שמות 22:17
מכשֵּׁפָ֖ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה׃
Do not allow a witch to live.
The Torah takes the crime of witchcraft very seriously. It is mentioned first in this week’s parsha and again in Devarim (Deut 18:10):
לֹֽא־יִמָּצֵ֣א בְךָ֔ מַעֲבִ֥יר בְּנֽוֹ־וּבִתּ֖וֹ בָּאֵ֑שׁ קֹסֵ֣ם קְסָמִ֔ים מְעוֹנֵ֥ן וּמְנַחֵ֖שׁ וּמְכַשֵּֽׁף׃
There must not be found among you anyone that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a witch.
Is it Real or Is it Silly?
Maimonides thought that witchcraft was nonsense, that it was not in any way real.
רמב׳ם הל עבודה זרה 11:15
וּדְבָרִים הָאֵלּוּ כֻּלָּן דִּבְרֵי שֶׁקֶר וְכָזָב הֵן וְהֵם שֶׁהִטְעוּ בָּהֶן עוֹבְדֵי כּוֹכָבִים הַקַּדְמוֹנִים לְגוֹיֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּנְהֲגוּ אַחֲרֵיהֶן. וְאֵין רָאוּי לְיִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁהֵם חֲכָמִים מְחֻכָּמִים לְהִמָּשֵׁךְ בַּהֲבָלִים אֵלּוּ וְלֹא לְהַעֲלוֹת עַל לֵב שֶׁיֵּשׁ תּוֹעֶלֶת בָּהֶן. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (במדבר כג כג) "כִּי לֹא נַחַשׁ בְּיַעֲקֹב וְלֹא קֶסֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל". וְנֶאֱמַר (דברים יח יד) "כִּי הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה יוֹרֵשׁ אוֹתָם אֶל מְעֹנְנִים וְאֶל קֹסְמִים יִשְׁמָעוּ וְאַתָּה לֹא כֵן" וְגוֹ'. כָּל הַמַּאֲמִין בִּדְבָרִים הָאֵלּוּ וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶן וּמְחַשֵּׁב בְּלִבּוֹ שֶׁהֵן אֱמֶת וּדְבַר חָכְמָה אֲבָל הַתּוֹרָה אֲסָרָתַן אֵינָן אֶלָּא מִן הַסְּכָלִים וּמְחֻסְּרֵי הַדַּעַת וּבִכְלַל הַנָּשִׁים וְהַקְּטַנִּים שֶׁאֵין דַּעְתָּן שְׁלֵמָה. אֲבָל בַּעֲלֵי הַחָכְמָה וּתְמִימֵי הַדַּעַת יֵדְעוּ בִּרְאָיוֹת בְּרוּרוֹת שֶׁכָּל אֵלּוּ הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁאָסְרָה תּוֹרָה אֵינָם דִּבְרֵי חָכְמָה אֶלָּא תֹּהוּ וְהֶבֶל שֶׁנִּמְשְׁכוּ בָּהֶן חַסְרֵי הַדַּעַת וְנָטְשׁוּ כָּל דַּרְכֵי הָאֱמֶת בִּגְלָלָן. וּמִפְּנֵי זֶה אָמְרָה תּוֹרָה כְּשֶׁהִזְהִירָה עַל כָּל אֵלּוּ הַהֲבָלִים (דברים יח יג) "תָּמִים תִּהְיֶה עִם ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ"
All the above matters are falsehood and lies with which the original idolaters deceived the gentile nations in order to lead them after them. It is not fitting for the Jews who are wise sages to be drawn into such emptiness, nor to consider that they have any value as [implied by Numbers 23:23]: "No black magic can be found among Jacob, or occult arts within Israel." Similarly, [Deuteronomy 18:14] states: "These nations which you are driving out listen to astrologers and diviners. This is not [what God... has granted] you."
Whoever believes in [occult arts] of this nature and, in his heart, thinks that they are true and words of wisdom, but are forbidden by the Torah, is foolish and feebleminded. He is considered like women and children who have underdeveloped intellects.The masters of wisdom and those of perfect knowledge know with clear proof that all these crafts which the Torah forbade are not reflections of wisdom, but rather, emptiness and vanity which attracted the feeble minded and caused them to abandon all the paths of truth. For these reasons, when the Torah warned against all these empty matters, it advised [Deuteronomy 18:13]: "Be of perfect faith with God, your Lord."
