The Noon Demon of The Ninth of Av

Ps. 91:5-6

Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him)

Aug 13, 2024

When wars and violence abound, and as the blaze of summer burns on - we need all the protective measures we can have to keep us as safe and serene as possible.

Today’s psalm meets today’s fast day in the space between the natural and the supernatural with a surprising glimpse into some ancient ways and ritual tools for physical and metaphysical protection from whatever may harm us.

Today is the fast day of the Ninth of Av, observed by Jews for over 2,000 years as the saddest day of the year, in commemoration of dramatic national disasters. I’ve been fasting on this day since my 13th birthday, mourning for tragedies past and often, as is now, still present.

But I didn’t know that one of the reasons that this fast day exists -- possibly even the pre-political and historical origin story -- is that a dangerous daytime demon is lurking in the noon shadows at this time of year.

Somewhere between forgotten mythology, folklore and ancient superstition is a midsummer demon that shows up in today’s very famous psalm and is also directly linked to the Ninth of Av.

Linking both texts may give us a peek into some strange ways our ancestors wove together fears of the unknown with tools for protection, defying logic and defining spiritual practices we are still activating today but with little or no clue as to their astounding origins.

Psalm 91 is recited on multiple occasions in the Jewish year - it’s right there among the chapters recited at every morning worship, and is also part of the funeral liturgy, where it’s also part of a fascinating choreography reserved for mourners. Because it is a psalm that pleads for protectionIt it was often used at times of plagues and became quite popular during COVID-19.

“The Israeli scholar Yair Hoffman, noting its eloquent expression of God’s unflagging providential protection, has interestingly characterized the poem as an “amulet psalm,” with the idea that its recitation might help a person attain or perhaps simply feel God’s guarding power.”

The most notable representation of divine protection in this psalm are the angelic forces that we hope will be with us, at all times, and anywhere we go:

כִּ֣י מַ֭לְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּ֑ךְ לִ֝שְׁמׇרְךָ֗ בְּכׇל־דְּרָכֶֽיךָ׃

For God’s angels will be commanded

to guard you wherever you go.

This verse contains seven words, which adds to its mystical and magical importance. In some traditions it is chanted seven times as mourners accompany their dead to the grave. The angels, we hope, go with us all the way home, even to the beyond.

It is also found in many amulets and prayers, a yearning for supernatural protection, our private army of angels against anything at all.

But it isn’t just the plagues or wars that our ancient poets were afraid of but also the evil forces, including the demon named in this psalm, with an intricate history all its own:

לֹֽא־תִ֭ירָא מִפַּ֣חַד לָ֑יְלָה מֵ֝חֵ֗ץ יָע֥וּף יוֹמָֽם׃ מִ֭דֶּבֶר בָּאֹ֣פֶל יַהֲלֹ֑ךְ מִ֝קֶּ֗טֶב יָשׁ֥וּד צׇהֳרָֽיִם׃

You need not fear the terror by night,

or the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in the darkness,

or the scourge that ravages at noon.

Most English translators prefer ‘Scourge’, some use ‘disaster’ or ‘destruction’. The original Hebrew is ‘Ketev Yashud’ and Rashi, the 11th century interpreter, quoting the Talmud, simply claims that “this is the name of a demon.”

Ketev first appears in the The Torah, as Moses warns the people of what may happen if they disobey YHWH and worship the local deities. It’s a terrible threat of death and suffering. The Talmud picks up with a discussion of two types of Ketev demons - one that likes to show up in the morning and one that prefers the afternoons.

But what does any of this have to do with Tisha B’av?

The rabbinic Midrash on the Scroll of Lamentations explores the inner meaning of the tragic text written by Jeremiah and recited on this day. The prophet talks about these days as ‘bein ha’metzarim’, or ‘the days between the narrow straits.’ While most interpretations see this as historical data chronicling the days of destruction in Jerusalem, the. The Midrash offers another angle:

“The Times of In between” suggests that there is an evil spirit that is particularly strong during these Three Weeks, and that this demonic spirit has the particular power to pursue and hurt the Jewish people.

