As I understand the legend, the Wandering Jew is Lazarus, he who JC raised from the dead. What I have heard:
He’s still around, because those who JC raises stay raised.
He is the ultimate Jew for Jesus – while he acknowledges Jesus as God, he stays faithful to the Torah. I believe there are theological/penitential reasons for this part of the legend, but I’m unclear on them.
That’s about all I know. The only references to the legend I have come across have been in literary works where Lazarus was used as a plot device. Anyone want to give me the dope on:
any Xian church accept the legend as truth?
any basis in scripture or apochrypha for the legend (besides the actual rezzing?)?
anyone talked to the guy recently and seen how he was doin’?
I never associated the Wandering Jew with Lazarus. Encyclopedia entry:
About the way I’ve understood it and seen it used.
He was recently to be found in a sleepy California coast town, at least according to James Blaylock’s “The Last Coin” (Blaylock is a fairly obscure fantasy writer who’s worth checking out - Tim Powers’ buddy and partner in literary deception).
In Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, Lazarus is still living, having already been raised from the dead.
However, Lazarus, in Canticle is not (to my memory) associated with the Wandering Jew legend. Note that the wanderer (who laters acquires a Jewish birth as anti-semitism increases in Europe) is not a sympathetic character, while Lazarus in Canticle is.
I saw him on TV last night. The Wandering Jew is now the host of “Win Ben Stein’s Money”.
Anyway, cheap yuks aside, I remember threr was a book series about a wandering Jew named Casca, who got into all these adventures and saved people, because after all, he could not die.
No. Miller makes it clear in the story (after first leading you to believe that it is him) that Leibowitz was martyred for preserving books. The wanderer, however, did know Leibowitz.
Zev Steinhardt
The WJ briefly found fame as a rock-and-roll singer under the alias Elvis Presley. Eventually his persona had to “die”, but he continues to be spotted wandering here and there.
It has been a dog’s age since I read any of those book, but I don’t remember Casca Longinus being Jewish. The parallels with the Wandering Jew myth are obvious, but I thought Casca was a Roman soldier who stabbed Christ with a spear and was fated to live forever because a drop of Christ’s blood fell on him. I could easily have it confused with yet another story, though.
On an unrelated note, my sister used to call Henry Kissinger “the Wandering Jew” during his shuttle-diplomacy period.
Not to hijack a hijack, but while out recently with the singer of my band (a fellow Jew) and her husband, the hubbie put a Creed CD on, which lead to my bitching and moaning about the “new Stryper.” I mentioned that she and I should form a side-project band from our group writing pseudo-Jewish lyrics while appealing to the masses and call ourselves the Wandering Jews.
You are quite right, bibliophage, (and you beat me to it). He didn’t go around saving people like the A-Team, Ugly, he just fought in all the wars in history n’stuff.
the Casca series was created by Barry Sadler, who also did “The Ballad of the Green Berets” which was the number one song of 1966! :eek: He also did time after killing a guy in a bar fight, IIRC. He was in 'Nam too, of course. SSgt. Sadler met his demise a few years back after being shot in the head in Costa Rica where I think he was involved with the Contras or something. The archetypical gung-ho type dude.
My Wandering Jew has been pushing all sorts of new growth this summer and it looks wonderful. The undersides of the leaves are bright purple and they are almost sparkly.
