Magic

Did a 13th-Century Rabbi Know about Lightning Rods?

Baḥya ben Asher, magic, science, and church bells.

Yaakov Taubes
Oct. 13 2021 12:01AM

A 16th-Century Collection of Kabbalistic Magic, and the Story behind It

Elisha ben Gad’s Tree of Knowledge.

Zsofi Buda
Aug. 21 2020 12:01AM

What Harry Houdini, the Quintessential Escape Artist, Declined to Escape

Houdini’s was the prototypically self-made American tale. But even while turning himself into the world’s greatest breaker of constraints, he remained a proudly identified Jew.

Michal Leibowitz
March 17 2020 12:01AM

How Jerusalem Rabbis Used Kabbalistic Magic to Try to Defeat Hitler

By slaughtering roosters on an airplane.

Yuval Harari
May 3 2019 12:01AM

The Secrets of an 18th-Century Kabbalistic Cookbook

A Large Volume of Virtues, Medicines, Amulets, and Fortunes.

Agata Paluch
April 19 2019 12:01AM

Making Sense of Ancient Jewish Magic

Demons, The Sword of Moses, and Judaism.

Yuval Harari
June 15 2017 12:01AM

Are the Origins of "Abracadabra" Jewish?

The first written reference to the magical utterance was in a Roman text. Did it have earlier roots?

Philologos
July 2 2015 12:01AM

Magic Bowls: A Key to the World of the Talmud?

The Babylonian Talmud contains a vast wealth of information about the Jewish society that, from the 3rd to 7th century, produced it, but historians have. . .

Shai Secunda
Dec. 22 2014 12:01AM