‘The Last of the Just’ in Belgium

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‘The Last of the Just’ in Belgium

 

 

December 10th, 2012 - 12:00 am

 

by Roger L Simon

 

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In college I read a novel called The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart inspired by a legend/theory from the Talmud — that there are thirty-six righteous souls (the Lamed Vav) in every generation whose existence justifies “the purpose of mankind” to God. From Wikipedia:

 

As a mystical concept, the number 36 is even more intriguing. It is said that at all times there are 36 special people in the world, and that were it not for them, all of them, if even one of them was missing, the world would come to an end. The two Hebrew letters for 36 are the lamed, which is 30, and the vav, which is 6. Therefore, these 36 are referred to as the Lamed-Vav Tzadikim. This widely-held belief, this most unusual Jewish concept is based on a Talmudic statement to the effect that in every generation 36 righteous “greet the Shechinah,” the Divine Presence (Tractate Sanhedrin 97b; Tractate Sukkah 45b).

 

I hadn’t thought of the Lamed Vav or Schwarz-Bart’s book for a while until the other day when my friend Banfsheh Zand, an Iranian activist, sent her email list a YouTube video from Belgium.