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Notes. Chapter Xi

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"Jewish Magic and Superstition", by Joshua Trachtenberg, [1939],

Chapter Xi

The War With The Spirits

1.
Moses Taku, "Oar Nemad", Iii, 88; \"ochmat HaNefesh", 30c; "S. as." 1512, 1566; Glassberg, 226; Gd. Iii, 100; Rabbinowicz, 21.

2.
\"R. H." 16b; "Yoma" 20a; Rashi, "R. H." 28a; "Raben", 61; "Responsa" of Jacob Weil, 191, p. 64b; "Emek Beracha", II, 61, p. 76b; cf. Finesinger, "HUCA", Viii-ix (1931-32), 201 ff.; Lauterbach, "HUCA", Xi (1936), 256; \"Kol Bo" 35--"Pes." 100; "Mordecai", "Pes." 896, p. 21a; "Ma. Vit." 280; "Kol Bo", loc. cit.; "Or Zarua", II, 56a; "Maharil", 6b, 17a-b; Isserles, "Ora ayim" 481:2; etc. Prof. Ginzberg has called my attention to a statement in the Mekilta (ed. M. Friedmann, Vienna 1870, p. 16b) which turns the "night of protection" into a night when "all Israel requires protection." No echo of this view is to be found in the medieval sources.

3.
\"JE", Xi, 365; Tyrnau's "Minhagim", 29b; "Mateh Moshe" 395; Landshuth, p. xxv; Brll, "Jahrbcher", Ix (1889), 40; \"Ber." 43b: "A scholar should not go out alone at night," originally a counsel against inviting gossip, as the Gemara explains, was later given a superstitious interpretation when it was attached to the passage ("Ber." 54b) enumerating those who must fear demonic attack. Rashi ("Ber." 62a) writes: "A scholar needs special protection against demons, because

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they are more envious of scholars than of other men.
" Cf. also "Testament of Shabbetai Horowitz", 24.

4.
\"S. as. B" 1154; "Rokea" 337; "Tashbe" 315; Gd. I, 53.

5.
\"S. as." 327; "Ma. Vit." 70; "Joseph Ome", toe; "Testament of Shabbetai Horowitz", 23; "Shaare ion", 67a; etc.;--"Ber." 5a; "Mordecai", "Ber." 6, p. 2a; "MGWJ", Lix (1915), 242. The literature on the "Keriat Shema" at the bed" is too extensive to cite in full. No special insight is necessary to discern the import of its contents even in modern expurgated versions. Prayer, especially in the mystical sense favored by the "practical Kabbalah," enjoyed a fairly distinctive magical rle, which has not yet been fully investigated. See J. Bergmann, "Gebet and Zauberspruch, MGWJ", Lxxiv (1930), 457-463; H. G. Endow, "Kawwana: The Struggle for Inwardness in Judaism," Studies in Jewish Literature in Honor of Prof. Kaufmann Kohler (Berlin 1913), 82-107; G. Scholem, "Der Begriff der Kawwana in der alten Kabbala, MGWJ", Lxxviii (1934), 492-518; \"Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism", Stroock Lectures for 1938, Lecture 4; "JE", Iii, 465; Bischoff, 86 ff.

There is a curious statement that to leave a knife with its cutting edge upward is to court trouble. According to a German saying, "When a child falls into the fire, and at the same instant one notices a knife lying on the table sharp edge up, one should turn the knife over before saving the child." The explanation of this superstition is singular: "the blade turned upward cuts the face of the dear Lord and of the angels," who retaliate in consequence. This explanation is not found in the Jewish sources, but the injunction against bringing a knife into a synagogue, or leaving it on the table while grace is being said (it was either removed or covered) was probably based upon some such notion. The reasons that were offered are not very persuasive; "prayer lengthens man's days, but the knife shortens them" was a popular one; another told a gruesome tale of a man who, while saying grace, was so overcome with grief at the memory of the destruction of Jerusalem that he picked up a knife from the table and plunged it into his breast. But there was an ancient tradition that the "Shechinah", the divine presence, hovers over men at prayer, and it is quite likely that we have here a fusion of Jewish and German beliefs. Cf. Gd. Iii, 129, n. so; Wuttke, 312; Grimm, Iii, 454, 596; \"Kol Bo" 17; "Mateh Moshe", 304; "Ora ayim" 180:5.

