Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T21:05:46.975Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 9 - Jewish Magic in the Middle Ages

from Part III - Parallel Traditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2015

David J. Collins, S. J.
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Get access

Summary

This chapter first deals with the medieval Jewish discourse of magic by focusing on four specific examples of rabbinic discussions of magic and magic-related practices. It then focuses on origins, transmission, and adaptation of some of the texts and technologies of medieval Jewish magic in different times and places. The Jewish magical tradition was greatly enriched by internal Jewish developments as well, and especially by the rise of the so-called Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical-esoteric tradition. The chapter examines the survival of Late Antique Jewish magic into the Middle Ages, and then turns to the Muslim and Christian influences on medieval Jewish magic. The older Jewish magical texts were characterized by their deep exposure to the Greco-Egyptian magical tradition and by their selective borrowings and adaptations from that tradition. Looking at Oriental Jewish manuscripts that transmit magical texts, such as those found in the Cairo Genizah, people find copious documentation of Oriental Jewish magic from the tenth to the twentieth centuries.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West
From Antiquity to the Present
, pp. 268 - 300
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×