Practical Kabbalah and The Jewish Tradi

Aries – Journal for the Study
of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

ARIES
brill.com/arie
“Practical Kabbalah” and the Jewish Tradition

of Magic
Yuval Harari
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
yharari@bgu.ac.il
Abstract
This article deals with the Jewish tradition of magic and its relationship with Kabbalah.1
It begins by clarifying internal and external views of magic in Judaism, the place of
“Kabbalah” and “kabbalists” in the traditional Jewish discourse of ritual power, and the
role of “practical Kabbalah” in Israel’s market of New Age spiritual therapies. The focus
is on the mutual relationships between the conceptual and performative foundations
of Jewish magic practice and Kabbalah, as well as on Kabbalah’s actual influence on
the Jewish tradition of magic.
Keywords
Jewish magic – holy names – Kabbalah – practical Kabbalah – Kabbalah of names
1 Jewish Magic—the Emic/Etic Perspectives
Sorcery is forbidden in the Torah and again in the Mishnah and the Talmud.
Deuteronomy enumerates the sorcerer (mekhashef ) and his skills among the
“abhorrent practices of those nations” (Deut. 18:5–9) that the Israelites should
1 Names of libraries are abbreviated as follows: Budapest, MTA—Magyar Tudományos Aka-

démia (Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Cambridge, CUL—Cambridge University Library;
Geneva, BG—Bibliothèque de Genève; Jerusalem, INL—Israel National Library; London,
BL—British Library; Moscow, RSL—Russian State Library; New York, JTSL—Jewish Theolog-
ical Seminary Library; Oxford, BL—Bodleian Library; Paris, BnF—Bibliothèque nationale de
France.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/15700593-01901003

“practical kabbalah” and the jewish tradition of magic 39
not imitate, and Exodus commands: “You shall not let a sorceress (mekhashe-
fah) live” (Ex. 22:17). The rabbis, who held that “harlotry and sorcery have
destroyed everything” (M. Sotah 9:3), determined that the sorcerer’s punish-
ment—man or woman—is stoning (M. Sanhedrin 7:4).2 Maimonides vigor-
ously opposed astral magic and referred to the writing of amulets as “ravings”
and charlatanry.3 Throughout history, halakhists have conveyed strong views
against magic and forbade it, while kabbalists often condemned the practical
use of God’s holy names and prohibited the use of “practical Kabbalah” (see
below).4
In a search for power, however, Jews used to endorse, and indeed do so to
this day, various rituals that people raised and educated in the West may cur-
rently view as magic.5 Yitzhak Baer drew attention to the theurgic aspect of
sacrifices in ancient Judaism. Itamar Gruenwald determined that “words used
in prayer are no different in principle from those used in magic,” and “reli-
gious ritual—particularly that which is accompanied by special words and
formulae—has an inherently magical nature.” Jacob Neusner suggested view-
ing the Babylonian rabbis in light of the Persian priest-sorcerer maguš as a
legislator-sorcerer. Joshua Trachtenberg described in detail magical beliefs and
practices in Ashkenazi Jewry in the Middle Ages. Ephraim Kanarfogel pointed
to magical elements in the writing of the tosafists (twelfth-thirteenth century
commentators of the Babylonian Talmud). Moshe Idel elaborated on magic
speculations in the thirteenth-century circle of R. Nehemiah, son of Solomon
“the Prophet” (of Erfurt), as well as among kabbalists. Nimrod Zinger painted a
broad canvas of the early modern Masters of the Name (baʿalei shem). J.H. Cha-
jes investigated traditions touching on the rabbis’ magical power throughout
history.6 Finally, according to his conception of magic as “a system of practices
2 M.=Mishnah. On the attitude to magic and divination in the Bible and in rabbinic litera-
ture, see Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic, 11–35, 351–425; Harari, Jewish Magic, 353–460; idem,
‘Ancient Israel’.
3 See Ravitzky, ‘The Ravings’.
4 For a comprehensive discussion of the negation of magic, divination, and other similar prac-
tices in the history of Halakhah, see Hillel, Faith and Folly.
5 For the structuring of “magic” in the academic discourse, see Styers, Making Magic. For a
detailed discussion of the debate on the magic-religion issue in general and in Jewish studies
in particular, see Harari, Jewish Magic, 15–158.
6 Baer, Studies, vol. 1, 399–457; Gruenwald, ‘The Letters’, 94; Neusner, ‘Rabbi and Magus’; idem,
‘The Phenomenon’; Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic; Kanarfogel, Peering, 131–188; Idel, ‘Incanta-
tions’; idem, ‘Inquiries’; idem, ‘Jewish Magic’; idem, ‘Magic and Kabbalah’; idem, Nocturnal
Kabbalists; idem, ‘R. Nehemiah Ben Shlomo the Prophet’; idem, ‘Shlomo Molkho’; Zinger, The
Ba’al Shem, 97–204; Chajes, ‘Rabbis’.
Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

40 harari
and beliefs that presupposes the possibility to achieve material gains by means
of techniques that cannot be explained experimentally,” Idel included within
it many aspects of Jewish thought and ritual.7 Many other scholars have delved
into the insider evidence—books of magic recipes and various performative
artifacts—pointing to their ubiquitous presence and significance in Jewish life
and culture.8
All these scholars had recourse to some concept of “magic” that, consciously
or not, was fashioned by the language game in which we all partake. The phrase
“Jewish magic” is, therefore, an etic issue. In the traditional Jewish emic lan-
guage game, normative, law-abiding Jews, let alone prestigious rabbis and kab-
balists, do not carry out “keshafim” (sorceries, magic).9 Instead, they use, as it
were, holy names and adjurations; write amulets and apply segulot and refuʾot
(legitimate charms and remedies) for the purpose of protection and empow-
erment; consult with baʿalei shem (Masters of the Name) and seek assistance
through the miraculous power of holy rabbis and Hasidic zaddikim. Ever since
Kabbalah spread and gained influence, the mequbalim (kabbalists) versed in
the secrets of Kabbalah stepped into the limelight of esoteric knowledge and
power. This group has always included practical mequbalim, concerned not
merely with theoretical knowledge but also with its practical implications.
Practical kabbalists are still active in Israel today, among them some who are
very famous. All share a capability—as they or their followers attest—for acti-
vating supernatural forces by ritual means and affecting the world through
them. Not all current Jewish agents of ritual power are considered kabbalists.
Rabbis who are not identified with Kabbalah are often known by their special
power, which is ascribed to their spiritual rank. Yet, it is precisely those lacking
halakhic, institutional, or social authority who seem to be identified, by default,
with “Kabbalah.” A brief discussion of the contemporary discourse on practi-
cal Kabbalah thus seems appropriate here, in order to understand its current
position.
7 Idel, ‘On Judaism’, 195.

8 For a broad historical overview of Jewish magic with an extensive bibliography, see Harari,
‘Jewish Magic’. Cf. Bohak, ‘How Jewish Magic Survived’ in the present issue.
9 On the emic/etic perspectives (and the debate over them) see Barnard, ‘Emic and Etic’; Head-
land, Pike, and Harris, Emics and Etics.

2 Contemporary Discourse of Practical Kabbalah
Kabbalah discourse in general, and that of practical Kabbalah, in particular,

is widespread in contemporary Israel. Its expressions are extensive, evident in
private and public spaces, both traditional and New Age ones.10 The Internet
is a convenient and particularly useful setting for examining the current use of
terms such as Kabbalah and practical Kabbalah by those who use them to label
the services or goods they offer in their websites. Several examples follow, all
pointing to the prevalent trend.11
The most prominent Israeli website in this genre is the Itzhak Mizrahi’s Cen-
ter of Practical Kabbalah. In the past, Mizrahi presented himself as “a man of
Kabbalah … fourth generation to a family dynasty that deals with the lore of
Practical Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism.” At present, his credentials include
“fourth generation kabbalist, personal and business consultant, and a popular
lecturer supporting the vision and implementation of the Center of Practical
Kabbalah.” His website offers a great deal of information on “practical Kab-
balah” as well as other occult practices. His virtual shop sells books on the sub-
ject as well as a broad variety of “practical Kabbalah products.” Mizrahi man-
ufactures and sells seals and amulets as well as mineral mixtures and organic
extracts, for which he coined the term “Kabbalah materials.” He also offers assis-
tance in the shape of “an opening” (petiḥah) in the Zohar, a diagnostic practice
involving a random opening of the book, locating in the text hints relevant to
the inquirer’s fate. A daily advice service based on “secrets of Kabbalah” through
cell phones is apparently no longer available.12
Many other sites, besides Mizrahi’s, take part in this virtual discourse on
“practical Kabbalah.” Oriya Larom, a “Kabbalah numerologist,” offers “personal
training and coaching toward self-realization, opening up luck, and removing
‘blocks’” and promotes her expertise in “training for couples as well as practi-
cal Kabbalah for the strengthening and return of love.”13 Another Oriya offers in
her “Kabbalah and mysticism” website “ ‘an opening’ in Kabbalah” together with
“a glimpse into the past, present, and future, solutions to problems of money,
10 An in-depth survey of this facet of Israeli culture is still needed. For initial observations,
see Harari, ‘Practical Kabbalah’; idem, ‘Jewish Magic’, 77–85.
11 I gathered evidence on all the following websites in the early 2010s. As is often the case for
online sites, some of them have changed and some have disappeared. Unless otherwise
stated, the following quotations are translations of Hebrew websites.
12 See www.p‑kabbalah.co.il. Cf. the English version, www.p‑kabbalah.com (both retrieved:
31.5.18).
13 www.oriyalarom.com. This website is no longer active.

