The Jewish sources speak in many places about magic e.g shemot 7,11 7,22 Vayikra 19,27 etc.
Are there different types? if so what are they?
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Sign up to join this communityThe Jewish sources speak in many places about magic e.g shemot 7,11 7,22 Vayikra 19,27 etc.
Are there different types? if so what are they?
There are 2 types of magic with which one incurs a being from the upper realm to fulfil ones wish by creating something/bringing something unavailable, which are both mentioned in the Torah which the necromancers of Egypt used in Sanhedrin 67b:
- בלטיהם אלו מעשה שדים - "Lot" is the work of a sheid (demon) which one incurs to fulfill (in exchange for a hefty price) This is forbidden but not punishable by death.
- בלהטיהם אלו מעשה כשפים פירש"י מעשה כשפים ע"י מלאכי חבלה הם נעשים - "Lahat" is incurring work of fire Angels (translation based on Sanhedrin 106b) this is known as Kishuf i.e this is forbidden punishable by death
The Gemora explains that a Sheid is more accurate than Malachei Chabalanand will bring exactly what one wants: אמר אביי דקפיד אמנא שד דלא קפיד אמנא כשפים
There are other categories of magic/superstition which are forbidden:
ניחוש - This means superstition on something that has happened in the past e.g his bread fell from his mouth so he thinks this means that he cannot travel etc. (there is a Machlokes on a superstition in the future is permitted like Eliezer and Rivka) chayav lav
מעונן - Making an illusion that people do not understand how it happened chayav lav
חובר חבר - whispering spells to cause snakes and other animals to gather round him chayav lav
דורש אל מתים - Sleeping in the cemetry inorder for a Ruach Tumah to take hold of him. chayav lav
קוסם קסמים -Divination through various methods including hitting sticks on the floor and shouting, and watching the effects to divine the future
אוב Burning incense inorder to make him speak the words of the dead through his armpit. chayav misah
ידעוני - put a certain bird called "Yadua" its bone in his mouth this makes him speak without control. chayav Misah
Devarim 18:10-11 lists the following species of magic:
There shall not be found among you . . . a soothsayer, a diviner of [auspicious] times, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, a pithom sorcerer, a yido'a sorcerer, or a necromancer. (R' A. J. Rosenberg's Judaica Press translation).
See Rashi for a definition of all these at chabad.org (enter Tanakh in Search).
In short, magic dose not exist. It has never been proven and therefore it is mere fabrication of the wild imagination. Thus, your question is irrelevant when it comes to Judaism. Maimonides rejected the notion of magic as nonsensical. Ibn Ezra also rejects the existence of magic. For example, Ezra says that the reason G-d forbid us communicating with the dead is not because there is a way to do it, rather because its impossible. G-d desires that we use reason and His Torah when discerning Truths.