SOURCE: Harap, Louis. “American Journeys of the Wandering Jew.” In The Image of the Jew in American Literature: From Early Republic to Mass Immigration, pp. 239-55. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1974.

In the following essay, Harap traces the origins of the concept of the “wandering Jew” from Biblical interpretations to the mid-century novel by Eugène Sue, Wandering Jew, and American versions of the legend.

In retrospect there is a certain inevitability to the legend of the Wandering Jew. Did not the Christian world believe for centuries—as many still do—that, in Longfellow's words, “the Jews, the tribe accursed, / Mocked him, scourged him, crucified him”?¹ And for this did not the Jews deserve to suffer, at least until Christ returned in the Second Coming? And while awaiting his return and in penance for their sin, should not the Jews wander endlessly in dispersion?

In actuality...