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Baal
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[One] version of the demon Baal is Beelzebub, or more accurately Ba‘al Zebûb or Ba‘al Zəbûb (Hebrew בעל-זבוב, Ba'al zvuv), who was originally the name of a deity worshipped in the Philistine city of Ekron. Ba‘al Zebûb might mean 'Lord of Zebûb', referring to an unknown place named Zebûb, a pun with 'Lord of flies', zebûb being a Hebrew collective noun meaning 'fly'. This may mean that the Hebrews were derogating the god of their enemy. Later, Christian writings referred to Ba‘al Zebûb as a demon or devil, often interchanged with Beelzebul. Either form may appear as an alternate name for Satan (or the Devil) or may appear to refer to the name of a lesser devil. As with several religions, the names of any earlier foreign or "pagan" deities often became synonymous with the concept of an adversarial entity.
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The Baal, as the head of each worshipping group, is the source of all the gifts of nature (cf. Hos. ii. 8 seq., Ezek. xvi. 19); as the god of fertility all the produce of the soil is his, and his adherents bring to him their tribute of first-fruits. He is the patron of all growth and fertility, and, by the "uncontrolled use of analogy characteristic of early thought," the Baal is the god of the productive element in its widest sense.
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In the Old Testament (see Old Testament Fact File), the Hebrew Baal-zebub, meaning the lord of the flies, or possibly, as some translations have it, the lord of dung, was the Philistine pagan god of Ekron. In the New Testament (see New Testament Fact File), the Greek form of Baal-zebub is Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, a name used by Jesus Christ in reference to Satan.
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Jadelynn Stahl (Baal) recently returned from starring in the London production of Manson Family ValUeS at the Camden People’s Theatre. She has worked closely with The LIDA Project Experimental Theatre Company, developing and performing in several original pieces. Other recent performances include Jean Genet’s The Balcony, Twelfth Night, The Orestia and Spring Love, an original piece collaborated with John Maloney. Her one-woman show, Inside the Mind of a Delusional Sexiopath, was produced by the Boulder Fringe Festival and her short works were highlighted in Heart Beat, No Pulse, which debuted at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. In the whirlwind of her move to New York, she wishes to give thanks to those friends and family members who have provided the few light slaps that have kept her going.
[S]o, about fifty years later, in the year 5657, on the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov, the grandson of Rabbi Menachem Mendel announced a radical move. Until now, chassidic thought was something studied in depth whenever time could be taken from the study of Talmud. It was spice to the broth, dessert for special occasions. Now it would become part of the main course. Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber of Lubavitch opened the first yeshiva where study of chassidus was a fixed part of the curriculum. Now adolescents would enter the deepest mysteries of the universe with the same approach as Talmud and Gemora.
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As the Sun-god, Baal was worshipped under two aspects, beneficent and destructive. On the one hand he gave light and warmth to his worshippers; on the other hand the fierce heats of summer destroyed the vegetation he had himself brought into being. Hence, human victims were sacrificed to him in order to appease his anger in time of plague or other trouble, the victim being usually the first-born of the sacrificer and being burnt alive. In the Old Testament this is euphemistically termed "passing" the victim "through the fire" (2 Ki 16:3; 21:6). The forms under which Baal was worshipped were necessarily as numerous as the communities which worshipped him. Each locality had its own Baal or divine "Lord" who frequently took his name from the city or place to which he belonged.
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Baal