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Rabbi Joseph della Reyna Tried to Force the Redemption

A kabbalist conjured Elijah and asked how to chain the Prince of Evil. He came within one act of forcing the Messiah's arrival. One mistake ended everything.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Plan to End Evil Permanently
  2. What Elijah Told Them
  3. The Long Ascent
  4. The Incense That Undid Everything
  5. What He Became After

The Plan to End Evil Permanently

Rabbi Joseph della Reyna had decided the wait was over. He was a scholar of fifteenth-century Safed, a man of genuine learning and fierce conviction, and he had looked at the condition of his people, exiled, dispersed, ground between the powers of the nations, and concluded that the Messianic redemption was taking too long. He was going to force it.

The plan required defeating Samael, the Prince of Evil, the great prosecuting angel whose power grew with every human sin. If Samael could be chained, his influence neutralized, the forces that obstructed redemption would be broken. The Messiah could arrive. The world could be healed. The logic was not obviously wrong. The execution was everything.

He gathered five devoted disciples. They began with the only legitimate preparation available: prolonged fasting, intense prayer, rigorous ascetic practice. They were not reckless men. They prepared with scrupulous care, studying everything the kabbalistic tradition offered about the structure of the spiritual worlds and the hierarchy of the demonic realm. Then they called on Elijah.

What Elijah Told Them

Elijah came. The prophet who visited sages in their studies and appeared at the gates of Rome arrived at the kabbalists' circle and gave them what they asked: instructions. He told them how to chain Samael and his consort Lilith. The process was specific. The fasting and prayer had to be extended to a particular intensity. The names of God had to be invoked in a particular sequence. The chain had to be forged through the force of accumulated holiness, through purity maintained under conditions that would test the limits of human endurance.

He also told them what they could not do. Once Samael was bound, once the chain held, they could not accept anything from him. Not a word. Not a gesture. Not an appeal to their compassion. The bound demon would offer incense, would offer prayer, would offer to honor God in its submission. None of it could be accepted. The chain was the boundary, and anything offered across the boundary was the boundary's destruction dressed as a gift.

The Long Ascent

They fasted. They prayed. They pressed themselves against the limits of physical endurance over days and weeks and months. The disciples fell away one by one, unable to sustain the intensity required. Rabbi Joseph and the last of them who remained pushed further. The tradition records their progress in stages, each stage a deeper penetration into the spiritual hierarchy, each level of Samael's defense overcome by the accumulated force of their devotion.

They reached him. They bound him. The chain held. Samael and Lilith were fixed, neutralized, rendered inert. The Prince of Evil was chained by a rabbi from Safed and a few exhausted disciples. The redemption was within reach. The world was one step from transformation.

The Incense That Undid Everything

Samael asked for a small mercy. He said he was dying in captivity without the sustenance of evil to feed on. He asked for a little incense, just a small offering, something to sustain him in the chain. His voice was not threatening. It was plaintive, diminished, the voice of a being that had been genuinely defeated.

Rabbi Joseph gave him the incense.

The chain shattered. Samael was free. The work of months, the exhaustion of disciples, the extraordinary accumulation of holiness required to reach and bind the Prince of Evil, collapsed in the moment that the rabbi's compassion overrode his instruction. Elijah had told him explicitly what not to do. He had done it anyway. He had looked at the bound demon and seen a suffering creature, and his mercy had been the weapon of his defeat.

What He Became After

The story does not end with defeat and repentance. It ends with something darker. Rabbi Joseph della Reyna, the man who had come within one act of forcing the Messiah's arrival, who had bound the Prince of Evil and released him for the price of a handful of incense, did not recover from what he had done and what had been done to him in the process. The tradition holds that Samael, freed, turned the encounter into a corruption. Rabbi Joseph's subsequent life, in the accounts that preserved his name, moved toward spiritual catastrophe rather than toward renewal.

His ruin was the warning at the heart of what he had attempted: that the attempt to force redemption through human effort alone, no matter how pure the intention, no matter how vast the preparation, was not a path that led where the one walking it believed it led. The moment the rabbi gave the incense, he had not merely failed. He had been transformed by the failure into something that the holiness he had accumulated could no longer contain.

ElijahMessiahMysticismDemonsPrayer
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From the tradition

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

Legends of the Jews 7:21Legends of the Jews

They get collected, woven into something beautiful, something divine. And that's where Sandalphon comes in.

Sandalphon. It's a name that resonates with power. He's described as one of the greatest, mightiest angels – a truly fiery being! And his job? To weave garlands for God out of the prayers of Israel.

That's not all Sandalphon does. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Beit Hamikdash (the Holy Temple in Jerusalem)… it was devastating. But some traditions suggest that its destruction was only apparent. That in reality, it continues to exist, hidden from our everyday sight. And in this invisible sanctuary, Sandalphon offers up sacrifices. A powerful image, isn’t it? A reminder that even in times of loss, something sacred endures.

