The Jewish sources speak in many places about magic e.g shemot 7:11, 7:22 & Vayikra 19:26 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 19:26 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.
The Gemora explains that a Sheid is more accurate than Malachei Chabala and 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 cemetery in order 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 in order to make him speak the words of the dead through his armpit. chayav misah
ידעוני - Put a certain bird called "Yadua"'s 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).
Magic dose not exist. It has never been proven.[1] 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 forbids us from communicating with the dead is not that there is a way to do it, rather because it's impossible to do so. G-d desires that we use reason and His Torah when discerning Truths.
[1] Although other commentators feel that it does exist.