In Jewish thought and texts, curses exemplify the belief that speech can have tremendous power
ed note–please note that neither Christianity nor Islam possess anything remotely similar within their practices, i.e. the business of conjuring up dark spiritual forces to cause another person harm, something that obviously delusional Christians and Muslims who have bought into this notion that they have some kind of ‘connection’ with Jews need to consider for themselves. This is no different from sorcery and witchcraft.
Secondly–for all of you out there who have invested yourselves heavily in the baseless argument that it is the Talmud rather than the ‘holy teachings’ of the Torah (Old Testament) that guides and directs Judaism today, please note that indeed it is overwhelmingly the Torah which the ‘good rabbi’ references and uses in justifying the use of curses in causing harm to a declared enemy of the Jews.
And, last but not least, for all you ‘Zionism is not Judaism’ addicts, please note how the ‘good rabbi’ cites the manner by which the use of curses led to the death of Yitzak Rabin for having made a peace deal with the Palestinians which is considered a direct affront to the teachings of Judaism, specifically as laid out in the book of Deuteronomy, to wit–
‘When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and casts out the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them…You shall save nothing alive that breathes…You shall make no agreements with them nor show them any mercy. You shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…’
myjewishlearning.com
BYRABBI GEOFFREY DENNIS
A curse is a verbal invocation pronounced to bring harm, evil, or detriment to another. More than a threat or a wish, a curse is assumed to have the power to make the desired harm a reality.
Two elements make up the logic of cursing: a magical/symbolic view of causality, and “formalism”–the belief that a speech-act has power, regardless of intention, justification, or authority. While some assume that the “power” of the speaker underpins the efficacy of the curse (Numbers 22:3), because of formalist assumptions in rabbinic thinking, even curses uttered unintentionally by ordinary people were believed to have the potential to be detrimental (Megillah 15a-b, 28a).
In the Bible
“The skies above your head shall be copper, and the earth under you iron.” Deuteronomy 28:23
In the Bible, God has the power to both bless and curse Creation. Both powers are demonstrated in the first three chapters of Genesis. Humans also have the power to curse individuals and whole classes of people. Some biblical authors simultaneously try to limit the use of curses and undermine their formalist assumptions by claiming unjustified curses will have no effect (Proverbs 26:2).
Biblical curses can be absolute or conditional. An absolute curse is meant to be immediate (Genesis 4:11; II Samuel 16). A conditional curse only becomes efficacious when certain conditions are met or violated (Deuteronomy 27-28).
A notable form of conditional curse that appears in the Bible is the conditional self-curse (I Kings 19:2, 20:10). Often included in an oath, this curse was placed on oneself accompanied with a symbolic act of destruction–shattering a pot, chopping up an animal, or some other deed that signified what would happen to the one making the vow if he or she should fail. Even God uses a form of this when making a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:7-21).
In Rabbinic Literature
The Sages elaborate upon these biblical beliefs (Makkot 11a; Eruvin 18b-19a; Terumah 3b-4a; Makkot 16a). Demons as well as human beings can utter curses. Using a curse can actually invite unwanted demonic attention on the person uttering the curse. The talmudic sage Rav reportedly had the power to curse others with sterility (Shabbat 108a).
At least one sage, Joshua ben Levi, had the power to curse crops. In the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, we read that the curse of Simeon ben Shetah’s son was considered so potent that eighty witnesses recanted their perjury rather than see his curse realized.
Post-Talmudic Texts
In Hebrew magical texts of late antiquity, several aggressive or “binding” spells are to be found. Most are aimed at demons, but a few are directed against other human beings. Texts such as Sefer ha-Razim and Sword of Moses, which have moved beyond the constraints of rabbinic prohibitions, are the most flagrant in the kind of curses they record.
Sefer ha-Razim, for example, teaches that the “angels of Himah” (wrath) that occupy the second camp of the first level of heaven will carry out a variety of curses at the command of the properly prepared adept: they will inflict “combat and war and are ready to torment and torture a man to death.” Specific curse formulae include capsizing a boat, collapsing a wall, sending someone into exile, breaking bones, blinding and/or laming, even undermining business dealings.
Medievals believed that even reading those portions of the Torah that recount God’s curses against disobedient Israel (Deuteronomy 27-28) could result in those curses being realized, so those portions were read rapidly in a whisper, a custom still observed today in many congregations.
The exact mechanism of cursing varies. As noted above, a curse can follow simply because of an utterance. Jewish magical texts, however, generally require more effort. Sefer ha-Razim, aping Greek pagan magical practices, requires materia magica along with specific rituals and incantations. Timing and astrological influences can also increase or mitigate the power of a curse.
The practice of cursing is still with us. In a much publicized event during the 1994 Israeli elections, a Kabbalist put a pulsa denura (lashes of fire) curse on candidate Yitzak Rabin because he supported territorial compromise with the Palestinians. reading those portions of the Torah that recount God’s curses against disobedient Israel (Deuteronomy 27-28) could result in those curses being realized, so those portions were read rapidly in a whisper, a custom still observed today in many congregations.
