Alongside the formal development of Judaism from the eleventh through the sixteenth centuries, a robust Jewish folk religion flourished—ideas and practices that never met with wholehearted approval by religious leaders yet enjoyed such wide popularity that they could not be altogether excluded from the religion. According to Joshua Trachtenberg, it is not possible truly to understand the experience and history of the Jewish people without attempting to recover their folklife and beliefs from centuries past.
Jewish Magic and Superstition is a masterful and utterly fascinating exploration of religious forms that have all but disappeared yet persist in the imagination. The volume begins with legends of Jewish sorcery and proceeds to discuss beliefs about the evil eye, spirits of the dead, powers of good, the famous legend of the golem, procedures for casting spells, the use of gems and amulets, how to battle spirits, the ritual of circumcision, herbal folk remedies, fortune telling, astrology, and the interpretation of dreams.
First published more than sixty years ago, Trachtenberg’s study remains the foundational scholarship on magical practices in the Jewish world and offers an understanding of folk beliefs that expressed most eloquently the everyday religion of the Jewish people.
Table of Content
Foreword by Moshe Idel
Preface
I. the Legend of Jewish Sorcery
II. The Truth Behind the Legend
III. The Powers of Evil
IV. Man and the Demons
V. The Spirits of the Dead
VI. The Powers of Good
VII. ‘In the Nature of . . .’
VIII. The Bible in Magic
IX. The Magical Procedure
X. Amulets
XI. The War with the Spirits
XII. Nature and Man
XIII. Medicine
XIV. Divination
XV. Dreams
XVI. Astrology
Appendix I. The Formation of Magical Names
Appendix II. Ms Sefer Gematriaot on Gems
Abbreviations and Hebrew Titles
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary of Hebrew Terms
Index
About the author
Joshua Trachtenberg (1904-59) served in the American rabbinate for nearly three decades. He is the author of The Devil and the Jews. Moshe Idel is Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His numerous publications include Kabbalah: New Perspectives, Messianic Mystics, and Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic. He received the Israel Prize for excellence in the field of Jewish philosophy in 1999.
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