During the Middle Ages different traditions, including magic texts, circulated among Jewish comm... more During the Middle Ages different traditions, including magic texts, circulated among Jewish communities in the Christian and Muslim world. In a manuscript preserved in the Cairo Genizah, an interesting recipe was found which can be defined as aggressive magic ('black magic'). Its aim is to insert a demon into a piece of wood and to put that wood into a person, causing him to lose his mind and become a simpleton.
The recipe's title, its sympathetic magic characteristics and the magical adjuration mentioned in are instructive in regard to its affinity with the corpus Clavicula Salomonis from medieval Europe. In addition, we can also point out a similar recipe that has been found in that corpus.
This magic recipe from the Genizah can serve as an example to a mixing of Jewish Christian and Muslim traditions in the framework of magical practice.
Shimshon Friedburg (1745 – post 1827) from the city of Altona in Germany was a pious, enlightened... more Shimshon Friedburg (1745 – post 1827) from the city of Altona in Germany was a pious, enlightened Jew. Some of Friedberg's writings were dedicated to morality and criticism against the Jews in his community that abandoned the "yoke" of Torah and mitzvoth. The essay "Menakot Kelim" (MS. British Library Or. 10484) which seems to have been written during the 1780s is an important historic source, which presents a firsthand testimony of the secularization processes in the Jewish communities of Altona-Hamburg during that period. Among these are mentioned modern commentary to the scriptures, mockery of the Sages and disrespect to rabbis; as well as adopting fashion, appearances and customs of gentiles, usage of a foreign language and the behavior of licentious Jewish women. In his criticism the writer emphasizes the attempt of these Jews to resemble the gentiles and assimilate with them, while simultaneously distancing themselves from Judaism. The lion's share of the essay is written in rhyming prose, while the other part includes two poems and a sermon about the difference between the word "Beged" and the word "Simla" in the Bible, that also deal with the same criticism and morality. The essay can be also characterized as satirical and amusing. A frequent use of the literary means of the Calembour contributes to this style
During the Middle Ages different traditions, including magic texts, circulated among Jewish comm... more During the Middle Ages different traditions, including magic texts, circulated among Jewish communities in the Christian and Muslim world. In a manuscript preserved in the Cairo Genizah, an interesting recipe was found which can be defined as aggressive magic ('black magic'). Its aim is to insert a demon into a piece of wood and to put that wood into a person, causing him to lose his mind and become a simpleton.
The recipe's title, its sympathetic magic characteristics and the magical adjuration mentioned in are instructive in regard to its affinity with the corpus Clavicula Salomonis from medieval Europe. In addition, we can also point out a similar recipe that has been found in that corpus.
This magic recipe from the Genizah can serve as an example to a mixing of Jewish Christian and Muslim traditions in the framework of magical practice.
Shimshon Friedburg (1745 – post 1827) from the city of Altona in Germany was a pious, enlightened... more Shimshon Friedburg (1745 – post 1827) from the city of Altona in Germany was a pious, enlightened Jew. Some of Friedberg's writings were dedicated to morality and criticism against the Jews in his community that abandoned the "yoke" of Torah and mitzvoth. The essay "Menakot Kelim" (MS. British Library Or. 10484) which seems to have been written during the 1780s is an important historic source, which presents a firsthand testimony of the secularization processes in the Jewish communities of Altona-Hamburg during that period. Among these are mentioned modern commentary to the scriptures, mockery of the Sages and disrespect to rabbis; as well as adopting fashion, appearances and customs of gentiles, usage of a foreign language and the behavior of licentious Jewish women. In his criticism the writer emphasizes the attempt of these Jews to resemble the gentiles and assimilate with them, while simultaneously distancing themselves from Judaism. The lion's share of the essay is written in rhyming prose, while the other part includes two poems and a sermon about the difference between the word "Beged" and the word "Simla" in the Bible, that also deal with the same criticism and morality. The essay can be also characterized as satirical and amusing. A frequent use of the literary means of the Calembour contributes to this style
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Papers by Alon Ten-Ami
The recipe's title, its sympathetic magic characteristics and the magical adjuration mentioned in are instructive in regard to its affinity with the corpus Clavicula Salomonis from medieval Europe. In addition, we can also point out a similar recipe that has been found in that corpus.
This magic recipe from the Genizah can serve as an example to a mixing of Jewish Christian and Muslim traditions in the framework of magical practice.
The essay "Menakot Kelim" (MS. British Library Or. 10484) which seems to have been written during the 1780s is an important historic source, which presents a firsthand testimony of the secularization processes in the Jewish communities of Altona-Hamburg during that period. Among these are mentioned modern commentary to the scriptures, mockery of the Sages and disrespect to rabbis; as well as adopting fashion, appearances and customs of gentiles, usage of a foreign language and the behavior of licentious Jewish women.
In his criticism the writer emphasizes the attempt of these Jews to resemble the gentiles and assimilate with them, while simultaneously distancing themselves from Judaism.
The lion's share of the essay is written in rhyming prose, while the other part includes two poems and a sermon about the difference between the word "Beged" and the word "Simla" in the Bible, that also deal with the same criticism and morality.
The essay can be also characterized as satirical and amusing. A frequent use of the literary means of the Calembour contributes to this style
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The recipe's title, its sympathetic magic characteristics and the magical adjuration mentioned in are instructive in regard to its affinity with the corpus Clavicula Salomonis from medieval Europe. In addition, we can also point out a similar recipe that has been found in that corpus.
This magic recipe from the Genizah can serve as an example to a mixing of Jewish Christian and Muslim traditions in the framework of magical practice.
The essay "Menakot Kelim" (MS. British Library Or. 10484) which seems to have been written during the 1780s is an important historic source, which presents a firsthand testimony of the secularization processes in the Jewish communities of Altona-Hamburg during that period. Among these are mentioned modern commentary to the scriptures, mockery of the Sages and disrespect to rabbis; as well as adopting fashion, appearances and customs of gentiles, usage of a foreign language and the behavior of licentious Jewish women.
In his criticism the writer emphasizes the attempt of these Jews to resemble the gentiles and assimilate with them, while simultaneously distancing themselves from Judaism.
The lion's share of the essay is written in rhyming prose, while the other part includes two poems and a sermon about the difference between the word "Beged" and the word "Simla" in the Bible, that also deal with the same criticism and morality.
The essay can be also characterized as satirical and amusing. A frequent use of the literary means of the Calembour contributes to this style