Samael and his company. He is very strong, and no one can bring him down, for his nest is set among the stars (Obadiah 1:4), and there he dwells, surrounded by three barriers because of Israel's sin. He is very strong, and no one can overcome him but the Holy Blessed One alone, when the time for God's word comes."

Rabbi Yosef went on: "I have already risked my life for the honor of the Holy Blessed One and the Shekhinah. After seeing holy camps and surviving, I trust in God's kindness to help me and let me succeed. Let your pure words come and tell me properly what to do, and I will take great care to do everything you say."

The angels answered: "Hear, Yosef, the word of Adonai. It has never been hidden from the One who spoke and the world came to be that your intention is welcome. But the hour has not yet come, and the decree is already sealed: 'Do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready' (Song of Songs 2:7). Yet from the side of wisdom and knowledge, of hidden secrets that are fire hewn from the Rock of Worlds, we are compelled, for the honor of the great Shem ha-Meforash, to tell you and show you the way to go. But know that you cannot overcome him. So do not enter a place that is not fit for you. Thus far you shall come, and no farther (Job 38:11). Still, if you want to press the matter through the Great Name, we will tell you what to do. And truly, if you should succeed, how good your portion, how pleasant your lot."

Rabbi Yosef answered: "Holy supernal ones, your words are good and right. But my heart burns within me when I see the Shekhinah of God's strength brought low, and I am zealous for Zion with great zeal (Zechariah 8:2). Adonai will do what is good in God's eyes. Though God slay me, I will hope in God (Job 13:15); I will not turn my thought away. You, supernal angels, strengthen me with the best of understanding, and let it stay with me as a reminder, so that I turn neither right nor left. I trust in the Great Name that I will meet no stumbling block or snare."

Then the angel Akhatriel began: "Know that on one side, the side facing me, Samael has two strong barriers. One is a wall of iron from the earth to the heavens. The other is a great barrier of the Ocean, the sea great and wide (Psalm 104:25)."

The angel Metatron answered likewise: on his side, facing him, Samael has a barrier of a great mountain of snow whose peak reaches the sky.

"Now set your eyes and your heart on everything we tell you, and be strong and brave. You must bring down and pass these three barriers to go up Mount Seir, which is Edom, to judge the mountain of Esau (Obadiah 1:21).

"This is what you must do. When you leave this place, set your road toward Mount Seir. We will go before you there, on Mount Seir above. Whatever you do below, as we tell you, we will do above. The image of your soul will be with us above in everything you do: what you do below, your soul will do above. So take great care, and let nothing fall of all we tell you.

"On the road to Mount Seir, keep to holiness, to eating little, and to yichudim, as you have until now. Your souls have already risen so high that you are nearly in the category of angels, and the ways of the world are forgotten to you. Persist in this, and do not let your thought part from contemplative truths for even one moment.

"On the way, a great pack of black dogs will come at you. They are bands of Samael, sent to confuse your kavvanah. Do not be afraid. Speak over them the Havayah in its filling with the letter Heh, whose number is fifty-two, the number of kelev, dog. Direct it with its vowels and its yichud, and they will flee from you.

"From there, go up the mountain. You will find a great mountain of snow reaching the sky, with no way to turn right or left. Speak the Name drawn from the verse 'Have you entered the storehouses of snow?' (Job 38:22), whose combination and vowels you know, and the mountain will be uprooted from its place. Then speak the Name of 'it snowed on Tzalmon' (Psalm 68:15), as you know its combination and vowels, and the mountain will be abolished from its place entirely.

"Go on holding these kavvanot in your hands, without shifting your thought, until you reach the next barrier, the Ocean, whose waves rise to the sky. Speak over it the Names drawn from the psalm 'Ascribe to Adonai, you divine beings' (Psalm 29), with its divine names as written, with their vowels, combinations and source. The sea will dry up, and you will cross on dry land.

"After that you will find a great wall of iron from the earth to the sky. Take a knife in your hand and write on it the Name drawn from the verse 'A sword for Adonai and for Gideon!' (Judges 7:20), with its vowels and source. Cut into the iron with the knife, make an opening, and go in. Take care to hold the opening until you and your students have passed through, so that it does not close. Once you pass, the opening will return and shut.

"Then go on until you reach Mount Seir. At that moment we will cast Samael from his place, and he will already be delivered into your hand. Have ready in your hand the Shem ha-Meforash, written and engraved on a plate of lead. Have a second plate as well, engraved with the Name drawn from the verse in Zechariah (5:8): 'And he said, This is Wickedness, and he thrust her into the barrel, and thrust the lead weight onto its mouth.' Write the Name from the verse with its vowels and source.

