Yes, for example you get things like ‘Jewitchery’ and of course the Cabbalah was originally jewish.
Rivky
10 years ago
No it’s not allowed. The attitude is that these things access the wrong type of energies, and we are not to use them.
From a well respected Orthodox Rabbi: http://www.koshertorah.com/PDF/occult.pdf http://www.koshertorah.com/PDF/bilaam.pdf
Do not mistake the occult/magick for Kabbalah, which is the deepest level of meanings in the Torah itself and is very holy.
neoimperialistxxi
10 years ago
Magic is regarded with great suspicion, “sorcery” is regarded as a sin, and trying to talk to the dead or otherwise contact them is regarded as blasphemy and a sin. Predicting the future is also forbidden. One of the other answerers mentioned the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah incorporates a lot of mysticism but is not a system of magic or necromancy. I suppose that it is about the closest thing to something “occult” that you’ll find in Judiasm, and some of it probably meets the definition strictly speaking, but it isn’t a very important nor influential branch of Jewish thought. A lot of it has to do with attempting to divine some “greater or deeper truth” from the text of the Torah using numerological formulas. Most Jews regard the Kabbalah with a fair amount of skepticism.
tony
10 years ago
in general all religions have two sides:
one is “eSoteric” and other “eXoteric”
inside you can receive the mysteries
outside only by parables
one has nothing to do with the other
Melkha
10 years ago
We are forbidden to practice any sort of divination.
Devarim – Deuteronomy – Chapter 18
10. There shall not be found among you anyone who passes his son or daughter through fire, a soothsayer, a diviner of [auspicious] times, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
11. or a charmer, a pithom sorcerer, a yido’a sorcerer, or a necromancer.
12. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations, the Lord, your God is driving them out from before you.
allonyoav
10 years ago
Magic, sorcery, divination etc are all forbidden in Judaism. Forget the popular image of Kabbalah portrayed by the media. Sadly, that is merely as a result fo various cults that actually know nothign about Kabbalah and use the fat that few peopel to in order to rip people off.
Kabbalah is actually just one fo the four ways in which we study andunderstand the Torah. Unfortunately there are mny scmsters out there- from the Berg’s at the “Kabbalah Centre’ (Madonna’s cult) to Michale Laitman (a Russian Academic who misrepresents himself as a Rabbi to try and get people into his cult- the “Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Centre”.
Why do Jews start studying it late? Do you do your doctoral studies before or after your bachellors degree? Its simply that until you have sufficient background knowledge, you do not have the context and understanding to learn the kabalah. No one does their doctorate before their bachellors- in the same way nobody should be studying kabbalah before they have studied the background material
Yes, for example you get things like ‘Jewitchery’ and of course the Cabbalah was originally jewish.
No it’s not allowed. The attitude is that these things access the wrong type of energies, and we are not to use them.
From a well respected Orthodox Rabbi:
http://www.koshertorah.com/PDF/occult.pdf
http://www.koshertorah.com/PDF/bilaam.pdf
Do not mistake the occult/magick for Kabbalah, which is the deepest level of meanings in the Torah itself and is very holy.
Magic is regarded with great suspicion, “sorcery” is regarded as a sin, and trying to talk to the dead or otherwise contact them is regarded as blasphemy and a sin. Predicting the future is also forbidden. One of the other answerers mentioned the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah incorporates a lot of mysticism but is not a system of magic or necromancy. I suppose that it is about the closest thing to something “occult” that you’ll find in Judiasm, and some of it probably meets the definition strictly speaking, but it isn’t a very important nor influential branch of Jewish thought. A lot of it has to do with attempting to divine some “greater or deeper truth” from the text of the Torah using numerological formulas. Most Jews regard the Kabbalah with a fair amount of skepticism.
in general all religions have two sides:
one is “eSoteric” and other “eXoteric”
inside you can receive the mysteries
outside only by parables
one has nothing to do with the other
We are forbidden to practice any sort of divination.
Devarim – Deuteronomy – Chapter 18
10. There shall not be found among you anyone who passes his son or daughter through fire, a soothsayer, a diviner of [auspicious] times, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
11. or a charmer, a pithom sorcerer, a yido’a sorcerer, or a necromancer.
12. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations, the Lord, your God is driving them out from before you.
Magic, sorcery, divination etc are all forbidden in Judaism. Forget the popular image of Kabbalah portrayed by the media. Sadly, that is merely as a result fo various cults that actually know nothign about Kabbalah and use the fat that few peopel to in order to rip people off.
Kabbalah is actually just one fo the four ways in which we study andunderstand the Torah. Unfortunately there are mny scmsters out there- from the Berg’s at the “Kabbalah Centre’ (Madonna’s cult) to Michale Laitman (a Russian Academic who misrepresents himself as a Rabbi to try and get people into his cult- the “Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Centre”.
Why do Jews start studying it late? Do you do your doctoral studies before or after your bachellors degree? Its simply that until you have sufficient background knowledge, you do not have the context and understanding to learn the kabalah. No one does their doctorate before their bachellors- in the same way nobody should be studying kabbalah before they have studied the background material