Jewish Love Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages

313 Pages·2017·1.69 MB·English

by  Ortal-Paz Saar

JewishLoveMagic
Magical and Religious Literature
of Late Antiquity
SeriesEditors
ShaulShaked
SiamBhayro
volume6
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/mrla
Jewish Love Magic
FromLateAntiquitytotheMiddleAges
By
Ortal-PazSaar
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Saar,Ortal-Paz,author.
Title:Jewishlovemagic:fromlateantiquitytotheMiddleAges/byOrtal-PazSaar.
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,[2017]|Series:Magicalandreligiousliterature
oflateantiquity;volume6|Basedontheauthor’sthesis(doctoral)–
UniversiṭatTel-Aviv,2009.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:lccn2017017142(print)|lccn2017018785(ebook)|
isbn9789004347892(e-book)|isbn9789004347885(hardback:alk.paper)
Subjects:lcsh:Jewishmagic–History–To1500.|Magicinrabbinicalliterature.|
Magic,Ancient.|Love–Religiousaspects–Judaism–History–To1500.
Classification:lcc bf1622.j45(ebook)|lcc bf1622.j45 s332017(print)|
ddc133.4/3089924–dc23
lcrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017017142
TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn2211-016x
isbn978-90-04-34788-5(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-34789-2(e-book)
Copyright2017byKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
KoninklijkeBrillnvincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillHes&DeGraaf,BrillNijhoff,BrillRodopiand
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Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaperandproducedinasustainablemanner.
Thisbookislovinglydedicated
tothememoryofZivPeled,1967–2003
∵
“IcouldnotbeginbetterthanbyinformingyouregretfullythatIamnotinthe
possessionoflovecharms,potions,orphiltres.NoramIintheleastcapableof
influencingthefavorsofanyyoungladyasmayappealtoyou.”
“Ihavenoneedofartificialaidsinthatrespect,sir.”Thecomplacencyunde-
niably present in the general’s voice was stirred with amusement. “Do you
receivemanyrequestsforsuchcommodities?”
“Enough.Unfortunately,anuninformedpublictendstoconfusescholarship
withmagicianry,andlovelifeseemstobethatfactorwhichrequiresthelargest
quantityofmagicaltinkering.”
“And so would seem most natural.But I differ.I connect scholarship with
nothingbutthemeansofansweringdifficultquestions.”
TheSiwennianconsideredsomberly,“Youmaybeaswrongasthey!”
isaac asimov,FoundationandEmpire
∵
Contents
Acknowledgements xi
ListofFigures xiii
Abbreviations xiv
Introduction 1
1 WhatDoWeTalkAboutWhenWeTalkAboutLove(Magic)?
ASurveyofAncientLoveMagic 32
1 HistoricalBackground 32
1.1 Mesopotamia 34
1.2 Egypt 39
1.3 Greece 41
1.4 Rome 47
1.5 Christianity 50
1.6 Islam 53
2 MainFeaturesofLoveMagic 57
3 TheMagicalRationale 59
4 TheUsesandAbusesofLoveMagic 64
4.1 JustifyinganImpossibleLove 64
4.2 ExplainingImpotence 72
5 TheSilenceoftheTargets:ReactionstoLoveMagicandCounter
Spells 78
6 Summary 85
2 MakingLove,MakingHate
PracticesofJewishLoveMagic 87
1 IntroductoryRemarks 87
2 MagicalPractices:AnOverview 89
2.1 WritingMagicalFormulae 90
2.2 UtteringMagicalFormulae 132
2.3 ManipulationofMaterialswithoutWriting 134
3 ProductsofMagicalPractices 143
4 FromTheorytoPractice 144
viii contents
3 OfLovielandOtherDemons
TheVerbalAspectsofJewishLoveMagic 149
1 IntroductoryRemarks 149
2 LinguisticAspects 151
2.1 Language,PersonandGenderintheMagicalRecipes 151
2.2 Language,PersonandGenderintheFinishedProducts 156
3 AppealsandDemands:TheMagicalFormulae 167
4 LiteraryDevicesintheMagicalFormulae 173
4.1 BiblicalAnalogies 173
4.2 BiblicalQuotations 188
4.3 Non-BiblicalAnalogies 191
4.4 Metaphors 193
5 MagicalSigns 197
5.1 MagicalSignsinJewishMagic 199
5.2 TheErroneousTerm‘kolqatiraya’ 199
5.3 MagicalSignsinJewishLoveMagic 200
4 ATimetoLoveandaTimetoHate
TheTemporalAspectsofJewishLoveMagic 207
1 WrittenintheStars 207
2 TheTimingofMagicalPractices 214
2.1 DefiningtheHouroftheDay 216
2.2 DefiningtheDayoftheWeek 221
2.3 DefiningtheDayoftheMonth 224
3 TemporalReferencesinMagicalProducts 226
4 Summary 229
5 YouShallNotWalkinTheirStatutes?
The‘Jewishness’ofJewishLoveMagic 231
1 IntroductoryRemarks 231
2 ProhibitedorPermittedLove?TheLegitimacyofLoveMagicin
Judaism 233
2.1 LoveMagicintheTalmudicLiterature 234
2.2 LoveMagicintheHalakhicLiteratureoftheGeonicandthe
MedievalPeriods 235
3 TraitsofJewishLoveMagic 242
3.1 AbstainingfromNon-sanctionedFoods 242
3.2 RefrainingfromDesecrationoftheShabbat 246
3.3 TheAttitudetowardsSupernaturalForces 248
3.4 NomenclatureofSupernaturalForces 250
contents ix
3.5 EmployingBiblicalAnalogiesandVerses 252
3.6 Logocentrism 255
4 JewishandNon-JewishLoveMagic:SomeDifferences 255
4.1 MagicalPractices 256
4.2 ExplicitSexualTerminology 260
5 Conclusions 264
Summary 266
1 InthePreviousChapters… 266
2 WhatisJewishLoveMagic?ASecondLook 267
Bibliography 269
IndexofManuscripts 293
IndexofSubjects 295