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Ben Temalion the Demon Who Helped the Sages Beat Rome

When Rome banned Shabbat, circumcision, and purity, the sages sent Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai to Rome with a demon as their only ally.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Three Decrees Against Three Commandments
  2. Reuben Ben Istrubli's Disguise
  3. The Demon They Met on the Road
  4. The Price of One Exorcism

Three Decrees Against Three Commandments

Rome issued three decrees at once. Jews were forbidden to keep Shabbat. Jews were forbidden to circumcise their sons. Jews were forbidden to observe the laws of family purity. The three commandments the empire chose were not random selections. They were the three practices that most visibly marked a Jewish household as Jewish from the outside: the day of rest, the sign in the body, and the rhythms of a Jewish marriage. The empire had identified the visible skeleton of Jewish identity and moved to break it at three points simultaneously.

The sages were desperate. Someone had to go to Rome and argue for the decrees to be rescinded. But who? The empire did not respond to petitions from Jews presenting themselves as Jews. Something more oblique was needed.

Reuben Ben Istrubli's Disguise

A man named Reuben ben Istrubli had a face that could pass for Roman. He cut his hair in the Roman style, dressed himself as a councillor, and walked into the imperial senate chamber without being recognized. The senators took him for one of their own. He began to argue with the calm indirection of a man who had no stake in the outcome.

"If a man has an enemy," he said, "does he want that enemy to be rich or poor?" Poor, the senators said. "Weak or strong?" Weak. "Then consider your own decrees. You have forbidden the Jews their Sabbath. Now they will work seven days a week and outproduce their neighbors. You have forbidden circumcision. Now their population will grow without limit. You have forbidden family purity. Now they will multiply. Every decree you have issued strengthens the people you wish to weaken."

The senators rescinded the decrees. Then they learned that Reuben was a Jew. They immediately re-issued them.

The Demon They Met on the Road

This time the sages chose Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, who had spent thirteen years hiding from Rome in a cave and survived. He traveled with Rabbi Elazar ben Yose. On the road to Rome, they encountered a shed, a spirit, named Ben Temalion. The demon spoke first. He proposed an alliance. He would help the sages enter the emperor's household and accomplish what needed to be accomplished. The sages hesitated. Working with a demon was dangerous territory, theologically and practically. But Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai made a calculation: the urgent need to protect Jewish life outweighed the discomfort of the partnership. He accepted.

Ben Temalion entered the emperor's daughter and took possession of her. She began to suffer. The emperor's physicians could do nothing. Word spread that a demon had taken up residence inside the princess. When the news reached the sages traveling through Rome, they presented themselves as healers of this particular kind of affliction.

The Price of One Exorcism

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai spoke and Ben Temalion departed. The princess recovered. The emperor, grateful, offered the sages whatever they asked for. Rabbi Shimon asked for access to the imperial treasury where the anti-Jewish decrees were stored. The emperor agreed. The sages found the documents, tore them apart, and walked out of Rome. The three commandments that marked a Jewish household were legal again.

The story does not moralize about Ben Temalion. It does not explain whether the demon was acting out of goodwill toward Israel or following some independent calculation. What it preserves is the gap between how Jewish communities imagined the demons and how they imagined the empire. Ben Temalion could be bargained with. Rome, in the ordinary course of events, could not. An alliance with a demon, managed carefully and at the sages' initiative, was more productive than any petition.

Ben TemalionDemonsRashbiRomeShabbatCircumcisionRabbis
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Me'ilah 17a-bHebraic Literature (1901)

Rome had issued three decrees against the Jews. They were forbidden to keep the Sabbath, forbidden to circumcise their sons, and forbidden to observe the laws of family purity. The decrees were aimed at the three commandments that most visibly marked a Jewish household as Jewish.

Reuben ben Istrubli did something unexpected. He cut his hair in the Roman style, dressed as a Gentile, and walked into the senate chamber. The senators did not recognize him. They took him for one of their own.

"If a man has an enemy," Reuben asked them, "does he want that enemy to be rich or poor?" "Poor," the senators answered at once. "Then why are you making the Jews rest every seventh day? You are handing them a day of leisure. Let them work seven days a week and grow exhausted and weak." The senators agreed. The decree against Sabbath was repealed.