42 harari
marriage, and love, removing spells, evil eye” and more.14 Doron Armoza, “a
kabbalist, channeler, and spiritual advisor … known also by his nickname
‘the hands of light,’” markets his “Kabbalah codes” made of a special oil with
“kabbalistic properties” and a parchment bearing the user’s name immersed
in it (“combination amulets”). “Doron Armoza,” states the website, “does not
use charms for the treatments; only practical Kabbalah and occult wisdom.”15
Shelly Madmon, “the man of Kabbalah … a master in bringing back love, suc-
cess, and so forth,” ties together Kabbalah and sorceries and offers “sorceries
according to Kabbalah.” Specifically, “all the materials and charms that Mad-
mon creates, markets, and sells for bringing back love, for magic, love magic,
sorceries, removing the evil eye, opening up luck, and more, follow Kabbalah
and are solely according to the Torah and practical Kabbalah!”16 The KA Gold
Jewelry website presents “David’s Kabbalah jewelry collection [which] contains
the five metal rings for success, the Ana bekoach [letter combinations] … the
Tree of life pendant and many more unique powerful models.”17 Finally, for
a few years, the Rav Kaduri Center for Practical Kabbalah organized classes
and workshops on practical Kabbalah, aiming “to provide the general public,
without any restrictions, the advantages latent in the adoption of the path of
practical Kabbalah for our lives and the use of the essentials of this wisdom in
a practical, day-to-day manner.”18
These examples show that, in contemporary discourse, “practical Kabbalah”
(essentially considered positive) is conceived as the practical, performative
facet of “Kabbalah,” drawing from it legitimation and praise. But is there any
actual justification for this use of the term? Is the foundation of practical
Kabbalah really in Kabbalah? According to the emic concept, which identifies
Kabbalah with Jewish esoteric lore in general, practical Kabbalah has existed
alongside Kabbalah from time immemorial (or, more precisely, since both of
them descended to the world intertwined). From an etic, scholarly perspective,
however, the issue is more complex.
14 www.oriyakabala.co.il. This website is no longer active.

15 www.1818da.co.il. The English quotation is taken from www.1818da.co.il/eng/t/1195
‑treatments. Both sites retrieved on 31.5.18.
16 www.madmon.net (retrieved: 31.5.18).
17 www.ka‑gold‑jewelry.com/p‑categories/kabbalah‑jewelry.php (retrieved from the English
website on 31.5.18).
18 www.kaduri.net/Index.asp?CategoryID=223&ArticleID=1463. This webpage is no longer
available. The kaduri.net website is still active and offers amulets for download, some in
the handwriting of the renowned kabbalist R. Yizhak Kaduri himself. But the virtual shop
selling amulets, charms, and other artifacts of practical Kabbalah, a major part of the site
in the past, has been removed.

3 Magic, Holy Names, and the Rise of Kabbalah
The Jewish people had an elaborate culture of magic long before the develop-
ment of Kabbalah and the dissemination of kabbalistic ideas and writings.19
The first recorded traces of instructional magic literature, albeit quite frag-
mentary, appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls and date back to the end of the first
millennium BCE.20 A broad early consolidation of instructional magic litera-
ture is found in Sefer ha-Razim (The Book of Mysteries) and Ḥarba de-Moshe
(The Sword of Moses), famous treatises from the second and third quarters
of the first millennium. Additional titles in this literature—Sefer ha-Yashar,
Sefer Adam, and Sefer Raza Raba—as well as references to masses of indi-
vidual recipes, appear in Karaite polemical writings and in the well-known
responsum to the sages of Kairouan (today’s Tunisia) by R. Hai Gaon, head
of Babylonian Jewry at the turn from the first to the second millennium CE.21
This instructional literature, along with its practical expressions—mainly in
the form of amulets and incantation bowls—is an early illustration of Jewish
magic culture, while later ones are found in over two thousand Genizah magic
fragments.22 This magic culture, which evoked Maimonides’ wrath, is also evi-
dent in the scholarly writings of Jewish biblical exegetes and philosophers in
the Middle Ages.23 Its traces are also manifest in the wondrous plots of Megi-
lat Aḥima’atz (the Scroll of Aḥima’az), a literary treatise from eleventh-century
Italy, which are linked to the figure of R. Aaron of Baghdad and to traditions
19 For what follows, see also the useful discussion in Bohak, ‘Jewish Magic’.
20 All the fragments are of anti-demonic character. See Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic, 105–
112. A few fragments of Jewish magic recipes in Aramaic were also found in Egypt. See
ibid., 166–168. Much earlier than the instructional fragments are the two silver amulets
that were found in Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. See Barkai et al., ‘The Amulets’; Na’aman,
‘The Silver Amulets’.
21 On these and other ancient Jewish treatises on magic, see Harari, Jewish Magic, 255–290.
On the Karaite struggle against “Rabbanite magic” and on R. Hai Gaon’s responsum, see
ibid., 330–338.
22 The major publications of pre-Kabbalah magic texts are Harari, ‘The Sword’; Montgomery,
Incantation Texts; Naveh and Shaked, Amulets; idem, Magic Spells; Rebiger and Schäfer,
Sefer ha-Razim; Schäfer and Shaked, Magische Texte; Schiffman and Swartz, Incantation
Texts; Segal, Incantation Bowls, 43–101; Shaked, Ford, and Bhayro, Aramaic Bowl Spells. For
comprehensive studies of these sources, see Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic, 143–350; idem,
‘Towards a Catalog’; Harari, Jewish Magic, 207–293.
23 On Maimonides’ attitude to magic see Harari, Jewish Magic, 338–351; Ravitzky, ‘The Rav-
ings’; Safran, ‘Maimonides’ Attitude’; Schwartz, Studies, 27–44. For magic in the writings
of other medieval Jewish philosophers and commentators, see Schwartz, Studies; idem,
Amulets.

44 harari
bearing on the transmission of secrets from Babylonia to Italy.24 Expressions

of this magic culture are also common in the writings of medieval German
(Ashkenazi) pietists such as R. Judah the Pious and R. Elazar of Worms, as well
as other medieval figures, foremost among them R. Nehemiah ben Solomon of
Erfurt.25
Magic literature illustrated a practical, performative aspect of esoteric lores
already prevalent among Jews during the Second Temple era and, more strik-
ingly, in the second half of the first millennium. These approaches found
expression in the literary corpus known as Hekhalot and Merkavah literature.26
These works reached the Jews of Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages together with the
magic practices characteristic of them, including mainly the use of holy names
and adjuration formulae for the purpose of attaining supernatural power.27
With the development and dissemination of Kabbalah in the thirteenth cen-
tury, the new mystics—the mequbalim—adopted elements of the traditional
view of magic. This was true with regard to both theosophic and prophetic
schools of Kabbalah. Indeed, the earliest known use of the term “Kabbalah” for
denoting esoteric tradition appears in a responsum of R. Hai Gaon, who writes:
“The Ineffable Name (ha-shem ha-meforash) consists of forty-two letters and
is still found in [our] academy by way of [esoteric] tradition (be-qabalah) and
is known to the sages.”28 This passage attests to familiarity with the tradition
of holy names and their use, widespread in Babylon at the end of the first mil-
lennium and reflected also in other epistles of R. Hai.29 This tradition made its
way to communities in Europe and North Africa and developed there into what
24 See Bonfil, History and Folklore; Harari, ‘The Scroll’; Yassif, ‘Legends and History’, 200–211.
25 See note 6 above.
26 Extensive research on this corpus is still growing rapidly. The basic textual edition is
Schäfer, Synopse, to which Schäfer, Geniza-Fragmente, and Bohak, ‘The Hidden Hekhalot’,
should also be added. For a selective translation of these texts, see Davila, Hekhalot Liter-
ature. For introductory discussions, see Arbel, Beholders; Dan, Jewish Mysticism; Schäfer,
The Hidden.
27 On the debate over the mystical/magical character of Hekhalot and Merkavah literature,
see Harari, Jewish Magic, 113–132. On magical tendencies in this corpus, see Bohak, Ancient
Jewish Magic, 322–339; Davila, Descenders; Lesses, Ritual Practices; Schäfer ‘Merkavah Mys-
ticism and Magic.’ On magic elements in medieval manuscripts of Hekhalot literture, see
Herrmann and Rohrbacher-Sticker, ‘Magische Traditionen—JTS 8128’; idem, ‘Magische
Traditionen—Michael 9.’ On the central role of adjurations in early Jewish magic and on
their linguistic characteristics, see Harari, Jewish Magic, 159–175.
28 Lewin, Ozar ha-Geonim, vol. 6, 18–19.
29 On this quotation and its significance for the study of the beginnings of Kabbalah, see
Idel, ‘Defining Kabbalah’. For R. Hai Gaon’s acquaintance with Jewish tradition and the
contemporary literature on magic, see Harari, Jewish Magic, 334–338.

would later become known as “the Kabbalah of names” (qabalat ha-shemot). It

was accompanied by other ancient magic traditions from the Land of Israel and
from Babylonia based upon holy names and adjurations, and their use in ritual
contexts and on performative artifacts.
As Gershom Scholem, Moshe Idel, and others have shown, various kabbal-
ists adopted attitudes with regard to magic that, at times, became central to
their system.30 In a highly significant study, Moshe Idel integrated and exam-
ined together typical elements of the exegetical system of R. Nehemiah ben
Solomon, a famous responsum of Rashba (R. Shlomo ben Abraham ibn Adret;
Barcelona, 1235–1310) dealing with magical practices for success in homiletic
preaching known as Shem ha-Doresh, and fragmentary statements attributed
to the thirteenth-century kabbalist R. Baruch Togarmi, one of R. Abraham Abu-
lafia’s teachers, regarding the use of holy names and the adjuration of angels.
In this study, Idel traces the influence of adjuratory practices and the use of
holy names for scholarly intellectual purposes, as they had been practiced in
Ashkenaz, on the early kabbalists in Castile and Barcelona of the late thirteenth
century.31 Idel’s findings, then, clearly lead to the conclusion that Ashkenazi
magical and mystical traditions transferred to Spain played a central role in
the development of the “prophetic Kabbalah” (qabalah nevuʾit) of R. Abraham
Abulafia (1240–c. 1291). Abulafia himself did aspire to differentiate himself from
users of “books of names” active in his surroundings, and to distinguish such
name-magic from his own prophetic system. His own technique, however, was
itself wholly based on the creation and use of names, and his terminology
bound up with what may simply be called the ritual activation of holy names.32
The need to delineate the very fine line separating the reprehensible magical
applications of holy names from his own valorized name-based spiritual exer-
cises moved Abulafia to return to this topic in many of his writings. The ancient
30 Gershom Scholem focused chiefly on demonology in kabbalistic writings. See, e.g.,

