Jewish Magic and Superstition by Joshua Trachtenberg
(Something I want all of you to read. Jews especially bc we need to learn our history and culture, but certain chapters I really want christians, pagans, and witches to read)
Written in 1939 Rabbi for his PhD thesis, this book is all about the history of both the perception and practice of Jewish magic by Jewish people and by non-jews (mainly christians/pagans).
It is free to read online here and I especially recommend that non-jews, especially christians, pagans, and witches read the preface and chapter 1, and for the witches chapter 2 as well. You can read other chapters if you like but these chapters specifically because:
Y’all need to read these because it goes over the long history (but not all of it, mostly middle-ages to 1900s) of anti-semitism, going over antisemitic lies and the origins, from things like blood libel, to jewish people being worshippers of satan. And how our perceived mastery of dark magic resulted in our constant slaughter. It sites specific events to really drive home this history lesson that most of you need.
Ya’ll need to read these because many of these ideas still exist and still do harm. You need to know how old, ingrained, systemic, and institutionalized hatred of jewish people is, and how ingrained the lies about us are, and this is only one aspect.
Note that all things relating to horrific Jewish magical rituals in chapter 1 are false accusations being described.
Witches need to read this and chapter 2 because y’all need to stop using our words and symbols and items in your magic.
Firstly because that kind of shit is what gets us killed, yes gets. Blood libel is still popular today and it includes accusing us of using blood in magic rituals, so you must stop even making the connection between witchery and Judaism. stop it.
Secondly because chapter 2 goes over what magic and mysticism is in Judaism. Our words and symbols are powerful and sacred. Stop using them, you aren’t allowed, you aren’t using them correctly and cannot because you aren’t Jewish. It’s really disgusting appropriation.
Note that when the author refers to “Israel” it means the jewish people, Am Yisrael, not the state of Israel which didn’t exist yet. It also uses “His” to refer to jewish people collectively a whole lot.
Anyways, my fellow jews this is a fascinating read, I’m learning so much about jewish culture and our history from this book.
Anyone and everyone should reblog this.
[I cannot vouch for the quality of the site that the book is hosted on, but when i clicked to go to it’s Judaism section it listed the Tanach as the hebrew bible and goodness that’s a correct thing that I never see non-jewish people getting correct]
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