The Ten Lost Tribes. A World History - Zvi Ben-Dor Benite

“Shabtai,” and that of the planet Saturn (in Hebrew also Shabtai, “the Sabbath Planet”).
Drawing on medieval traditions connecting Saturn, Jews, and the Sabbath (Saturn-day),
Idel proposes that “astral mythology,” and not only Jewish kabalistic tradition, be “taken
into account” in the writing of the history of this Messianic movement. Taking his cue
from redemptive qualities assigned to Saturn in Jewish astrological writings, Idel offers
a combined reading of medieval and early modern astrological depictions of the star and
depictions of Zvi, emphasizing among other things the melancholic quality supposedly
“shared” by the planet and his Shabtai Zvi’s namesake. Idel ventures that some aspects
in Sabbataianism “restore some mythical traits of Greek themes lost over the centuries.
See Idel, “Saturn and Sabbatai Tzevi,” 199 – 201. See also, Goldish,Sabbatean Prophets.
73. Tacitus,History of Tacitus, 194 – 195.
74. Cited in Macey,Patriarchs of Time, 27.
75. Cited in ibid., 26.
76. Alexander,Planet Saturn, 29.
77. Cited in ibid., 54.
78. Ludolf,New History of Ethiopia, 45 – 46.
79 .Pesikta Rabbati, 31 : 10. Translation is from Braude,Pesikta Rabbati, 617 , with
my minor corrections.
80. This verb, based on the name of the animal, never appears anywhere else.
81. Sacchi,Jewish Apocalyptic, 150.

CHAPTER 3

1. For the story of Dan, see Judges 1 – 3. For Samson’s stories, see Judges 13 – 16.


2. For the Hebrew original, I am using the fifteenth-century collection of docu-
   ments known asSefer Eldad ha-Dani, in Epstein,Kitve R. Avraham, 1 – 211. The English
   translation of Eldad’s story is from Adler,Jewish Travellers, 4 – 21. I will be using Adler’s
   translation with my emendments. For the history of these documents, see Schloes-
   singer,Ritual of Eldad ha-Dani, 1 – 9 ; and Wasserstein, “Eldad ha-Dani.”


3. The Romarnos were one of the seven kingdoms in Ethiopia. See Krauss, “New
   Light.”


4. In some peculiar cases, misreading Eldad’s text produced new speculations
   about the ten tribes. For instance, Eldad mentions that the Tribes reside in the real place
   named “Najd” in Arabia (“The highlands of Najd [in] the region of Mecca”). However,
   because a word spelled similarly in Hebrew, “Najd” was often rendered “neged,” which
   means “opposite,” “against,” or “facing.” Thus, Eldad’s “Najd in Mecca” was misread as
   “neged Mecca” and turned into a fictional place name: “Neged Mecca” (“Facing
   Mecca,”). This misreading led many to believe that the Ten Tribes were hidden some-
   where in front of Mecca, ready to attack it. Adler himself mistranslates the sentence in
   the same way. See Adler,Jewish Travellers, 8.


5. Adler,Jewish Travellers, 7.


6. Ibid., 14.


7. Epstein,Eldad ha-Dani, 43.


8. Midrash,Bereshith Rabba.

236 NOTES TO PAGES 80 – 88