In a similar vein Ibn Ezra also considered witchcraft to be, well, silly. Here is his commentary (to Leviticus 19:31):
והידענים. מגזרת דעת שיבקשו לדעת העתידות וריקי מוח אמרו לולי שהאובות אמת גם כן דרך הכשוף לא אסרם הכתוב ואני אומר הפך דבריהם כי הכתוב לא אסר האמת רק השקר
Yidonim (familiar spirits) is related to the word da’at (knowledge). Those who turn to yidonim seek to know the future. The empty heads say if there were no truth in the ovot (ghosts) and in various magical practices, then Scripture would not have prohibited them. However, I say the reverse. Scripture would not have permitted that which was true. It only prohibited that which is false.
Over the centuries, many disagreed with the position of Maimonides and Ibn Ezra, and claimed that yes, witchcraft was real. You really could cast spells on people, and who knows, fly around on a broomstick. Nachmanides was famous for believing in witchcraft, a position he outlined in his commentary to Deut 18:9:
לא תלמד לעשות כתועבת הגוים ההם …ועתה דע והבן בעניני הכשפים כי הבורא יתברך כאשר ברא הכל מאין עשה העליונים מנהיגי התחתונים אשר למטה מהן ונתן כח הארץ וכל אשר עליה בכוכבים ובמזלות לפי הנהגתם ומבטם בהם כאשר הוא מנוסה בחכמת האיצטגנינות ועשה עוד על הכוכבים והמזלות מנהיגים מלאכים ושרים שהם נפש להם והנה הנהגתם מעת היותם עד לעולם ועד גזירת עליונים אשר שם להם אבל היה מנפלאותיו העצומות ששם בכח המנהיגים העליונים דרכי תמורות וכחות להמיר הנהגת אשר למטה מהם שאם יהיה מבט הכוכבים (בפניו) בפנים אשר כנגד הארץ טובה או רעה לארץ או לעם או לאיש ימירו אותם הפנים העליונים עליו להפך במבט עצמו כענין שאמרו תמורת ענג נגע ועשה כן להיות הוא יתברך שמו מהשנא עדניא וזמניא קורא למי הים לעשות בהם כרצונו והופך לבקר צלמות מבלי שינוי טבעו של עולם ושיעשו הכוכבים והמזלות מהלכם כסדרן ועל כן אמר בעל ספר הלבנה החכם בנגרמונסי"א כשהלבנה והיא נקראת גלגל העולם בראש טלה על דרך משל ויהיה פניו מול פלוני תעשה תמונה לדבר פלוני ויוחק בה שם השעה ושם המלאך הממונה עליה מן השמות ההם הנזכרים באותו הספר ותעשה הקטרה פלונית בענין כך וכך יהיה המבט עליה לרעה לנתוש ולנתוץ ולהאביד ולהרוס וכאשר תהיה הלבנה במזל פלוני תעשה תמונה והקטרה בענין פלוני לכל טובה לבנות ולנטוע והנה גם זה הנהגת הלבנה בכח מנהיגיה אבל ההנהגה הפשוטה אשר במהלכה הוא חפץ הבורא יתברך אשר שם בהם מאז וזה היפך וזה סוד הכשפים וכחם שאמרו בהם (חולין ז) שהם מכחישים פמלייא של מעלה לומר שהם היפך הכחות הפשוטים והם הכחשה לפמלייא בצד מהצדדין ועל כן ראוי שתאסור אותם התורה שיונח העולם למנהגו ולטבעו הפשוט שהוא חפץ בוראו
THOU SHALT NOT LEARN TO DO AFTER THE ABOMINATIONS OF THOSE NATIONS … And now, know and understand concerning the subject of sorcery, that when the Creator, blessed be He, created everything from nothing, He made the higher powers to be guides for those below them. Thus He placed the earth and all things that are thereon in the power of the stars and constellations, depending on their rotation and position as proven by the study of astrology. Over the stars and constellations He further appointed guides, angels, and “lords” which are the soul [of the stars and constellations]. Now, their behavior from the time they come into existence for eternal duration, is according to the pattern the Most High decreed for them. However, it was one of His mighty wonders that within the power of these higher forces, He put configurations [as explained further on] and capacities to alter the behavior of those under them. Thus if the direction of the stars towards the earth be good or bad to a certain country, people, or individual, the higher dominions can reverse it of their own volition, as they have said, “The apposition for the word oneg (pleasure) is nega (plague).” G-d ordained it so because He, blessed be His Name, changeth the times and the seasons; He calleth for the waters of the sea to do with them at His Will, and bringeth on the shadow of death in the morning without changing the natural order of the world, and it is He Who made the stars and constellations move about in their order. Therefore, the author of the Book of the Moon, the expert in [the field of] necromancy, said, “when the moon, termed ‘the sphere of the world,’ is, for