The exact mechanism of cursing varies. As noted above, a curse can follow simply because of an utterance. Jewish magical texts, however, generally require more effort. Sefer ha-Razim, aping Greek pagan magical practices, requires materia magica along with specific rituals and incantations. Timing and astrological influences can also increase or mitigate the power of a curse.The practice of cursing is still with us. In a much publicized event during the 1994 Israeli elections, a Kabbalist put a pulsa denura (lashes of fire) curse on candidate Yitzak Rabin because he supported territorial compromise with the Palestinians.
7 thoughts on “How They Do It–The Power of Curses in Judaism”
Glenn your foolishness remains in-tact. Your equating judaism and their Talmudic-law with the Old Testament is ludicrous. The deception is popular amongst those that love or hate the jew pretending to be judeo-christian, an oxymoron and impossibility. Jesus said if you don’t believe Moses and the Prophets you don’t believe me. So obviously you don’t know or believe Jesus. Another heathen. ed note–prime efface evidence as to why I/we maintain there can be no ‘Christian’ solution to the Jewish problem.
Please, folks, re-read the article. It is reproduced–word for word, paragraph by paragraph, punctuation mark by punctuation mark–verbatim. Nothing exaggerated, accentuated, or elongated. The ‘good rabbi’ makes his case clear, that the Torah (Old Testament) forms much of the basis for the Judaic use of curses.
And yet, what is the vapid, baseless, and irrational response on the part of our deluded ‘Christian’lover of the Old Testament? That merely by using the words of the ‘good rabbi’ in drawing a logical, reasonable line between Judaic behavior (past/present/future) and that ‘old time religion’ which our deluded Judea-Christian/Hebrew-Christian/Israelite-Christian portends to follow, that by drawing this logical , reasonable line that such persons are ‘heathens’ who do not ‘believe in Jesus Christ’.
Jesus said it best–
‘No man can serve 2 masters, as he will either love the one and hate the other or hate the one and love the other’ and clearly this is the case with those who claim to oppose the scourge of Judaism and all its visible manifestations today and yet who run to the defense/protection of the energy source of this scourge, which is the Old Testament/Torah.
time to rouse out of the haze of superstitions. there is no god and curses have no power.
ed note–you are missing the point. It is not important whether ‘God’ is real or whether ‘curses’ are real, but rather that these people–who are without question the most powerful group of people on the planet–believe these things and act accordingly on a geo-political level.
It has also been reported in the Quran (or other Islamic text) that a Jewish woman used to curse the Prophet Mohammed every time he walked past her window. Also, surprisingly or not surprisingly, the Prophet died through his food being poisoned by a Jew. Habits / ways of the Jews never die it seems.
Also, what seems very likely is that the Jews took the First Testament as their own when it was meant for the Gentiles (and which makes more sense). Swiping and reversing the roles would be another trick the Jews have played on the Gentiles as they have done with the notion of “Israel” — which they have also turned upside down and inside out: http://thespiritualun.org/oneness.htm http://citizensamericaparty.org/Return_Palestine_Dissolve_Israel.htm
Jews have always been problematic to Humanity’s survival, progress and evolution from Biblical times.
The Founding Fathers knew also: http://citizensamericaparty.org/TheDevilsGrandDeception.htm
Also, a little sorting has been done here regarding Jews: http://citizensamericaparty.org/Serpent_Race.htm
It has to be a spell on the masses. For the lie of the central bank to just keep growing. People fighting and dying for this BANK without so much as a care. There has to be a spell on the people, surly we are not this damn stupid.
On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 11:13 AM, The Ugly Truth wrote:
> TUT editor posted: ” In Jewish thought and texts, curses exemplify the > belief that speech can have tremendous power ed note–please note that > neither Christianity nor Islam possess anything remotely similar within > their practices, i.e. the business of conjuring up dark spi” >
Typical Judaic arrogance on the part of ‘son of the almighty’–even the name he chooses for himself reveals as much. I have run into these types myself many many times over my lifetime and have always been astounded at their stupidity, which I surmise to be not as much intelligence based as arrogance based. That true Christianity and Torah Judaism are as diametrically opposed to each other as are the sheep and the wolf is beyond dispute amongst true thinkers and the events of Good Friday are perfect proof of this fact. That this needs explanation now, 2,000 years after the fact, will be a beguiling bewilderment for future historians who choose to study this dark time period in human events.
sadly must agree with Dirk. typical arrogance on the part of ‘jewdeo-xians’. It has been my experience that for them they love the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament god Yahweh and that Jesus is just an afterthought, which begs the question as to whether their opposition to Jewish power is genuine or rooted in their own envy? They even name their kids Judaic names–Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jeremiah, Zedekiah, Uriah, etc, etc, etc, instead of Christian names like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of them, the worst are by far the Identity types who believe that they are the DNA lineage of the original Hebrews, a clever con introduced by a rabbi out to fool the British into allowing the Jews back into England after they were kicked out by Edward I.