6.
\"Kol Bo", 6,, 67; Neubauer and Stern, 26; "Responsa" of Meir of Rothenburg (ed. Berlin 1891), 158-9; \"Haayim", IV, 7; ms. "E ayim", 516 (289 of original);--Marmorstein, "JJV", I (1923), 289; \"JE", V, 347 f.

7.
\"Joseph Ome", 351.

8.
Ibid., 466, p. 96; Rashi, "Men." 35b; "Shaare ion", 120b; Brek, 63; Lw, "Die Finger", p. xiv. See also p. 175 above.

9.
\"S. as." 211, 371, 1463 (cf. Gd. I, 205, n. 2); "Shimmush Tehillim", Ps. 10; Blau, 91; "Ber." 20a; "Raziel", 43a; cf. Elworthy, 389 ff.

10.
\"Ber." 43b; "S. as." 325; cf. Bergmann, "MGWJ", Lxxi (1927), 162 ff.; Samter, 67 ff.; Seligmann, "Mag. Heil- and Schutzmittel", 110 ff.; Wuttke, 93 f.

11.
Blau, 158 f.; Rashi, "Ber." 33a; "Paanea Raza", 123a (cf. Grimm, I, 487, n. 4: "Ein Mensch von der Otter gebissen stirbt nicht, wenn er eher als die Otter, ber das nchste Wasser springt").--Rashi, "San." 67b; "S. as." 1453; B 1544; \"Haayim" IV, 10; "Nishmat ayim" Iii, 20; \"Shimmush Tehillim", Ps. 15, 29. One is reminded of Washington Irving's "Headless Horseman" whose wild pursuit of poor Ichabod was halted at the bridge. Cf. Wuttke, 92 f.

12.
Blau, 162 f.; "Ora ayim" 328:20;--Berliner, "Aus dem Leben", 96 f.; Elworthy, 412 ff.;--"S. as." 326, 327; \"HaGan", ch. 2, end; "Testament" of Shabbetai Horowitz, 23.

13.
\"Ber." 62a; "Pes." 112b; Wuttke, 185; Samter, 60; Gd. Iii, 130.

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14.
\"ochmat HaNefesh", 30d; Gd. I, 204, n. 4; "Brantspiegel", ch. 66, p. 105d; cf. Blau, 159 f.; Seligmann, op. cit., 156 ff.; Elworthy, 221 ff.; Samter, 51; Wuttke, 95 f.; I. Goldziher, "Eisen als Schutz gegen Dmonen, AR", X (1907), 41-6.

15.
Samter, 151 if.; Otto Schell, "Das Salz im Volksglauben, Ztschr. Ver. f. Volksk.", Xv (,905), 137-49; Seligmann, op. cit., 266 ff.; Wuttke, 95, 283; Lea, Iii, 511;--\"Tos. Ber." 40a; "Leket Yosher", I, 34; "Joseph Ome", 88, P. 20; \"Kiur Shelah", 38; Isserles, "Ora ayim" 167:5; Lipez, 50; cf. I. Lw, "Das Salz, Jewish Studies in Memory of George A. Kohut", N. Y. 1935, 454 ff.

16.
Gd. I, 204, n. 4; "S. as." 1465; "Paanea Raza", 91a; Schudt Iv, 2, P. 385;--cf. Samter, 153; Grimm Ii, 877, 923, Iii, 434, 440, 454; Wuttke, 529.

17.
Jews have come to recognize the apotropaic virtues of garlic and onions in comparatively recent times (see I. Lw, "Die Flora der Juden", Ii, 547). Cf. Samter, 159 f.; Grimm, Ii, 902; Scheftelowitz, "Stell. Huhnopfer", 32.