Scholem, ‘Bilar’; idem, ‘R. Moses’; idem, ‘The Kabbalistic Traditions’. Cf. Dan, ‘Samael’;
Huss, ‘Demonology’. For some of Idel’s major contributions in this regard, see above, n. 6.
See, further, Cohen-Alloro, ‘Magic’; Garb, Manifestations. On Scholem’s attitude toward
magic, see Bohak, ‘Gershom Scholem’.
31 Idel, ‘Incantations’. On Nehemiah’s writings, see Idel, ‘R. Nehemiah ben Shlomo’s Com-
mentaries’; idem, ‘The Anonymous Commentaries’; idem, ‘The Commentaries’. On magi-
cal practices for success in homiletic preaching (Shem ha-Doresh) and for automatic writ-
ing (Shem ha-Kotev), see Goldreich, Automatic Writing. For Rashba’s responsum and his
view of magic, see Shlomo, Teshuvot, 1: 100–107; Klein-Braslavy, ‘The Concept of Magic’;
Davidson, ‘Perceptions’, 121–142.
32 See the detailed discussion on Abulafia’s attitude to magic and holy names in Idel, ‘Be-
tween Magic of the Holy Names and the Kabbalah’, which I generally follow. Cf. idem, ‘On
Judaism’, 34–39; Garb, ‘Mysticism and Magic’.

46 harari
struggle over ritual power and its place within or outside the legitimate system
of beliefs and actions—the struggle between Moses and the Egyptian magi-
cians, between the rabbi and the sorcerer, between the power of prayer and
the power of an adjuration, between truth and deception, between “us” and
“them”—was now waged in the developing field of the Kabbalah of names.
Abulafia does not refute the power of holy names. Quite the contrary, “true”
holy names and their power to lead to spiritual elevation and prophecy are
at the foundation of his system.33 It is from this position, from the depths of
his involvement in what he referred to as the “Kabbalah of [holy] names” that,
already in his first treatise, Get ha-Shemot (The Divorce of the Names, 1271), he
strongly condemns any improper use of them:
My sole intention in this book is to point out to the owners of the books of
names the deceptions that they hold, so that they will no longer believe in
them when they understand what they had relied upon, and to substan-
tiate the belief in the true34 names, which awaken all those sleeping from
their slumber … and because I remove the false names that lack any true
wisdom, I have called this work Get ha-Shemot.35
The problem, then, are the “false names” that fill the “books of names,” mislead
their users, and distance them from “belief in the true names.”
In a later work, Abulafia again attacked the use of names by both laypeople
and rabbis from another direction—the aim of their use:
“Do not let occur to your mind the vain ravings of the writers of charms or
what names you may hear from them or may find in their stupid books,
names that they have invented, which are not indicative of any notion
whatsoever, but which they call the names and of which they think that
they necessitate holiness and purity, and work miracles. All these are sto-
ries that it is not seemly for a perfect man to listen to, much less to believe.”
Thus far the rabbi, of blessed memory [Maimonides], in his own words.36
He then continued and explained the reason for these names, which are
found in books or are delivered by oral tradition (be-qabalah), and stated
that they come from mistaken or misleading people … And I tell you of
33 On Abulafia’s prophetic Kabbalah and the place of holy names in it, see Idel, Abraham
Abulafia, especially, 15–50, 205–236; Wolfson, Abraham Abulafia.
34 In the original, “and true,” suggesting that the scribe had omitted another adjective.
35 MS Oxford, BL Opp. 425, 92a.
36 See Maimonides, The Guide, 149 (Part 1, chapter 61).

even worse [things] done by those who are mistaken or misleading on

the matter of the names, as I wrote in my book Get ha-Shemot, namely
that, written in one of these books whose name I do not wish to mention,
I found: “Anyone who wishes to attract a woman so that she would love
him should recite the name WHW YLY SYṬ ʿLM37 forward and backward
on Wednesday night in the first hour of the night, which is the hour of
Saturn, and he should adjure Qafziel, who is the angel in charge of that
star, using the indicated name. And at that time, he should write the four
names on a deer parchment without talking, and he should hang that
parchment as a charm around his neck. That woman, whose name and
her father’s name he noted, will then love him greatly by virtue of this
name.” And I have found many such things, almost an infinite number
of them, and these things have spread to great rabbis … It is not enough
for these fools to think that these things are real, but they also use names
that appear to them to belong to the Holy of holies and apply them as they
wish to the most profane and vain matters. And, even more so, if some of
these actions do by chance succeed at any time, they will come to believe
that these matters are eternally true.38
At the beginning of this passage, Abulafia appears to identify with Maimonides’

approach, which substantively and sweepingly rejects the use of names. He
then departs from it, however, shifting the focus from the absurdity of ascrib-
ing inherent active power to God’s names to the actions of “great rabbis” and
others deliberately using what appears to them as “Holy of holies” for senseless
profane goals. Vain ravings are thus acts of those who believe in the power of
fake names and employ them for improper objectives, not of one who makes
use of “names that are indicative of a certain notion and are endowed with a
divine wisdom beneficial to the soul rather than to the foul body.”39
The holiness and value of the true names are enormous and their power to
bring about a prophetic awakening is vast. Using them technically, however,
as do “owners of the books of names”—“what the fools thought were names
to be recited without any knowledge, for material purposes”40—constitutes a
“desecration of the Name.” As Abulafia wrote elsewhere:
37 These are the first four of 72 tripartite combinations of letters that derive from Exodus
14:19–21 and are known as The Name of 72 or The 72 Names.
38 MS Paris, BnF Hebr. 680, 292a–293a. Cf. Abulafia, Sefer ha-Melamed, 13–14.
39 Ibid., 293a. Cf. Abulafia, ibid., 15.
40 Ibid. Cf. Abulafia, ibid.

48 harari
He who seeks the wisdom endowed on us according to the Name so as

to apply it in all ways to honor God, sanctifies God. And if he seeks the
wisdom of the Name to do material acts—to obtain wealth or for a long
life, or for begetting sons and daughters, or for love or hatred, or to kill an
enemy—and thereby intends to enhance his own honor or that of others,
to their benefit or his own … such a person is an evil sinner who desecrates
the Name of God.41
A similar approach may also be seen in the system of the Castilian kabbalist
R. Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla (1248–c. 1305), a prominent student of R. Abra-
ham Abulafia, as evident in the first, “prophetic” phase of his system in Ginat
Egoz (Garden of Nuts), as well as in his shift to the theosophy of sefirot (the
divine spheres of emanation) in Sha’arei Orah (Gates of Light). Like Abulafia,
his teacher, Gikatilla also differentiates between the improper activation of
the names and their proper use, which is distinguished by devotion and reli-
gious intention. The difference is between “reciting names” (hazkarat shemot),
that is, their incantational use, and “knowing names” ( yediʿat shemot), mean-
ing their sefirotic associations. Yet despite the sharp distinction between these
two practices, which he describes at length in the preface to Sha’arei Orah, their
consequences are similar—fulfilling the wishes of the one using the names.
Gikatilla writes:
You, my brother and soul mate, have asked me to show you the pathway to
the names of the exalted and blessed God so you may derive what you will
from them and accomplish whatever you desire. Even though your enthu-
siasm is far greater than your question, I still feel compelled to divulge to
you the way the light is disseminated and how God wants us to reach it.
When you have learned this, then God will answer when you call. You will
be one of those who are truly close to Him and you will love Him with all
your heart. Yes, you will delight in YHWH, and He will grant you all that
you ask … How could a mortal conceive of using His holy names as an axe
is used for hewing? Who would connive to cast his hand on the crown of
the kingdom and then dare to use it? And behold, our Sages said: “Anyone
who utters the Name of God as rendered by its letters has no portion in
the world to come” [M. Sanhedrin 10:1] … All the more so these days, when
no one is expert in mentioning the holy names and the practical uses of
41 MS Paris BnF Hebr. 777, 132a–b. Cf. Abulafia, Ḥayei ha-Olam ha-Ba, 170–171. Abulafia is play-
ing in this paragraph with the double meaning of the Hebrew word shem, which denotes
both God and name.

their application … “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent” [Prov.
1:10]. If they say: “Come along and we will give you names and incanta-
tions which can be used practically,” my son, do not go along with them
… The bounds of truth and the tradition of the covenant, however, [teach]
that one who wishes his need fulfilled by means of God’s names should try
with all his strength to comprehend the meaning of each name of God as
recorded in the Torah, names such as ʾHYH, YH, YHWH … and one should
know and understand that all of these names are like keys for anything
a person needs in the world … and when he knows the purpose of every
name he will realize the greatness of He who spoke and thus the world
came into being. He will be frightened and fearful before Him and he will
yearn and crave and desire to cleave to Him through the knowledge of His
names, blessed be He. Then he will be close to God and his prayer will be
accepted, as is written: “I will keep him safe, for he knows my Name. When
he calls on me I will answer him” [Ps. 91:15]. The verse does not say: “I will
keep him safe for he recites my Name,” but “for he knows my Name.” It is
the knowing that is most significant. And then [that is, when he knows],
“When he calls on me I will answer him.” This means that when he needs
anything and directs his intention to the name [intrinsically] related to
what he needs, then, “I will answer him.”42
Gikatilla, then, opposes the technical activation of holy names through their
recitation in incantations. His understanding of this practice, however, is less
strict than Abulafia’s. Not only does he not dismiss the names as fake decep-
tions but he also ignores the distinction drawn between forbidden and permit-
ted uses, as determined by their intended function. His reason for the dismissal
is different. He returns to the talmudic prohibition on this matter and adds
an interesting claim: expertise “in mentioning the holy names and the prac-
tical uses of their application” is no longer available. He suggests replacing this
expertise with another one—deep and broad theoretical knowledge of God’s
names through sefirotic Kabbalah, which also entails practical implications.
“The essence of faith and the foundation of God’s unity,” he asserts elsewhere,
“is to understand the applications of all his holy names that are mentioned in
the Torah … and every single one of them has a unique function, different from
the others.”43
42 Gikatilla, Gates of Light, 3–5 (with modifications). On intentionality in kabbalistic prac-

tices, see Paluch, ‘Intentionality’ in the present issue and the bibliography therein.
43 Gikatilla, Gates of Light, 13 (with modifications).