example, at the head of Aries (the Ram) and the constellation thus appears in a certain form, you should make a drawing of that grouping, engraving on it the particular time [when this relative position appears] and the name of the angel — one of the names mentioned in that book — appointed over it. Then perform a certain burning [of incense] in a certain specified manner, and the result of the influence [of the relative position of the stars] will be for evil, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to overthrow. And when the moon will be in a position relative to some other constellation you should make the drawing and the burning in a certain other manner and the result will be for good, to build and to plant.” Now this, too, is the influence of the moon as determined by the power of its [heavenly] guide. But the basic manner of its movement is by the wish of the Creator, blessed be He, Who endowed it so in time past, while this particular action is contrary thereto. This then is the secret of [all forms of] sorcery and their power concerning which the Rabbis have said that “they contradict the power of Divine agencies,” meaning that they are contrary to the simple powers [with which the agencies have been endowed] and thus diminish them in a certain aspect thereof. Therefore, it is proper that the Torah prohibit these activities in order to let the world rest in its customary way, in the simple nature which is the desire of its Creator.
In his commentary on the Torah Rabbi Bachya ben Asher (1255–1340) of Spain supported the position of the Ramban: Witchcraft works, but only if God wants it to (which kinda raises the question, if God wants it to work, why is it forbidden?).
אבל דעת רבינו חננאל ז"ל בפירושו במסכת סנהדרין מכחישין נראין כאלו מכחישין ואמר כי אין לכשפים פעולה כ"א מה שיגזור הש"י וכענין שאמר ר' חנינא לאותה אשה אין עוד מלבדו כתיב ואע"ג דמשני התם שאני ר' חנינא דנפיש זכותיה שנויא הוא ולא סמכינן עליה ואדרבי חנינא אתי תברן.
Rabbeinu Chananel in his commentary on that folio in Sanhedrin explains the matter of מכשפים differently. He claims that such sorcerers cannot perform any supernatural feats unless God specifically wants them to succeed. He bases his view on a reply given by Rabbi Chaninah to a woman who was trying to extract soil from beneath the feet of that Rabbi in order to perform acts of sorcery. Rabbi Chaninah told her that in the event she would enjoy help from G’d in her efforts and succeed he would still not be concerned as there is no one beside the Lord (Deut. 4 4,35). Rabbi Yochanan questioned this saying that the reason these sorcerers are called מכשפים is because they deny the power of celestial forces. In that case, Rabbi Chaninah did have something to be concerned about! The answer given by the Talmud is that Rabbi Chaninah had so many merits that he personally did not have what to worry about. Concerning the above, Rabbeinu Chananel writes that although the Talmud gave such an answer it is not to be taken seriously.
Another Spanish exegete, Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508) took a similar position:
וכבר ידעת כונת הרב המורה בחלק ג' פרק ל"ז בכל מעש' הכשוף ויתר הדברים והוא שהם כלם דברי תהו והבל ושנמשכו אחריה' חסרי הדעת והם כלם מפועל הדמיון ואינם שיהיה בהם שום ממשות ומציאות החלטי כי הוא לא יסבור במציאות השדים ולכן יחשוב שהמעשים האלה הם כלם מעשה תעתועים. אבל הדעת הזה התורה האלהית מכזיבתו שהניחה מציאות השדים באמרו (פ' האזינו) יזבחו לשדים לא אלוה. וקבלת חכמינו סותרת לזה כי הם קבלו מציאות השדים ומעש' הכשפים ואמרו בפרק ד' מיתות (סנהדרין ד' ס"ז) מההיא אתתא דהות מיהדר' למשקל עפרא מתותי כרעיה דרבי חנינא. אמר לה זילי שקילי אין עוד מלבדו כתיב. והקשו עליו מדאמר רבי יוחנן למה נקרא שמן כשפים שמכחישין פלמיא של מעלה. ותרצו שאני רבי חנינא דנפיש זכותיה. הורו בזה שענין הכשוף הוא אמת ובסנהדרין אמרו (דף ס"ו) בלטיהם זה מעשה שדים. בלהטיהם זה מעשה כשפים
The Rambam in his Guide for the Perplexed was of the opinion that all this has no real basis…but the Torah disproves his opinion for it assumes the existence of demons. And the teachings of our rabbis also disproves this, for they too assumed the existence of demons…
