Judaism & Mediumship: A Complimentary Relationship
Monday, October 5, 2015
Judaism &
Mediumship: A Complimentary Relationship
"Without a
doubt, visiting spirit mediums is becoming amazingly popular,” author Cathy
Cash Spellman told the New York Times last October (La Ferla
2000).
The subject of mediumship has long been popular in many
segments of society. There are presently televised shows featuring famous
mediums and their work with individuals and groups, there have been reality
based shows which featured mediums in competition and there has been a famous
long running sitcom portraying a fictional story line based upon an actual
medium. With all of this mediumship going on it is not unusual for Jews to ask
themselves what Judaism has to say about this subject. Typically the response
of most Rabbi’s is to enforce the idea that Judaism is about this life and not
the next life and spiritual contemplation regarding an afterlife and whether we
can engage that other life are intrinsically opposed to the values and ethics
of Judaism. In a debate on Larry King Live, Rabbi Shmuely Boteach summarized
the mainstream Jewish position concerning psychic ability and mediumship:
“I believe that religion is supposed to get us to be
focused on this world, mastering relationships, being better parents, better
husbands, more ethical in business, not telling us what happens in the
afterlife. In fact, I even think that's quite dangerous. I don't want to be
pulled to the heavens. You know, we're supposed to be focused here on Earth.
But I just issue this simple challenge to the psychics, just tell us anything
that can help preserve life on this planet sometime in this program” (Are
Psychics for Real? Aired March 6, 2001).
Rabbi Boteach is correct in one sense of his assertion,
namely that Judaism teaches us how to live this life first and foremost by
emphasizing proper thoughts, speech and actions. However, Rabbi Boteach is
incorrect in asserting that Judaism should not tell us what happens after
physical death and that it is dangerous to do so. Judaism has discussions
concerning the afterlife in every genre of its literature from the Talmud to
the Kabbalah and within the myriad writings of various Rabbinic literature the
afterlife appears as a common theme of discussion. In this matter Rabbi Boteach
sympathizes with many other modern Rabbis in the effort to sterilize Judaism
into a strictly naturalistic endeavor being devoid of spiritual imperative,
inspiration and comfort. Rabbi Boteach’s Judaism is one that is devoid of life
and inspiration and the type of Judaism that Jews the world over are abandoning
for more spiritual oriented faiths of the East.
Does Judaism have a particular perspective when it comes to
mediumship and/or psychic ability? The answer is a definite yes. Before we
examine the Jewish position concerning mediumship we need to define what
mediumship precisely is as a phenomenon. A retired spiritualist and certified
medium, Rita Straus Berkowitz, defines mediumship as follows:
“A medium is a person whose senses are so acute that they
register the presence of beings belonging to the non-physical world; and
interpret the wishes and information which such beings desire to impart to
people still in the body in this physical world.”
I would add my own definition as the innate ability to
perceive non-physical signals via the stimulation of the internal sensory
receptors of sight, sound and feeling. The 5 sensory gateways of perception are
not externally stimulated rather they are internally stimulated by an imposing
force thus creating a mental effect that may or may not be experienced
physically.
Mediumship is experienced and expressed differently by the
medium. Some mediums have an acute sense of perception and can readily
interpret the information from this outside acting force while other mediums are
not as attuned and their perceptions can be quite muddied and lacking clarity.
Mediums receive information which may or may not be factual as the incoming
information must be interpreted by the medium and/or the acting external force
may not be clear in its presentation or may not be truthful and this depends on
the quality of its ego.
Mediums do not predict the future (nor do psychics) as the
future is open to a random series of possible quantum-wave fluctuations and any
shift in either perception or action by a single individual can change the
future of a billion other people. Therefore any psychic or medium who claims to
be able to do predictive work is not to be trusted and should be viewed as
being unethical.
Mediums have the responsibility to connect two worlds
together in order to bring comfort for the bereaved, hope for the despaired,
inspiration to the uninspired, a sense of meaning and purpose for those who
have lost direction and a sense of LIFE when the mundane feels so lifeless.
There are those who have protested that this is the responsibility of religion
but the difference between religion and mediumship is that religion is a static
faith-based orientation and mediumship is experiential. Further, religion and
mediumship are not mutually exclusive and should not work at odds with one
another Religion should be enlivened by the practical tools of mediumship to
insure vitality and responsibility for both.
Mediumship & the Torah
The Torah appears to condemn mediumship and most references
to such phenomenon are portrayed in a negative manner within Torah’s narrative.
