My most reviewed article, even today
The Shofar Scares and Confuses Satan, Keeping Him at Arm’s Length It is absolutely [...]
17
11, 2019
23
08, 2017
The Tashlich Ceremony: A Bribe to Silence Satan
The tashlich ceremony preserves a superstitious belief held by Jews of ancient times concerning water and the divine beings that dwell in and around it. The [...]
1
11, 2015
The Bizarre, Irrational, and Harmful Belief in Evil Angels
The Bizarre, Irrational, and Harmful Belief in Evil Angels Since demons and evil angels played such a large part in the lives of many Jews, it is advisable to explore the origin of the belief in some depth. The average Jew today is convinced that angels exist. He or she is certain [...]
25
10, 2015
The Tashlich Ceremony: Another Bribe to Silence Satan
The Tashlich Ceremony: Another Bribe to Silence Satan Tashlich is a rite like kapparot whose non-rational basis is very obvious. The tashlich ceremony preserves a superstitious belief held by the Jewish masses of ancient times concerning water and the divine beings that dwell around it. The rite has been reinterpreted over time, [...]
10
10, 2015
The Shofar Scares and Confuses Satan, Keeping Him at Arm’s Length
The Shofar Scares and Confuses Satan, Keeping Him at Arm’s Length It is absolutely certain that both the spiritual leaders of Jewry and the masses of uneducated Jews (or at least the majority of these) before, during and after the talmudic period believed that the shofar, the ram’s horn, was blown on [...]
19
09, 2014
The Bizarre Belief in Evil Angels – part 2
The Bizarre Belief in Evil Angels Part 2 Medieval Jewish Bible Commentators Accept the Existence of Angelic Beings Many medieval Bible commentators were not affected by rational philosophy. Principal among them is Rabbi Solomon Yitzchaqi (Rashi), Moses ben Nachman (Nachmanides) and Abraham Saba (born 1407). These Bible commentators accepted the [...]
19
09, 2014
The Bizarre Belief in Evil Angels – part 1
The Bizarre Belief in Evil Angels Part one[1] Since, as we saw in earlier essays that I wrote, demons and evil angels played such a large part in the lives of many Jews, it is advisable to explore the origin of the belief in some depth. The average Jew today is [...]
13
09, 2014
Bribing Satan: Part Two
Bribing Satan: Part Two[1] The Tashlich service was not the only High Holiday ceremony that the masses felt they must observe to avoid having Satan harm them. The eighth-century Midrash Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer is a rather unusual volume of biblical folk legends that many Jews insisted were true. The Pirkei author believed that [...]
13
09, 2014
The Tashlich Ceremony: Bribing Satan
The Tashlich Ceremony: Bribing Satan[1] Tashlich is a rite whose non-rational basis is obvious. It preserves a superstitious belief held by many people in ancient times concerning water and the divine beings that dwell in and around it. The rite has been reinterpreted over time, modified slightly and rationalized, but its original [...]
3
09, 2014
The Shofar Scares and Confuses Satan
The Shofar Scares and Confuses Satan, Keeping Him at Arm’s Length[1] It is absolutely certain that both the spiritual leaders of Jewry and the masses of uneducated Jews (or at least the majority of these) before, during and after the talmudic period believed that the shofar, the ram’s horn, was blown [...]
