Jewish Magic and Superstition : : A Study in Folk Religion / / Joshua Trachtenberg.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Penn Press eBook Package Complete Collection
• VerfasserIn: Trachtenberg, Joshua,
• TeilnehmendeR: Idel, Moshe.
• Place / Publishing House: Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2012]; ©2004
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (392 p.) :; illus.

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 Contents

Frontmatter -- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1. THE LEGEND OF JEWISH SORCERY -- Chapter 2. THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LEGEND -- Chapter 3. THE POWERS OF EVIL -- Chapter 4. MAN AND THE DEMONS -- Chapter 5. THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD -- Chapter 6. THE POWERS OF GOOD -- Chapter 7. "IN THE NAME OF ... " -- Chapter 8. THE BIBLE IN MAGIC -- Chapter 9. THE MAGICAL PROCEDURE -- Chapter 10. AMULETS -- Chapter 11. THE WAR WITH THE SPIRITS -- Chapter 12. NATURE AND MAN -- Chapter 13. MEDICINE -- Chapter 14. DIVINATION -- Chapter 15. DREAMS -- Chapter 16. ASTROLOGY -- APPENDIX I: THE FORMATION OF MAGICAL NAMES -- APPENDIX II: MS. SEFER GEMATRIAOT, pp. 43a-44b, ON GEMS -- ABBREVIATIONS AND HEBREW TITLES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- GLOSSARY OF HEBREW TERMS -- INDEX