The world is advancing by leaps and bounds, developing technologies are changing our behavior patterns, spaceships and shuttles are sailing in space, artificial intelligence is stimulating the imagination - and with all of this, according to publications, articles and journals published around the world, it appears that a high percentage of celebrities and people of the highest class in the world such as bankers , leaders, capitalists, singers, actors and more are consumers of the various fields of magic - something that is considered a relic from past years, they believe in witchcraft and supernatural powers and use experts in the field in order to deal with difficulties, disappointments, jealousy, the evil eye and other shameful things.
Many often wonder where the line is between faith and mysticism and magic and sorcery.
From the point of view of Judaism, which is based on faith and spirituality, it seems that there are indeed supernatural forces, but when they draw their power from evil and negative forces, which are defined in Judaism as "stra achra" - the negative side of spiritual forces (a concept that will be explained in one of the following columns), After all, this is witchcraft which not only must not be used, but when the courts of the Jewish people were sitting in the Temple, there was even a commandment to kill the perpetrators of witchcraft as stated in the Torah "A witch shall not live" (Exodus 22:17).
"Witchcraft" in all its aspects was used in monotheistic religions as a negative term for pagan cults of rival, seemingly inferior ethnic groups, who blasphemed God's name and worshiped idols in such a way that those who practiced witchcraft were socially and religiously ostracized, and people even saw witchcraft as a characteristic of polytheism (which Judaism calls "foreign worship" " and Christianity calls "paganism") and as mentioned - of an inferior culture.
The Wicked Witch of the West, from the movie "The Wizard of Oz", photo: public relations
The negative descriptions of the act of sorcery are already reflected in the book of Exodus (7:11) after Moses and Aaron meet with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and as a sign and as a sign that they are coming to him on God's behalf, they throw the staff of God, which turned into a crocodile. : "And Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also made the proboscis of Egypt by bending them thus." The biblical commentators explain that, unlike Moses and Aaron, the sorcerers used the powers of darkness and sorcery, the very essence of which is to add evil and pain to the world, by changing order in the natural systems of the world.
According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin Sah), the unique commandment for the Sanhedrin to kill the sorcerers included the obligation to learn the profession of sorcery, in order to recognize and identify who are real sorcerers and who are charlatans who perform eye contact. It seems that the use of mysticism, which includes things that cannot be perceived by the five human senses , should be based on faith and a spiritual connection to God and in accordance with the commandments of the Torah, in a way that does not pose a risk to the environment and society. As a general rule, where there is belief in malicious magical practices, they are usually also prohibited by law in most of the world, and the majority of the public also considers them an improper component.
The sages of Judaism were divided as to why the Torah took such extreme harshness in attributing to sorcerers.
In the opinion of Maimonides, who is known for rational thinking, this is a superstition that does not really exist, something that in its essence is based on eye-catching and lying and is condemned as foreign worship. Maimonides referred to the reason that certain works intended for medicine are not witchcraft because they have a logical rationale, even if they themselves do not work their action, but the self-conviction that they are acting can already help.
An example of this can be seen in the Halacha that permits the whispering of magic spells, which are a kind of witchcraft, to those who have been bitten by a scorpion, even on Shabbat - and the Shulchan Aruch writes (Yorah Dea, Ket 9): ".
Tea drink - a healing aid or just psychological?, Photo: Getty Images
The Ramban, on the other hand, believed in the possibility of sorcery and magic, but believed that when it comes to the use of supernatural powers that go beyond the act of creation and the will of God, it is a severe prohibition.
The Talmud tells about witches and the act of witchcraft, while one story sheds light on the negative perception of these acts, which caused them to be disguised in order not to be caught doing them, as Rashi explains on the Gemara in tractate Sota (22), which tells about a Jewish witch named Yohani Bat Ratibi, who was successful through Hidden witchcraft powers to stop the birth process among women kneeling to give birth. When the woman in labor was suffering and looking for a salve for her pain, the witch would remove the spell, while in front of the woman she would pretend to be praying and asking for mercy for her, so that they would think that the birth was successful as a result of the prayer. She did so for a long time until That one of her employees discovered her secret, when he saw in her house a box of magicians in the shape of a womb, and when he opened it, a kind of fetus came out of it - and at the same time the child also came out of the woman giving birth, and that's how everyone knew that she possessed magicians.
The prohibition in the Torah that refers to a "witch" applies to both men and women.
According to the Maimonides in his book "Morah Nabukim", the reason the commandment was written in the feminine language lies in the fact that most of those involved in this field were women. Some wanted to explain that the phenomenon of female witchcraft arose from an attempt to equal men in mystical and leadership abilities in the patriarchal world. Either way, Judaism's treatment of magical powers Who do not suckle their ability from the forces of good and positive but from the forces of evil and deception is negative and entails heresy in the monotheistic belief in one God.
And what about the contracts in the stars, séances, fortune tellers, palm reading, cards, magic, astrology?
We will deal with this in the next columns - stay tuned.
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