6 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Spirits from across Jewish tradition.
6 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines spirits, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
After Abel's blood soaked the ground, Adam fled Eve for 130 years. Female spirits found him there, and grief took on bodies.
Jonah's ship was the human body. The sailors were the limbs. The captain was the heart. And the Torah was the soul that kept the whole vessel from going under.
The Zohar and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer agree on the origin of demons: God stopped creating before their bodies were finished. The Sabbath did not wait.
After the Flood Noah prays against evil spirits, Mastema bargains to keep one tenth of them, and angels teach Noah remedies to fight back.
Adam once opened four riverheads with one spade. After the serpent, his face changed. By Enosh the divine image thinned and spirits found prey.
Rabbi Hanina paid a fortune for a silver dish and found a live frog inside. It ate everything he owned, then told him whose son it was.