50 harari
The path carved out by Gikatilla is perhaps longer and more sophisticated
than that noted in the magic recipes literature, but its underlying manipulative
perception of the names and, in Azan Yadin’s apt term, the “private theurgy”
it establishes, is not fundamentally different from the one that emerges from
the magic literature: “all of these names are like keys for anything a person
needs in the world.” Even more significantly, the purpose of the “recitation” and
the “knowledge” are amazingly similar: to “derive what you will from them and
accomplish whatever you desire.”44
God’s names were a key element in kabbalistic linguistic thought and in its
symbolism, even among kabbalists who were not particularly concerned with
the practical aspect of their esoteric knowledge.45 At the same time, the perfor-
mative perception of the divine names spread, developed, and took hold, inter-
weaving with kabbalistic systems of thought and action before, and mainly
after, the huge thrust it gained among sixteenth-century Safed kabbalists.46
It is thus clear that pre-kabbalistic perceptions and practices of magic, and
mainly their performative nucleus—that is, the implementation of adjurations
based on the power of holy names—had a real impact on the development of
Kabbalah. But did Kabbalah have a real effect on the development of Jewish
practices of magic?
Throughout the time that kabbalists pondered, practiced, and recorded
their “prophetic” or “theosophic” ideas, either before or after the rise of the
influential Safed circle (foremost among whose members were R. Moses Cor-
dovero [1522–1570], R. Isaac Luria [ha-Ari, 1534–1572], and R. Hayyim Vital
44 On the “private theurgy” typical of Sha’arei Orah, see Yadin, ‘Theosophy’. For an exhaus-
tive discussion of Gikatilla’s theory of language and the central place it assigns to holy
names, see Morlok, Gikatilla’s Hermeneutics. For a discussion of the passage quoted, see
ibid., 232–238.
45 The literature on the significance of God’s name(s) and its power in kabbalistic theories
as well as in earlier esoteric traditions is extensive. I will mention here only four major
contributions: Ben-Sasson ‘The Name of God’ (including a broad survey of the topic and
an updated bibliography); Idel, ‘The Concept of the Torah’; Scholem, ‘The Name of God’;
Wolfson, ‘The Mystical Significance’. Kabbalists share this interest in God’s name and its
theoretical and practical manifestations, which have been a constant concern in Jewish
culture since antiquity.
46 A major example is Sefer Brit ha-Menuḥa, also known as Sefer Brit Menuḥa (Book of
Covenant of Serenity), an anonymous work from the end of the 13th or beginning of the
14th century, which integrates a wide-ranging theory about holy names and their uses.
See Porat, Sefer B’rit ha-Menuḥa. Another prominent example is Sefer Shorshei ha-Shemot
(Book of the Roots of the [Divine] Names) by R. Moses Zacuto (17th century Italy). In
this encyclopedic work, Zacuto assembled hundreds of holy names, organized them in
alphabetical order, and explained their origin, meaning, and uses. See Zacut, Sefer Shorshei
ha-Shemot.

[1542–1620]), magic literature continued to be a persistent concern. Hundreds

of manuscripts containing innumerable magic recipes were written, bound,
handed over, copied, and sold. Agents of magic praxis, who focused more on
the performative aspect of their knowledge than on its theoretical grounds,
assembled information from many kinds of sources, at times adapting and
updating it. This is how instructional manuals of segulot (charms), hashbaʿot
(adjurations), qemeʿot (amulets) and refuʾot (remedies), which are the contin-
uation of Jewish magic literature from before the rise of Kabbalah, came into
being. Is there any evidence of the dissemination of kabbalistic ideas, terminol-
ogy, symbolism, or visual patterns in these manuals? After the rise and spread
of Kabbalah, do Jewish compilations of “practical Kabbalah” (as recipe books
were often called) bear any kabbalistic traces?
4 “Practical Kabbalah” and the Tradition of Jewish Magic
Reproductions of hundreds of “practical Kabbalah” manuscripts from the four-

teenth century onward, held in libraries and private collections around the
world, are available at the Institute for Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts at
the National Library of Israel. Some of these manuscripts are devoted solely
to performative issues—instructional literature to be consulted when seeking
to solve problems.47 In other cases, “practical Kabbalah” materials are part of
compilations dealing with holy names, angels, sefirot, astrology, and liturgy.
Occasionally, however, we find these materials bundled with works of theo-
retical Kabbalah entirely unrelated to performative aspects, attesting to the
copyist’s perception that they belonged together. Did this textual proximity
also come forth in the practical use of the power offered in works of magic
(as the Christian illustration on the front cover of Paulus Riccius’ Latin trans-
lation of Gikatilla’s Sha’arei Orah—Portae Lucis [Figure 1] suggests)? Or did
pre-Kabbalah magic preserve its traditional content, and “Kabbalah” was only
used to provide it with a new basis of authority? In what sense, if any, is “prac-
tical Kabbalah” kabbalistic?48
47 For several examples originating in Jewish communities in both Muslim and Christian
areas, see Bohak, A Fifteenth-Century Manuscript; MS Geneva, BG, Comites Latentes 145
(formerly Sassoon 290) with Benayahu, ‘Sefer Shoshan Yesod ha-Olam’; MS Jerusalem, Ben-
Zvi Institute 2231 with Barel, ‘Rav-Pe’alim’; MS New York, JTSL 8114; MS London, BL, Or 12362;
MS Budapest, MTA, Kaufmann A247.
48 “Practical Kabbalah” has not yet received serious attention in the scholarly research,
and Gershom Scholem’s short essay is still the most dependable text in this regard. See
Scholem, ‘Practical Kabbalah’.

52 harari
figure 1 A kabbalist holding the Godhead. Title page of Portae Lucis, Paulus Riccius’ Latin
translation of Gikatila’s Sha’arei Orah. Gross Family Collection NHB 137
By courtesy of Mr. William Gross

Ostensibly, the term “practical Kabbalah” most clearly conveys the absorp-
tion of ancient Jewish magical traditions into medieval Kabbalah, and their
mutual intertwining. A relatively early (late fifteenth century) use of this term
appears in Sefer ha-Meshiv (The Book of the Responding [Entity]), which offers
its kabbalistic doctrine in two parts: The Book of Contemplation (Sefer ha-
Iyun) and The Book of Praxis (Sefer ha-Ma’aseh). These books are viewed as
an “explanation of the mysteries of the Torah” by way of “contemplative Kab-
balah” (qabalah ʿiyunit) and “practical Kabbalah” (qabalah maʿasit), as they
were transmitted by the responding entity (an angel or even God).49 This was
also the approach endorsed by the sixteenth-century kabbalist R. Isaac of Pisa
who, in his epistle to Isaac Mar Hayyim, determined that “the proper princi-
ple that should preface this science [Kabbalah] is that, like other sciences, it
splits into two parts—theory and practice.”50 R. Gedalyah Ibn Yahya, the author
of Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah (The Chain of Kabbalah), attests to the meaning of
the term “practical Kabbalah” in contemporary Italy in a story depicting how
Nahmanides, one of the most prominent figures of thirteenth-century Spanish
Jewry (c. 1194–c. 1270) began to study Kabbalah. In this description, the term
“practical” denotes wondrous acts, in this case for rescue, of the kind usually
found in magic recipe books. He writes:
Nahmanides’ approach to the study of Kabbalah, since he was a doctor

and a philosopher, was close to dislike of this science. An old and great
sage in the science of Kabbalah then came to him and, seeing that Nah-
manides so much loved studying and was a very learned man, tried to
teach him Kabbalah. Nahmanides, however, paid it no attention … And
then, on a Sabbath, they took the sage out to the market to burn him and
threw him into the fire. But the sage, who had knowledge of practical Kab-
balah, changed it so that they threw an ass instead of him. And he went
to Nahmanides’ home after the afternoon prayer (minḥah) and found him
blessing the wine and he answered: “Amen!” And Nahmanides was puz-
zled. The sage then answered: “You have yourself seen the power of this
science.” Nahmanides was then excited to learn it and spent full days on
it, until he became the greatest sage of his generation in this science.51
49 See Scholem, Kabbalah Manuscripts, 86; idem, ‘The Maggid’, 75 (and note 18); Idel, ‘Jewish
Magic’, 99. On Sefer ha-Meshiv, see Idel, ‘Inquiries’; idem, ‘Magic and Kabbalah’.
50 See Idel, ‘The Epistle’, 198.
51 Ibn Yahya, Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah, 127 (my emphasis). Obviously, this story attests to its
own creative surroundings rather than to Nahmanides himself. I am grateful to Oded Yis-
raeli for this reference.