"Then go, with all your soul's desire, onto Mount Seir. There you will find Samael the wicked and his mate Lilith. Search for them, for they will have fled from you and hidden in a ruin. You will find them in the form of two black dogs, male and female. Go up to them and do not be afraid. Put the plate of the Shem ha-Meforash on the male dog and the other plate on the female. At once put a rope or chain around their necks, with the plates on them, and they will follow you with all their company.

"Then Adonai's purpose will already have prospered in your hands. Bring Samael to judgment on Mount Seir, which you have crossed. There the great shofar will be sounded, and the Messiah will be revealed and will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth. The Holy Blessed One will slaughter him before the righteous, and there will be complete Redemption, and sovereignty will be Adonai's (Obadiah 1:21).

"If you do this exactly as designed, happy are you, how good your portion, how pleasant your lot. But take care with the kavvanot we have given, you and your students, and do not break from them even for a moment. And take very great care: when Samael and his mate are in your hands, they will weep and plead with you to give them something to eat or drink, or any food to sustain their bodies. Do not listen, and do not give them anything, for though his voice is gracious, do not trust him (Proverbs 26:25). Be very careful about this. And with the kavvanot: even when he is in your hand, you need very great vigilance. Do not leave out anything we have told you, and Adonai will be your confidence and keep your foot from the snare (Proverbs 3:26)."

Then the two holy angels went up to heaven in a storm, while Rabbi Yosef watched, kneeling and bowing. But his students still lay on their faces and could not lift their heads until the angels had gone up. Once the angels had gone, they too rose, with great joy.

V. The journey: dogs, snow, sea and iron

Once the angels had gone up, Rabbi Yosef and his students rose quickly. They set in order the Names, the divine invocations and the kavvanot they had been given, and the two lead plates, and they set their faces toward Mount Seir.

On the way, packs of black dogs came at them, rising against them and surrounding them on every side. At once they spoke the Name they had been given, and the dogs scattered and fled and were not seen again.

Then they went on, climbing for about a day's walk. Toward evening they found a great mountain of snow, enormous, from the earth to the sky. At once they steadied themselves with the Names and tzerufim they had been given, and the mountain was uprooted from its place. With the second tzeruf it was abolished entirely. They spent that night there. In the morning they rose early and walked two more days.

On the third day, at dawn, a great and wide sea lay before them, raging, its waves rising to the sky. At once they spoke the Names as instructed, and they crossed through the sea on dry land.

At midday they reached the great wall of iron, from the earth to the sky. Rabbi Yosef took the knife on which he had written the Name and cut into the iron wall, which was a handbreadth thick, and made an opening in it. They held the opening until all five students had passed through.

As they passed, one of the students, the last, was slow. The door slipped out of Rabbi Yosef's hand and closed on the student's leg, catching it. He cried out: "My teacher and rabbi, save me, my leg is caught!" At once Rabbi Yosef drew the knife and cut the iron around his leg, and he came through, and the door returned to its place.

VI. Mount Seir: the capture and the fall

They climbed to the top of Mount Seir and walked on from there until evening. They came to a valley with a number of ruins, and they heard dogs howling. They went into the ruin, and there, hiding, were two very large black dogs, male and female.

As they came near, the dogs leapt at them to devour them. Rabbi Yosef had the plates in his hands, and at once he sensed that these were Samael and Lilith. He stretched out his right hand and put the plate on the neck of the male dog, and with his left hand the other plate on the neck of the female. His students had ropes in their hands, and they bound them, with the plates on them.

As soon as Samael and Lilith saw that their doom was sealed, they stripped off the form of dogs and put on their own form, a human form, with wings, full of eyes like burning fire. They pleaded and begged Rabbi Yosef to give them bread and water, so that they could survive and stand. They said to him: "My master, here we are now, with all our camps, bent and bound in your hand. We have no strength left. Do with us as you see fit, only give us something to live on. We have been cast out of our domains, where we were nourished from the radiance of the Shekhinah behind the pargod. Why should we die? Give us food to keep us alive until we reach Seir."

Rabbi Yosef refused, as he had been commanded, and would give them nothing.

As they went along the road, Rabbi Yosef and his students were joyful and glad of heart, their faces like flames, while Samael and Lilith and all their camps walked along weeping. Rabbi Yosef rejoiced, and his mind began to slip from its hold. He said: "Who would have believed what we heard (Isaiah 53:1), when they said we would not succeed? Today the heavens rejoice and the earth exults, and they say among the nations, Adonai reigns (1 Chronicles 16:31)."

Then Samael spoke: "I know that you can do anything, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted (Job 42:2)." He wept a great weeping and said: "My master, why are you afraid of me and all my camps? We have no strength or might left, and we are all under your hand, to do your will. Only let us be given something to sustain our spirit, for how will we stand and survive until we get there?"