Let's The familiar story is this: Elijah taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. But did that mark the end of his involvement with us? Quite the opposite, actually! It was almost the beginning of his real work, his true calling as a helper, a teacher, a guide.

Initially, his interventions were rare. The Zohar, that foundational text of Jewish mysticism, hints at the immense power and responsibility he now carried. One of the earliest recorded instances is a letter he wrote to the wicked King Jehoram of Judah seven years after his ascent. Think about the weight of that message, delivered from a prophet who now walked in the heavenly realms!

But perhaps one of the most dramatic examples of Elijah's continued involvement comes during the story of Purim. Remember Haman, the villainous advisor to King Ahasuerus who plotted to destroy the Jews? According to tradition, Elijah played a crucial, albeit disguised, role in foiling Haman’s plans. He assumed the guise of Harbonah, a courtier, and at just the right moment, he turned the king against Haman. As Ginzberg retells it in Legends of the Jews, this seemingly chance event was actually a carefully orchestrated intervention by Elijah himself.

So, what does all this mean? What are we supposed to take away from these stories of angels and prophets intervening in human affairs? Maybe it's this: that even when we feel most alone, most vulnerable, we are not forgotten. Our prayers are heard. Help is always possible, sometimes from the most unexpected sources. And perhaps, just perhaps, the line between heaven and earth is thinner than we think.

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Hagigah 13aTalmud Bavli, Hagigah

"And I saw the living creatures, and behold one wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures" (Ezekiel 1:15). Rabbi Elazar said: This is one angel who stands upon the earth, and his head reaches up beside the living creatures.

It was taught in a baraita: His name is Sandalphon, who is taller than his fellow by a journey of five hundred years. And he stands behind the chariot and binds crowns for his Maker.

Is that so? But is it not written: "Blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place" (Ezekiel 3:12), from which it follows that no one knows His place? Rather, he pronounces a name over the crown, and it goes and rests upon His head.

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Legends of the Jews 7:80Legends of the Jews

Legends of the Jews turns to Elijah Appears to Disciples Who Master Mystical Secrets.

We learn that after a disciple had thoroughly absorbed these mystical teachings, Elijah would take him to the me’arat hamachpelah, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and then onward to the heavenly academy. Now, it first appears the angels would be thrilled to have such a pious visitor. But according to the legends, the angels were "little pleased by the intrusion of one 'born of woman.'" They filled him with such terror that he begged Elijah to bring him back to earth! Elijah, ever the patient mentor, calmed his fears and continued to instruct him in the mystical science, using a system that the disciple later recorded in his own works.

This idea of invoking Elijah wasn't just a one-time thing. The Kabbalists, those deeply learned in Jewish mysticism, were often believed to have the power to summon Elijah. They could conjure him up using specific formulas. But, as the story of Rabbi Joseph della Reyna shows us, this wasn't something to be taken lightly.

Rabbi Joseph della Reyna was a renowned scholar, a saintly man. But he had a truly audacious goal: to bring about the redemption of humankind by defeating Samael, the Prince of Evil.! After intense prayer, fasting, and ascetic practices, Rabbi Joseph, along with five of his disciples, set out to conjure Elijah.

When the prophet appeared before him, Rabbi Joseph addressed him with utmost respect: "Peace be with thee, our master! True prophet, bearer of salvation, be not displeased with me that I have troubled thee to come hither... I am zealous for the name and the honor of God, and I know thy desire is the same as mine... I pray thee, therefore, to grant my petition, tell me with what means I can conquer Satan."

Elijah, knowing the immense power of Satan – a power that grows with every sin committed by humanity – initially tried to dissuade the rabbi. But Rabbi Joseph was resolute. So, Elijah, relenting, outlined the steps needed for this perilous battle. He told Rabbi Joseph which pious deeds would attract the attention of the archangel Sandalphon, who would then reveal the tactics needed to wage war.

According to this legend, Rabbi Joseph followed Elijah's instructions meticulously. He even managed to summon Sandalphon for assistance! Imagine the power that must have taken! If he had continued to follow instructions precisely, if he had completely heeded Sandalphon's advice, he would have triumphed over Satan and brought about the world's redemption.

But here’s where the story takes a tragic turn. At a crucial moment, Rabbi Joseph made a mistake, a single indiscretion. And that was all it took. Satan, regaining his power, used it to bring about the ruin of Rabbi Joseph and his devoted disciples.

What a cautionary tale! It speaks to the immense power of both good and evil, and the razor's edge that separates success from devastating failure when dealing with forces beyond our comprehension. It reminds us that even the most righteous intentions, the most dedicated efforts, can be undone by a single misstep. And perhaps, it also hints at the profound responsibility that comes with seeking knowledge of the divine.

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