54 harari
Use of the term “practical Kabbalah” (qabalah maʿasit; pl. qabalot maʿasiyot)
to denote the performative aspect of esoteric knowledge spread in the course
of the sixteenth century among Safed kabbalists. R. Moses Cordovero, who
stated that “the saying of one who knows the power of the Names and their
application will undoubtedly be fulfilled,”52 tied together in his famous trea-
tise, Pardes Rimonim (Orchard of Pomegranates), the use of such names and
“practical Kabbalah,” describing this field of knowledge as the highest and most
complicated level of learning: “And due to the great hardships … their power to
apprehend simple things has been weakened, all the more so the knowledge of
theoretical, sefirotic Kabbalah, and all the more so practical Kabbalah.”53 Cor-
dovero continues in this regard a well-entrenched tradition, stating that the
manipulative power latent in kabbalistic knowledge marks the summit of its
apprehension.54 In any event, he refrains from exposing the mysteries of prac-
tical Kabbalah, meaning the way of combining and activating the holy names,
lest they be used in improper ways at a time when the decline of the genera-
tions has led to such extensive ignorance in their regard.
In his treatise Sha’ar ha-Mitzvot (Gate to the Commandments), R. Hayyim
Vital, who was the most influential figure in the dissemination of Luria’s teach-
ings, defined qabalah maʿasit (practical Kabbalah) as “human action intended
to affect wonders through the adjuration of the holy names.” At the same time,
he determined that this concern was a wasted effort.55 In his Sha’ar Ruah ha-
52 Cordovero, Derishot be-Inyanei Malakhim (Angelological Inquiries), 78. The quotation is

taken from chapter 7, which focuses on “the ways a man can subject them [the angels]
to his will” and offers a theoretical discussion on holy names, their power, and the appro-
priate conditions for bringing them into effect. In chapter 3 of this treatise, Cordovero
emphasizes the importance of knowing the connections between the divine names (in-
cluding their uses) and the sefirot. In chapter 6, he sketches the distinction between laḥash
(spell), which is permitted, and kishuf (sorcery), which is forbidden. See Kadary, The
Angelology, 106–165.
53 Cordovero, Pardes Rimonim, vol. 2, 39 (part 21, ch. 1). In the section dealing with Hebrew
letters, Cordovero enumerates four levels of meaning in the Torah, which is written with
these letters. Concerning the highest of them, touching on the “spirituality of the letters,
their existence, and their mutual combinations and relationships,” he determines: “who-
ever grasps the depth of this matter, will be able to create worlds” (ibid., 243 [part 27,
chapter 1]).
54 See, e.g., the words of the Spanish philosopher and grammarian Profiat Duran (Ha-Efodi,
c. 1350–c. 1415) in the introduction to his book Ma’aseh Efod (The Making of the Ephod):
“And the third group is that of the kabbalists … and they will say that those who have
attained perfection in this wisdom will know how to change the nature of existence and
to renew signs and portents in the names of the Creator and of the holy angels hinted at
throughout the Torah” (Duran, Ma’aseh Efod, 9).
55 Vital, Sha’ar ha-Mitzvot, 26 (Exodus).

Kodesh (Gate of the Holy Spirit), however, when discussing the tiqun (meaning
a ritual for both individual and universal restoration-repair) required by “a per-
son who uses practical Kabbalah,” he takes a more emphatic stance. Here Vital
invokes his teacher, Luria:
I, the writer Hayyim, asked my teacher, of blessed memory, about the use
of practical Kabbalah, which is forbidden in all the books of the later kab-
balists. How, then, did R. Ishmael and R. Akiva, may they rest in peace,
[as is written] in chapters of the Hekhalot, use the awesome names for
remembering and opening the heart [meaning to improve the ability to
learn, understand, and remember].56 And he answered that, in their time,
the ashes of the red heifer had been attainable and they could be com-
pletely purified of every uncleanness, but we are all defiled by the dead
and we do not have the ashes of the red heifer to purify ourselves from
the defilement of the dead57 … so we do not have permission in our time
to use the holy names and the punishment to their user is great … Another
time, my teacher, of blessed memory, replied … in a different way, as fol-
lows: be aware that all the names and the amulets now written in books
are mistaken, and even the names and the amulets that have been tried
and approved by an expert have many errors in them and that is why it is
forbidden to use them. Indeed, if we knew the names with their (correct)
forms and truth, we would also be allowed to use them.58
Elsewhere, Vital goes on to explain the danger inherent in “practical Kabbalah”:
Another explanation: [the ritual of] purification through the ashes of

the red heifer was lost at the time of the amoraim [the Talmud era] …
and thereafter, its only uses were solely in the world of action (ʿolam ha-
ʿasiyah). Since this is the lowest of all worlds59 and only some of the angels
in it are good and most are evil, and since good and evil become very
closely attached [in this world], no apprehension exists in it at all because
it is impossible to apprehend solely the good and, therefore, apprehen-
sion is a mixture of good and evil, truth and falsehood. And this is the
mystery of practical Kabbalah and why its use is forbidden since, neces-
56 On these practices, see Bohak, ‘A Jewish Charm’; Harari, ‘Opening the Heart’.
57 See Num. 19.
58 Vital, Sha’ar Ruah ha-Kodesh, 41 (Tikkun 3).
59 Kabbalah speaks of four worlds, one below the other: ʾAṣilut, Beriʾah, Yeṣirah, and ʿAsiyah.
Ours is ʿolam ha-ʿasiyah (the world of action), which is the lowest.

56 harari
sarily, one would also become attached to the evil that is attached to the
good. One who thinks of purifying his soul soils it when seeking apprehen-
sion through practical Kabbalah and, therefore, the cautious will keep far
from it.60
This resolute stance of his teacher, which Vital dutifully disseminated, did
not prevent him from collecting hundreds of magic recipes, trying some of
them, and writing them out systematically in a long and detailed manuscript
where he integrated practical knowledge and operating instructions in the
area of magic, chemistry, alchemy, and healing.61 As he noted in some of the
manuscript’s headings, he collected some of the recipes from manuscripts
and heard some “from reliable people who demonstrated them through their
own experience.” He tried some of the recipes himself, while others had been
“unquestionably approved by R. Yehoshua Al-Boom.”62 Among the recipes he
compiled under the heading “I also tried these practical Kabbalahs and they
failed,” Vital draws a distinction between “actions” (peʿulot) and “practical Kab-
balahs” (qabalot maʿasiyot). The term practical Kabbalah (here in plural) thus
serves Vital to denote a specific kind of magic act. The recipes in this section
show that, in this realm, he included acts based on combinations of letters and
holy names.
The discussion of “practical Kabbalah” in these and other texts dealing with
this practice is definitely conducted in kabbalistic terms—the speaker, the tex-
tual context, the conceptual world, the terminology, all belong to the world of
Kabbalah. But was the very use of these names kabbalistic? Many years ago,
Gershom Scholem claimed that “practical Kabbalah” was nothing more than a
new title for the ancestral practice of exploiting names and adjurations, which
was represented in writing long before the development and spread of Kab-
balah. The content of manuscripts and artifacts of “practical Kabbalah” from
the fourteenth century onward indeed shows very little change vis-à-vis pre-
Kabbalah magic literature. At times, it is possible to pinpoint actual connec-
tions between early and late manifestations of the same content, as illustrated
by a twelfth- or thirteenth-century love amulet found in the Cairo Genizah
60 Vital, Sha’arei Kedusha, 57–58 (Part 3, Section 6).

61 The compilation, until recently available in manuscript form in Vital’s own handwriting,
was sold out in parts and no longer exists. It was then printed by an unknown editor and
publisher who titled it Sefer ha-Pe’ulot (Book of Actions). On this compilation, see Bos,
‘Hayyim Vital’s “Practical Kabbalah”’; Tamari, ‘The Body Discourse’, 41–50. On Vital’s inter-
est in magical and divinatory practices, see also his Sefer ha-Ḥezyonot (Book of Visions) in
Faierstein, Jewish Mystical Autobiographies.
62 Vital, Sefer ha-Pe’ulot, 215, 243, 251, 257.

that was written on a piece of cloth, and the instructions for the prepara-
tion of such an amulet found in a fifteenth-century Byzantine manuscript.63
The manuscript opens with two kabbalistic works of R. Abraham Abulafia
(Ḥayyei ha-Nefesh [Life of the Soul], and Matzref la-Kesef [Crucible for Sil-
ver]), followed by about two-hundred pages of items on magic, astral magic,
demonology, adjurations, prayers and amulets, including a recipe for kindling
love. The Genizah love amulet was unquestionably manufactured according
to some ancient version of this recipe, which is found in a late manuscript
of “practical Kabbalah” and was a late copy of pre-kabbalistic material. Is this
copy, then, “practical Kabbalah”? Probably, but not in the strict sense of the
term.
My suggestion, therefore, is to distinguish the strict meaning of the term
“practical Kabbalah” from its broader connotation. In its strict and character-
istic sense, “practical Kabbalah” is magic with a clearly discernible influence
of kabbalistic terminology, concepts, symbolism, and iconography. Evidence
of Kabbalah’s presence in this form in magic manuals and artifacts is relatively
small, but not entirely absent. In a broader sense, “practical Kabbalah” may
refer to those materials whose owners, in various ways, attest that they view
them as “Kabbalah” (even if Kabbalah’s presence is in no way evident in them).
This context transcends the texts per se and touches on their creators and, more
than to the character of the magic practice, attests to its place in a setting in
which “Kabbalah” enjoys prestige and significance.
A few examples may help to clarify how Kabbalah entered Jewish magi-
cal practice—“practical Kabbalah” in the strict sense. The clearest and most
discernible motif in this context is the system of the ten sefirot. A dramatic
example may be found in a work available in two manuscripts, which deals
with the use of the ten sefirot.64 The opening words of the earlier manuscript
explicitly tie it to sefirotic Kabbalah: “With the help of Shadai who is present
at [times of] troubles, I begin the Kabbalah of the ten sefirot.” The copyist’s
words at the end, “thus ends the use of the sefirot,” as well as the structure and
content of the work, tie it to the literature of magic “uses” (shimushim)—a well-
known genre that provides magical uses for various sacred texts.65 The most
63 For the amulet, see Naveh and Shaked, Amulets, 216 (MS Cambridge, CUL, T-S AS 142.174).
For the recipe, see Bohak, A Fifteenth Century Manuscript, vol. 1, 223, vol. 2, 181 (MS New
York, NYPL, Heb 190). On love magic in Jewish tradition see Saar, Jewish Love Magic.
64 This short tract is found in slightly different versions in two manuscripts: MS Jerusalem,
INL, Heb. 28°151, 34b–44a (Italian script, 16th–17th century), and MS Oxford, BL, Mich. 473,
27b–32b (Ashkenazi script, 17th–18th century).
65 The opening phrase of this work in MS Oxford is slightly different: “In the name of God,

