The Jewish Magical Tradition from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century

Gideon Bohak, Tel Aviv University
October 15, 2024
This talk will offer a bird’s eye view of the Jewish magical tradition from antiquity to today. We will see many examples of exorcisms, amulets, curses, recipes, and spells for many different aims. We will also see how the study of Jewish magic can transform the study of Judaism as a whole.

Do You Believe in Magic?

In this online lecture series, expert speakers unravel the esoteric and occult in Jewish history. How have widespread magical traditions coexisted with mainstream Judaism, and what, if anything, makes Jewish magic unique? Dive into the kabbalistic ideas, spells and potions, demons and spirits, and more that have made up the rich tapestry of Jewish magical practice from the ancient world up to today.

Gideon Bohak is a professor in the Department of Jewish philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1994, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan before joining the Tel Aviv University faculty in 1997. He is a specialist in Jewish magic, especially that of antiquity and the middle ages, as well as “practical Kabbalah,” Jewish mysticism, the Cairo Genizah, Hekhalot literature, Toledot Yeshu, and Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. He is the author, among many other publications, of Ancient Jewish Magic: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2008).