18.
\"Ber." 55b (cf. Blau, 155); "Nishmat ayim", Iii, 27 (cf. Grnbaum, "Ges. Auf." 106-7); "S. as." 327; Gd. I, 206, n. 5; "Joseph Ome", 351; Grunwald, "MGJV", V (1900), 35, 55, 40, 81, 66, 225; cf. Gaster, "Sword of Moses", 42, 1 1, 117; Elworthy, 151 ff., 245 ff.; Samter, 509 ff.; Schnbach, "Ztschr. Ver. f. Volksk.", Xii (1902), 7; Lw, "Die Finger", p. xvii.

19.
\"Pite Teshubah" on "Yore Deah" 179:3 mentions this Sephardic custom: before moving into a new home a hen and rooster were domiciled there for a while and then slaughtered on the premises; Scheftelowitz, op. cit., 20-1, 54; \"Testament of Judah the Pious", 50; cf. Marmorstein, "JJV", Ii (1925), 361 f.; "S. as. B" 1145, 1146; Elworthy, 79 ff.; Strack, 31 f.; Grimm II, 956 f.

20.
\"Shab." 67b; "Testament of Judah", 51, 52, 59, 60; \"S. as." 171, 514; \"Brantspiegel", ch. 66, 105e; "Responsa" of "Maharil", 118; "Yore Deah" 179:3; "Leket Yosher", II, 6; cf. Marmorstein, "JJV", Ii (1925), 364-5; Grnbaum, "Ges. Auf.", 218; Schorr, "Healu", Vii (1865), 47-8; Scheftelowitz, "Ztschr. Ver. f. Volksk.", Xxiii (1913), 385 f.; Grimm, Ii, 949, Iii, 437, 83, 486, 23. In Austria, a Christian sells his crowing hen to a Jew! Wuttke, 118.

21.
The literature on the Kapparah is fairly extensive; for a discussion of the rite see I. Scheftelowitz, "Das stellvertretende Huhnopfer", Giessen 1914; I. Lvi, "Les Jardins dAdonis, les Kapparot et Rosch Haschana, REJ", Lxi (1911), 206-12; M. D. Hoffman, "Shibalim", (Vienna 5876), 39-45; I. Lw, "Die Flora der Juden", IV, 336 f.; J. Z. Lauterbach, "The Ritual for the Kapparot Ceremony, Jewish Studies in Memory of George A. Kohut", N. Y. 1935, 413-22, and "HUCA", Xi (1936), 262 ff. The essential medieval Hebrew sources are: Rashi, "Shab." 81b; "Mordecai", "Yoma" 1181, p. 27c; "Shaare Teshubah", ed. Fischel (Leipzig 1858), 299 (cf. Joel, Ii, 27); \"Responsa" of Solomon b. Adret (Vienna 1812) 395, P. 47a; "Orot ayim" (Florence 1750), "Hil. Erev Kippurim", 1; "Tur Ora ayim" 605; "Ora ayim" 605 (Venice 1564 ed. of "Shulan Aruch"); ms. "E. ayim", 289 (155 of original); "Toledot Adam veavah", 7:1, p. 41a. All the codes contain descriptions, which embody minor variations; see, "e.g.", "HaOrah", 95, p. 109; "Shibbole HaLeket", 266; "Ma. Vit." 373; "Kol Bo", 68; "Tashbe" 125; "Maharil" 43b-44a; Tyrnau's "Minhagim", 22b-23a; "Leket Yosher", I, 53940; etc. For parallel customs from other cultures see Scheftelowitz, op. cit., Samter, 55 f., Grimm, Iii, 418, 44. Cf. also Aptowitzer, "Addenda et Emendationes ad Sefer Rabiah", Jerusalem 1936, pp. 113 f.

22.
\"Maharil", 38a; "Haayim", IV, 5; "Torat HaOlah", Iii, 56; \"Shelah", II, 145b (Mas. "Rosh Hashanah"); "Emek Beracha", II, 61, pp. 75a-b; cf. "JE", Xii, 66-7; Scheftelowitz, "AR", Xiv 0911), 383-4; Reifmann, "ion", I (1841), 184; H. Bodek, ibid., Ii (1842), 48, 54-7; Brck, 23-4; Grunwald, "JJV", I (1923), 20; Samter, 65 f. Prof. J. Z. Lauterbach has treated this subject exhaustively in

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his essay, "Tashlik--A Study in Jewish Ceremonies, HUCA", Xi (1936), 207-340.