However, we know that Moses divined the will of YHVH be secluding himself and
finding a place of solitude; Joseph was an interpreter of dreams and even
possessed and used a cup for divination; the Urim and Thummim of the High
Priest was utilized to divine messages from the other world and there are more
examples in the Torah that indicate a methodology of divination utilized by the
Hebrews. However we have explicit verses in the Torah which seems to warn
against such practices such as Leviticus 19:26 which reads: “You shall
not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or
soothsaying.” A few verses later verse 31 states: “Regard not those who are
mediums nor seek after sorcerers, to be defiled by them…” Though it does appear
that the Torah is forbidding practices of divination and mediumship at first
glance there is more to this narrative. Verse 26 correlates soothsaying or
mediumship with the consumption of blood and this is not an arbitrary
correlation. Divination and soothsaying, insofar as it was practiced in the
ancient world, consisted of using the blood and organs of animals in an attempt
to divine the future. The practice was common around the world from China
to Rome. Attempts to propitiate false gods in the ancient Mesopotamian
world included human sacrifices with the hearts ripped out, another element of
this practice included blood which was spilled profligately. It should be noted
that as the life of an animal was in the blood, it was improper to either eat
it or to use it in pagan worship. This required that even clean meats be
slaughtered and bled properly, and cooked properly, to avoid sinning by eating
the blood and causing suffering to an animal. Thus verse 26 and the following
verse 31 which appears in the same context are discussing in particular the
practices of the idolatrous nations and that the Hebrew is to avoid defiling
themselves with said practices. All of these practices being prohibited follow
on the heels of Leviticus 17:10-12 which states: “I will set my face against
any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I
will cut them off from the people. For the life of a creature is in the
blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the
altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore
I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner
residing among you eat blood.” The indication is quite clear that the
subsequent verses 26 & 31 are specifically talking about engaging in the
idolatrous blood sacrifices of the other nations.
There are a few other verses in the Torah which cast
mediumship in a seeming negative light but when each of these verses is read in
their entire context it is easily discerned that these injunctions are not
against mediumship rather they are opposed to the practices of the other nation
in the ancient Mesopotamian world. Let’s briefly summarize the other verses:
· * Leviticus 20:5,6 – this
verse is specifically talking about those who “commit whoredom with Molech.”
Molech was the deity worshipped by the Ammonites and later the Moabites
worshiped this same deity under the name Chemosh. Devotees of Molech routinely
offered up their children as human sacrifices to this deity.
· * Deuteronomy 18:9-15 – verse
9 specifically states “you shall not mimic the abomination of those nations”
which is the qualifying phrase of this statement. The Hebrew was not to follow
any other deity or engage in other religious practices outside of the scope of
their own cultural and religious context.
It must be pointed out that what a medium was in the context
of the ancient world and what a medium is in the modern world are radically
different from one another. Human sacrifices, the disemboweling of animals and
drinking blood is not on the agenda for mediums of our modern era and this is
because these rituals were distinctly a part of ancient religions which no
longer exist. A medium today may be religious or non-religious and mediumship
is rarely tied to a religious or sectarian practice.
Mediumship in Jewish Context
Mediumship is appears in Jewish history and was quite
prevalent amongst some of the Rabbi’s. Rabbi Baruch HaLevi points out: “Many
of the great Rabbis, leaders and scholars throughout Jewish history, spanning
from the rationalists to the mystics, from the Ashkenazim to the Sefardim, not
only qualified the Torah’s views on necromancy, not only allowed for modern day
consultation of a medium, but consulted a medium themselves, if indeed, they
didn’t speak to the dead on their own” (Consulting the Dead).
Rabbi Baruch HaLevi further asserts:
“Clearly what the Torah forbids is the cultic practices
that surrounded the consultation with the dead among a whole host of other
disturbing, idolatrous practices. It was not, however, dealing with what most
of us are doing when consulting a medium” (Consulting the Dead).
Following are Rabbinic sources for mediumship which have
been collected by Rabbi Baruch HaLevi and also by Rabbi Elie Spitz. In order to
avoid repeating their previous efforts I will post their findings herein:
* Talmud, Sanhedrin 65B
There is an ongoing conversation between the rabbis as to
what specifically the Torah forbids in regards to speaking to the dead. Below
is a fragment of the conversation. The point, however, is clear - the various
rabbis involved assumed that such communication was possible and some forms of
it were permissible. (It is also noteworthy that the esteemed Rabbi Akiva is
among those who believe in communicating with the dead).
“As has been taught: Or that consulteth the dead: this
means one who starves himself and spends the night in a cemetery, so that an
unclean spirit [of a demon] may rest upon him [to enable him to foretell the
future]. And when R. Akiba reached this verse, he wept: If one who starves
himself that an unclean spirit may rest upon him has his wish granted, he who
fasts that the pure spirit [the Divine Presence] may rest upon him — how much
more should his desire be fulfilled! But alas! our sins have driven it away
from us, as it is written, But your iniquities have separated between you and
your God.”
* Talmud, Moed Katan 28A
Here the Talmud relates numerous deathbed encounters where
the living and the dead converse before death. Then, upon dying, the dead visit
the living and have various interchanges and conversations. Here is one of
those encounters.