58 harari
prominent examples are Shimush Tehilim (The Use of Psalms) and Shimush
Shemoneh Esreh (The Use of the Eighteen [Benedictions]). The former suggests
using Psalms chapters in various ritual contexts for a broad set of aims while
the latter suggests using the eighteen benedictions of the prayer that is the core
of the daily Jewish liturgy for personal goals that generally fit the content of
the blessings.66 “The Kabbalah of ten sefirot” is also built according to this pat-
tern and suggests a systematic array of magical uses of the sefirot according to
the order of their downward progression. It opens with the first sefirah, Keter,
which “rules over writing,” and guides the reader on how to use this sefirah and
its power. The treatise proceeds in this fashion from sefirah to sefirah, clarifying
each one’s domain, the scope of its use, the mode of writing the holy names
required in its context, and the accompanying ritual acts. The following, for
example, is the “use” of Binah (the third sefirah):
The sefirah of Binah … May it be your will, holy pure angels, Nuriel who
knows the reasons for the commandments and understands the gates
of Binah, Zarhiel the angel of light, Orphaniel the angel of compassion,
to bring my soul to the heavenly house of study, and may you show me
tonight [in my dream] synagogues and study houses and people study-
ing Torah.67 And tomorrow, may you give my soul the understanding to
preach in public with clear proofs about either the Written or the Oral
Torah … by the power of the pure holy names written in the circle [below],
by the sefirah of Binah and by the name of YHWH ʾWH.68 And may you
bless my mouth when I preach like R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus by the power
of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH YHWH YHWH … This is the circle of Binah:
[The following passage, up to the words “sixty treatises,” is written within

a circle (Figure 2)]:
YHWH YHWH,69 then, Shadai is your gold and your precious silver [Job
22:25], You who live in the shelter of the Most High who abide in the
may He be blessed, who created the two lights [the Sun and the Moon], I begin to write
the Kabbalah of ten sefirot.” There is no mention of “the use of the sefirot” at its end.
66 See Harari, Jewish Magic, 265–267; Rebiger, Sefer Shimush Tehillim; Schäfer, ‘Jewish Liturgy
and Magic’, 544–549.
67 For the idea of the soul wandering in the night, see Midrash on Psalms 11:6: “when a person
sleeps, his soul leaves him and wanders around the world, and these are the dreams that
one sees.” On these dream visions as a good omen, see Bellusci, “The History”, 361–362.
68 This name is punctuated.
69 The Tetragrammaton is punctuated twice.

figure 2 “The Kabbalah of Binah.” Instructions for the use of the sefirah Binah. Manuscript
Jerusalem, Israel National Library Heb. 28°151, p. 39a
By courtesy of Israel National Library

60 harari
shadow of Shadai [Ps. 91:1], Binah, heaven, fire and water, height, the
world of souls, the world to come, wisdom, fifty gates of Binah, Nuriel
Zarhiel Orphaniel, Kabbalah, midrashot, aggadot, sixty treatises.
The Kabbalah of Binah. If you wish to preach in public, take a white cock
and slaughter it, and take his heart,70 and make a cake of wheat from
the stone mill [grindings]71 and cook the heart with the cake. On Sab-
bath eve, wear clean clothes, enwrap yourself in a prayer shawl, and recite
the prayer written in the circle of Binah before you [referring to the cir-
cle drawn above] and say: “May it be your will, Gabriel, the angel of the
cock’s crow, whose name is Zamarel because you sing (mezamer) in the
middle of the night with the cock’s crow, to put wisdom in my kidneys
and understanding (binah) in my heart and reason in myself and power
in my soul for me to be able to preach in public on the morrow for as long
as I wish with deep wisdom and strong proofs … and I shall not fail in my
speech, just as the cock does not fail and knows to aim for the middle of
the night. By the power of the holy pure names written in the sefirah of
Binah outside [that is, in the circle].” And in the middle of the night, when
you hear the cock crow, wash your hands in rosewater and say “Who has
put wisdom in the inward parts, or given the cock understanding?” [Job
38:36] and repeat this prayer [written in the circle of Binah] and eat the
cake. And when you wish to preach, say “My soul clings to the dust,” etc.
until “for you enlarge my understanding” [Psalms 25–32].72
Similarly, the author details the “kabbalahs,” meaning the uses of all the other
sefirot, including the oral formulas and the rituals required to attain the various
aims related to each one of them.
The “Kabbalah of ten sefirot” is thus a classic example of practical Kabbalah
in the strict sense of the term—a clear expression of Kabbalah’s presence as
a component and, in this case, as a constitutive foundation of magic activity.
Another classic example, now from the realm of artifacts, is that of the kabbalis-
tic ilanot (sg. ilan—tree, arbor) that assume magic power. Not all the kabbalistic
70 On the use of a (usually slaughtered) white cock and on sacrifice in general in Jewish magic
tradition, see Harari, ‘Three Charms’, 196–199.
71 The original ‫ מהרידאש‬is difficult. I am thankful to Eliezer Papo, who suggested reading it
as a combination of the Hebrew prefix ‫( מה‬me-ha, “from the”) and the Judeo-Spanish noun
‫( רידאש‬ridas), which seems to be a phonetic spelling of ‫( רודאש‬rodas; Spanish: ruedas)—
wheels.
72 MS Jerusalem, INL, Heb. 28°151, 39a–b. Thanks to Yoed Kadary, who is preparing a critical
edition of the text, for drawing my attention to this manuscript.

ilanot—the long rotuli on which kabbalists, resorting to visual and linguis-

tic means, drew a map of the Godhead and the superlunar cosmology—were
meant for magic use. Some of them, however, bear a short phrase explicitly
indicating that, beside their purpose as didactic and meditative tools, they also
served as apotropaic artifacts.73 In one of them (Figure 3), for example, a rela-
tively small (76×4cm) parchment ilan amulet prepared beforehand for sale as
needed, the apotropaic context emerges explicitly from the concluding text:
This holy ilan is capable of everything [and is good] for finding favor and
for success and for the evil eye and for evildoers and for devils and for
a plague, may we be spared, and for any bad thing in the world. And it
should be placed in a case of pure silver and hung on him [the user].74
Another example is the bigger (254×17.5cm) ilan written in Jerusalem—“the

life tree of the Holy Ari … homily on Adam Qadmon,” as its title says, which was
turned into an amulet for the success and prosperity of its owner, Moshe ben
Melakand Cohen, as the opening makes clear:
This ilan is for success in all actions and all business affairs of Moshe ben
Melakand Cohen, may God preserve him and strengthen him and rescue
him from every hardship, and may he succeed in all his endeavors and
may all the Torah’s blessings be bestowed upon him … by virtue of all these
holy pure and awesome names written in holiness and great purity in the
holy city of Jerusalem, may it be built and established swiftly in our times,
Amen neṣaḥ selah va-ʿed.75
Instances of performative uses in the schematic model of the sefirot do occa-

sionally feature in the literature of recipes and amulets. A good example is
an amulet from the Gross Family Collection that includes an adjuration of
Asmodeus, king of the devils, and all his retinue, to avoid harming the amulet’s
owner [the name is erased] and, instead, protect him/her from all kinds of dev-
ils and spirits and keep them away from him/her. Its right side is a drawing
of the sefirot scheme, conveying the penetration of this visual symbolism into
73 On this issue, see, extensively, Chajes, ‘Kabbalah Practices’ in the present issue (with addi-
tional bibliography on kabbalistic ilanot in general).
74 MS Jerusalem, INL 8°7956.3 (Oriental script, 19th century). Two more ilanot amulets of the
same type, written by the same hand, are in the Israel National Library: MSS Jerusalem
INL 8°7956.1 and 8°7956.2.
75 Gross Family Collection, 028.012.006.

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figure 3
An ilan amulet. The
concluding part of
the ilan (on the right)
contains instructions
for its apotropaic
use. Manuscript
Jerusalem, Israel
National Library
8°7956.3
By courtesy of
Israel National
Library

the manufacture of amulets. In this case, the sefirot scheme joins other perfor-
mative visual patterns well known from Jewish magic tradition: the hexagram
(Magen David), the letter “he,” the magic square, and the ring letters (charac-
têres), which appear on the left side of the amulet (Figure 4).76
Yet another example of this schematic model’s use is the visual pattern of
adjuration tablets for performing a “dream inquiry” (sheʾelat ḥalom) found in
Sefer Shoshan Yesod ha-Olam, a 600-page book of mostly magic recipes com-
piled by R. Joseph Tirshom in the first third of the sixteenth century.77 Accord-
ing to the recipe, the inquirer seeking answers to a question in a dream must
prepare a tablet beforehand:
When you wish to make a (dream) inquiry, fast and wash, and purify your-
self. No one should sleep with you and the sheets should also be clean.
And place the tablet on your head where the tefillin are placed. And write
your question on the blank side and you will sleep and see awesome won-
ders. And this is the Kabbalah of the sage, R. Samuel ibn Tibbon, of blessed
memory, which he received from R. Azriel, may he rest in peace. And this
is the writing of Urim and Thummim. And this has been tried.78
What makes the tablet a performative tool and charges it with the ritual power
required for a dream inquiry is its other side, which is not blank. The names of
the ten sefirot are meant to be written on this side in the accepted schematic
pattern, each one accompanied by one of God’s names (Figure 5).79 In this
case, then, the (etic) research perspective that identifies a clear kabbalistic trace
in the recipe blends with the traditional (emic) perspective, which explicitly
addresses the act or the information required for its performance as “Kab-
balah.”
The mention of the sefirot only by their names also suffices to indicate the
appropriation of kabbalistic conceptual elements for practical purposes. One
example is a series of exceptional amulets from the late nineteenth or early
76 Gross Family Collection 027.012.048. A few more amulets in this collection show the
scheme of ten sefirot. See, e.g., GFC 027.011.279, 027.012.020, 027.012.062, 027.012.099, 027.
012.351, 027.015.007.
77 For the manuscript, see Benayahu, Sefer Shoshan Yesod ha-Olam. On practices for dream
inquiry, see Bellusci, The History; idem, ‘A Genizah Finished Product’; Harari, ‘Demonic
Dream Divination’; idem, ‘Divination through the Dead’; idem, ‘Metatron’; Idel, Nocturnal
Kabbalists.
78 MS Geneva, BG, Comites Latentes, 145, 221.
79 The beginning of this recipe is missing and we can only learn about the preparation of the
tablet from its image.

