Was Rachel Imeinu Killed by a Werewolf?
As many of you know I am a sometimes author of werewolf fiction, and this blog by Rabbi Slifkin is very intriguing and his research is just amazing. It has been said that the term “חיות רעות” in many Ashkenazic texts of תפילת הדרך doesn’t mean “wild animals” but was a recognized term specifically referring to werewolves in medieval Ashkenaz. This bit is particularly interesting:
“In Sacred Monsters, I thought that the description of Benjamin eating his mother was a figure of speech, and metaphorically referred to his causing her death via childbirth. But now I think it might mean that he literally ate her! An earlier comment makes use of the albam system of letter substitution, whereby the Hebrew alphabet is split into two parts, and each letter is replaced by the corresponding letter in the other part. Based on this system, the word tzelem, “image,” as in “man was created in the image of God,” converts to ze’ev, “wolf,” which is explained to have great significance:
- Tzelem is ze’ev in the albam system; therefore, those people who change into wolves were created as such from the Six Days of Creation, and do not return to their earlier state until they have eaten the blood of a man or woman. (Commentary to Genesis 2:28)”
Rabbi Natan Slifkin, known as the “Zoo Rabbi,” takes an allusion in a text by Rabbeinu Ephraim ben Shimshon and runs with it. (Rabbeinu Ephraim’s text here.)
Also, there’s a follow-up post: Was Eisav a Vampire?
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