Rabbi Yosef answered: "I will give nothing, as I was commanded."

When they came near Mount Seir, Rabbi Yosef took a grain of frankincense to smell. Samael said: "If you won't give me food, give me a little of this frankincense in your hand, to smell."

Rabbi Yosef stretched out his hand and gave him a little of the frankincense he held.

Samael sent a spark of fire from his mouth and set the frankincense alight while it was still in Rabbi Yosef's hand. Its smoke rose to Samael's nose. He tore apart the bonds and the ropes and threw the lead plates off himself. He rose up against them with his hosts, and they struck the students. Two died at once from the blast that Samael and his hosts sounded. Two others were struck and lost their minds.

Rabbi Yosef was left alone with one student, exhausted, worn out and stunned. He had not grasped that by giving the frankincense he had burned incense before Samael, making it avodah zarah, idol worship, and that the incense offering had nullified the powers of holiness in the lead plates. Because of sin, he had not kept the angels' words.

In that moment the whole mountain was smoke, darkness and gloom. A bat kol went out and said: "Woe to you, Yosef, and woe to your soul, for you did not keep what you were commanded. You served avodah zarah and burned incense to Samael. Now he is pursuing you, to drive you out of this world and the world to come."

The one student who remained with Rabbi Yosef was exhausted, worn out and weak, and he came to the gates of death. They sat under a tree for about two hours and rested. Afterward they buried the two students, and Rabbi Yosef went with his one student to make their way back. Their faces were changed, strange, green and very weak.

As for the other two, a shed entered them, and they fled and went off, no one knew where. In the end they reached Safed a month later, and soon died from the torment the shedim inflicted on them.

VII. Sidon, and the end of Yosef

After this Rabbi Yosef came to the city of Sidon [1905: and settled there], and he went over to evil ways, since he saw that his plan had failed. Above all, having heard the bat kol, he despaired of the world to come. He made a covenant with Lilith the wicked and gave himself into her hands, and she became his wife.

He defiled himself with every kind of impurity, until he was using the holy Names, and the other Names and adjurations he knew, for evil. Every night he adjured spirits and shedim to bring him whatever he desired.

So it went for many days, until, of all women, he desired the wife of the king of Greece [1905: the wife of Ishmael, that is, of a Muslim ruler]. He had her brought to him almost every night, and in the morning he ordered her returned.

One day the queen said to the king: "Every night, in my dreams, I am taken to a certain place, and a man lies with me. In the morning I find myself in my bed, soiled with seed. I do not know where this comes from."

Then the king understood what was happening. He sent for his magicians and posted them as guards in the queen's chamber, together with other women. He told them to be ready and quick with adjurations and impure Names to stop whoever came to take the queen.

They did so and kept their watch. That night the shedim came at Rabbi Yosef's command. The magicians sensed them at once, worked their operations, and adjured them to learn what this was and why. The shedim said: "We are messengers of Rabbi Yosef, who lives in Sidon."

At once the king sent a commander with letters and a gift to the governor of Sidon, demanding that he send Rabbi Yosef to him alive, immediately, so that the king could take revenge on him and put him to harsh torments.

When Rabbi Yosef saw that his doom was sealed, and learned of the matter through the shedim he had sent, he went, before the letter reached the governor of Sidon, and threw himself into the sea, and died.

And I, the fifth student, was left alone, lying on my sickbed all my days, and there is no cure for my wound. All my limbs boil, and I have no rest from the shedim. I have written this story as a remembrance. May Adonai have mercy on me and say to my troubles: Enough.

These are the words of the student Yehudah Meir, who took part in the great deed of Rabbi Yosef della Reina told above. End.

VIII. The copyist's afterword

I, the copyist, copied this from very old and badly worn writings I found among the stored-away books here in Safed, may it be rebuilt and established. I have written this story as a sign and a remembrance, so that no unqualified person will draw near to bring the Redemption, even though they might press the matter with their wisdom.

Let it also serve as moral instruction in what Solomon said in his wisdom: "Trust in Adonai with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). He should not have relied on his own understanding and wisdom; his trust should have been in the Holy Blessed One.

From this, too, a person may see how strong Samael and his company grow from our sins, that for so small a thing the power of the holiness of the holy Names was nullified. From this let a person learn to revere the glorious and awesome Name, and return in complete teshuvah before God, blessed be. Through this the complete Redemption will come, by the Holy Blessed One alone, who will restore the Shekhinah for the sake of the holy Name. And Judah and Israel will behold the building of Ariel and the coming of the Redeemer. Amen, may it be so.

These are the words of the copyist Shlomo Navarro of Jerusalem [1905: Namaro].

Glossary

Terms kept in transliteration, in the order they first appear.