For the Legacy of Kain character, see Dumah

Dumah (Heb. ???? "dumbness") is an angel mentioned in Rabbinical literature. Dumah is a popular figure in Yiddish folklore. I. B. Singer's Short Friday (1964), a collection of stories, mentions Dumah as a "thousand-eyed angel of death, armed with a fiery rod or flaming sword." Dumah is the Aramaic word for silence.

The angel

Duma(h) or Douma (Aramaic) is the angel of silence and of the stillness of death.^[1]

Dumah is also the tutelary angel of Egypt, prince of Hell, and angel of vindication. The Zohar speaks of him as having "tens of thousands of angels of destruction" under him, and as being "Chief of demons in Gehinnom [i.e., Hell] with 12,000 myriads of attendants, all charged with the punishment of the souls of sinners."^[2] In the Babylonian legend of the descent of Istar into Hades, Dumah shows up as the guardian of the 14th gate.^[3]

Miscellaneous Biblical and traditional references

• The "burden of Dumah" is mentioned in Isaiah 21:11, possibly as a prophecy.
• Dumah is one of the twelve sons of Ishmael, and may also be the name of a similar territory of the tribe of Ishmael.
• Dumah is a city of Judah.
• One of the seven sections of Gehinom is also named Dumah. It is a place where the outspoken sinners are silenced.

References

1. ↑ Definition partly taken from Gustav Davidson
2. ↑ Müller, History of Jewish Mysticism
3. ↑ Faiths Of Man: A Cyclopedia Of Religions. by James George Roche Forlong, 1904