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figure 4 Amulet for protection against demons with the scheme of the ten
sefirot. Gross Family Collection 027.012.048

figure 5 Instructions for preparing a “dream inquiry” tablet with the scheme of the ten
sefirot on its back side (upper right side). Manuscript Geneva, Bibliothèque de
Genève, Comites Latentes, 145, p. 221
By courtesy of Bibliothèque de Genève

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figure 6 Amulet for protecting a mother and her newborn against Lilith and the evil eye.
Gross Family Collection 027.011.749
twentieth century, probably written in Kurdistan for protecting a mother and

her newborn from the evil eye and from Lilith’s harm. We have amulets from
three such series, written by different people. Each series comprised four simi-
lar amulets, differing systematically in certain details in a way that turned them
into a series, apparently meant to be hung on the four walls of the mother’s
room80 (Figure 6). On its right side, the text of the amulet mentions different
types of evil eye it seeks to thwart and also the familiar historiola of Lilith and
80 See Avizohar-Hagay, ‘Three Protection Amulets’. Four amulets of this type, written by three
different people, are known today. One of the amulets is part of The Magnes Collection
of Jewish Art and Life (Bernard Kimmel collection, 68.83 [2007.0.65; A5]). Three more
amulets (two of them from the same series) are owned by William Gross (GFC 027.011.130,
027.011.722, 027.011.749). For the first of them, see Vukosavović, Angels and Demons, 84.
For the second one, see: www.kedem‑auctions.com/product/amulet‑for‑the‑protection
‑of‑pregnant‑women‑and‑newborn‑children‑manuscript‑on‑paper (retrieved: 15.10.18).
For the third one, see Figure 6.

the angels Sanoy, Sansanoy, and Samangalaf (accompanied here by Samanga-

lon), who are supposed to prevent Lilith’s harm.81 Written three times (clock-
wise) around the depiction of an angel in the middle is the text of Song of Songs
3:7–8: “Look, it is the bed of Solomon! Around it are sixty mighty men of the
mighty men of Israel, all equipped with swords and expert in war, each with
his sword at his thigh because of dread at night.” In Hebrew, the two verses
together contain twenty words and in the three repetitions sixty words, all care-
fully placed between sixty swords situated on one of the twenty letters of the
priestly blessing (Numbers 6:24–26) that are also written (counterclockwise)
three times.82
All these linguistic components do not depend on Kabbalah and appear in
the magic literature even earlier. On the left side, however, alongside the invo-
cation of God and his names, angels, stars, and other heavenly forces, the incan-
tation mentions “the seven sefirot of the construction (shevaʿ sefirot ha-binyan),
which are Ḥesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, Hod, Yesod, Malkhut,” thereby def-
initely pointing to links to kabbalistic thought and terminology.
The same is true regarding the presence of these seven sefirot in a relatively
late printed amulet (Algeria, 1930), made up “for negotiation, for favor and grace
and for protection from the evil eye” (or, as stressed by its French subtitle: “Ce
talisman porte bonheur et bonne chance”) (Figure 7). In this case, too, most of
the amulet’s linguistic and visual elements draw on the familiar magic tradi-
tion that preceded Kabbalah and has gone on developing beside it until today.
Prominent in this regard is the palm of a hand with spread fingers, the ḥamsa,
a typical Muslim magic motif that Jews in Muslim areas endorsed and adapted
as a Jewish oikotype.83 On the left column, however, at the center of the amulet
and following a long list of angels’ names, the printer wrote: “And by the power
of the seven sefirot of the construction Ḥesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, Hod,
Yesod, Malkhut.” In so doing, he charged the amulet with kabbalistic meaning
too, thereby tying it to “practical Kabbalah” in the strong sense of the term.84
81 The origin of this historiola goes back to late antiquity. See Naveh and Shaked, Amulets,
104–122, 188–197; Elitzur-Leiman, ‘An Aramaic Amulet’. On the historiola as a magical genre
see Frankfurter, ‘Narrating Power’.
82 The verses of the priestly blessing appear already in the fifth century BCE on two silver
amulets from Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. See Barkai et. al., ‘The Amulets’; Na’aman, ‘The
Silver Amulets’.
83 See Sabar, ‘The Hamsa’. On oikotypes and on the oikotipification process, see Hasan-
Rokem, ‘Ecotypes’; Honko, ‘Four Forms’; von Sydow, ‘Geography’.
84 For a few more indications of the ten sefirot in adjuratory texts, see Bohak, A Fifteenth-
Century Manuscript, vol. 1, 112; MS Budapest, MTA, A246, 27; MS Moscow, RSL, Guenzburg
693, 49b–51b.

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figure 7 “Ce talisman porte bonheur et bonne chance.” Multipurpose amulet with an
indication of the ten sefirot. Gross Family Collection 027.011.297

Magic texts include not only the ten sefirot. Of interest, both symbolically
and visually, is also the scheme of an amulet for protection and guarding that
appears in the Sefer Ḥokhmat ha-Kabbalah ha-Ma’asit (Book of the Wisdom
of Practical Kabbalah), apparently originating in Eastern Europe.85 Among the
recipes, the author also presents several amulets where the visual aspect is
prominent. At times, the writing itself is organized in formal patterns and, at
times, it is accompanied by actual drawings.86 One presents a schematic, rather
abstract drawing of a figure on whose limbs and all around it are names of
angels and holy names87 (Figure 8). A text at the top of the drawing points to the
goal of the artifact presented: “May it be your will, God of the spirits for all mor-
tals, that you should compassionately watch over NN, who bears this amulet, he
who was born from NN’s body on day NN at NN time.” At the end, the names of
several angels are mentioned, with a demand/request “to guard NN.”
The names in the amulet, such as the fourteen triangular combinations
known as the forty-two letter name that begins ʾBG YTṢ QRʿ SṬN …, the names
of angels (Shmuiel, Metatron, Yehoel) and other letter combinations, such as
YʾHDWNHY (a combination of YHWH and ʾDNY), are well known from the pre-
kabbalistic tradition of using names (which, as noted, also made its way to the
Kabbalah of names). What ties this amulet to “practical Kabbalah” in the strict
meaning of the term is the figure where these elements appear, whose essence
emerges from the explanation of the drawing in the pages that follow:
Kabbalists call the drawing in the amulet Adam Elyon (Supreme Man)
and, through it, you will be able to perform several awesome actions but
on one significant condition: that you do so with great holiness, purity,
and intentionality, and also with prayer, and fasting, and abstinence. For
this purpose, you need a ritually fit (kasher) parchment, and a drawing in
Assyrian [square] script, as explained above, and you will then succeed
and prosper in all your ways.88
Adam Elyon (or, more commonly, Adam Qadmon, Primordial Man) is a key con-
cept in Lurianic Kabbalah, denoting the first manifestation of Creation that is
separate from Ein Sof (the infinite and totally hidden essence of God, which
85 I know only two parts of this book (the second and third), which are owned by William
Gross (GFC, EE.011.041, EE.011.042).
86 On visual aspects of Jewish magic manuals, see Harari, ‘Magical Paratexts’; idem, ‘Func-
tional Paratexts’.
87 GFC EE.011.042, 44–45.
88 Ibid., 47.

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figure 8 Amulet with the image of Adam Elyon. Book of the Wisdom of Practical
Kabbalah (part II), pp. 44–45. Gross Family Collection EE.011.042

is the origin of its revealed emanation). Clearly, then, the amulet’s manufac-
turer tried to charge it with a power drawn from the Lurianic myth, a power
he sought to channel by presenting the figure of Adam Elyon as protecting its
bearer.89
Another significant example deals with “the other side” of the Godhead. It is
a recipe for writing a blotting plate for the healing of what is today diagnosed
as epilepsy, a physiological disorder that has traditionally been associated with
possession, and found in a mid-nineteenth-century recipe book from Morocco
titled Rav Pe’alim (Mighty in Deeds):
Tasa [that is, plate] for a possessed person. Take a white plate and write on
it these names, and this is what you should write: I adjure you, all demons
and demonesses, male liliths and female liliths, and blast [demons] and
harmful [spirits] and all evil spirits and all malevolent spirits of Sitra Aḥra
in the name of Ahaniel, Mathatiel, Petahiel … that you will leave the body
of NN immediately, without delay or tardiness at all. In the name of King
Solomon, may he rest in peace, and in the name of his seal ✡ … And blot
it out with water and have him drink [it].
Exorcism is a major strand of magic activity, and recipes for expelling demons
and other evil spirits have been part of Jewish magic manuals from the Dead
Sea Scrolls to the modern era. What makes this one unique is the rare indication
of the sitra ʾaḥra—the “other [Satanic] side” of the Godhead, as the origin and
the driving force behind evil spirits and their malevolent action in the world.90
This is what ties it to the kabbalistic myth, turning it into “practical Kabbalah”
in the strict sense of the term.
The last example originates in the “Kabbalah of names” and touches on the
“mystery of the niqud.”91 Theories about the hidden symbolic meaning of the
niqud, whose foundations are already discernible in medieval circles in Ashke-
naz, were extensively developed in the early stages of Kabbalah.92 One instance
is the brief text at times called Perush ha-Shem ha-Meforash be-Niqudav (The
89 On the Lurianic concept of Adam Qadmon see Avivi, Kabbala Luriana, vol. 3, 1335–1340;
Fine, Physician of the Soul, 124–141. For the visualization of Adam Qadmon in R. Meir Pop-
pers’ ilan, see Chajes, ‘Kabbalah Practices,’ in the present issue. We should also relate
similarly to recipes that mention the need for “intention” (kavanah) as part of the sug-
gested magic practice. See Paluch, ‘Intentionality,’ in the present issue.
90 On the sitra ʾaḥra and its demonic hosts, see Scholem, On the Mystical Shape, 56–87. Cf.
Dan, ‘Samael’; Tishby, The Doctrine of Evil.
91 In Hebrew script, vowels are noted through diacritic signs known as niqud.
92 See Bernat-Wiener, ‘The Mysteries’.