“Raba, while seated at the bedside of R. Nahman, saw him
sinking into slumber [death]. Said he to Raba: ‘Tell him,Sir, not to torment
me’. Said Raba: ‘Are you, Sir, not a man esteemed?’ Said [R. Nahman] to him,
‘Who is esteemed, who is regarded, who is distinguished [before the Angel of
Death]?’ Said [Raba] to him: ‘Do, Sir, show yourself to me [in a dream]’. He
did show himself. [Raba] asked him: ‘Did you suffer pain, Sir’? He replied: ‘As
[little as] the taking of a hair from the milk; and were the Holy One, blessed
be He, to say to me, Go back to that world as you were, I wish it not, for the
dread thereof [of death] is great’”.
Some of the Hasadei Ashkenaz, the leading German rabbis of
Thirteenth century, gave permission to consult the dead. The made a distinction
between consulting upon a dead body, which they forbid, however, allowing the
consultation with a spirit. [most notably, the Maharan (Rabbi Mordechai
Routenberg); see Beit Yosef in the Tur, Yoreh De’ah 179). (adapted Spitz, “Does
the Soul Survive,” p.106).
* Maimonidies (the Rambam)
Even rationalists, like Moses Maimonidies (the Rambam),
though qualifying necromancy, allowed for consultation with dead spirits. To
read his prohibition as being against all forms of communication with the dead
is clearly a misreading. (See Mishnah Torah, Avodah Kocavim, 11:13; Sanhedrin
19:4).
* The Besht (1698-1760)
The Besht (Ba’al Shem Tov) once tested Rabbi Gershon
Kittover to see if he could help him in his work with deceased souls. After he
had shown him what kavanah (incantation) to use, Rabbi Gershon followed his instructions
and, suddenly faced with the uprush of countless souls, he fained... (retold in
Spiritual Intimacy, Schachter Shalomi, p.99).
* Joseph Karo (Israel, 1488-1575)
“To cause a sick person to swear that he will return
after his death to tell him [his living friend] what he will ask him is
permitted.”
* Moses Isserles (Poland, 1572) adds: “And there
are those who even permit [asking a question of the dead] after his death, if
he doesn’t address the body of the dead, but only his spirit.” Shulkhan
Arukh, Yoreh Deah 179:14
* Chaim Vital (1542 -1620) used mediums to continue
to communicate to his teacher, the great Rabbi Joseph Karo, after his death.
(Sefer Hahiyzonyot p.3-4).
* Vilna Gaon (Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, 1720-1797)
records that his teacher spoke to the dead;
“I heard from his holy mouth that many times maggidim
(messengers) from Heaven appeard to him, requesting to deliver him the
mysteries of the Torah without any effort, but he would not listen to them...
When one of the maggidim insisted persistently.... he answered, “I do not want
my understanding of the Torah to be mediated by [others]” (Werblowsky, Joseph
Karo, Lawyer and Mystic (Philadelphia: JPS; 1977, as retold by Spitz, Does
The Soul Survive, p. 107-108).
* Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady & Rabbi Joseph Isaac
Schneerson (two key figures in the origins and flourishing of Chabad):
During the festival of Sukkot the Magid (famous Rabbi), in
training (his student) Rabbi Shneur Zalman (founder of Lubavitch Judaism), told
him to remain in his sukkah (booth) for a visit by the Ba’al Shem Tov (famous,
deceased rabbi and teacher of the Maggid’s). He ordered Rabbi Shneur Zalman to
be calm and observe the event as if it were the most natural thing. Later, when
Shneur Zalman was imprisoned, his ability to invoke the presence of exalted
(deceased) souls helped greatly to sustain him in his suffering. Rabbi Yosef
Yitzchak Schneersohn reports similar visions during his imprisonment in Moscow.
(Spiritual Intimacy, Schachter-Shalomi, p.. 104).
Summary
Much more has been written about this subject in
Rabbinic literature but it is my hope that this article provides a Jewish
perspective on Mediumship and related phenomenon. This subject was elucidated
by some of the Rabbinic greats such as Chaim Vital, the Vilna Gaon, Rav Akiva,
Joseph Karo, etc. The voices of the sages is in direct contradistinction to the
modern voices of those Rabbis who are either ignorant of what these sages have
taught or they willfully turn a blind eye to these teachings and subsequently
lie in this regard. Rather than debating about Judaism’s emphasis on “this”
life to the exclusion of the spiritual worlds we need to be utilizing Judaism’s
spiritual teachings to better enhance life in this world. Mediumship done with
competence and responsibility is a great tool and being inclusive of this
ability, rather than exclusive, will help insure that people can obtain the
services of a quality medium with integrity and avoid the charlatans who prey
on the suffering and the weak. Judaism
has a large tradition of spirituality and spiritism much of which is
encapsulated in Shaare Gilgulim and Sefer ha Ot. There is no reason for seekers
to pass by Judaism when looking for answers to the infamous inquiry: “What
happens when we die?”
Great article. I really enjoyed reading it and I am going to share it with others too. Many blessings to you!