The Vilna Gaon believed in witches
Practically everyone disagreed with the Rambam’s rationalist position. Yehuda Halevi (Kuzari 44:23), Chasdai Kreskus (Sefer Ohr, 5, 44:4), and the Vilna Gaon (YD 179:13) to name but a few. In fact the Vilna Gaon was scathing in his dismissal of the Rambam’s position:
פירוש הגר׳א יורה דעה 179:13
ואע"פ כו'. הרמב"ם וכ"כ בפי' המשנה לפ"ד דעבודת כוכבים אבל כל הבאים אחריו חלקו עליו שהרי הרבה לחשים נאמרו בגמרא והוא נמשך אחר הפלוסופיא ולכן כ' שכשפים ושמות ולחשים ושדים וקמיעות הכל הוא שקר אבל כבר הכו אותן על קדקדו שהרי מצינו הרבה מעשיות בגמ' ע"כ שמות וכשפים אמרה איהי מלתא ואסרתה לארבא אמרו כו' (שבת פ"א ב' חולין ק"ה ב') ובספ"ד מיתות ובירושלמי שם עובדא דר"א ור"י ובן בתירה וכן ר"ח ור"א דאיברו עיגלא תילתא ור' יהושע דאמר שם ואוקמיה בין שמיא לארעא (בכורות ח' ב') וכן אבישי בן צרויה (סנהדרין צ"ה א') והרבה כיוצא ואמרו (בספ"ד מיתות חולין ז' ב') למה נקרא שמן כשפים כו'. והתורה העידה ויהיו תנינים וע' זוהר שם וכן קמיעין בהרבה מקומות ולהשים רבו מלספר. והפלסופיא הטתו ברוב לקחה לפרש הגמרא הכל בדרך הלציי ולעקור אותם מפשטן וח"ו איני מאמין בהם ולא מהם ולא מהמונם אלא כל הדברים הם כפשטן אלא שיש בהם פנימיות לא פנימיות של בעלי הפלוסופיא שהם חצוניות אלא של בעלי האמת
The Rambam wrote [that witchcraft is not real], but all those who came later disputed this, for there are many examples of casting spells in the Talmud. Rambam was trying to be logical, and so he wrote that witchcraft and incantations and demons and talismen were all imaginary. But we have shown the opposite is the case, for there are many stories about them in the Talmud…
To be honest, the Vilna Gaon had a good point. The Talmud and midrashim are indeed full of stories that suggest the reality of witchcraft, spells and incantations.
The Church on witches
The dispute between the Rambam and the Ramban (et al) has a correlate among the early Church Fathers. St Augustine of Hippo (d.430) echoed the position of Maimonides; witchcraft had no power to do anything. And if witches had no real power, the Church need not take the trouble to root them out or investigate any allegations of witchcraft. But this all changed in 1208, when Pope Innocent III began a campaign of crusades against the Cathars, a group of Christian gnostics from southern France who believed in the existence of the Devil and the power of witchcraft. Tens of thousands of them were murdered. When the leader of the Pope’s forces was asked how to tell Cathars from Catholics he famously replied Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius"—"Kill them all, the Lord will recognise His own.” (I know, you don’t believe me. But it is true.)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a contemporary of the Cathar-killing Pope also helped rewrite the Church approach to witches. Aquinas argued that demons, real demons, would extract sperm and spread it among women. In this way, sex and witchcraft became entwined, and would remain so for centuries. Witches were seen as not merely seeking their own pleasure, but intent also on leading men into temptation.
The many Witchcraft Acts
From then on the Church took witchcraft seriously. So seriously that it was outlawed – under punishment of death – in many different societies and eras. Let’s start with Henry VIII’s Witchcraft Act of 1541, which made it illegal to
…use devise practise or exercise, or cause to be devysed practised or exercised, any Invovacons or cojuracons of Sprites witchecraftes enchauntementes or sorceries to thentent to fynde money or treasure or to waste consume or destroy any persone in his bodie membres, or to pvoke [provoke] any persone to unlawfull love, or for any other unlawfull intente or purpose…
Elizabeth I felt the need to pass another act – the 1562 Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts. The Scottish also felt the need to pass their own Act in 1563, as did the Irish in 1586. Not to be outdone, in 1603 King James I passed the Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked spirits.
