Das Altjüdische Zauberwesen

The first comprehensive study of Jewish magic in antiquity, published 1898 and still regarded as an authoritative guide.

Lajos Blau (Author)

9781108025546, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 January 2011

182 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.28 kg

Lajos (Ludwig) Blau (1861–1936) was a professor at the Landesrabbinerschule (Hungarian rabbinical seminary) in Budapest. His published work covers biblical studies, Masoretic studies and the Talmud, but his interests in Jewish history also extended to archaeology and folklore. This book, originally published in Strasburg in 1898 but reissued here in its second edition (Berlin, 1914), was the first comprehensive study of Jewish magic from the biblical period to the early middle ages, and is still regarded as an authoritative guide. Blau discusses who practised magic, its beneficial and destructive purposes, and magical techniques and objects including herbs, amulets, spells, the tetragram, and the evil eye, as well as methods for counteracting their effects. He supports his arguments by extensive references to early sources. The material he presents is essential for an understanding of the medieval Kabbalah, and is also relevant to comparative work on ancient Egyptian magic.

Vorwort
Teil I. Aberglaube, Zauberwesen und Dämonenglaube
Teil II. Die Verbreitung der Zauberei bei den Juden: 1. Die Verbreitung der Zauberei in biblischer Zeit
2. Die Verbreitung der Zauberie im talmudischen Zeitalter
3. Die zaubernden Personen
4. Die Quellen des jüdischen Zauberwesens
Teil III. Ziele und Wirkungen der Zauberei: 1. Bösartige Zauberei
2. Gutartige Zauberei
Teil IV. Zaubermittle: 1. Das menschliche Wort
2. Amulete
3. Inhalt und Form geschriebener Amulete
4. Zei griechisch-jüdische Beschwörungsformeln
5. Die mystischen Gottesnamen
6. Einfluss und Abwehr magischer Anschauungen
7. Das böse Auge
8. Zauberdinge und Schutzmittel
9. Etymologischer Aberglaube
Druckfehler-Verzeichniss.

Subject Areas: Judaism [HRJ]