The forbidden books of jewish magic books fraught with dangercurses, secrets, marvelous cures, diviners, demonscaused political intrigue and censorship in the fall of 1995, while working on my dissertation in jerusalem, i learned that an important magical compendium by the 17thcentury rabbi moses zacuto, shorshei. But with the evergrowing publications of ancient jewish magical textsamulets, incantation bowls, genizah magical texts, and literary books. It was the fall of 1995 and jerusalem was beginning a 15month celebration marking the 3,000 years since king david conquered the city and proclaimed it. Jewish novelist writes about real magic and sorcerers of. Jewish magical papyri are a subclass of papyri with specific jewish magical uses, and which. Popular ancient jewish magic manuals reprinted in the late medieval period, such as sefer harazim the book of mysteries and harba demoshe the sword of moses, contain magical spells and formulas that could enable one to know the future, speak to the moon and stars or see the sun during the night. Jewish scholar moses gaster 18561939 was born in romania but emigrated to england, where he lectured at oxford university. It is based both on ancient magicians own compositions and products in aramaic, hebrew and greek, and on the descriptions and prescriptions of nonmagicians, to reconstruct a historical picture that is as balanced and nuanced as possible. No names or writing on the lightly foxed end papers or in the text. It seems that one can hardly pick up a publishers catalog without finding advertisements for new monographs and. The 1stcentury romanojewish historian josephus mentioned a book circulating under the name of solomon that contained incantations for summoning demons and described. References are made to a belief in demonology during the tannaitic period.
Unveil the secrets of the kabbalah, the magic, the. In many ways, ancient jewish magic reads more like an extended essay on the place of magic in developing jewish religion than a systematic tour of sources. It refers to mysterious writings of jared, cain, and noah, and presents abraham as the renewer, and levi as the permanent guardian, of. Instructive for the study of the development of jewish mysticism is the book of jubilees written around the time of king john hyrcanus. Some of these books are out of print, but ive found them in libraries.
Ancient jewish magic by gideon bohak, 9780521180986, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Ancient judaism was also subject to a kind of orientalism by nonjewish peoples. A history of magic books by owen davies, which talks about a range of subjects from the history of jewish traditions to the destruction of old magic books by the christian church. The practical and theoretical challenge of this feat.
It is based both on ancient magicians own compositions and products in aramaic, hebrew and greek, and on the descriptions and prescriptions of nonmagicians, to reconstruct a historical picture that is as balanced and. Discover forbidden books of jewish magic and the history of magical texts, and why they are limited in the jewish community. Kabbalah maasit in historical judaism, is a branch of the jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. However, the texts contained within are a collection of orations, prayers, and magical words which date back to well before the 1200s. It is based both on ancient magicians own compositions and products in aramaic, hebrew and greek, and on the descriptions and prescriptions of nonmagicians, to reconstruct a historical picture that is as balanced. Ancient jewish magic jewish studies oxford bibliographies.
Jewish history ancient, jewish history, books barnes. This learned and thoughtful book, building on the spate of publications of jewish magical texts over the past thirty years as well as the. The starting point of the research focuses on the question. Gideon bohak gives a pioneering account of the broad history of ancient jewish magic, from the second temple to the rabbinic period. Discover the ancient sacred wisdom of the kabbalah, talmud and midrash. It is based both on ancient magicians own compositions and products in. This history of ancient jewish magic, from the second temple to the rabbinic period, is based both on the ancient magicians own compositions. Grimoires or instruction books on magic, used by magicians. Yitzhak kadoori, israels oldest and perhaps most eminent kabbalist. Israelite king solomon was a biblical figure associated with magic and sorcery in the ancient world. Three works of ancient jewish magic by gaster, moses.
A broad history of ancient jewish magic, from the second temple period to late antiquity, with special emphasis on intercultural dynamics, and on processes of continuity and change within the jewish magical tradition. The sixth and seventh books of moses joseph peterson the sword of moses moses gaster book of the pious sholom alchanan singer history. Three works of ancient jewish magic by gaster, moses and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Richard alston, soldier and society in roman egypt. Ancient jewish magic history judaism cambridge university press. The prayers are in several languages, including hebrew, greek, and latin. To answer this question, the author travels a long and fascinating journey through the maze of ancient jewish literature, the charms found in archeological digs, incantation bowls attained from antiquities dealers, magical recipes in books preserved in the cairo geniza, sages stories. Orthodox judaism, or phariseeism, is rife with cabalism, and jewish. Magic and ritual power examines the jewish magical tradition from antiquity through the middle ages, and investigates how it survived and underwent transformation in the modern world. The book of acts in its palestinian setting by richard bauckham, the gospel according to moses. In the process it absorbed and appropriated practical elements from the. The last two decades have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of publications on ancient magic.
Among many ancient writers, moses was seen as an egyptian rather than a jew. Gideon bohak gives a pioneering account of the broad history of. With amusing metaphors and asides about contemporary israeli politics, and at the same time little jargon, the book deserves and rewards a leisurely read as much as reference consultation. His wrote numerous books of theology, folklore, history, and literature, including history of rumanian popular literature 1883 and fivevolume sephardic prayer book 19016. But with the evergrowing publications of ancient jewish magical textsamulets, incantation bowls, genizah magical texts, and literary books of magic such as. The study of jewish magic naturally requires that one investigate an extraordinary number of topics. The picatrix is an ancient grimoire of astrological magic. Containing over 100 maps and 30 photographs, this is a comprehensive atlas of jewish history designed for students and the general. It is an exotic blend of devilish, sometimes fanciful, new age mystical practices topped by a philosophical bent of jewish supremacism. In the ancient and medieval worlds, jews were reputed to possess much knowledge about magic.
The ars notoria is the oldest portion of the lesser of the keys grimoire, dating back to the th century. Gideon bohak gideon bohak gives an account of the broad history of ancient jewish magic, from the second temple to the rabbinic period. Their origins date back to the dawn of writing and their subsequent history is entwined with that of the religions of judaism, christianity and islam, the development of science, the cultural influence of print, and the social impact of european colonialism. A guide to ancient magic smart news smithsonian magazine. Although magic was forbidden by levitical law in the hebrew bible, it was widely practised in the late second temple period, and particularly well documented in the period following the destruction of the temple into the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries c. Throughout, the book seeks to explain the methodological underpinnings of all sound research in this demanding field, and to highlight areas where further. The ancient jewish people were often viewed as being knowledgeable in magic, which, according to legend, they had learned from moses, who had learned it in egypt. Discover forbidden books of jewish magic and the history of magical. Jewish novelist writes about real magic and sorcerers of ancient babylon updated mar 07, 2019. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from qliphoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy and pure. The first time i came facetoface with jewish magic was when i moved to israel in my early 20s. In contrast, practical kabbalah seeks to create life through magical means and has sought ways to summon andor to communicate with god and the angels. Alongside are spells and incantations to channel the occult energies of planets and stars to achieve power and enlightenment the picatrix is perhaps most notorious for the obscenity of.
Glossy white paper covered boards, title in black to spine and front, foxing to the inside edge where paste down is met. Naomi janowitz on jewish magic and the jewish magi in. Originally written in arabic and titled the ghayat alhakim, it dates back to the 11th century and spans a mammoth 400 pages of astrological theory. Jewish magic through the ages bible lands museum, jerusalem jewish magic and superstition joshua trachtenberg amulets and magic bowls naveh and shaked. Ancient literature of jewish magic spread in medieval jewish communities and its practice continued to expand and to develop in europe, byzantine and the arab world. While the book is accessible, it is also very dense in content. Aune festschrift, it is interesting to be aware of this volume on ancient jewish magic. I am very grateful to one of the visitors of my site, who found this book on the internet and send it to me via email. However, jewish texts widely condemn the use of magic as evil, so a fine line had to be drawn to separate the black magic of the devil from the holy and pure magic of practical kabbalah. The soldiers are seen not as an isolated elite living in fear of the local populations, but as relatively wellintegrated into local. In this illuminating history, dan cohnsherbok traces the development of jewish history from ancient times to the present day.
This book has so many good bits in it on jewish folk magic jewish astrology, divination, magic, spells, amulets, plant and stone medicine, and dream work. The mazzikim harmful spirits are said to have been created on the eve of the sabbath of creation avot 5. Antimagic legislation existed in both ancient greece and ancient rome, even before the days of christianity, but often such laws only covered magic that actually killed, as when a stepmother was. Soldier and society in roman egypt provides a complete reassessment of the impact of the roman army on local societies, and convincingly challenges the orthodox picture.
78 870 1236 1287 684 1271 527 1601 1215 794 1347 987 1187 129 648 1265 506 22 1177 1470 868 1140 1184 607 1382 135 722 722 37 1481 609 397 209 804 854