23.
\"San." 92a (cf. Lauterbach, "HUCA", Ii [1925], 358, n. 11); "Yore Deah" 178:3; "Ora ayim" 180: 2;--\"Lebush" on "Yore Deah" 178:3; "Kiur Shelah", Inyane Shabbat, p. 119;--Bergmann, "MGWJ", Lxxi (1927), 170-1; Reifmann, "ion", I (184,), 184;--\"Leket Yosher", Ii, 15; \"ul." 105b and Rashi;--Joel, Ii, 28-9; \"Mordecai", beg. Yoma; "Lev Tov", VI, 66, p. 63c; "Mateh Moshe", 306, 504; \"Leket Yosher", I, 57-8; cf. Grimm, I, 370, 422 f., Ii, 843 f.; Wuttke, 37, 67-8; \"MGWJ", loc. cit., 168.

24.
\"R. H.", 6b; "S. as." 366, 367, 1136, 1519; \"B" 247.

25.
\"Joseph Ome", 351; "S. as." 1446, 1447; cf. Grimm, Iii, 451, 509.

26.
\"Yore Deah" 179: 9 and "Pite Teshubah" ad loc.

27.
\"Leket Yosher", I, 49.

28.
\"Joseph Ome", loc. cit.; Schudt, IV, 2, p. 223.

29.
\"Tishbi", s. v. Lilit; "Haayim" Ii, 8.

30.
\"Raziel", 43b; cf. Scheftelowitz, op. cit., 8 f.; Zoller, "Filologische Schriften", Iii (1929), 126.

31.
Gd. I, 214; cf. Grimm, Iii, 417; Wuttke, 195; Digot, Iii, 181; cf. also A. Geiger, Jd. Ztschr., V (1867), 139 f.

32.
Glassberg, 18, 61 (cf. L. Ginzberg, "Ginze Schechter", Ii, 541); \"Shelah", I, 182a ("Mas. ullin").

33.
Ibid.

34.
\"Kiur Shelah", 73 ("Inyane Milah"); "Mateh Moshe" 118b (cf. Glassberg, 149, 179);--Glassberg, 65; Maaseh "Rokea", 54; "HaManhig", Hil. Milah, 129; "Yore Deah" 265:12; Perles, "Graetz Jubelschrift", 23; Gd. Iii, 103; \"Ber Heteb" on "Yore Deah" 178:3;--cf. Bergmann, "MGWJ", Lxxi (1927), 167; Goldberger, "Haofeh", Xi (1927), 166-7; \"JE", Xii, 454.

35.
\"Toledot Adam veavah", 17:5, p. 127b; "Yore Deah" 178:3, 179:17.

36.
\"Pirke de R. Eliezer", ch. 29; "Rokea" 113; Gaster, "Maaseh Book", Ii, 391; \"MGWJ", loc. cit., 169-70.

37.
\"Shelah", loc. cit.; "Shibbole HaLeket", 377; Glassberg, 59 f., 230; Bamberger, "JJV", I (1923), 327.

38.
See pp. 41 f. above.

39.
\"Rokea", 353; "Tashbe", 465; "Responsa" of Moses Minz, 109, p. 100a; "Responsa" of Israel Bruna, 93, P. 40b; "Mateh Moshe", 107b; Lauterbach, "HUCA", Ii, 360; J. Reifmann, "Kochve Yiak", XXXII (Vienna 1865), 31; cf. Grimm, Iii, 487, 31.

40.
Lauterbach, "HUCA", Ii (1925), 355; \"Tashbe", loc. cit.; "Joseph Ome", 331-2; Isserles, "Eben HaEzer" 64:1; "S. as." 375.