It’s called Ketev Meriri -- the curious term used in the Torah and referenced in today’s psalm.

Ketev Meriri is supposedly made up entirely of hair and eyes and whoever looks at it dies on the spot.

This demon is allowed to roam the world only during these three weeks of summer and it is only active “between the end of the fourth hour and the start of the ninth hour of the day, and it goes neither in the sun nor in the shade, but right along the border between a sunny and shaded area.”

Demonology is a big deal in world folklore and Jewish tradition is no different, even if our modern times relegate these beliefs to the sidelines, and to horror movies.

Wherever these ideas, fears, visions and remedies come from - some are ancient and many contain kernels of wisdom alongside heaps of imaginative terrors.

The midsummer demons may be real or not, who knows, but the historical data of horrors that hurt the Jewish people during these summer months are clearly no myth. Is it easier to blame it all on demons, fast as a way to ward off the danger - than to take responsibility for the way humans behave, again and again, in terrible ways towrads each other?

Are the demons that our ancestors imagined the reason for violence — or the forces of fear and fury buried inside each of us, unleashed when wars and terror rise to bring out the worst in us and become the wild beasts we never knew we can become?

Perhaps we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from becoming demonic by remembering that what we want is not to be the victims or perpetrators of violence but somehow find our safe paths through life, protected by inner and outer angels of peace?

Is there wisdom in amulets and angelic protection, fasting against demonic forces and avoiding the shadows at noon during the three weeks?

That’s up to each of us to decide.

On this sad day I respect the noon shadows, fasting to remember how my ancestors suffered and so many suffer today — because supremacy and zealotry had and have the upper hand over the love of humanity and the pursuit of peace.

Whatever demonic ideas or beings lurk between the shadows of our personal and public lives, I hope we find the ways to not be harmed, and not to harm.

Should one encounter a Ketev or two in the noonday sun — maybe consider asking, nicely, where they are from and why there are here, and what they want.

Maybe just some shade or recognition? I’m no demon expert.

Who knows, maybe if we do look Ketev in the eye, mid-day, they’ll simply smile and say - let’s be friends! I’m tired of being your imagined demon?

I hope this fast day is meaningful as a way to remember the ways we’ve hurt before, and do what we can, each in our way, to welcome in better days, reduce all ways of hurting and harming, lift up the hope and healing that we all so badly want, maybe even the demons.

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Below the Bible Belt

The Noon Demon of The Ninth of Av

Ps. 91:5-6

When wars and violence abound, and as the blaze of summer burns on - we need all the protective measures we can have to keep us as safe and serene as possible.

Today’s psalm meets today’s fast day in the space between the natural and the supernatural with a surprising glimpse into some ancient ways and ritual tools for physical and metaphysical protection from whatever may harm us.

Today is the fast day of the Ninth of Av, observed by Jews for over 2,000 years as the saddest day of the year, in commemoration of dramatic national disasters. I’ve been fasting on this day since my 13th birthday, mourning for tragedies past and often, as is now, still present.

But I didn’t know that one of the reasons that this fast day exists -- possibly even the pre-political and historical origin story -- is that a dangerous daytime demon is lurking in the noon shadows at this time of year.

Somewhere between forgotten mythology, folklore and ancient superstition is a midsummer demon that shows up in today’s very famous psalm and is also directly linked to the Ninth of Av.

Linking both texts may give us a peek into some strange ways our ancestors wove together fears of the unknown with tools for protection, defying logic and defining spiritual practices we are still activating today but with little or no clue as to their astounding origins.

Robert Alter notes that

“The Israeli scholar Yair Hoffman, noting its eloquent expression of God’s unflagging providential protection, has interestingly characterized the poem as an “amulet psalm,” with the idea that its recitation might help a person attain or perhaps simply feel God’s guarding power.”