In Britain, the Witchcraft Act of 1735 repealed all the prior laws and with them the death penalty. The new Act made it a crime to claim that one had supernatural powers or could practice witchcraft. (Fun fact: the promoter of the 1735 Act was John Conduit, whose wife was the niece of Sir Isaac Newton.) And that Witchcraft Act was itself repealed in 1951 by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, whose goal was to prevent a person “from claiming to be a psychic, medium, or other spiritualist while attempting to deceive and to make money from the deception (other than solely for the purpose of entertainment).”
Which brings us to the South African Witchcraft Suppression Act, of 1957. Yes. It.Was. Passed. In. 1957. (Given South Africa’s recent international demonstration of its pathetic judicial sense, this should not really have surprised you.) Among its provisions are these crimes, punishable with a fine of up to R200,000 or imprisonment for up to five years (or both):
…Employing or soliciting any witch doctor, witch-finder or any other person to name or indicate any person as a wizard.
…On the advice of any witch doctor, witch-finder or other person or on the ground of any pretended knowledge of witchcraft, using or causing to be put into operation any means or process which, in accordance with such advice or the accused's own belief, is calculated to injure or damage any person or thing.
The terrible cost of the fear of Witchcraft
Between 1400 and 1775 about 100,000 people were tried for witchcraft across Europe and the American colonies. Of these, 40,000 to 60,000 people were executed. Perhaps setting a record in 1675, Torsåker parish in Sweden beheaded and then burned 71 people (65 women and 6 men). By the end of the seventeenth century, witch trials in Europe and Britain were on the decline, although they continued in the American colonies, which famously brought us the Salem witch trials of 1692.
Not all who were found guilty of were executed, and not all who were found guilty were Christians. In 1712, the kabbalist Rabbi Hirsch Fränkel was convicted of witchcraft after completion of an inquisition by the Theological & Legal Faculties at the University of Aldorf. Rabbi Fränkel was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 1723 after spending twenty-four years in solitary confinement.
And it still continues
The history of the fear of witches is a history of their prosecution and execution. We now understand that witches have no power to injure, and their spells have no power to cure. But in some parts of the world, the fear of witches remains. A 2009 case report from the Department of Forensic Medicine at Walter Sisulu University for Technology and Science in Mthatha, South Africa details the murder of three women who were suspected of being witches.
“When misfortune occurs, it is believed to be caused by a fellow tribesman in a position of standing in the community. In Swaziland, witchcraft emanates typically from a jealous co-wife. The most prolific single source of witchcraft is the conflict of co-wives, reflecting tensions in the polygamous household.”
The first case was a 70-year-old woman who had been accused of witchcraft. A relative of the assailant was a neighbor of the woman, and had been admitted to the hospital with pulmonary tuberculosis. The victim was accused of bewitching him, and was stabbed to death. The second case was a 51-year-old woman who was shot in her home. The assailant, a distant relative of the victim, had accused her of engaging in witchcraft, which resulted in an accident in which his son died. The third case was of a 70-year-old woman alleged to have been involved in witchcraft. The perpetrator was a close family member who had accused her of being responsible for his brother’s death. She was hacked to death. Every year 50-60 women in the area around Mthatha are murdered after an accusation of witchcraft, and they often share the same set of circumstances: “First, a witch is always a woman, secondly they are elderly (>50 years) thirdly, most of the time the perpetrator is related to the victim or very well known to her fourthly, there is some sort of community consensus or permission to eliminate these witches.” The author, whose poor English should be excused, concluded that
…beliefs in witchcraft are still strong in rural areas of Transkei. Even rational, literate people do believe in witchcraft especially when events cannot be explained or when people fail to explain the course of events or when people fail to establish causes of complex issues e.g. regular misfortunes, failure to succeed in life etc. Victims of witchcraft accusations, majority of them elderly women, are faced with terrible experiences in these communities. The issue of witchcraft and counter killing of witches is associated with lack of education.
Witches, like demons, devils and ghosts, are a projection not of reality, but of the thing we fear the most - that we may not control our circumstances any more than we control the weather. A belief in witches is a belief that we have control, that we are indeed to bring about the most terrible destruction or the most noble of outcomes. And when we prosecute and persecute witches, we regain power over those who would use their power over us. But wishing that this is reality doesn’t make it so. Not for witches, and not for the rest of us.