"If a man has an enemy," Reuben continued, "does he want him strong or weak?" "Weak." "Then let them circumcise their sons. The pain weakens a boy in his first days. You are making them stronger by preventing it." The decree against circumcision fell.

One by one, Reuben reasoned the Romans out of their own legislation. When they discovered afterward that he was a Jew, they reenacted every decree in fury. The Jews needed an emissary who could go to Rome itself and argue the case before the emperor. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was chosen, with Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yossi beside him, because Shimon was known to be a worker of miracles. The Talmud preserves the story in tractate Me'ilah (17a–b).

The lesson of the Istrubli episode is blunt: sometimes the only way to save the commandments is to speak briefly in the language of the enemies who hate them.

Full source
Gaster, Exempla no. 19; cf. Meilah 17a-bThe Exempla of the Rabbis (1924)

The wicked kingdom once decreed that the Jews should no longer keep the Sabbath, nor circumcise their sons, nor observe the laws of ritual purity the Torah commands. Three commandments, a body's rest, a body's covenant, a body's cleanliness, were forbidden at once.

Reuben ben Astrobolus, whose face could pass for Roman, disguised himself as a councillor and slipped into the imperial chamber. He argued, with flawless senatorial calm: "We want to impoverish the Jews and weaken them and reduce their numbers. But our decree does the opposite. Forbid them the Sabbath. And they will work seven days a week, grow wealthy, multiply. Forbid circumcision. And their sons will grow strong unhindered. Forbid the laws of purity. And their families will swell in number. If we truly wish to diminish them, we must allow them everything we have just forbidden."

The argument worked. The decree was rescinded, and the Jews breathed. But later, when the Romans learned that the persuasive councillor had been a Jew, they renewed the decree in fury.

This time two sages were sent as messengers, Eleazar ben Joseph and Shimon bar Temalion. At the imperial palace they found the emperor's daughter shrieking: a demon had entered her and would not leave. The sages commanded the demon, and the demon obeyed them, it left the princess at their bidding and fled the palace. As a reward the emperor brought them into his own archive and let them tear up the decree with their own hands.

The Exempla preserves the tale because it teaches two kinds of Jewish courage. There is Reuben's courage, which is cleverness in the teeth of power. And there is the courage of the sages, who commanded a demon because they were already commanded by Torah. Sometimes the law is saved by wit, sometimes by sanctity, and sometimes, as here, by both in the same generation.

(From The Exempla of the Rabbis, Moses Gaster, 1924, no. 19, based on Meilah 17a-b and the Ma'aseh Book.)

Full source
Exempla of the Rabbis, No. 19Exempla of the Rabbis (Gaster, 1924)

The Romans had issued evil decrees against the Jewish people, banning Torah study, forbidding circumcision, outlawing the observance of the Sabbath. The sages were desperate. Someone had to go to Rome and persuade the authorities to rescind these crushing laws. But who could accomplish such a feat?

The Talmud (Meilah 17a) records that Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai was chosen for the mission, accompanied by Rabbi Elazar ben Yose. Their journey took them far from the Land of Israel, into the heart of the empire that sought to destroy their way of life.

Along the way, they encountered a demon named Ben Temalion, a spirit who offered them an unusual deal. "I will go ahead of you," the demon said, "and enter the emperor's daughter. When she becomes afflicted, they will summon healers from everywhere. When you arrive, say my name, and I will depart from her. She will be healed, and the emperor will grant you whatever you wish."

It happened exactly as Ben Temalion predicted. The demon entered the princess, and she was seized by madness. When Rabbi Shimon arrived at the palace, he whispered the demon's name: "Ben Temalion, leave. Ben Temalion, leave." The spirit departed, and the princess was restored to health.

The grateful emperor opened his treasure house and told Rabbi Shimon to take whatever he wished. The sage ignored the gold and silver. He found the scroll containing the evil decrees, took it, and tore it to pieces. The decrees were annulled. Israel could breathe again.

Full source