# So what's the Wandering Jew up to these days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2000, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548 "2000-07-31T14:46:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/1 "2000-07-31T14:46:11Z")
As I understand the legend, the Wandering Jew is Lazarus, he who JC raised from the dead. What I have heard: 1. He’s still around, because those who JC raises stay raised. 2. 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: 1. any Xian church accept the legend as truth? 2. any basis in scripture or apochrypha for the legend (besides the actual rezzing?)? 3. anyone talked to the guy recently and seen how he was doin’? Sua ---
**Author:** ![jakanapes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jakanapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakanapes)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/2 "2000-07-31T14:55:30Z")
Last time I saw him, he was playing bass in a Greatful Dead cover band in Grand Rapids. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/3 "2000-07-31T15:00:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jakanapes \* > \*\*Last time I saw him, he was playing bass in a Greatful Dead cover band in Grand Rapids. \*\* I hope this wasn’t on a Friday night! 😉 Sua ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/4 "2000-07-31T15:38:19Z")
I never associated the Wandering Jew with Lazarus. Encyclopedia entry: > [@](#): > > in literary and popular legend, a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus while he was on his way to the cross and who was condemned therefore to a life of wandering on earth until Judgment Day. The story of this wanderer was first recorded in the chronicles of Roger of Wendover and Matthew of Paris (13th cent.), but not until the early 17th cent. was he identified as a Jew. The story is common in Western Europe, but it presents marked national variations. Among the innumerable treatments of the subject is Shelley’s Queen Mab. 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). ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/5 "2000-07-31T15:47:12Z")
He is still around in the post-apocalyptic book _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/6 "2000-07-31T16:15:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > \*\*He is still around in the post-apocalyptic book _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. > > Zev Steinhardt \*\* That’s actually where I first ran across him, **Zev**. Apparently, he isn’t Lazarus in the original legend, but wasn’t he Lazarus in that book? Sua ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/7 "2000-07-31T16:18:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![theuglytruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@theuglytruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theuglytruth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/8 "2000-07-31T18:00:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/9 "2000-07-31T18:06:14Z")
I thought the guy in Canticle WAS Leibowitz, the engineer whose toolbox survived the nuclear war. It’s been a while since I read it. ---
**Author:** ![theuglytruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@theuglytruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theuglytruth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/10 "2000-07-31T18:08:23Z")
As a matter of fact, here’s an [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) link to the Casca “Wandering Jew” series. Happy reading! [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515126896/qid=965066454/sr=1-1/103-9998771-0863032](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515126896/qid=965066454/sr=1-1/103-9998771-0863032) ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/11 "2000-07-31T19:06:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*I thought the guy in Canticle WAS Leibowitz, the engineer whose toolbox survived the nuclear war. It’s been a while since I read it. \*\* 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 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/12 "2000-07-31T19:18:11Z")
He wandered into Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_ and was transformed into a potted plant! ---
**Author:** ![YHVH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@YHVH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YHVH)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/13 "2000-07-31T19:32:07Z")
He’s running a B&B in the Outer Banks. What can I say? I took pity on the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/14 "2000-07-31T19:45:33Z")
Maybe he’s [this guy](http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/013000/liv_evangelist.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/15 "2000-07-31T19:46:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/16 "2000-07-31T20:15:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by theuglytruth \* > \*\*As a matter of fact, here’s an [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) link to the Casca “Wandering Jew” series. Happy reading! > > [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515126896/qid=965066454/sr=1-1/103-9998771-0863032](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515126896/qid=965066454/sr=1-1/103-9998771-0863032) \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/17 "2000-07-31T20:33:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*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**. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/18 "2000-07-31T22:36:13Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/19 "2000-08-01T01:38:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548/20 "2000-08-01T18:10:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\*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. \*\* :Blink: Is this wholly a joke, or is there really a plant called the “Wandering Jew”? Sua [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-wandering-jew-up-to-these-days/27548.md?page=2)