The most notable representation of divine protection in this psalm are the angelic forces that we hope will be with us, at all times, and anywhere we go:

כִּ֣י מַ֭לְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּ֑ךְ לִ֝שְׁמׇרְךָ֗ בְּכׇל־דְּרָכֶֽיךָ׃

For God’s angels will be commanded

to guard you wherever you go.

Ps. 91:10

This verse contains seven words, which adds to its mystical and magical importance. In some traditions it is chanted seven times as mourners accompany their dead to the grave. The angels, we hope, go with us all the way home, even to the beyond.

It is also found in many amulets and prayers, a yearning for supernatural protection, our private army of angels against anything at all.

But it isn’t just the plagues or wars that our ancient poets were afraid of but also the evil forces, including the demon named in this psalm, with an intricate history all its own:

לֹֽא־תִ֭ירָא מִפַּ֣חַד לָ֑יְלָה מֵ֝חֵ֗ץ יָע֥וּף יוֹמָֽם׃ מִ֭דֶּבֶר בָּאֹ֣פֶל יַהֲלֹ֑ךְ מִ֝קֶּ֗טֶב יָשׁ֥וּד צׇהֳרָֽיִם׃

You need not fear the terror by night,

or the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in the darkness,

or the scourge that ravages at noon.

Ps. 91:5-6

Most English translators prefer ‘Scourge’, some use ‘disaster’ or ‘destruction’. The original Hebrew is ‘Ketev Yashud’ and Rashi, the 11th century interpreter, quoting the Talmud, simply claims that “this is the name of a demon.”

But what does any of this have to do with Tisha B’av?

“The Times of In between” suggests that there is an evil spirit that is particularly strong during these Three Weeks, and that this demonic spirit has the particular power to pursue and hurt the Jewish people.

It’s called Ketev Meriri -- the curious term used in the Torah and referenced in today’s psalm.

Ketev Meriri is supposedly made up entirely of hair and eyes and whoever looks at it dies on the spot.

This demon is allowed to roam the world only during these three weeks of summer and it is only active “between the end of the fourth hour and the start of the ninth hour of the day, and it goes neither in the sun nor in the shade, but right along the border between a sunny and shaded area.”

Demonology is a big deal in world folklore and Jewish tradition is no different, even if our modern times relegate these beliefs to the sidelines, and to horror movies.

Wherever these ideas, fears, visions and remedies come from - some are ancient and many contain kernels of wisdom alongside heaps of imaginative terrors.

Are the demons that our ancestors imagined the reason for violence — or the forces of fear and fury buried inside each of us, unleashed when wars and terror rise to bring out the worst in us and become the wild beasts we never knew we can become?

Perhaps we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from becoming demonic by remembering that what we want is not to be the victims or perpetrators of violence but somehow find our safe paths through life, protected by inner and outer angels of peace?

Is there wisdom in amulets and angelic protection, fasting against demonic forces and avoiding the shadows at noon during the three weeks?

That’s up to each of us to decide.

On this sad day I respect the noon shadows, fasting to remember how my ancestors suffered and so many suffer today — because supremacy and zealotry had and have the upper hand over the love of humanity and the pursuit of peace.

Whatever demonic ideas or beings lurk between the shadows of our personal and public lives, I hope we find the ways to not be harmed, and not to harm.

Should one encounter a Ketev or two in the noonday sun — maybe consider asking, nicely, where they are from and why there are here, and what they want.

Maybe just some shade or recognition? I’m no demon expert.

Who knows, maybe if we do look Ketev in the eye, mid-day, they’ll simply smile and say - let’s be friends! I’m tired of being your imagined demon?

I hope this fast day is meaningful as a way to remember the ways we’ve hurt before, and do what we can, each in our way, to welcome in better days, reduce all ways of hurting and harming, lift up the hope and healing that we all so badly want, maybe even the demons.

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