Borrowing from a theme I have read on this website a few times, in the gospels, when Jesus cursed the fig tree and it withered, he wasn’t cursing the Talmud or the Khazars.
#4 Your common sense, hunch is correct. They have put a MASS SPELL on the nation.
Glenn your foolishness remains in-tact. Your equating judaism and their Talmudic-law with the Old Testament is ludicrous. The deception is popular amongst those that love or hate the jew pretending to be judeo-christian, an oxymoron and impossibility. Jesus said if you don’t believe Moses and the Prophets you don’t believe me. So obviously you don’t know or believe Jesus. Another heathen.
ed note–prime efface evidence as to why I/we maintain there can be no ‘Christian’ solution to the Jewish problem.
Please, folks, re-read the article. It is reproduced–word for word, paragraph by paragraph, punctuation mark by punctuation mark–verbatim. Nothing exaggerated, accentuated, or elongated. The ‘good rabbi’ makes his case clear, that the Torah (Old Testament) forms much of the basis for the Judaic use of curses.
And yet, what is the vapid, baseless, and irrational response on the part of our deluded ‘Christian’lover of the Old Testament? That merely by using the words of the ‘good rabbi’ in drawing a logical, reasonable line between Judaic behavior (past/present/future) and that ‘old time religion’ which our deluded Judea-Christian/Hebrew-Christian/Israelite-Christian portends to follow, that by drawing this logical , reasonable line that such persons are ‘heathens’ who do not ‘believe in Jesus Christ’.
Jesus said it best–
‘No man can serve 2 masters, as he will either love the one and hate the other or hate the one and love the other’ and clearly this is the case with those who claim to oppose the scourge of Judaism and all its visible manifestations today and yet who run to the defense/protection of the energy source of this scourge, which is the Old Testament/Torah.
time to rouse out of the haze of superstitions. there is no god and curses have no power.
ed note–you are missing the point. It is not important whether ‘God’ is real or whether ‘curses’ are real, but rather that these people–who are without question the most powerful group of people on the planet–believe these things and act accordingly on a geo-political level.
It has also been reported in the Quran (or other Islamic text) that a Jewish woman used to curse the Prophet Mohammed every time he walked past her window. Also, surprisingly or not surprisingly, the Prophet died through his food being poisoned by a Jew. Habits / ways of the Jews never die it seems.
Also, what seems very likely is that the Jews took the First Testament as their own when it was meant for the Gentiles (and which makes more sense). Swiping and reversing the roles would be another trick the Jews have played on the Gentiles as they have done with the notion of “Israel” — which they have also turned upside down and inside out:
http://thespiritualun.org/oneness.htm
http://citizensamericaparty.org/Return_Palestine_Dissolve_Israel.htm
Jews have always been problematic to Humanity’s survival, progress and evolution from Biblical times.
The Founding Fathers knew also:
http://citizensamericaparty.org/TheDevilsGrandDeception.htm
Also, a little sorting has been done here regarding Jews:
http://citizensamericaparty.org/Serpent_Race.htm
It has to be a spell on the masses. For the lie of the central bank to just keep growing. People fighting and dying for this BANK without so much as a care. There has to be a spell on the people, surly we are not this damn stupid.
On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 11:13 AM, The Ugly Truth wrote:
> TUT editor posted: ” In Jewish thought and texts, curses exemplify the > belief that speech can have tremendous power ed note–please note that > neither Christianity nor Islam possess anything remotely similar within > their practices, i.e. the business of conjuring up dark spi” >
Typical Judaic arrogance on the part of ‘son of the almighty’–even the name he chooses for himself reveals as much. I have run into these types myself many many times over my lifetime and have always been astounded at their stupidity, which I surmise to be not as much intelligence based as arrogance based. That true Christianity and Torah Judaism are as diametrically opposed to each other as are the sheep and the wolf is beyond dispute amongst true thinkers and the events of Good Friday are perfect proof of this fact. That this needs explanation now, 2,000 years after the fact, will be a beguiling bewilderment for future historians who choose to study this dark time period in human events.
sadly must agree with Dirk. typical arrogance on the part of ‘jewdeo-xians’. It has been my experience that for them they love the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament god Yahweh and that Jesus is just an afterthought, which begs the question as to whether their opposition to Jewish power is genuine or rooted in their own envy? They even name their kids Judaic names–Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jeremiah, Zedekiah, Uriah, etc, etc, etc, instead of Christian names like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of them, the worst are by far the Identity types who believe that they are the DNA lineage of the original Hebrews, a clever con introduced by a rabbi out to fool the British into allowing the Jews back into England after they were kicked out by Edward I.
Borrowing from a theme I have read on this website a few times, in the gospels, when Jesus cursed the fig tree and it withered, he wasn’t cursing the Talmud or the Khazars.
#4 Your common sense, hunch is correct. They have put a MASS SPELL on the nation.