RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: HAPPY CHALLAHWEEN: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: JEWISH WITCHES

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: HAPPY CHALLAHWEEN: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: JEWISH WITCHES

 

Shalom , Peace and Happy CHALLAHween:

We will detour a bit this month from Jewish Ethics and discuss Judaism's view of witches, apropos the Halloween season.

Exodus 22:17 commands us to not let a witch live.  Yet we see sorcery and witchcraft throughout the Bible and Rabbinic times.

 In I Samuel 28, King Saul visited a witch in Ein Dor who used an Ob to raise  the prophet Samuel from the dead.  Talmud Chagigah 77 tells of Rabbi Simeon who hanged 80 witches at Ashkelon who all lived in a single cave and "harmed the world." In Pirkei Avot 2:7 Rabbi Hillel says, "the more wives, the more witchcraft.''  

Rabbi Yose said that one should not say a blessing over a spice from an unknown source "because Jewish women offer incense to witchcraft" (Beracoth 53A).

In Eruvin 64A the rabbis teach that while it is a law to pick up bread that one sees on the road, this does not apply now as "Jewish daughters are flagrantly involved in witchcraft" and the bread may be cursed. Women cause dogs to become rabid ( Yoma 83B). When Satan was created he sought a wife to be his partner in evil witchcraft ( Kiddushin 81A).  The Zohar states that Satan, in the form of the serpent, had sex with Eve producing Cain.

The Midrash Sifre teaches that a man should not be afraid to go into battle against other men, but that he should be fearful of doing battle against a woman and her witchcraft. Sanhedrin 100B explains that when a daughter is old, she will be involved in witchcraft. Pesachim 111A warns us that if we see two women at cross roads facing each other, they are witches.

Gitten 45A tells of Rabbi Nachman' daughters who stirred a boiling pot of witch's brew with their bare hands. Ironically, the two books of witchcraft of the Talmudic era--Harba de Moshe and Sefer ha Razim--are written by men. In Kiddushin 66B Rabbi Simeon says that "the best of women is filled with witchcraft." 

This same Rabbi Simeon who gives us so many examples of women being bad witches was a sorcerer himself! In Me'ilah 17B he exorcised an evil spirit from the emperor's daughter. In Tractate 38B, Rabbi Simeon turned his opponent into a heap of bones with the evil eye.

 Thank God, Modern Judaism disavows any of these notions. Happy CHALLAHween!

 Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiASegal@aol.com

RABBI DR ARTHUR SEGAL www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.com/books www.FaceBook.com/Arthur.L.Segal www.FaceBook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal www.RabbiArthurSegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Hilton Head Island, SC; Bluffton, SC; Savannah, GA

 

RABBI DR ARTHUR SEGAL www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.com/books www.FaceBook.com/Arthur.L.Segal www.FaceBook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal www.RabbiArthurSegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Hilton Head Island, SC; Bluffton, SC; Savannah, GA