Chapter 9 - Jewish Magic in the Middle Ages

Summary

This chapter first deals with the medieval Jewish discourse of magic by focusing on four specific examples of rabbinic discussions of magic and magic-related practices. It then focuses on origins, transmission, and adaptation of some of the texts and technologies of medieval Jewish magic in different times and places. The Jewish magical tradition was greatly enriched by internal Jewish developments as well, and especially by the rise of the so-called Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical-esoteric tradition. The chapter examines the survival of Late Antique Jewish magic into the Middle Ages, and then turns to the Muslim and Christian influences on medieval Jewish magic. The older Jewish magical texts were characterized by their deep exposure to the Greco-Egyptian magical tradition and by their selective borrowings and adaptations from that tradition. Looking at Oriental Jewish manuscripts that transmit magical texts, such as those found in the Cairo Genizah, people find copious documentation of Oriental Jewish magic from the tenth to the twentieth centuries.