41.
\"Raben", 258b; "Tashbe", loc. cit.; "Maharil", 64b; "Mateh Moshe", loc. cit. A similar custom is observed by some Oriental communities.

42.
Prof. Lauterbach has analyzed this custom as well as the other usages in the interesting essay already cited, "The Ceremony of Breaking a Glass at Weddings, HUCA", Ii (1925), 351-80; the sources are all painstakingly examined there. See J. Perles, "Die jdische Hochzeit in nachbiblischer Zeit," reprint from "MGWJ", Ix (1860), for Talmudic material; cf. also Schudt, Ii, 25:6, p. 5; Grotte, "MGWJ", Lxvi (1922), 2; Grunwald, "JJV", I (1923), 21; Glassberg, 149; Samter, 39 ff., 58 ff.; Grimm, Iii, 451, 514, 466, 884.

43.
Lauterbach, op. cit., 368; "Rabiah", I, 126; \"Tashbe", loc. cit.; "Responsa" of Moses Minz, p. 101b,.--"Rokea" 352, 353; \"Ma. Vit." 589; "Raben", loc. cit.; "Maharil", loc. cit.; Lauterbach, op. cit., 359; cf. A. Bchler, "Das Ausgiessen von Wein und l, MGWJ", Xlix (1905), 12-40; Bergmann, ibid., Lxxi (1927), 166; Samter, 171 ff.; Scheftelowitz, 14 ff., ch. 3; Digot, Iii, 177.

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44.
\"Ma Vit.", loc. cit.; "Kol Bo" 75; "Maharil", loc. cit.; "Responsa" of Moses Minz, 79a, 99b; "Leket Yosher", I, 113; Lauterbach, 359-60; Gd. Iii, 121 f. "Mitron" is a Hebraization of the French "mitre", "mitra" (J. Perles, "Beitrge", 59); the "sarganes" (a word which Prof. Ginzberg believes to be derived from "saracen", denoting a wide, flowing garment) was originally worn on the Sabbath and holidays ("Rabiah", I, 245-6), but came later to be identified as a mark of mourning; it was worn at weddings "to remind one of the day of death," in the words of Moses Minz. Seligmann, "Mag. Heil- und Schutzmittel", 135, points out that ashes, the product of fire, are often employed as a means of protection.

45.
\"Rokea", 353, 355; \"Maharil", loc. cit.; "Responsa" of Moses Minz, 99b; "Yereim", 96; cf. Samter, 90 ff.; Grimm, II, 983 f.; Elworthy, 427 ff.; Prof. Ginzberg ("REJ", Lxvii [1914] 149 f.) interprets the transfer of the groom's garments to the bride as a token of possession.

46.
Berliner, "Aus dem Leben", 100; "Mateh Moshe", 107c; Schudt, II, 25, p. 3; "Maharil", 65a.

47.
\"Mateh Moshe", 111e, citing "Kol Bo"; Landshuth, p. xxv; "Leket Yosher", Ii, 96; \"S. as." 315, 317, 318; Isserles, "Yore Deah", 339:1; cf. Grimm, Iii, 443, 281, 454, 593; Samter, 61 f. See, especially, "Beliefs, Rites and Customs of the Jews Connected with Death, Burial and Mourning," by A. P. Bender, "JQR", "OS", Vi (1894), 317 ff., 664 ff., Vii (1895), 101 ff., 259 ff.; and "JE", Iii, 434 ff.; also Landshuth; J. Perles, "Die Leichenfeierlichkeiten im nachbibl. Judenthume, MGWJ", X (1861), 345-55, 376-94; and J. Rabbinowicz, "Der Todtenkultus bei den Juden", Frankfort 1889.

48.
See "Semaot" ch. 1; "Yore Deah" 353: 2 and M.K. 25a;--Landshuth, P. xxxii; "Shelah", II, 24b; "Nishmat ayim", Iii, 26; \"S. as." 1542; "Testament of Judah the Pious", 7; "Rokea", 316; Lw, "Die Finger", pp. xiv ff.; cf. Samter, 1 ff., 45 f., 80 f.; Bender, 102-3.