72 harari
Meaning of the Tetragrammaton in Its Niqud Variations). This work, available

in various manuscript versions, suggests a set of uses, based on variations in
the niqud of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton.93 This view on uses of the
Tetragrammaton bearing different forms of niqud had been unknown in pre-
kabbalistic magic literature and reflects the influence of theoretical kabbalistic
elaborations on the mysteries of niqud in general and on the niqud of the Tetra-
grammaton in particular.
All these, then, are manifestations of practical Kabbalah in the strict sense of
the term, where the ideas, terminology, and visual symbolism typical of theoret-
ical Kabbalah are actually present. As the study of magic texts keeps expanding
and developing, evidence of actual kabbalistic traces in Jewish magic practice
will unquestionably broaden and diversify. Yet, we can already conclude with a
high degree of certainty that the presence of Kabbalah in Jewish magical texts
in this manner is quite limited.
Beside this obvious aspect, however, a broader and less restrictive meaning
of “practical Kabbalah” should also be considered when dealing with magic
materials from the thirteenth century onward. Rather than relying on an etic
search for kabbalistic elements in magic materials, this broader meaning relies
on their emic perception as attested by their creators and copiers. Above all,
the language of the recipes deserves attention in this context. In many cases,
it is the writers themselves who define their knowledge as Kabbalah as, for
example, in book titles such as Sefer Kabbalah Ma’asiyot (Book of Practical
Kabbalahs) or Sefer Ḥokhmat ha-Kabbalah ha-Ma’asit (Book of the Wisdom of
Practical Kabbalah)94 and in a section titled “I also tried these practical kabbal-
ahs (qabalot maʿasiyot) and they failed”;95 or in recipe titles such as “Kabbalah
for preparing amulets well” or “Kabbalah to force the judge or the ruler to do
your will”;96 or when marginal glosses appear on a recipe stating “and this is
mequbal” as a way of promoting its efficacy (instead of the usual baduq u-
menuseh—tested and efficient);97 or when the practical knowledge suggested
in the recipe is attributed to figures identified with Kabbalah, such as R. Shi-
93 See, e.g., Fuks, Kabbalah Ma’asiyot, 2a–b, 37–41; MS Moscow, RSL, Guenzburg 302, 89a–b.
94 See Fuks, Kabbalah Ma’asiyot (Gross Family Collection EE.011.026, apparently of Ukraine
origin, 1805), and above, note 85.
95 Vital, Sefer ha-Pe’ulot, 351.
96 See respectively: MS London, BL, Or. 12362, 19a; MS Budapest, MTA, Kaufmann A247, 24a.
The Hebrew term qabalah also means tradition. In the early modern period, however, it
was loaded with a semantic baggage that made it impossible to ignore its kabbalistic con-
text. The use of qabalah in these two titles ties the suggested actions to the tradition of
Kabbalah.
97 MS Geneva, BG, Comites Latentes 145, 296.

mon b. Yohai, R. Azriel, Nahmanides, R. Yitzhak Luria, R. Moshe Zacuto, or in

openings reflecting a kabbalistic origin such as “and I heard from the mouth
of a mequbal” or “from a book of practical Kabbalah.”98 Writers may also point
to kabbalistic associations in other ways. For example, on the first page of a
small recipe notebook whose magical contents lack any kabbalistic element is
a scheme of the ten sefirot showing holy names in the ilan’s circles.99 Even the
surrounding texts in a manuscript may suggest such associations when magic
material is copied between works of theoretical or prophetic Kabbalah. All
these signs attest to the emic attribution of magic contents to “Kabbalah” and,
if not entirely tinting these materials as “practical Kabbalah,” at least hinting at
its overtones.
5 Conclusion
The idea that reality can be manipulated by means of linguistic formulae and
rituals has been a cornerstone of Jewish culture from its very beginning. Among
its constitutive notions are the creation of the world through God’s speech
(“Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” [Gen. 1:3]), miracle-
making cultural heroes (Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and others), and the found-
ing of the connection with God on linguistic expressions (prayer). Esoteric
approaches developed in Judaism hinging on language and its performative
power, together with personal, unofficial ceremonies centering on incantations
seeking to attain ritual power. These ritual practices are recorded in thousands
of magic recipes and artifacts. They were widespread among the Jewish people
before and after the development of Kabbalah, rested on the same manip-
ulative perception of language that eventually came forth in “the Kabbalah
of names,” and was the basis of kabbalistic systems such as that of Abulafia,
Gikatilla, and many others.
In Jewish tradition, the term “Kabbalah” became a signifier of Jewish esoteric
knowledge as a whole, before and after the written dissemination of kabbal-
istic ideas from the thirteenth century onward. Accordingly, the performative
practices derived from this knowledge were called “practical Kabbalah.” This
term denoted, above all, uses of holy names in ritual, linguistic and other con-
texts for the sake of attaining a concrete goal in the world—the constitutive
element of Jewish magic practice throughout its history. From an internal, emic
98 See, respectively, MS Cambridge, CUL 505.7, 48a; MS Budapest, MTA, Kaufmann A244, 11a.
99 MS Moscow, RSL, Guenzburg 1727. Cf. the occurrences of kabbalistic diagrams among
magic recipes in MS Budapest, MTA, Kaufmann A497, 66, 79, 80, 82.

74 harari
perspective, then, Jewish magic as a whole is identified as “practical Kabbalah.”

From a research, etic perspective, however, “Kabbalah” denotes a defined stage
in the development of Jewish esoteric teachings, requiring a clear distinction
between magic traditions prevalent before and after the development of Kab-
balah. One question is prominent in this context: was Jewish magic tradition
tinted with kabbalistic hues in a mode that justifies describing it as “practical
Kabbalah”? The answer to this question, as noted, is complex.
First, in most cases, we do not find kabbalistic traces in the post-kabbalistic
magic material. The Jewish magic tradition recorded in hundreds of manu-
scripts from the Middle Ages until today has survived and prospered mostly
alongside and ignoring Kabbalah. In these cases, adopting the term “practi-
cal Kabbalah” to describe the magic materials is inaccurate. In a relatively few
number of cases, it is indeed possible to discern a real kabbalistic presence in
magic recipes or artifacts. Kabbalistic ideas, terms, symbols, and visual patterns
penetrate magic practice, exploiting their performative potential in order to
perform a specific action. I suggest viewing them as distinct cases of “practical
Kabbalah,” in the strict sense of the term.
Other cases also show, explicitly or indirectly, that authors of magic manuals
and artifacts indeed identified the information they possessed as “Kabbalah”
(even though no kabbalistic elements are necessarily found in it). These cases,
which I suggest viewing as instances of “practical Kabbalah” in the “weak” sense
of the term, pose a new challenge to scholars. Attentiveness to the voice of the
society at stake and to the way it understands and describes its own actions
is also required regarding the current use of expressions such as “Kabbalah”
and “practical Kabbalah” for denoting ritual performative actions, uses that at
times deviate quite far from the use of these terms in the past. In contemporary
Israeli culture, various practitioners have appropriated the terms “Kabbalah”
and “practical Kabbalah” to denote a broad and diverse range of empowerment
and healing practices that they market, all far removed from both Jewish Kab-
balah and magic as known to us from their traditional texts.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 412/09).
Thanks to Batya Stein for the English version of this article.

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Aries – Journal for the Study

of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

“Practical Kabbalah” and the Jewish Tradition

Jewish magic – holy names – Kabbalah – practical Kabbalah – Kabbalah of names

1 Jewish Magic—the Emic/Etic Perspectives

1 Names of libraries are abbreviated as follows: Budapest, MTA—Magyar Tudományos Aka-

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/15700593-01901003

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

7 Idel, ‘On Judaism’, 195.

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

2 Contemporary Discourse of Practical Kabbalah

Kabbalah discourse in general, and that of practical Kabbalah, in particular,

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

14 www.oriyakabala.co.il. This website is no longer active.

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

3 Magic, Holy Names, and the Rise of Kabbalah

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

bearing on the transmission of secrets from Babylonia to Italy.24 Expressions

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

would later become known as “the Kabbalah of names” (qabalat ha-shemot). It

30 Gershom Scholem focused chiefly on demonology in kabbalistic writings. See, e.g.,

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

even worse [things] done by those who are mistaken or misleading on

At the beginning of this passage, Abulafia appears to identify with Maimonides’

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

He who seeks the wisdom endowed on us according to the Name so as

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

42 Gikatilla, Gates of Light, 3–5 (with modifications). On intentionality in kabbalistic prac-

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

[1542–1620]), magic literature continued to be a persistent concern. Hundreds

4 “Practical Kabbalah” and the Tradition of Jewish Magic

Reproductions of hundreds of “practical Kabbalah” manuscripts from the four-

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Nahmanides’ approach to the study of Kabbalah, since he was a doctor

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

52 Cordovero, Derishot be-Inyanei Malakhim (Angelological Inquiries), 78. The quotation is

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Elsewhere, Vital goes on to explain the danger inherent in “practical Kabbalah”:

Another explanation: [the ritual of] purification through the ashes of

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

60 Vital, Sha’arei Kedusha, 57–58 (Part 3, Section 6).

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

[The following passage, up to the words “sixty treatises,” is written within

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

ilanot—the long rotuli on which kabbalists, resorting to visual and linguis-

Another example is the bigger (254×17.5cm) ilan written in Jerusalem—“the

Instances of performative uses in the schematic model of the sefirot do occa-

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019) 38–82

Harari, Yuval, “Jewish Magic: An Annotated Overview”, El Prezente 5 (2012): 13–85