Class recordings archived HERE
Join Rabbi Seidel in an exploration of Jewish magic medicine and ancient Wisdom for healing in this multidimensional conversation about remedies, potions, spells, incantations, amulets, and rituals of power. Beginning with the ancient near eastern and Egyptian context, we will explore the rationality of healing in antiquity and the Middle Ages and how it evolves throughout the ages. The class will engage the latest scholarship on the Jewish medicine/magic continuum in late Antique Christianity and Greco-Roman culture, including new work on Eastern European magical pharmacology. We will explore Jewish amulet texts and images, herbal and botanical medicine from the Talmud, Sefer Assaf, the Cairo Geniza, “magical” prayers, Books of Wonderous Remedies (Segulot) and the interstices of rituals of power and healing. We will also devote several sessions to new work on Jewish love magic from the Genizot. All Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, German and Yiddish spells and amulets will be translated. The class will also have guest lecturers in Egyptian magic and demonology, Jewish love magic and herbology.