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To: alt.magick From: catherine yronwodeSubject: Jewish Talisman (was Re: A Battle Of Wits With The Unarmed Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 18:37:34 GMT > dclxvi@best.com (Josh Geller) wrote: > > > wrote: > > > > > There are these traditional Jewish guys on a kabbalah mailing > > > list. One of them is a Rabbi who mentioned his mother > > > put a talisman under his pillow when he was a child. > > > > > I pointed out that doing this was Magick. > > > > Whatever you say, bubbeleh. > > > > > And this was the response: > > > > > > ["Go away you idiot" in Rabbi]. > > > > > So, how about it, guys? What do you think ...? > > > > You shouldn't argue with Jews. > > > > > Let's get your opinions! > > > > In fact, you shouldn't argue with anyone smarter than you. > > > > To be safe, just don't argue with anyone. That way the laws of > > probability are on *your* side. Whether or not the individual Jew in question thought it was magic is moot; there is no such debate or argument among Jewish historians and scholars. See the classic early 20th century book "Semitic Magic" by King (?) for lots more Assyro-Babylonian, Jewish, Arabic, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern magical material. Because he was a child and the charm was hidden in the bed, it might have been some form of anti-Lilith talisman (Lilith being, among her other attributes, the Sumerian-derived child-snatcher demon deemed responsible for sudden infant death syndrome). Bed-charms against Lilith and her helper-demons are still common among German, Polish, and Russian Jews, and probably elsewhere as well. They usually take the form of a written prescription of banishment. See "Semitic Magic" for numerous examples. Another poissibility is that the talisman in question was an apotropaic charm against the evil eye, a Middle-Eastern shared belief that people, especiallu children, are at risk from the gazes of envious people. The evil eye is directly mentioned in the Bible (in Proverbs), is of long-standing acceptance in Jewish culture, and is ultimately derived from Sumerican sources. It has spread as far east as India and as far west as Britian (and, thus, of course, is occurent in colonized North and South America). For a long, long article on the Evil Eye belief among Semitic and other people, see my web page http://www.luckymojo.com/evileye.html And Josh is right; argument is not worth much. cat yronwode Lucky W Amulet Archive --------- http://www.luckymojo.com/luckyw.html No personal e-mail, please; just catch me in usenet; i read it daily. Lucky Mojo Curio Co. http://www.luckymojo.com/catalogue.html Send e-mail with your street address to catalogue@luckymojo.com and receive our free 32 page catalogue of hoodoo supplies and amulets
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