Women & Sorcery – Handout
Part 0: Sorcery 101
Deuteronomy 18:9-11
9 When you come into the land which the LORD thy God givesyou, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found among you any one that causes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that divines divination, a soothsayer, or a diviner of times, or a sorcerer,
11 or a charmer, or one that consults a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer.
Exodus 22:17
מְכַשֵּׁפָה, לֹא תְחַיֶּה.
You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
Babylonian Talmud – Mishnah Sanhedrin 53a
The following are stoned: he who commits incest with his mother, his father's wife, or his daughter-in-law; he who sexually abuses a male or beast; a woman who commits bestiality with a beast; a blasphemer; an idolater; he who gives of his seed to Molech; a necromancer or a wizard; one who desecrates the Sabbath; he who curses his father or mother; he who commits adultery with a betrothed maiden; he who incites [individuals to idolatry]; he who seduces [a whole town to idolatry]; a sorcerer; and a wayward and rebellious son.
Samuel I 28:6-9
6 And Saul inquired of the Lord, and the Lord did not answer; neither by dreams, nor by the Urim, nor by the prophets.
7 And Saul said to his servants, "Seek for me a necromanceress (ba’alatov); and I shall go to her, and inquire of her." And his servants said, "Behold, there is a necromanceress in En-dor."
8 And Saul disguised himself, and donned other garments. And he went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, "Divine now for me with necromancy (ov), and conjure up for me whom I shall tell you."
9 And the woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, that he has abolished the necromancers (ovot) and those who divine by the yidoni from the land; and why do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die?"
Babylonian Talmud – Mishnah Sanhedrin 67a
A sorcerer, if he actually performs magic, is liable [to death]. But not if he merely creates illusions.
Part I: Women Are Equated with Sorcery
Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 67a
Gemara
A SORCERER, IF HE ACTUALLY PERFORMS MAGIC. Our Rabbis taught: [Thou shalt not suffer] a witch [to live]: this applies to both man and woman. If so, why is a [female] witch stated? — Because mostly women engage in witchcraft.
Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 67a
R. AKIBA SAID: ALSO HE WHO READS UNCANONICAL BOOKS.... R. Joseph said: it is also forbidden to read the book of Ben Sira. Abaye said to him: Why so? Shall we say because there is written therein…A daughter is a vain treasure to her father: through anxiety on her account, he cannot sleep at night. As a minor, lest she be seduced: as a maiden, lest she play the harlot; as an adult, lest she does not marry;grows old, lest she engage in sorcery.
Babylonian Talmud Berachot 53a
Our Rabbis taught: If one was walking outside the town and smelled an odor [of spices], if the majority of inhabitants are idolaters he does not say a blessing. R. Yossi says: "Even if the majority are Israelites he does not say a blessing, because the daughters of Israel use incense for sorcery”. Do all of them use incense [only] for sorcery! - The fact is a small partis used for sorcery and a small part for scenting garments...
Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 64b
The Master said that ‘eatables may not be passed by’. R. Yohanan stated in the name of R. Simeon b. Yohai: "This applies only to the earlier generations, when the daughters of Israel did not freely indulge in sorcery, but in the later generations, when the daughters of Israel freely indulged in sorcery, one may pass them by."
Part II: Male vs Female Sorcerers
Babylonian Talmud Gittin 45a
The daughters of R. Nahman used to stir a cauldron with their hands when it was boiling hot. R. Ilish was puzzled about it. It is written [he said], "One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those I have not found": and here are the daughters of R. Nahman!
A misfortune happened to them, and they were carried away captive, and he also with them. One day a man was sitting next to him who understood the language of the birds. A raven came and called to him, and R. Ilish said to him: "What does it say?" "It says," he replied, "Ilish run away, Ilish run away." He said, "The raven is a false bird, and I do not trust it." Then a dove came and called. He again asked, "What does it say?" "It says," the man replied, "Ilish run away, Ilish run away." Said Ilish: "The community of Israel is likened to a dove; this shows that a miracle will be performed for me."
He then said to himself, "I will go and see the daughters of R. Nahman; if they have retained their virtue. I will bring them back." Said he to himself: "Women talk over their business in the privy." He overheard them saying: "These men are our husbands just as the Nehardeans [were] our husbands. Let us tell our captors to remove us to a distance from here, so that our husbands may not come and hear [where we are] and ransom us."
R. Ilish then rose and fled, along with the other man. A miracle was performed for him and he got across the river, but the other man was caught and put to death. When the daughters of R. Nahman came back, he said, "They stirred the cauldron by sorcery”.
Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 67b
Yannai came to an inn. He said to them, "Give me a drink of water," and they offered him shattitha. Seeing the lips of the woman moving, he spilled a little thereof, which turned to snakes. Then he said, "As I have drunk of yours now do you come and drink of mine." So he gave her to drink, and she turned into an ass. He then rode upon her into the market. But her friend came and broke the charm, and so he was seen riding upon a woman in public.
Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 67b
“There is none else besides Him” (Deut. 4:35). R. Hanina said: "Even by sorcery”. A woman once attempted to take earth from under R. Hanina's feet. He said to her, "If you succeed in your attempts, go and practice it". It is written, however, "There is none else besides Him." But that is not so, for did not R. Yohanan say: "Why are they called mekhashefim? Because they lessen the power of the Divine agencies". R. Hanina was in a different category, owing to his abundant merit.
Part III: Rabbinical Supremacy
Babylonian Talmud Pesahim111a
When two women sit at a crossroad, one on one side of the road, and one on the other side of the road, facing each other, they are certainly engaged in sorcery. What is the remedy? If there is another road, let one go through it. If there is no other road, if another man is with him, let them clasp hands and pass through; while if there is no other man, let him say thus; "Igrath,Izlath, Asya, Belusia have been slain with arrows
Babylonian Talmud Pesahim 110b
Where sorcery is concerned, we fear even many pairs, as with the case of a certain man who divorced his wife; she went and married a shopkeeper. Every day he used to go and drink wine, and though she exercised her sorcery against him, she could avail nought, because he was heedful of "pairs." One day he drank to excess and did not know how much he drank; until sixteen he was clear-headed and on guard; after that he was not clear-headed and took no care, she turned him out at an even [number of drinks]. As he was going along an Arab met him and observed to him: A corpse is walking here! He went and clasped a palm tree; the palm tree cried out and he burst.
Babylonian Talmud Yoma 83b
IF SOMEONE WAS BITTEN BY A MAD DOG. Our Rabbis taught: Five things were mentioned in connection with a mad dog. Its mouth is open, its saliva dripping, its ears flap, its tail is hanging between its thighs, it walks on the edge of the road. Some say, also it barks without its voice being heard. Where does it come from? — Rav said: Witches are having their fun with it.
‘One whom it bites, dies’. What is the remedy? — Abaye said: Let him take the skin of a male hyena and write upon it: I, So-and-so, the son of that-and-that woman, write upon the skin of a male Hyena: Hami, kanti, kloros. God, God, Lord of Hosts, Amen, Amen, Selah. Then let him strip off his clothes, and bury then, in a graveat cross-roadsfor twelve months of a year. Then he should take them out and burn them in an oven, and scatter the ashes. During these twelve months, if he drinks water, he shall not drink it but out of a copper tube, lest he see the shadow of the demon and be endangered. Thus the mother of Abba b. Martha, who is Abba b. Minyumi, made for him a tube of gold.
Babylonian Talmud Pesahim 110a
Amemar said: "The chief of the women who practice sorcery told me: 'He who meets a female who practices witchcraft should say thus: "Hot dung in perforated baskets for your mouths, O ye females who practice sorcery! May your heads become bald! the wind carry off your crumbs, your spices be scattered, the wind carry off the new saffron which ye are holding, ye sorceresses; as long as He showed grace to me and to you, I had not come among you; now that I have come among you, your grace and my grace are cooled.'"
Babylonian Talmud Hullin 105b
Abaye also said, "At first I thought the reason why one should not eat vegetables from the bunch which was tied up by the gardener was because it had the appearance of gluttony, but now my Master has told me, 'It is because one lays oneself open thereby to the dangers of sorcery". R. Hisda and Rabbah b. R. Huna once were travelling on a ship. A certain lady said to them, ‘Seat me with you," but they would not. She then pronounced a spell and the ship was held fast. They pronounced a spell and it was freed. She said, "What power have I over you? Seeing you do not clean yourself with a potsherd, neither do you crush a louse on your clothes, nor do you eat vegetables from a bunch tied up by the gardener."
Rambam - HilchotAvoda Zara 11:16
All of these matters are a lie and falsehood that ancient idol worshipers used to draw the non-Jews after their ways. It is not fitting for Jews, who are wise, to be led after thesethings nor to entertain the thought that there is any truth to them...One who believes inthese matters and thinks that they are true and a matter of wisdom, but the Torah forbid them, is among the foolish and unintelligent...But wise people with a proper outlook will know with clear proofs that all of these things that the Torah prohibited are not of wisdom; rather they are empty and unfounded, pursued by the unintelligent who have deserted thepaths of truth on account of them.