These beliefs are articulated in the works of Max Brod, and some believe the concept to have originated in Genesis Chapter XVIII: "And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes." An analogous group of individuals may be discerned within the Islamic tradition of the Kutb[?].
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump