Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906) Reader

Angelology constitutes the theological branch examining "superhuman beings dwelling in heaven, who, on occasion, reveal to man God's will and execute His commands." This doctrine developed across three distinct periods: Biblical, Talmudic-Midrashic, and Medieval eras.

BIBLICAL PERIOD

Terminology and Appearance

The Hebrew term for angel originally meant simply "messenger," acquiring spiritual significance only through divine context (e.g., "angel of the Lord"). Ancient texts also referenced these beings as "sons of God" and "holy ones."

Biblical descriptions portray angels as extraordinarily beautiful humanoid figures who could vanish, fly, and become invisible. They manifested as beings of fire and light, though immaterial and unbound by spatial-temporal constraints.

Characteristics and Functions

Angels served multiple roles: divine messengers announcing significant events, protective guardians, and agents executing God's will. They possessed wisdom and judgment, though Scripture suggests they remained fallible and occasionally required divine mediation to resolve disputes.

The numerical abundance of heavenly hosts appears throughout Biblical narrative — from Jacob's "host of angels" to Solomon's celestial observers.

TALMUDIC DEVELOPMENT

Post-Biblical mysticism dramatically expanded angelological conceptions. Rather than systematic organization, diverse rabbinical interpretations generated what became an "overflowing wild stream" of elaborate traditions embellishing scriptural accounts.

Essential Nature and Hierarchy

Talmudic sources characterize angels as fire-based entities sustaining themselves through divine radiance. They possessed distinct ranks and functions: some guarded nations, others maintained cosmic elements, while specific angels supervised conception, dreams, and prayer.

Notable Named Angels

Michael served as Israel's heavenly representative and protector. Gabriel functioned as divine interpreter and messenger. Raphael, Uriel, and numerous others received assignments reflecting their names' meanings.

The tradition maintained human superiority over angels — the righteous would rank above celestial beings in ultimate hierarchy.

MEDIEVAL-CABALISTIC PERIOD

Medieval mysticism dramatically intensified angelological speculation. The Cabala developed elaborate systems assigning thousands of names to celestial entities, many created through numerological speculation rather than traditional etymology.

This period witnessed transformation from theoretical angelology into practical invocative magic, where practitioners attempted summoning angels through proper naming, timing, and ritual preparation — a departure from earlier Talmudic restraint regarding such practices.

COMPARATIVE RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES

Babylonian and Persian religious systems demonstrably influenced Jewish angelology's development during and following the Babylonian Exile, as rabbinical sources explicitly acknowledge: "The names of the angels were brought by the Jews from Babylonia."

This comprehensive article examines demons across biblical, rabbinical, and comparative religious contexts, written by Emil G. Hirsch, Richard Gottheil, Kaufmann Kohler, and Isaac Broydé.

BIBLICAL DEMONS

The article identifies two primary classes of biblical demons:

Se'irim ("hairy beings"): These satyr-like entities inhabited wilderness areas. The text notes they were "dancing in the wilderness" and resembled Arabian jinn of desert regions.

Shedim: Storm-demons derived from Chaldean mythology, originally representing protective spirits but reinterpreted negatively by Hebrew writers. The article explains that "the name 'shedim'...came to the Israelites" from Babylonian sources.

Other notable biblical demons include Azazel (goat-like wilderness spirit), Lilith, and disease-causing entities like Deber (pestilence) and Keteb (deadly wind).

RABBINICAL DEVELOPMENT

Talmudic literature expanded demonology significantly, categorizing demons by function and appearance. Demons could: - Assume various shapes but lacked shadows - Cause specific diseases (blindness, epilepsy, fever, leprosy) - Congregate in particular locations (cemeteries, privies, water)

Key figures included: - Ashmodai/Asmodeus: King of demons - Lilith: Queen of demons, portrayed with "wings and long flowing hair" - Agrat bat Mahlat: Another demonic queen with "eighteen myriads of messengers of destruction"

PROTECTIVE MEASURES

The article emphasizes that observance of Jewish law provided protection: "the observance of the Law was the best prophylactic against demons." Specific practices included wearing tefillin, mezuzot placement, reciting the Shema, and ritual prayers.

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

Notably, Maimonides rejected demon existence entirely, while most medieval scholars accepted it as fact. Ibn Ezra similarly denied their reality. Cabalists, conversely, integrated demons into cosmic spiritual systems.

This comprehensive article examines cosmogony (theories of universe origin) across biblical, post-biblical, and rabbinical Jewish traditions, comparing them with Babylonian and other ancient systems.

BIBLICAL COSMOGONY

Early Hebrew Perspectives

The article argues that early Hebrews possessed cosmogonic legends despite limited textual evidence in later documents. Technical archaic terms like "tohu wabohu" and mythological personifications suggest incorporation of ancient material into biblical texts.

Babylonian Influences

The Babylonian creation epic presents striking parallels to biblical accounts. The Babylonian myth centers on Tiamat, "a monstrous dragon" representing primeval waters, defeated by Marduk who creates heaven and earth from her corpse. The article notes: "In the main, four theories have been advanced to account for this" — ranging from shared Semitic traditions to Hebrew adoption during the Babylonian captivity.

Genesis Account

Genesis I represents a monotheistic recasting of earlier mythological material. The creation order differs slightly from Babylonian versions but shares fundamental elements: primeval waters, darkness, and divine separation of cosmic elements. The article emphasizes that "The value of the cosmogony of Genesis lies in its monotheistic emphasis."

POST-BIBLICAL RABBINICAL DEVELOPMENT

Primal Elements

Rabbinical sources debated creation's foundational elements. Rab identified "ten primal elements created on the first day," including heaven, earth, Tohu, Bohu, light, darkness, wind, water, night, and day, paired with creative potencies like wisdom and understanding.

Upper and Lower Worlds

The Slavonic Book of Enoch describes cosmogonic progression: a fiery stone (Adoil) rises from primeval depths, producing light and the upper celestial realm, while darkness creates the lower world. Water emerges from mixing these opposing forces, forming seven heavenly circles.

Midrashic Systems

The Midrash Konen presents systematic cosmogony using sacred names as creative principles, explaining how water, light, and fire combine to produce celestial bodies, animals, and earth from snow beneath God's throne.

Sefer Yezirah

This geonic work introduces an entirely different approach, treating "letters and numbers" as creative principles in a Pythagorean-influenced framework, with the Spirit of God replacing earlier concepts of wisdom.

KEY THEMES

Comparative Mythology: The article demonstrates how Jewish cosmogonic traditions absorbed and transformed Babylonian influence while maintaining theological distinctiveness.

Theological Evolution: From mythological narratives to systematic rabbinical interpretation, Jewish cosmogony evolved toward increasingly abstract and philosophical expressions of divine creative power.

Secrecy and Restriction: "The creation lore is not to be taught before more than one disciple," reflecting cosmogony's esoteric status in early Jewish tradition.

Lilith is described as a female demon in Jewish tradition. The name appears in Isaiah 34:14 and derives from Assyrian demon mythology, though scholars debate whether it connects to the Hebrew word "layil" (night) or represents a storm demon.

ASSYRIAN ORIGINS

Of the three Assyrian demons Lilu, Lilit, and Ardat Lilit, the second is referred to in Isaiah 34:14. There is scholarly debate about her origins, with some scholars thinking that "Lilith" is not connected with the Hebrew "layil" (night), but that it is the name of a demon of the storm.

TALMUDIC AND MIDRASHIC TRADITIONS

The article notes that "Lilith is a seductive woman with long hair" who operates primarily at night. According to rabbinic sources, she:

- Targets people sleeping alone in rooms - Bears the title "Queen of Zemargad" - Represents one of three demon classes alongside spirits and devils - Possesses wings in certain depictions

The text explains that demons arose from Adam during a spell and from Eve's union with male spirits over 130 years, making them "half human."

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN DEVELOPMENTS

In the later Middle Ages the mystics systematically amplified demonology on the basis of the traditions and the current European superstitions, and they also assigned a more definite form to Lilith. She becomes a nocturnal demon, flying about in the form of a night-owl and stealing children. Lilith likewise appears to men in their dreams; she is the bride of Samael.

Post-medieval Jewish mysticism substantially expanded Lilith's characterization. She evolved into a figure associated with:

- Nocturnal child-stealing activities - Marriage to Samael (a prominent demon) - Seduction of men through dreams - Infant mortality in folklore

Protective amulets became common on "childbirth tablets" hung in birthing rooms across Eastern Europe and the Middle East as safeguards against her influence. The conception of Lilith as Adam's first wife gained prominence through later lexicographic works rather than classical rabbinic sources.

BIBLICAL DEVELOPMENT

In early biblical usage, Satan functioned primarily as "an adversary" in various contexts — military enemies, courtroom accusers, or obstacles. The Book of Job represents a pivotal shift, depicting Satan as a celestial being who "From going to and fro in the earth" reports human transgressions to God. Critically, Satan operates only with divine permission and cannot act independently.

The Chronicler (3rd century B.C.E.) portrays Satan with greater autonomy, possibly influenced by Zoroastrian dualism, though Jewish monotheism ultimately resisted Iranian concepts.

TALMUDIC CONCEPTION

Talmudic sources rarely mention Satan until the Amoraic period (post-200 C.E.). When referenced, Satan embodies the "impulse to evil" and angel of death simultaneously. The Talmud describes him as shapeshifting, capable of assuming "form of a bird," "stag," or "woman." His knowledge has limits — the shofar's blast on New Year confuses him, and his numerical value equals 364 days, leaving Yom Kippur exempt from his influence.

FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Satan's principal roles include temptation, accusation, and punishment. Talmudic narratives credit him with instigating the golden calf incident, David's sin with Bathsheba, and various biblical calamities. Notably, "Satan sowed discord between two men," embodying strife itself.

MEDIEVAL CABALISTIC DEVELOPMENT

Under Cabalistic influence, Satan's scope expands dramatically. Medieval demonology assigns him greater power over daily existence. His subordinates receive new designations like "Kelippa" (husk or rind), and biblical antagonists — Amalek, Goliath, Haman — become identified with him directly.

THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Throughout Jewish tradition, Satan represents moral opposition to divine will and cosmic good, yet remains fundamentally subordinate to God's sovereignty, preserving monotheistic doctrine.

BIBLICAL DATA

Adam is the Hebrew and Biblical designation for humanity generally, and specifically for the progenitor of the human race. According to Genesis i, mankind was created on the sixth day "made in the image of God" with dominion over all animate creation. Genesis ii provides a more detailed account, locating the creation near Babylon at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Eden. God "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. ii. 7). He was placed in a garden to tend it, permitted to eat all fruit except from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." When no suitable companion was found among animals, God created woman from Adam's rib.

CURSE OF DISOBEDIENCE

Genesis iii describes humanity's moral history. The serpent tempted the woman, claiming the forbidden fruit would grant divine knowledge. She ate and gave fruit to her husband. Consequences followed: the serpent faced perpetual enmity with humanity; the woman endured childbirth pain and subjection to her husband; Adam received a curse making the ground produce thorns and thistles, requiring toilsome labor for sustenance. Both were expelled from Eden "to till the ground from which he was taken."

IN APOCRYPHAL AND RABBINICAL LITERATURE

Rabbinical tradition emphasizes Adam's representative character, teaching that "he who destroys a single soul destroys a whole world" (Sanh. iv. 5). His creation from dust gathered from all world regions symbolized humanity's unity. One tradition holds "His head was made of earth from the Holy Land; his main body, from Babylonia; and the various members from different lands" (Sanh. 38a).

TWO NATURES IN ADAM

Haggadic sources emphasize Adam's pre-fall glory. He was "like one of the angels," with body "reaching from earth to heaven" (Hag. 12a, Sanh. 38b). His beauty was sunlike, his skin bright like garments of light. When God said "Let us make man," jealous angels questioned: "What is man that Thou thinkest of him? A creature full of falsehood, hatred, and strife!" (Gen. R. viii.). Love pleaded his favor, and the Lord responded, "Let truth spring forth from the earth!"

A significant legend, preserved in Adam and Eve and the Slavonic Book of Enoch, describes Michael commanding all angels to honor Adam's image. All obeyed except Satan, who was hurled from heaven for his rebellion — his throne reserved for Adam at future resurrection.

THE FALL

Pre-fall privileges included angelic attendants, "angel's bread," and universal creation's reverence. Sin stripped him of all glory; the earth and heavens lost brightness, returning only in Messianic times (Gen. R. xii.). Death came to Adam and creation. Given God's thousand-year day (Ps. xc. 4), Adam lived 930 years — seventy less than one thousand — fulfilling "in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."

Jewish sources stress repentance's redemptive power. Adam exemplifies the penitent sinner, undergoing purification through fasting, praying, and bathing for forty-nine days (Vita Adae et Evae; Erekhin 18b; Abodah Zarah 8a; Pirke R. El.).

When darkness first came after his sin, Adam feared God's wrath. The Lord taught him to make fire by striking stones — initiating the blessing over fire concluding each Sabbath. Receiving the curse "Thou shalt eat of the herbs of the earth," Adam despaired he and his donkey would share the same manger. God reassured him: "With the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread!" Angels subsequently taught him agriculture, trades, and ironwork.

ADAM IN THE FUTURE WORLD

Adam initially wore garments of light, not skin (Gen. R. xx.). Described as "the first to enter Hades" (Sibylline Oracles, i. 81), he was also "the first to receive the promise of resurrection" (Gen. R. xxi. 7).

According to the Testament of Abraham, Adam sits at the gates watching multitudes pass — weeping for the many entering the wide gate toward punishment, rejoicing for the few entering the narrow gate toward reward.

The distinctive Jewish perspective appears in Shabbath 55a (based on Ezekiel xviii. 20): "No man dies without a sin of his own." Thus pious ones, permitted to behold God's glory before death, reproach Adam for bringing death. He responds: "I died with but one sin, but you have committed many: on account of these you have died; not on my account."

Rabbis attributed Psalms v, xix, xxiv, and xcii to Adam. His body was supposedly displayed at Hebron's cave of Machpelah (B. B. 58a; Gen. R. lviii.). The rabbis taught the beautiful idea that "Adam was created from the dust of the place where the sanctuary was to rise for the atonement of all human sin," ensuring sin would never become inherent to human nature (Gen. R. xiv.).

CRITICAL VIEW

Modern critics identify two source documents in Genesis creation accounts. The Priestly Code (P) presents creation as the first stage in Israel and theocracy's history. The second narrative (Genesis ii. 4-iv.), written earlier than the priestly document, centers on Adam founding the human race. Its descriptions are naive and anthropomorphic: man's Eden home, divinely-given mate, knowledge progression, sin, paradise banishment, and his children's fates.

ETYMOLOGY OF "ADAM"

"Adam" derives from the ground concept. Genesis ii. 7 explains: "God formed man of dust of the ground." The man was called "Adam" because formed from ground (adamah) (Gen. iii. 19). Originally, "Adam" was not a proper name but generic. Genesis i uses it wholly generically. "Adam" as proper name likely appears first at Genesis iv. 25 (J) and v. 3 (P).

Authors: J. Frederic McCurdy, Kaufmann Kohler, Richard Gottheil

BIBLICAL DATA

The article presents Eden as an "earthly paradise" described in Genesis ii-iii where Adam and Eve resided before their fall. The term "Eden" likely derives from Assyrian "edinu" (meaning field or depression), though later Hebrew sources connected it to other roots.

GEOGRAPHIC THEORIES

Scholars proposed various locations:

Ancient tradition identified the rivers with geographic features: Havilah as India, Pison as an Indian river, Cush as Ethiopia, and Gihon as the Nile.

Babylonian theory: Friedrich Delitzsch placed Eden in southern Babylonia near "Kar-Duniash" ("garden of god Duniash"). He identified the Pison with the Pallacopas canal and Gihon with the Shatt al-Nil, while Havilah represented the Syrian desert known for gold deposits.

Gilgamesh connection: The text notes parallels between Eden and the dwelling of Parnapishtim in the Babylonian epic, potentially located at "the confluence of streams" in the Persian Gulf region. However, the article suggests "the original Eden was very likely in heaven," with scholars like Gunkel connecting the Eden river to the Milky Way.

BABYLONIAN PARALLELS

The Adapa legend (from El-Amarna tablets) shows significant parallels: both stories involve a first man denied eternal life through food, trees of life, and garments. The article notes the Hebrew account proves "more pessimistic" since God withholds both knowledge and immortality.

The cherubim guarding Eden reflect "distinctly Babylonian" imagery — "identical with the immense winged bulls and lions at the entrances to Babylonian and Assyrian temples."

RABBINICAL LITERATURE

Talmudic sources recognized two Edens: an earthly paradise and a celestial realm housing righteous souls, termed "lower" and "higher" Gan Eden.

Location Debates

Resh Lakish proposed three possibilities: if in Palestine, Beth-Shean was the entrance; if in Arabia, Bet Gerim; if between rivers, Damascus served as the gate. Other sources pointed to interior Africa, with Alexander the Great supposedly discovering Eden's entrance there.

A baraita established proportions using Egypt as measurement: "Cush is one-sixtieth of the world...the Gan being one-sixtieth of Eden" (Ta'an. 10a).

Four Rivers Identification

The Midrash identified the rivers with empires: Babylon (Pison), Medo-Persia (Gihon), Greece (Hiddekel), and Edom-Rome (Perat), designating Havilah as Palestine.

Medieval authorities debated identifications. Saadia Gaon suggested the Pison was the Nile; Ibn Ezra disagreed, noting "Eden is farther south, on the equator." Nahmanides proposed subterranean passages for rivers. Obadiah of Bertinoro (1489) placed Eden "southeast of Assyria" near Aden, though Jacob Safir (1865) found Aden "sandy and barren."

Most rabbinic opinion "point to the location of Eden in Arabia," with the four river mouths representing the Persian Gulf (east), Gulf of Aden (south), Caspian Sea (north), and Red Sea (west).

Earthly and Heavenly Realms

The boundary between natural and supernatural Eden remained unclear. One source stated: "Gan Eden and heaven were created by one Word...as heaven is lined with rows of stars, so Gan Eden is lined with rows of the righteous, who shine like the stars" (Aggadat Shir ha-Shirim).

The leviathan's toxic breath was counteracted by "spicy odor issuing from" Eden. God allegedly prepared "ten canopies of various precious stones in Gan Eden" for Adam (B.B. 75a).

Nahmanides argued the Genesis narrative contained dual meanings, with earthly features possessing heavenly prototypes.

BIBLICAL ACCOUNT

The article describes the flood narrative from Genesis vi.9-ix.17, where God destroys humanity due to wickedness, sparing only Noah's family and two (or seven) pairs of every living species. Noah constructs an ark and releases birds to assess whether the waters have receded. After landing on Mount Ararat, Noah offers sacrifice and receives God's covenant, symbolized by the rainbow.

RABBINICAL INTERPRETATIONS

Jewish tradition elaborates extensively on the biblical account. The wicked inhabitants allegedly mocked Noah during the 120-year construction period, claiming they could block flood waters with their feet or iron sheets. Various sins prompted divine judgment: pride, licentiousness, robbery, and denial of God. Rabbinical sources note that water was chosen as the destructive instrument because it opposes dust (humanity's composition) and represents life's essential element.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Scholars identified two primary sources: the Jahvist document (J2, circa 650 BCE) and the Priestly Code (P). The J2 account emphasizes narrative drama and moral lessons, while P provides genealogical precision and ceremonial detail. These sources contain repetitions and contradictions regarding animal numbers and flood duration, suggesting separate composition before later redaction.

BABYLONIAN PARALLELS

The Mesopotamian flood narrative featuring Per-napishtim shares structural similarities with the Hebrew version — both involve divine warning, ark construction, bird releases, and post-flood sacrifice. However, the Hebrew account's monotheistic theology and emphasis on righteousness contrast sharply with the polytheistic, capricious Babylonian deities.

This extensive article by Kaufmann Kohler from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia explores the Jewish doctrine of "last things" — the final destiny of the Jewish nation and humanity.

CORE CONCEPT

Eschatology (from Greek meaning "end of days") primarily concerns the collective future rather than individual fate. As the text explains, the "expectation of the greater things to come" underlies biblical history from the patriarchs onward.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

Originally depicting divine judgment against Israel's enemies, this concept evolved to represent both punishment for the wicked and vindication for the righteous.

RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

Initially limited to Israel (Ezekiel), Persian influence expanded this doctrine to include "both the wicked and the righteous" facing judgment.

THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM

Rather than an endpoint, the messianic era serves as a preparatory stage before God's eternal kingdom. The Messiah functions as a redemptive figure who subdues evil powers and establishes universal peace.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

The article details elaborate calculations attempting to pinpoint "the end of days" through biblical chronology, describing a seven-millennia world-cycle with six millennia of human history preceding a sabbatical age.

Messianic Woes: Before redemption comes a crisis period involving warfare, famine, moral corruption, and celestial disturbances — the birth-pangs preceding the new age.

The New Jerusalem: Apocalyptic writers envision a supernaturally reconstructed city built from precious materials, featuring a restored temple with hidden sacred vessels.

NOTABLE COMPLEXITY

The tradition distinguishes between two messiahs: one from Judah (the victorious king) and one from Ephraim (the suffering servant), reflecting attempts to reconcile messiahs as both triumphant rulers and sacrificial figures.

NATURE AND SITUATION

Gehenna (Hebrew: Gehinnom; Greek: Geenna) originated as "the valley of the son of Hinnom," south of Jerusalem, where child sacrifices to Moloch occurred. The term became figurative for hell itself. According to rabbinic sources, hell was created by God, with varying accounts placing its creation on different days — some saying the second day, others claiming it predated creation itself.

The location remains debated in Jewish sources. While traditionally associated with the valley near Jerusalem, rabbinical texts describe it as having "three gates, one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem." Descriptions emphasize its immense size: "The earth is one-sixtieth of the garden...Eden one-sixtieth of Gehenna."

Physical characteristics include perpetual fire — described as "sixty times as hot as any earthly fire" — and sulfurous odors. Notably, despite the intense heat, "Gehenna is dark in spite of the immense masses of fire; it is like night."

JUDGMENT AND PUNISHMENT

Rabbinic thought established that righteous individuals proceed to paradise while sinners descend to hell. However, nuanced categories existed: only those between the wholly pious and arch-sinners required purification through twelve months in Gehenna. Certain serious transgressions — particularly adultery, shaming neighbors, or heresy — resulted in permanent punishment without resurrection.

SIN AND MERIT

Specific sins guaranteed hellish punishment, including "unchastity...adultery, idolatry, pride, mockery, hypocrisy, anger." Conversely, charitable acts, fasting, visiting the sick, and religious observance provided protection from damnation.

The forecasting of the future by certain signs or movements of external things, or by visions in certain ecstatic states of the soul (see Dreams and Prophecy). Divination rests on the belief that spirits inhabit the various elements of life and are able to impart the knowledge of the future to man, and it is, like all idolatrous practises, forbidden by the Law. "Neither shall ye use enchantments nor practise augury." "Turn ye not unto them that have familiar spirits nor unto the wizards" (Lev. xix. 26, 31, Hebr.). "There shall not be found with thee... one that uses divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deut. xviii. 10, 11, Hebr.).

The general term for "divination" in Hebrew is (Deut. l.c.; I Sam. vi. 2, xv. 23 [A. V. "witchcraft"], xxviii. 8:, "divine unto me by the familiar spirit"; Ezek. xii. 24; Isa. iii. 2 [A. V. "prudent"); Zech. x. 2; and elsewhere). Balaam used divination (Num. xxii. 7, xxiii. 22; Josh. xiii. 22 [A. V. "soothsayer"]). For the original meaning or etymology of reference has been made to Ezek. xxi. 26 (21), where Nebuchadnezzar is represented as standing at the parting of the ways and shaking the arrows to and fro to determine which way he should go, whether to Jerusalem or to the capital of the Ammonites. Accordingly "Ḳasam" is explained after the Arabic "istaḲsam" (to obtain a divine decision), from "Ḳasam" (distribute, or divide), as signifying the casting of lots by throwing the arrows from the quiver, a practise familiar to the Arab Bedouins (see Jerome to Ezek. l.c.; Herodotus, iv. 67; Gesenius, "Thesaurus," s.v.; W. R. Smith, in "Journal of Philology," xiii. 276; Wellhausen, "Skizzen und Vorarbeiten," 1887, pp. 126 et seq.).

Specific forms of divinations are mentioned in Lev. xix. 26 (, "enchantments"); Deut. xviii. 10, 14 (R. V. "augury"); Judges ix. 37 (Hebr. "the soothsayers' terebinth"); II Kings xxi. 6; Isa. ii. 6 ("the Philistines are filled with [probably to be emended to = "divination"] and soothsayers"); Isa. lvii. 3 (, A. V. "ye sons of the sorceress"); Jer. xxvii. 9; Micah v. 11 (12). The real meaning and etymology of the word are obscure. Smith (l.c.) explains it from the Arabic "'ann" (to murmur, or hum hoarsely), this being the practise of the Arabic soothsayer. The explanation suggested by the Hebrew and adopted by most commentators and lexicographers is "the observation of the movements of the clouds" (; compare Jer. x. 2; Josephus, "B. J." vi. 5, § 3). Lenormant("Magie und Wahrsagekunst," p. 456), quoting a Babylonian rule, "When bluish dark clouds rise on the horizon the wind will blow during the day," and a divination from the movement of the clouds from the time of the Byzantine emperor Leo I. favors this explanation of, offered also by Ibn Ezra on Lev. ad loc. Also the "terebinth of the sooth-sayers" (Judges l.c.; compare II Sam. v. 24) indicates "the practise of divination from the movements of air-currents (see Baudissin, "Studien zur Deutschen Religionsgeschichte," 1878, ii. 226). Luther's translation, "Tageswächter" (Observer of Auspicious Times; see Rashi ad loc.), rests on an etymological combination with (= "time").

(lit. "he that observes the movement or the hissing of the serpent,"; see Baudissin, l.c. i. 287) is a term used in general for one who observes omens (Gen. xliv. 5, 15, A. V. "divineth"; Lev. xix. 26, A. V. "augury"; Num. xxiii. 23, xxiv. 1; II Kings xvii. 17, xxi. 6, A. V. "enchantments"; compare Gen. xxx. 27; I Kings xx. 33). The term is applied in the story of Joseph (Gen. l.c.) to the observation of figures formed by water or oil in a cup, called by the Greeks "hydromancy." It was known also to the Romans, who ascribed its origin to the Persians, with whom the practise was especially in vogue, as may be learned from the cup of Jemshid in the Shah Nameh. But the Chaldeans and Arabians were also familiar with it (see Lenormant, l.c. pp. 463 et seq.; Lane, "Customs and Manners of the Modern Egyptians," ii. 362). Another form of divination is the' casting of rods (see Hosea iv. 6): "My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them"—a practise called "rhabdomancy" or "xylomancy" by the Greeks, and similar to the casting of arrows mentioned above (see the commentaries ad loc. and Wellhausen, l.c.).

(Ezek. l.c.), "looking in the liver," is the Greek "hepatoscopy." (See Lenormant, l.c. p. 453, for the Chaldean, Phenician, Greek, and Roman practises.) The convulsive motions of the lung and liver when taken from the sacrificial victim (the liver was regarded as the seat of life, Prov. vii. 23) were watched as a means of forecasting the future.

For other forms of divination and for divination in rabbinical literature see Astrology; Augury; Necromancy; Superstition; Witchcraft.

The name of a supernatural being mentioned in connection with the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi.). After Satan, for whom he was in some degree a preparation, Azazel enjoys the distinction of being the most mysterious extrahuman character in sacred literature. Unlike other Hebrew proper names, the name itself is obscure.

## —Biblical Data:

In Lev. xvi. the single allusion to Azazel is as follows: On the tenth day of Tishri (see Atonement Day) the high priest, after first performing the prescribed sacrifices for himself and his family, presented the victims for the sins of the people. These were a ram for a burnt offering, and two young goats for a sin-offering. Having brought the goats before Yhwh at the door of the tabernacle, he cast lots for them, the one lot "for Yhwh" and the other "for Azazel." The goat that fell to Yhwh was slain as a sin-offering for the people. But the goat of Azazel (now usually known as the "scapegoat") was made the subject of a more striking ceremony. The high priest laid his hands upon its head and confessed over it the sins of the people. Then the victim was handed over to a man standing ready for the purpose, and, laden as it was with these imputed sins, it was "led forth to an isolated region," and then let go in the wilderness.

## —In Biblical, Apocryphal, and Rabbinical Literature:

The Rabbis, interpreting "Azazel" as "Azaz" (rugged), and "el" (strong), refer it to the rugged and rough mountain cliff from which the goat was cast down (Yoma 67b; Sifra, Aḥare, ii. 2; Targ. Yer. Lev. xiv. 10, and most medieval commentators).Most modern scholars, after having for some time indorsed the old view, have accepted the opinion mysteriously hinted at by Ibn Ezra and expressly stated by Naḥmanides to Lev. xvi. 8, that Azazel belongs to the class of "se'irim," goat-like demons, jinn haunting the desert, to which the Israelites were wont to offer sacrifice (Lev. xvii. 7 [A. V. "devils"]; compare "the roes and the hinds," Cant. ii. 7, iii. 5, by which Sulamith administers an oath to the daughters of Jerusalem. The critics were probably thinking of a Roman faun).

## Azazel Personification of Impurity.

Far from involving the recognition of Azazel as a deity, the sending of the goat was, as stated by Naḥmanides, a symbolic expression of the idea that the people's sins and their evil consequences were to be sent back to the spirit of desolation and ruin, the source of all impurity. The very fact that the two goats were presented before Yhwh before the one was sacrificed and the other sent into the wilderness, was proof that Azazel was not ranked with Yhwh, but regarded simply as the personification of wickedness in contrast with the righteous government of Yhwh. The rite, resembling, on the one hand, the sending off of the epha with the woman embodying wickedness in its midst to the land of Shinar in the vision of Zachariah (v. 6-11), and, on the other, the letting loose of the living bird into the open field in the case of the leper healed from the plague (Lev. xiv. 7), was, indeed, viewed by the people of Jerusalem as a means of ridding themselves of the sins of the year. So would the crowd, called Babylonians or Alexandrians, pull the goat's hair to make it hasten forth, carrying the burden of sins away with it (Yoma vi. 4, 66b; "Epistle of Barnabas," vii.), and the arrival of the shattered animal at the bottom of the valley of the rock of Bet Ḥadudo, twelve miles away from the city, was signalized by the waving of shawls to the people of Jerusalem, who celebrated the event with boisterous hilarity and amid dancing on the hills (Yoma vi. 6, 8; Ta'an. iv. 8). Evidently the figure of Azazel was an object of general fear and awe rather than, as has been conjectured, a foreign product or the invention of a late lawgiver. Nay, more; as a demon of the desert, it seems to have been closely interwoven with the mountainous region of Jerusalem and of ancient pre-Israelitish origin.

## Leader of the Rebellious Angels.

This is confirmed by the Book of Enoch, which brings Azazel into connection with the Biblical story of the fall of the angels, located, obviously in accordance with ancient folk-lore, on Mount Hermon as a sort of an old Semitic Blocksberg, a gathering-place of demons from of old (Enoch xiii.; compare Brandt, "Mandäische Theologie," 1889, p. 38). Azazel is represented in the Book of Enoch as the leader of the rebellious giants in the time preceding the flood; he taught men the art of warfare, of making swords, knives, shields, and coats of mail, and women the art of deception by ornamenting the body, dyeing the hair, and painting the face and the eyebrows, and also revealed to the people the secrets of witchcraft and corrupted their manners, leading them into wickedness and impurity; until at last he was, at the Lord's command, bound hand and foot by the archangel Raphael and chained to the rough and jagged rocks of [Ha] Duduael (= Beth Ḥadudo), where he is to abide in utter darkness until the great Day of Judgment, when he will be cast into the fire to be consumed forever (Enoch viii. 1, ix. 6, x. 4-6, liv. 5, lxxxviii. 1; see Geiger, "Jüd. Zeit." 1864, pp. 196-204). The story of Azazel as the seducer of men and women was familiar also to the rabbis, as may be learned from Tanna d. b. R. Yishma'el: "The Azazel goat was to atone for the wicked deeds of 'Uzza and 'Azzael, the leaders of the rebellious hosts in the time of Enoch" (Yoma 67b); and still better from Midrash Abkir, end, Yalḳ., Gen. 44, where Azazel is represented as the seducer of women, teaching them the art of beautifying the body by dye and paint (compare "Chronicles of Jerahmeel," trans. by Gaster, xxv. 13). According to Pirḳe R. El. xlvi. (comp. Tos. Meg. 31a), the goat is offered to Azazel as a bribe that he who is identical with Samael or Satan should not by his accusations prevent the atonement of the sins on that day.

The fact that Azazel occupied a place in Mandæan, Sabean, and Arabian mythology (see Brandt, "Mandäische Theologie," pp. 197, 198; Norberg's "Onomasticon," p. 31; Reland's "De Religione Mohammedanarum," p. 89; Kamus, s.v. "Azazel" [demon identical with Satan]; Delitzsch, "Zeitsch. f. Kirchl. Wissensch. u. Leben," 1880, p. 182), renders it probable that Azazel was a degraded Babylonian deity. Origen ("Contra Celsum," vi. 43) identifies Azazel with Satan; Pirḳe R. El. (l.c.) with Samael; and the Zohar Aḥare Mot, following Naḥmanides, with the spirit of Esau or heathenism; still, while one of the chief demons in the Cabala, he never attained in the doctrinal system of Judaism a position similar to that of Satan. See articles Atonement and Atonement, Day of.

## The Name.

—According to Talmudical interpretation, the term "Azazel" designated a rugged mountain or precipice in the wilderness from which the goat was thrown down, using for it as an alternative the word "Ẓoḳ" () (Yoma vi. 4). An etymology is found to suit this interpretation. "Azazel"() is regarded as a compound of "az" (), strong or rough, and "el" (), mighty, therefore a strong mountain. This derivation is presented by a Baraita, cited Yoma 67b, that Azazel was the strongest of mountains.

Another etymology (ib.) connects the word with the mythological "Uza" and "Azael," the fallen angels, to whom a reference is believed to be found in Gen. vi. 2, 4. In accordance with this etymology, the sacrifice of the goat atones for the sin of fornication of which those angels were guilty (Gen. l.c.).

## The Rite.

Two goats were procured, similar in respect of appearance, height, cost, and time of selection. Haying one of these on his right and the other on his left (Rashi on Yoma 39a), the high priest, who was assisted in this rite by two subordinates, put both his hands into a wooden case, and took out two labels, oneinscribed "for the Lord" and the other "for Azazel." The high priest then laid his hands with the labels upon the two goats and said, "A sin-offering to the Lord"—using the Tetragrammaton; and the two men accompanying him replied, "Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever." He then fastened a scarlet woolen thread to the head of the goat "for Azazel"; and laying his hands upon it again, recited the following confession of sin and prayer for forgiveness: "O Lord, I have acted iniquitously, trespassed, sinned before Thee: I, my household, and the sons of Aaron—Thy holy ones. O Lord, forgive the iniquities, transgressions, and sins that I, my household, and Aaron's children—Thy holy people—committed before Thee, as is written in the law of Moses, Thy servant, 'for on this day He will forgive you, to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord; ye shall be clean.'" This prayer was responded to by the congregation present (see Atonement, Day of). A man was selected, preferably a priest, to take the goat to the precipice in the wilderness; and he was accompanied part of the way by the most eminent men of Jerusalem. Ten booths had been constructed at intervals along the road leading from Jerusalem to the steep mountain. At each one of these the man leading the goat was formally offered food and drink, which he, however, refused. When he reached the tenth booth those who accompanied him proceeded no further, but watched the ceremony from a distance. When he came to the precipice he divided the scarlet thread into two parts, one of which he tied to the rock and the other to the goat's horns, and then pushed the goat down (Yoma vi. 1-8). The cliff was so high and rugged that before the goat had traversed half the distance to the plain below, its limbs were utterly shattered. Men were stationed at intervals along the way, and as soon as the goat was thrown down the precipice, they signaled to one another by means of kerchiefs or flags, until the information reached the high priest, whereat he proceeded with the other parts of the ritual.

The scarlet thread was a symbolical reference to Isa. i. 18; and the Talmud tells us (ib. 39a) that during the forty years that Simon the Just was high priest, the thread actually turned white as soon as the goat was thrown over the precipice: a sign that the sins of the people were forgiven. In later times the change to white was not invariable: a proof of the people's moral and spiritual deterioration, that was gradually on the increase, until forty years before the destruction of the Second Temple, when the change of color was no longer observed (l.c. 39b).

## —Critical View:

There has been much controversy over the function of Azazel as well as over his essential character. Inasmuch as according to the narrative the sacrifice of Azazel, while symbolical, was yet held to be a genuine vicarious atonement, it is maintained by critics that Azazel was originally no mere abstraction, but a real being to the authors of the ritual—as real as Yhwh himself.

This relation to the purpose of the ceremony may throw light upon the character of Azazel. Three points seem reasonably clear. (1) Azazel is not a mere jinnee or demon of uncertain ways and temper, anonymous and elusive (see Animal Worship), but a deity standing in a fixed relation to his clients. Hence the notion, which has become prevalent, that Azazel was a "personal angel," here introduced for the purpose of "doing away with the crowd of impersonal and dangerous se'irim" (as Cheyne puts it), scarcely meets the requirements of the ritual. Moreover, there is no evidence that this section of Leviticus is so late as the hagiological period of Jewish literature.

(2) The realm of Azazel is indicated clearly. It was the lonely wilderness; and Israel is represented as a nomadic people in the wilderness, though preparing to leave it. Necessarily their environment subjected them in a measure to superstitions associated with the local deities, and of these latter Azazel was the chief. The point of the whole ceremony seems to have been that as the scapegoat was set free in the desert, so Israel was to be set free from the offenses contracted in its desert life within the domain of the god of the desert.

(3) Azazel would therefore appear to be the head of the supernatural beings of the desert. He was thus an instance of the elevation of a demon into a deity. Such a development is indeed rare in Hebrew religious history of the Biblical age, but Azazel was really never a national Hebrew god, and his share in the ritual seems to be only the recognition of a local deity. The fact that such a ceremony as that in which he figured was instituted, is not a contravention of Lev. xvii. 7, by which demon-worship was suppressed. For Azazel, in this instance, played a merely passive part. Moreover, as shown, the symbolical act was really a renunciation of his authority. Such is the signification of the utter separation of the scapegoat from the people of Israel. This interpretation is borne out by the fact that the complete ceremony could not be literally fulfilled in the settled life of Canaan, but only in the wilderness. Hence it was the practise in Jerusalem, according to Yoma vii. 4, to take the scapegoat to a cliff and push him over it out of sight. In this way the complete separation was effected.

The Throne of Glory is an important feature in the Cabala. It is placed at the highest point of the universe (Ḥag. 12b); and is of the same color as the sky—purple-blue, like the "sapphire stone" which Ezekiel saw and which had previously been perceived by the Israelites (Ex. xxiv. 10; Soṭah 17a). Like the Torah, it was created before the world (Pes. 54a). R. Eliezer said that the souls of the righteous are concealed under the Throne (Shab. 152b). When Moses ascended to heaven to receive the Torah the angels objected, whereupon God told him to hold on to the Throne and defend his action (Shab. 88b). It is asserted that the likeness of Jacob is engraved on the Throne of Glory (Zohar, Wayiggash, p. 211a). For the throne of Elijah see Elijah's Chair.

Divination using the deceased was reportedly widespread among Persians, Greeks, and Romans. The Israelites likely adopted this practice from Persian sources and engaged in it extensively, prompting repeated biblical prohibitions (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:11; 1 Samuel 28; Isaiah 8:19).

Three categories of necromancers existed: the "ob," the "yidde'oni," and the "doresh el ha-metim" (questioner of the dead). The first two terms frequently appeared together in texts.

The term "ob" has been interpreted as either denoting a soothsaying spirit or a ghost of the deceased. The Septuagint typically rendered it as "ventriloquist," based on the vocal techniques employed by practitioners. Jewish tradition distinguished: "Ob is the python, who speaks from his armpits; yidde'oni is he who speaks with his mouth" (Sanh. vii. 7).

According to Talmudic sources, the yidde'oni employed a bone from the animal called "yaddua'" positioned in the mouth to produce speech through magical means. The ob possessor would stoop while speaking to create the illusion that spirits communicated through their joints and limbs.

While biblical texts omit specific descriptions of necromantic equipment, references to teraphim and related objects suggest tools were employed. Samuel's manifestation to the Endor witch as an old man covered with a mantle demonstrates how spirits assumed their earthly appearance.

A crucial distinction existed: the necromancer alone perceived the apparition's form, while questioners heard only the voice. This voice reportedly emerged from beneath the earth, producing characteristic whispering and muttering sounds (Isaiah 8:19; 29:4). Questioners prepared through fasting to achieve proper spiritual receptivity.

Necromancy's classification alongside idolatry and magic indicated foreign origins and religious transgression. The practice predominantly involved women (1 Samuel 28:7). Saul had previously expelled all practitioners before later consulting one himself. King Manasseh encouraged them alongside other idolatrous practices, while Isaiah provided explicit condemnations (Isaiah 8:19; 19:3; 29:4). Josiah destroyed these practitioners following discovery of the Law's book (2 Kings 23:24).

Post-biblical necromancers persisted despite legal prohibition and repeated Torah interdicts. Talmudic scholars termed magicians "those that dig up the dead" and "those who predict by means of bones of the dead." One Babylonian scholar dismissed osteomancy as "deceit and falsehood" (Ber. 59a).

Despite skepticism, the spirits' veracity remained generally accepted, referencing Samuel's successful evocation (1 Samuel 28; Shab. 152b). A consistent rule governed manifestation: when necromancers witnessed apparitions, questioners heard voices; when questioners saw forms, practitioners heard voices. Simultaneous perception remained impossible (Sanh. 65).

Rab (d. 247), Babylon's foremost teacher, reportedly performed cemetery rituals determining that ninety-nine of one hundred deaths resulted from the evil eye (B. M. 107b). Another teacher described necromancers burning incense to demons while questioning them (Karet 3b).

More benign necromantic approaches involved secretly listening to the dead's conversations (Ber. 59a). Individuals fasted and spent nights in cemeteries, expecting "spirits of uncleanness" to visit, revealing hidden knowledge or future events (Sanh. 65b; Hag. 3b).

Jewish tradition held that necromancy would receive divine punishment rather than human enforcement (Sanh. 65).

The evil eye is a supposed power of bewitching or harming by spiteful looks, attributed to certain persons as a natural endowment. This belief was widespread among ancient civilizations including the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and biblical Jews.

The text documents numerous rabbinical accounts of individuals possessing this power. Simeon ben Yohai and R. Johanan allegedly could transform people "into a heap of bones" through their glances. R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus reportedly burned spots wherever he looked, including partially burning grain that fell under his gaze.

The Talmud attributes significant consequences to the evil eye's power. According to Rab, "out of 100 people 99 die through the evil eye." Large congregations were considered particularly vulnerable, which is why Joshua advised Joseph's descendants to avoid entering cities through the same gate.

The evil eye could affect not only people but also lifeless objects, such as crops and garments, and was believed to cause them harm. Blessing comes only upon those things which are hidden from the eye.

Descendants of Joseph supposedly possessed immunity. Others could protect themselves through specific gestures — "stick his right thumb in his left hand, and his left thumb in his right" — while reciting particular formulas.

Physical remedies included painting trees red, hanging foxes' tails between horses' eyes, and various ritual practices involving fire and water.

The harm that comes from the eye is neutralized by hanging something between the eyes. A piece of bread and salt or matzah from Passover was put into the pockets of particularly beautiful children, and a piece from the garment of the suspected person was placed on glowing coals with the smoke blown into the child's face.

Adults wore rings or beads of amber on a string around the neck as protection against the evil eye. The bridegroom, whose conjugal happiness is envied, is especially susceptible to the evil eye and may protect himself by walking backward.

Eastern European Jewish communities developed elaborate protective customs. These included placing bread, salt, or matzah in children's pockets, wearing amber beads, and walking backward at weddings to prevent harm from envious observers.

Metatron is the name of an angel found only in Jewish literature. Elisha b. Abuyah, seeing this angel in the heavens, believed there were "two powers" or divinities (Hag. 15a). When God wept over the destruction of the Temple, Metatron fell on his face and said: "I will weep; but weep not Thou." God answered and said: "If thou wilt not suffer Me to weep, I will go whither thou canst not come, and there will I lament" (Lam. R., Introduction, section 24; comp. Jer. xiii. 17).

Metatron bears the Tetragrammaton; for Exodus xxiii. 21 says, "My name is in him." Yet he may not be worshiped; for the same passage says, "Exchange Me not for him" (dialogue between a heretic and a Babylonian teacher, in Sanh. 38b; Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxiv. 1 has Michael instead of Metatron).

Moses begs Metatron to intercede with God for him, that he may not die; but the angel answers: "It is useless; for I heard the words behind the veil, 'Thy prayer will not be answered'" (both editions of Tan., Wa'ethanan, 6). When God sorrowed for the death of Moses, Metatron fell down before Him and consoled Him (Grunhut, "Likkutim," v. 105a), and when Moses died, this angel with three others, "the princes of wisdom," cared for him (Targ. Yer. to Deut. xxxiv. 6).

The early commentators with good reason identified the prince of the world (Hul. 60a; Zeb. 16b; Sanh. 94a) with Metatron. God instructs children in the Torah during the last quarter of the day; Metatron, during the first three-quarters ('Ab. Zarah 3b). It was this angel who caused Shamhazai to say before the Flood, "God will destroy the world" (Yalk. i., section 44). He is, moreover, Enoch, the great scribe (Targ. Yer. to Gen. v. 24; in Hag. 15a he is likewise represented as a scribe).

In later mystical works, Metatron is called the "prince of the presence" and "prince of the ministering angels." He is the "mighty scribe," the lord of all the heavenly hosts, of all treasures, and of secrets, and bears the lesser divine name.

The Zohar defines his nature exactly by declaring that he is little lower than God (after Psalm viii. 6). He is identical in all respects with Enoch; the "Hekalot," in which he is the chief personage, is called also "The Book of Enoch" ("Enoch whose name is Metatron").

In the Apocrypha likewise Enoch appears as the heavenly scribe (Book of Jubilees, iv. 23; II Enoch liii. 2), although elsewhere he is called Michael, while Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxiv. 1 substitutes the name of Michael for Metatron. In the Hebrew writings Metatron fills the role of Enoch in the Apocrypha in bearing witness to the sins of mankind. Since both sources represent him as a youth, it may be assumed that the first versions of the Hebrew mystical works, though they received their present form in the geonic period, originated in antiquity, so that the conception of Metatron must likewise date from an early period.

The views regarding the source of this conception differ widely. The name "Metatron," which occurs only in Hebrew writings, is in itself striking. The derivation from the Latin "metator" (meaning "guide") is doubtless correct, for Enoch also is represented as a guide in the apocryphal work which bears his name; and the Hebrew Book of Enoch says: "He is the most excellent of all the heavenly host, and the guide [Metatron] to all the treasuries of my [God]."

Mysticism prefers obscurity, and intentionally chooses a foreign word instead of the well-known name of Enoch. Kohut identifies Metatron with the Zoroastrian Mithra; but probably only a few traits were borrowed from the latter. The ancients had already noticed that the numerical value of the letters in the word "Metatron" corresponded with those of the word "Shaddai" (= 314), and "Metatron" is also said to mean "palace" ("metatrion"), and to be connected with the divine name ("place"), etc.

In medieval mysticism Metatron plays the same role as in antiquity and in the period of the Geonim, thus furnishing a further proof of the tenacity and stability of mystic and superstitious conceptions.

A class of celestial beings appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the prophet Isaiah's visionary experience (Isaiah 6:2 onwards). Isaiah observed multiple seraphim positioned before God's throne, though their exact number remains unspecified. These creatures possessed wings — six per being — arranged as follows: two covering their faces, two covering their feet, and two enabling flight.

The seraphim continuously exclaim to one another: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). Their vocal proclamation caused the Temple's threshold foundations to shake. One seraph approached Isaiah holding a burning coal obtained from the altar using tongs, applying it to the prophet's lips to cleanse him from transgression.

Isaiah provides no elaborate depiction of their morphology, seemingly expecting his audience's familiarity. The description indicates seraphim possessed human facial features, human hands, and human vocal capabilities. However, one should avoid hastily assuming they were simply winged humanoid forms — this characterization emerged in later Jewish thought, though likely not in original conceptions.

The Book of Enoch frequently mentions seraphim (20:7, 61:10, 71:7), designating them as drakones ("serpents") and consistently pairing them with cherubim as God's nearest heavenly attendants.

The textual evidence decisively contradicts the once-popular notion that seraphim belonged to the same category as angels. They bear no relationship to "divine messengers"; Jewish tradition consistently distinguished between these entities. While Daniel 10:13, the Book of Tobit, and comparable sources document "chief" angels, seraphim references are conspicuously absent, making etymological connections between "seraf" and Arabic "sharif" equally baseless.

Conversely, seraphim and cherubim display remarkable parallels. Both categories comprise winged, partially human and partially animal beings; both occupy positions adjoining God's throne as guardians; and the Book of Enoch consistently mentions them together. This similarity, however, does not necessarily indicate identical origins — merely that later Jewish conceptions and Isaiah's contemporaries viewed these heavenly beings as closely associated.

Some scholars propose Egyptian origins, linking seraphim to the "seref" — a composite, winged creature combining lion and eagle features, protecting tombs, elevating deceased monarchs heavenward, and transmitting prayers skyward. Yet the seref's form and function more closely parallel Jewish cherubim.

Alternative investigators propose Babylonian derivation. Friedrich Delitzsch and Hommel correlate seraphim with Assyrian "sharrapu," a term designating the Babylonian fire-deity Nergal in Canaanite contexts. Consequently, seraphim would represent the flames manifesting this deity. This theory faces opposition because "seraph" has never been definitively demonstrated as a divine appellation.

A third, more plausible theory identifies seraphim as originally serpentine beings, consistent with nomenclature. Serpents held significant mythological importance across ancient civilizations. The serpent occupied a distinctive demoniacal position in Jewish tradition, evident in Genesis's account of humanity's transgression. Notably, Jerusalem's vicinity contained "Dragon Spring" and "Serpent Pool" locations. A bronze serpent provided relief from fiery serpent bites (Numbers 21:9 onwards) that God inflicted upon wilderness disobedience.

Isaiah references "fiery, flying serpents and dragons" (Isaiah 14:29, 30:6). A bronze serpent named Nehushtan occupied Temple prominence, remaining an object of veneration until King Hezekiah's destruction, deemed idolatrous (2 Kings 18:4 onwards). Nehushtan worship represented ancient superstition's remnant, subsequently reconciled with Yhwh worship through connections to wilderness snake affliction and deliverance (Numbers 21:9 onwards).

Consequently, the theory appears plausible — potentially probable — that seraphim counterparts exist among Isaiah's "flying serpents." These winged divine throne guardians naturally underwent elevation to higher status, acquiring human form or human bodily characteristics; their incorporation into Yhwh's religious system naturally occasioned progressive refinement and spiritualization.

The cherub represents a winged celestial being frequently referenced throughout Scripture. According to the prophet Ezekiel's vision, cherubim appear as a group of four living creatures, each displaying four faces — lion, ox, eagle, and human. These beings possessed human-like bodies and hands, calf-like feet, and four wings. The upper pair of wings extended upward to meet above and support God's throne, while the lower pair covered their bodies. "They never turned, but went 'straight forward' as the wheels of the cherubic chariot, and they were full of eyes 'like burning coals of fire.'" The prophet's account in Ezekiel xxviii reflects a distinct popular tradition separate from the Genesis creation narrative.

Various biblical passages demonstrate that cherubim representations differed across different contexts. The Books of Kings and Chronicles primarily describe Solomon's Temple cherubim. Two massive olivewood cherubim, overlaid with gold and standing ten cubits high, flanked the Ark within the sanctuary's inner chamber. The distance between their outstretched wing tips measured ten cubits, with their inner wings touching while outer wings extended to the walls (I Kings vi. 23-28; II Chronicles iii. 10-13).

Additional references indicate cherubim were woven into the Temple's veil and curtains (Exodus xxvi. 1, 31; xxxvi. 8, 35; II Chronicles iii. 14). The priestly writer mentions two solid gold cherubim positioned atop the Ark's cover, facing one another with wings meeting above, forming a throne from which divine glory appeared (Exodus xxv. 18-22; Numbers vii. 89).

Early Israelite tradition established cherubim as the divine chariot bearing God's throne through the cosmos (I Samuel iv. 4; II Samuel vi. 2). The connection between cherubim and storm-winds appears evident in poetic passages describing God riding upon cherubim with wind manifestations (Psalm xviii. 11; II Samuel xxii. 11). This conception parallels Babylonian symbolism, where cherubim originally represented wind forces.

Rabbinic tradition held that the cherubim stationed at paradise's entrance were angels created on the third day, possessing no fixed shape and appearing variously as male, female, or purely spiritual beings (Genesis Rabbah xxi). An alternate view claims cherubim were the universe's first created objects (Tanna debe Eliyahu R., i).

The Slavonic Book of Enoch locates cherubim in both the sixth and seventh heavens. The sixth heaven passage describes "seven phenixes, and seven cherubim, and seven six-winged creatures [seraphim], being as one voice and singing with one voice." The seventh heaven vision mentions "cherubim and seraphim and the watchfulness of many eyes" (referring to ofannim). The Ethiopian Book of Enoch similarly identifies these three angelic classes as perpetually vigilant guardians of God's throne (lxx. 7; lxi. 10). Gabriel is designated as the archangel overseeing serpents, paradise, and cherubim (xx. 7).

Interestingly, Talmudic passages describing heavenly realms mention seraphim, ofannim, and hayyot exclusively, omitting cherubim altogether (Hag. 12b). Ancient liturgical traditions similarly exclude cherubim from this tripartite angelic classification.

A characteristic Midrashic teaching describes a spiritual communication pathway: "When a man sleeps, the body tells to the neshamah ['the soul'] what it has done during the day; the neshamah then reports it to the nefesh ['the spirit'], the nefesh to the angel, the angel to the cherub, and the cherub to the seraph" (Leviticus Rabbah xxii.; Ecclesiastes Rabbah x. 20). During the Red Sea crossing, God reportedly deployed a cherub from His throne's wheels. "The cherub, however, is ['something not material'], and is carried by God, not vice versa" (Midrash Tehillim xviii. 15).

Maimonides enumerated ten angelic classes with cherubim ranking ninth (Yad, Yesode ha-Torah, ii. 7). The Kabbalistic "Masseket Azilut" designates cherubim as the third angelic class, led by Kerubiel. The Zohar's ten-class angelic hierarchy omits cherubim as a distinct category.

Josephus maintains that nobody could determine the cherubim's actual form ("Ant." viii. 3, section 3). Philo theorizes they represented two supreme divine attributes — goodness and authority ("De Cherubim," x.; "De Vita Moysis," iii. 8). Philo notes alternative interpretations identifying them with the hemispheres.

Rabbinical sources demonstrate archaeological rather than theological interest in cherubim. Onkelos, the second-century proselyte, proposes that cherubim "had their heads bent backward, like a pupil who is going away from his master" (B. B. 99a), explaining the ambiguous Exodus xxv. 20 passage. This interpretation suggests the cherubim's faces bent downward toward the Ark's cover while maintaining mutual eye contact.

Late third-century authorities describe these cherubim as possessing youthful forms (Suk. 5b; Hag. 13b). One passage adds that Ezekiel's visionary creatures — originally man, lion, bull, and eagle — were modified at the prophet's intercession, requesting a cherub replace the bull to prevent God's perpetual reminder of Israel's golden calf worship. The Talmud recognizes Ezekiel's conception diverged from traditional understanding.

Rabbinic tradition records a miraculous phenomenon: when Israel worshipped faithfully, the cherubim lovingly turned toward one another and even embraced like devoted lovers (B. B. 99a). The sanctuary curtain would be raised so visiting pilgrims could witness this divine affection (Yoma 54a). Following the Temple's destruction, pagan invaders discovered the cherubim in this intimate posture, leading them to mock Jewish religious practices (Yoma 54b).

Kabbalistic thought developed this symbolism, interpreting the cherubim as representing the mysterious union between earthly and heavenly realms (Bahya b. Asher to Exodus xxv. 20; Zohar, Terumah, ii. 176a). Midrash Tadshe, echoing Philo, interprets cherubim as symbolizing God's two names — Yhwh and Elohim — representing the divine attributes of mercy and justice (Sifre, Deuteronomy 26). Another Midrash compares cherubim with heaven and earth (Numbers Rabbah iv.).

Maimonides explains that cherubim figures were placed in the sanctuary solely to reinforce belief in angels among the people, with two figures preventing misidentification as God's image ("Moreh Nebukim," iii. 45). Herod's Temple contained no cherubim, though some authorities note that painted cherubim figures decorated its walls (Yoma 54a).

Primitive Hebrew tradition conceived cherubim as Eden's guardians (Genesis iii. 24; Ezekiel xxviii. 14). This reflects earlier Semitic concepts of superhuman, emotionally detached beings representing divine interests and repelling sanctuary intruders. Biblical descriptions of cherubim statues are insufficiently detailed for accurate form determination. Comparable winged figures appear extensively in Babylonian decorations and ancient Syrian sculptures.

Hittite griffins characteristically appear in "calm dignity, like an irresistible guardian of holy things" rather than as fierce predators. Phoenicians, Canaanites, and subsequently Israelites greatly emphasized cherubic symbolism. This mythology's origins predate written history, emerging when humans began conceptualizing supernatural forces through mystical composite forms, particularly combining the mightiest land and air animals — lions and eagles.

Babylonian tradition preserved a "winged sphinx having a king's head, a lion's body, and an eagle's wings." Phoenicia widely adopted this form. The progression from cherubim to angels became inevitable.

Following Lenormant's work, Friedrich Delitzsch connected the Hebrew term to the Assyrian "kirubu" meaning "shedu" (winged bull designation). Subsequently, Delitzsch proposed connection with Assyrian "karubu" (great, mighty). Haupt argues the name may be Babylonian, meaning "propitious" rather than "powerful." Haupt further suggests the Hebrew stem derives from Assyrian "karabu" (be propitious, bless), representing a transposition of the Hebrew root.

"Behemoth" denotes the hippopotamus, though the Biblical description contains mythical elements suggesting these were not ordinary animals. The creatures appear in Job xl, where behemoth is described as "the first of the ways of God" and leviathan as the unconquerable king of water creatures, while behemoth rules the land animals.

Scholar Gunkel proposes these monsters corresponded to figures in Babylonian mythology — Tiamat (the abyss) and Kingu (a serpent) — representing primeval cosmic forces rather than realistic beasts.

According to rabbinic tradition, God originally created both male and female leviathans but slew the female to prevent world destruction. Her flesh was reserved for the righteous at the Messiah's coming.

The Talmud describes the leviathan's immense size through a parable: a fish entering "the jaws of the leviathan" measures three hundred miles in length. When hungry, the creature releases heat making "all the waters of the deep boil." Its Mediterranean habitat receives Jordan's waters directly into its mouth.

The leviathan's body, particularly its eyes, supposedly possessed great illuminating power. However, despite supernatural strength, it feared a tiny worm called "kilbit" that kills large fish.

Rabbinic literature emphasizes the leviathan's role in messianic times. A great banquet will serve the creature's flesh to the righteous at resurrection. Those abstaining from pagan sports will enjoy hunting both leviathan and behemoth.

Gabriel would attempt killing the monster, though God's divine intervention would be necessary. One tradition describes leviathan battling "the ox of the mountain," resulting in mutual destruction.

The leviathan's hide would provide practical items: tents for the pious, girdles, chains, and necklaces. Remaining hide would illuminate Jerusalem's walls with brilliant light.

Commentators interpret these narratives allegorically. Maimonides understood the banquet as representing "spiritual enjoyment of the intellect." He derived the name from a root meaning "to join" or "unite," designating an imaginary composite monster combining various animal features.

Cabalistic interpreters identified the "piercing leviathan" and "crooked leviathan" with Satan-Samael and Lilith. Others, including Kimchi and Abravanel, understood these expressions as referencing destruction of forces hostile to Jews.

The Book of Enoch describes leviathan and behemoth as monsters produced on the day of judgment — the female leviathan dwelling in ocean depths, the male behemoth occupying a wilderness east of paradise where the righteous dwell.

According to II Esdras, both monsters were created on the fifth day and separated because waters couldn't contain them together. Behemoth received the dried land with thousand mountains providing sustenance; leviathan received the water-filled seventh part of earth.

The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch predicts these creatures emerging from seclusion to serve as food for survivors during Messianic times.

A third creature, the "ziz" (a gigantic bird from Psalm 1:11), supplemented the messianic banquet alongside behemoth and leviathan. This tripartite tradition reflects Persian Zoroastrian cosmology, which featured primeval representatives of animal classes. Zoroastrian parallels include the Kar fish (leviathan), three-legged ass Khara (behemoth predecessor), ox Hadhayosh, and bird Chamrosh.

The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture. As long as the soul was conceived to be merely a breath ("nefesh"; "neshamah"; comp. "anima"), and inseparably connected, if not identified, with the life-blood (Gen. ix. 4, comp. iv. 11; Lev. xvii. 11), no real substance could be ascribed to it. As soon as the spirit or breath of God ("nishmat" or "ruah hayyim"), which was believed to keep body and soul together, both in man and in beast (Gen. ii. 7, vi. 17, vii. 22; Job xxvii. 3), is taken away (Ps. cxlvi. 4) or returns to God (Eccl. xii. 7; Job xxxiv. 14), the soul goes down to Sheol or Hades, there to lead a shadowy existence without life and consciousness (Job xiv. 21; Ps. vi. 6, cxv. 17; Isa. xxxviii. 18; Eccl. ix. 5, 10). The belief in a continuous life of the soul, which underlies primitive Ancestor Worship and the rites of necromancy, practised also in ancient Israel (I Sam. xxviii. 13 et seq.; Isa. viii. 19), was discouraged and suppressed by prophet and lawgiver as antagonistic to the belief in Yhwh, the God of life, the Ruler of heaven and earth, whose reign was not extended over Sheol until post-exilic times (Ps. xvi. 10, xlix. 16, cxxxix. 8).

As a matter of fact, eternal life was ascribed exclusively to God and to celestial beings who "eat of the tree of life and live forever" (Gen. iii. 22, Hebr.), whereas man by being driven out of the Garden of Eden was deprived of the opportunity of eating the food of immortality. It is the Psalmist's implicit faith in God's omnipotence and omnipresence that leads him to the hope of immortality (Ps. xvi. 11, xvii. 15, xlix. 16, lxxiii. 24 et seq., cxvi. 6-9); whereas Job (xiv. 13 et seq., xix. 26) betrays only a desire for, not a real faith in, a life after death. Ben Sira (xiv. 12, xvii. 27 et seq., xxi. 10, xxviii. 21) still clings to the belief in Sheol as the destination of man. It was only in connection with the Messianic hope that, under the influence of Persian ideas, the belief in resurrection lent to the disembodied soul a continuous existence (Isa. xxv. 6-8; Dan. xii. 2).

The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended. A blessed immortality awaiting the spirit while the bones rest in the earth is mentioned in Jubilees xxiii. 31 and Enoch iii. 4. Immortality, the "dwelling near God's throne" "free from the load of the body," is "the fruit of righteousness," says the Book of Wisdom (i. 15; iii. 4; iv. 1; viii. 13, 17; xv. 3). In IV Maccabees also (ix. 8, 22; x. 15; xiv. 5; xv. 2; xvi. 13; xvii. 5, 18), immortality of the soul is represented as life with God in heaven, and declared to be the reward for righteousness and martyrdom. The souls of the righteous are transplanted into heaven and transformed into holy souls (xiii. 17, xviii. 23). According to Philo, the soul exists before it enters the body, a prison-house from which death liberates it; to return to God and live in constant contemplation of Him is man's highest destiny.

It is not quite clear whether the Sadducees, in denying resurrection, denied also the immortality of the soul. Certain it is that the Pharisaic belief in resurrection had not even a name for the immortality of the soul. For them, man was made for two worlds, the world that now is, and the world to come, where life does not end in death.

The point of view from which the Hasidim regarded earthly existence was that man was born for another and a better world than this. Hence Abraham is told by God: "Depart from this vain world; leave the body and go to thy Lord among the good" (Testament of Abraham, i.). The immortality of martyrs was especially dwelt on by the Essenes. The souls of the righteous live like birds in cages ("columbaria") guarded by angels (IV Esd. vii. 32, 95; Apoc. Baruch, xxi. 23, xxx. 2; comp. Shab. 152b). According to IV Esdras iv. 41, they are kept in such cages before entering upon earthly existence. The Slavonic Enoch (xxiii. 5) teaches that "every soul was created for eternity before the foundation of the world." This Platonic doctrine of the preexistence of the soul is taught also by the Rabbis, who spoke of a storehouse of the souls in the seventh heaven ("'Arabot"; Sifre, Deut. 344; Hag. 12b). In Gen. R. viii. the souls of the righteous are mentioned as counselors of God at the world's creation.

Upon the belief that the soul has a life of its own after death is based the following story: "Said Emperor Antoninus to Judah ha-Nasi, 'Both body and soul could plead guiltless on the day of judgment, as neither sinned without the other.' 'But then,' answered Judah, 'God reunites both for the judgment, holding them both responsible for the sin committed, just as in the fable the blind and the lame are punished in common for aiding each other in stealing the fruit of the orchard'" (Sanh. 91a; Lev. R. iv.). "There is neither eating nor drinking nor any sensual pleasure nor strife in the world to come, but the righteous with their crowns sit around the table of God, feeding upon the splendor of His majesty," said Rab (Ber. 17a), thus insisting that the nature of the soul when freed from the body is purely spiritual, while the common belief loved to dwell upon the banquet prepared for the pious in the world to come. Hence the saying, "Prepare thyself in the vestibule that thou mayest be admitted into the triclinium"; that is, "Let this world be a preparation for the next" (Ab. iv. 16). The following sayings also indicate a pure conception of the soul's immortality: "The Prophets have spoken only concerning the Messianic future; but concerning the future state of the soul it is said: 'Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him'" (Ber. 34b). "When man dies," says R. Meir, "three sets of angels go forth to welcome him" (Num. R. xii.); this can only refer to the disembodied soul.

Nevertheless, the prevailing rabbinical conception of the future world is that of the world of resurrection, not that of pure immortality. Resurrection became the dogma of Judaism, fixed in the Mishnah (Sanh. x. 1) and in the liturgy ("Elohai Neshamah" and "Shemoneh 'Esreh"), just as the Church knows only of a future based upon the resurrection; whereas immortality remained merely a philosophical assumption. When therefore Maimonides ("Yad," Teshubah, viii. 2) declared, with reference to Ber. 17a, that the world to come is entirely spiritual, one in which the body and bodily enjoyments have no share, he met with strong opposition on the part of Abraham of Posquieres, who pointed to a number of Talmudical passages (Shab. 114a; Ket. 111a; Sanh. 91b) which leave no doubt as to the identification of the world to come ("'olam ha-ba") with that of the resurrection of the body.

The medieval Jewish philosophers without exception recognized the dogmatic character of the belief in resurrection, while on the other hand they insisted on the axiomatic character of the belief in immortality of the soul. Saadia made the dogma of the resurrection part of his speculation ("Emunot we-De'ot," vii. and ix.); Judah ha-Levi ("Cuzari," i. 109) accentuated more the spiritual nature of the future existence, the bliss of which consisted in the contemplation of God; whereas Maimonides, though he accepted the resurrection dogma in his Mishnah commentary, ignored it altogether in his code ("Yad," Teshubah, viii.); and in his "Moreh" (iii. 27, 51-52, 54) he went so far as to assign immortality only to the thinkers, whose acquired intelligence ("sekel ha-nikneh"), according to the Aristotelians, becomes part of the "active divine intelligence," and thus attains perfection and permanence. This Maimonidean view, which practically denies to the soul of man personality and substance and excludes the simple-minded doer of good from future existence, is strongly combated by Hasdai Crescas ("Or Adonai," ii. 5, 5; 6, 1) as contrary to Scripture and to common sense; he claims, instead, immortality for every soul filled with love for God, whose very essence is moral rather than intellectual, and consists in perfection and goodness rather than in knowledge. Owing to Crescas, and in opposition to Leibnitz's view that without future retribution there could be no morality and no justice in the world, Spinoza ("Ethics," v. 41) declared, "Virtue is eternal bliss; even if we should not be aware of the soul's immortality we must love virtue above everything."

While medieval philosophy dwelt on the intellectual, moral, or spiritual nature of the soul to prove its immortality, the cabalists endeavored to explain the soul as a light from heaven, after Proverbs xx. 27, and immortality as a return to the celestial world of pure light (Bahya b. Asher to Gen. i. 3; Zohar, Terumah, 127a). But the belief in the preexistence of the soul led the mystics to the adoption of the Pythagorean system of the transmigration of the soul.

It was the merit of Moses Mendelssohn, the most prominent philosopher of the deistic school in an era of enlightenment and skepticism, to have revived by his "Phaedon" the Platonic doctrine of immortality, and to have asserted the divine nature of man by presenting new arguments in behalf of the spiritual substance of the soul. Thenceforth Judaism, and especially progressive or Reform Judaism, emphasized the doctrine of immortality, in both its religious instruction and its liturgy, while the dogma of resurrection was gradually discarded and, in the Reform rituals, eliminated from the prayer-books. Immortality of the soul, instead of resurrection, was found to be "an integral part of the Jewish creed" and "the logical sequel to the God-idea," inasmuch as God's faithfulness "seemed to point, not to the fulfilment of the promise of resurrection" given to those that "sleep in the dust," but to "the realization of those higher expectations which are sown, as part of its very nature, in every human soul." The Biblical statement "God created man in his own image" (Gen. i. 27) and the passage "May the soul be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God" (I Sam. xxv. 29, Hebr.), which, as a divine promise and a human supplication, filled the generations with comfort and hope, received a new meaning from this view of man's future; and the rabbinical saying, "The righteous rest not, either in this or in the future world, but go from strength to strength until they see God on Zion" (Ber. 64a, after Ps. lxxxiv. 8), appeared to offer an endless vista to the hope of immortality.

The concept of soul in Jewish tradition derives from Genesis, where God endows humans with "spirit or breath" (ruah). Initially, this spirit was "inseparably connected, if not wholly identified, with the life-blood." Contact with Persian and Greek philosophy introduced the idea of a disembodied soul with individual identity, appearing in later biblical texts like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

Three Hebrew terms describe the soul: "ruah" (spirit in primitive state), "nefesh" (spirit associated with body), and "neshamah" (spirit active in the body). The Apocrypha explicitly states that "All souls are prepared before the foundation of the world," establishing the doctrine of preexistence. Different souls possess varying qualities, and the body serves as a temporary vessel for the soul during earthly life.

Philo Judaeus, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, synthesized Biblical interpretation with Platonic psychology. He identified the three Hebrew soul-terms with Plato's tripartite soul: rational (seated in the head), spiritual (in the chest), and desiring (in the abdomen).

The rational mind (nous) represents divine essence — "a fragment of the Divinity" that is preexistent and immortal. This mind transcends bodily limitations, operating through independent spiritual powers rather than directly. Sensory perception requires mediation between mind and senses through pleasure (symbolized biblically by the serpent).

Talmudic scholars rejected the notion that souls sin before incarnation, instead teaching perfect bodily purity. The daily morning prayer affirms: "My God, the soul which Thou didst place in me is pure." This represented protest against Platonic doctrines of preincarnate transgression.

The Rabbis maintained consistent body-soul dualism while rejecting Platonic preexistence. According to Talmudic teaching, all souls were "formed during the six days of Creation," existing in paradise and present at Sinai. Souls enter embryos through divine appointment, supervised by angels. The soul's entry occurs either at conception or after embryonic formation — a point of rabbinic debate.

The Talmud compares body and soul to a city and its inhabitants. Notably, souls ascend during sleep, receiving dream communications. Some advanced rabbis explained dreams psychologically rather than supernaturally.

The distinction between "spirit" (ruah) and "soul" (nefesh) appears consistently in rabbinical literature. Friday Sabbath observance involved receiving an additional individual soul, which returned at the Sabbath's conclusion.

The Rabbis established parallels between soul and God: as the world fills with divine presence, the body fills with soul; as God sees without being seen, so the soul perceives invisibly. The "yezer Tob" (good inclination) and "yezer ha-ra'" (evil propensity) represent moral forces, with the soul bearing responsibility for ethical conduct.

Saadia Gaon systematically addressed soul philosophy in his "Emunot we-De'ot." He argued the soul was "created by God at the same time as the body," with substance resembling celestial spheres but finer in quality. Three latent powers activate through bodily union: intelligence, passion, and appetite — belonging to one indivisible soul seated in the heart.

Saadia opposed Plato's preexistence doctrine, arguing that bodily union advantaged the soul, enabling paradise access through obedience. Fire requires fuel; similarly, the soul needs the body's instrumentality for spiritual achievement.

Neoplatonic influence pervaded tenth and eleventh-century Jewish thought. Bahya ibn Pakuda proposed three distinct souls: vegetative (matter-derived), animal (matter-derived), and rational (emanating from active intellect). The rational soul's ray penetrates the embryo, supervising vegetative and animal development.

Ibn Gabirol and Joseph ibn Zaddik similarly asserted three distinct souls. Their respective attributes were: vegetative (chastity), animal (energy), and rational (wisdom), collectively producing justice.

Jewish Peripatetics, particularly Maimonides, adopted Aristotelian psychology: the soul as unified entity with five faculties — nutritive, sensitive, imaginative, appetitive, and rational. Each faculty comprehends inferior ones potentially. The intellect operates theoretically (discerning truth/falsehood) or practically (judging good/evil, exciting will).

Maimonides held that the soul, constituting bodily form, remains indissolubly united with it. Upon death, all faculties cease — except the "acquired intellect" (knowledge obtained through study), which constitutes real substance and survives independently.

Levi ben Gershon followed Maimonidean psychology but differentiated human knowledge into three classes: sensory perception of individuals, abstraction producing generalities, and reflection concerning God and angels. He contended that generic forms exist independently "ante rem" in the universal intellect, and mathematical theories constitute real substances contributing to acquired intellect.

Crescas attacked the acquired intellect principle philosophically and theologically. He questioned how something created during lifetime achieves immortality, and if only acquired intellect survives bodily death, what entity experiences reward or punishment? If the soul ceases existing, what enjoys paradise? Crescas proposed that the soul, though constituting bodily form, represents spiritual substance wherein thinking exists potentially — preserving soul continuity through death.

Zoharic psychology demonstrates Neoplatonic influence within mystical frameworks. The soul originates in Supreme Intelligence, the "universal soul" containing forms distinguishing all living existences. All souls were "formed" and "prepared to be given" to future humans, observed by God in their destined forms.

The soul comprises three elements: rational (neshamah), moral (ruah), and vital (nefesh) — emanations from Sefirot, each possessing ten potencies subdivided into trinities. The rational element connects humans to the intellectual world through the Crown Sefirah; the moral element connects to the moral world through Beauty; the vital element connects to the material world through Foundation.

Two additional soul-elements exist: one inherent in the body without mingling, serving as intermediary; another uniting body and soul. At conception, the Zohar teaches, "the Holy One sends on earth an image engraved with the Divine Seal," presiding over human formation, growing with the person, and departing at death.

Male and female souls emanate from masculine and feminine Sefirot respectively, paired before earthly descent but separated upon incarnation. The Zohar compares soul elements to a burning lamp's flame: the dim light (vital element) springs from burning material below; the white light (moral element) struggles upward while remaining connected; the invisible flame-top (rational element) actually disengages and rises independently.

Human souls descend into bodies because of their finite nature, uniting with flesh to contemplate creation, achieve self-consciousness, and eventually return to God — the "inexhaustible fountain of light and life."

Magic is described as "the pretended art of producing preternatural effects," constituting one of two principal divisions of occultism alongside divination. Effects produced may be physical (such as unexplained storms or deaths) or mental — either intellectual (providing supernatural knowledge) or emotional (inducing arbitrary love or hate). Methods include both physical actions and incantations, with "the act and the results produced by it" serving as essential criteria in Talmudic understanding.

Jewish magic appears in Deuteronomy xviii. 10-11, which names various diviners, astrologers, and exorcists while forbidding their practices as idolatrous. The Bible expresses no doubt regarding magic's actual potency, causing magicians to be "feared and abhorred." Love-charms represented the most common magical practice, particularly for illicit affairs and predominantly practiced by women. Exodus xxii. 17 punishes sorcery with death, specifically referencing "the witch" rather than "the wizard," which the Talmud correctly interpreted as indicating that "magic was practised chiefly by women."

Magic frequently appears associated with sexual license and unnatural vices. Biblical passages consistently link sorcery with adultery, demonstrating that magical practice was "common throughout ancient Israel."

Post-Biblical literature, especially the Babylonian Talmud, provides extensive information through numerous passages demonstrating magic's "wide diffusion." Significantly, only witchcraft practice was prohibited — knowledge of magic was considered "indispensable to a member of the chief council or of the judiciary, and might be acquired even from the heathen."

The most learned scholars possessed expertise in magical arts, with the Law acknowledging its genuine power. The masses practiced witchcraft more devotedly than scholarly circles, though less extensively than Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The phrase "Adultery and sorcery have destroyed everything" appears in Sotah ix. 13, while Simon b. Shetah famously "hanged eighty witches in a single day" (Sanh. 45b).

Scholars occasionally countered black magic with white magic for legitimate purposes. Healing through white magic faced no condemnation unless employing pagan or idolatrous means. Some scholars allegedly consumed men through glances or reduced them to bone heaps, but such magic was regarded as punishment for sins, thus requiring no Talmudic objection.

Exorcism flourished, though less extensively than in other circles. The Greco-Roman world considered Jews "a race of magicians."

Human speech represented the most potent magical means, to which all peoples attributed "invincible power." The magician's words held power when "uttered at the right time and place and under proper conditions." Official Judaism's bitter opposition to black magic generated constant prohibitions, revealing various witchcraft forms.

The secret Jewish name of God functioned as a powerful incantation factor, evidenced by Egyptian magic papyri combining heathen and Jewish divine names in what the Talmud termed "union" (synagoge).

Beyond magical words and formulas, various physical objects served protective purposes against the Evil Eye. Women, children, and animals received protection through amulets and talismans consisting of natural objects or written papers. Biblical copies, tefillin (phylacteries), and mezuzot all possessed protective qualities.

The apocryphal Book of Enoch describes angels teaching humans "incantations, exorcisms, and the cutting of roots, and revealed to them healing plants." The heart, liver, and gall possessed magical properties — notably, blind Tobit regains sight when anointed with fish gall. Noah's book of healing, Solomon's writings, and Mosaic texts possessed magical characteristics.

Medieval Jews continued bearing the reputation of magicians, with many likely profiting from this perception. A Jewish magician named Zambrio appears in ninth-century Italy, while Sicilian sorcerers flourished earlier. During medieval droughts, populations sought Jewish magical assistance for rain-making.

Ancient Jewish magic's internal diversity and fundamental contradiction with monotheism evidenced foreign influence. Early-era scholars unanimously identified Egypt as magic's "original home," with both Egypt and Babylon designated in Scripture as witchcraft sources. Egypt's prolonged political dominance during the Ptolemaic period deeply influenced post-Biblical Judaism, with Egypto-Hellenistic syncretism affecting Alexandrian Jews first, then Palestinian communities.

The Books of Hermes and recently discovered Greek and Coptic magic papyri, containing significant Jewish elements, confirm this source attribution. While Assyro-Babylonian elements existed, they primarily concerned astrology and divination — Egypt providing magic, Babylonia contributing divination, Hellenism serving as connective element.

The Talmud's authority ensured its magical content influenced subsequent generations. Many theurgic and magical elements in post-Talmudic literature originated from Talmudic or pre-Talmudic times, particularly in geonic Babylonian writings. This ancient magic, blended with Hellenistic and medieval European elements, became incorporated into the "practical Cabala."

The late medieval Cabala influenced both Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. This corruption "deeply and widely infected the people" and remains active, particularly among Hasidim.