49.
\"Testament of Judah", 2, 3; "Rokea", 316, p. 83a; "Toledot Adam veavah", 28:1, p. 182b (cf. Wuttke, 214, 215); Rabbinowicz, 27.

50.
\"Hadar Zekenim" on Nu. 20: 1; "S. as. B" 851; "Kol Bo", 114; "Paanea Raza" on Nu. 20:2; "Shibbole HaLeket", p. 171; "Mordecai", "Pes." 896, p. 21a; "Tashbe", 442, 447; \"Or Zarua", 56a; "Maharil", 6b; "Brantspiegel", ch. 74, P. 114a; Digot, Iii, 180; Cecil Roth, "History of the Marranos", Phila. 1932, 101; \"A.Z." 20b. See also Rabbinowicz, 11; Landshuth, p. xxx; Bender, 106 ff.; Gd. I, 210; Grimm, Iii, 408, 422; Wuttke, 465; Samter, 83 ff.; Sartori, "Ztschr. Ver. f. Volksk.", Xviii (1908), 362 f.; Seligmann, op. cit., 104.

51.
Landshuth, p. liii; "Toledot Adam veavah", 28: r, p. 182b; "Testament of Judah", 8; "Rokea", loc. cit.; "Joseph Ome", 326; Isserles, "Yore Deah" 358:3 "San." 20a; Rabbinowicz, 31; "Tashbe", 447; "Joseph Ome", 327; "Yore Deah" 359:1; "Yesh Noalin", 38a, n. 48; cf. "Ber." 51a.

52.
\"Joseph Ome", loc. cit.; "Mateh Moshe", 112a; "Testament of Shabbetai Horowitz", 3.

53.
\"Raben", 11; "Kol Bo", 114; Marmorstein, "JJV", I (1923), 287; \"Shibbole HaLeket", 14, P. 345; \"Or Zarua", Ii, 422, p. 86b; "Ma Vit." 247; "Tashbe", 447; ms. "E ayim", 542 (308 of original); "Rokea", 316, p. 82b; "Responsa" of Israel Bruna, 18r, p. 66b; cf. Gd. I, 211, n. 2; "JE", Xi, 599; Samter, 96, 150, 153-4; Seligmann, op. cit., 148 ff.; Grimm, Iii, 444, 446; Blau, 73.

54.
\"Toledot Adam", 28:2, p. 182b; "Or Zarua", loc. cit.; "Kol Bo", loc. cit.; "Mateh Moshe", loc. cit.; Isserles and "Lebush" on "Yore Deah" 376:4; "Kiur Shelah", 61.

55.
\"Raben", loc. cit.; "Ma. Vit.", 248, 280; \"Kol Bo", loc. cit.; "Tashbe", loc. cit.; "Maharil", 84b; "Joseph Ome", loc. cit.; "Mateh Moshe", loc. cit.; "Kiur Shelah", loc. cit.; cf. Bender, op. cit., 109 f.; Landshuth, p. lxviii; Sartori, op. cit., 368 ff.,

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56.
\"Rokea", 313, pp. 77b, 79b; "Joseph Ome", 330;--"Yore Deah" 393:2, 3;--\"Maharil", 83; Tyrnau's "Minhagim", 23b, n. 155; "Responsa" of Jacob Weil, 75b; "Kiur Shelah", 61;--"Joseph Ome", 329, "Leket Yosher", Ii, 96-7;--\"Siddur Rashi", 981, p. 281; "Shibbole HaLeket", 353; "Maharil", 83b-84a; "Yore Deah", 386:1, 393:4. The custom of covering mirrors or turning them to the wall, which prevails among Jews nowadays, is not mentioned in the medieval sources, and is evidently a late borrowing. It is observed almost universally, arising, according to Frazer ("The Golden Bough", I, 146), from the fear "that the soul projected out of the person in the shape of his reflection in the mirror, might be carried off by the ghost of the departed, which is commonly supposed to linger about the house till the burial." Cf. Bender, 117; "Taame HaMinhagim", III, 93b; Von Negelein, "AR", V (1902), 22; Samter, 134.
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