Judaism & the Art of "Magic"
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Following is an assertion that was made by a reader of this forum and my response follows. I thought to include this as a post because there is quite a bit of information that I know some of you will be interested in. This individual challenged my meditation on first of the 72 Divine Names video I had posted earlier to this forum. He essentially claims that it is witchcraft and evil. This is typical of those people who are coming from a Christian background as they are bringing their non-Jewish mindset with them into these matters.
ASSERTION: The idea of using 72 names is a practice of "magic", these names are the result of a combination of letters and are called Shemhamphorasch. Shemhamphorasch is the set of 72 words of 3 letters each, formed from the split of the "Tetragrammaton" (YHVH) in 72 shares. Mistiscismo, magic ... practices prohibited in the Torah!
* Exodus 22:18
The witch will not leave live.
The witch will not leave live.
* Leviticus 19:31
Do not turn to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek, to be defiled by them. I am your Elohim Shehmaa.
* Leviticus 20: 6
When someone turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set my face against him and will cut him off from among his people.
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MY RESPONSE: There are some very basic errors in your approach which you have outlined. These errors are typical of those who do not possess an ability to read the Hebrew text of the Torah much less interpret the text and do not understand the overall context of the narrative. The first verse you quoted is a great illustration of this: “You shall not suffer a witch to live” (Ex. 22:17). This is a commonly mistranslated and erroneously applied verse which has been bastardized by various language translations. First the Hebrew can quite correctly be read as simply: “You shall not live by sorcery.” This is a very good way to convey this verse and dramatically alters the meaning in the ears of the reader. However, let’s examine this a bit more before I just make the assertion that its been falsely translated. The word “witch” reflects a medieval Christian concept as the term witch originates in this context. There wasn’t a “witchcraft” of ancient times per-se (this is important to point out so as not to disparage modern practitioners of a modern art under the guise of Wicca). The Hebrew word is ‘mechashefim’ and translates more appropriately as sorcerer in a feminine sense. In Biblical Hebrew black sorcerers were referred to as mechashefim (feminine) or kashafim (masculine). Both of these words come from the root ‘kashaf’ which means to ‘enchant or bewitch’ and describes a person who commits acts of evil, dark magic and curses. Cursing people was quite common in ancient times and kashafim were summoned routinely to curse an opposing military on the field of battle. The contextual meaning is someone who manipulates someone else to act against their own will, to impose one’s will on another in order to cause harm. It is this act of kashaf which is being forbidden by the Torah and not just a general blanket statement of all so-called acts of magic. Remember Moses had a magical competition with the Egyptian priests and Joseph utilized a cup of divination. A clear answer to this issue is presented in the Talmud which gives us the definition of an evil sorcerer:
