amulet iconThings they didn't teach you in Hebrew school.
Practical Kabbalah and Related Folklore

Do I need to know or have read about Kabbalah in order to understand this material?

No, though it wouldn't hurt. This is because, as Gershom Sholem wrote:

"Historically speaking, a large part of the contents of practical Kabbalah predate those of the speculative Kabbalah and are not dependent on them. In effect, what came to be considered practical Kabbalah constituted an agglomeration of all the magical practices that developed in Judaism from the Talmudic period down through the Middle Ages. The doctrine of the Sefirot hardly ever played a decisive role in these practices..." (Kabbalah, p. 183.)

What Does the Hand Icon Mean?

The site's hand logo is a combination of several concepts. The word on the palm, Da'at, means "knowledge." The hand itself is reminiscent of a charm or amulet which still exists today called a Hand of God, which was originally intended to ward off the Evil Eye. Finally, for me personally, the hand represents creative power. Or hands are what set us appart from all other creatures, enabling us to build and record.

1/08: Welcome back. The site has changed a bit!

I was a tied up with work, graduate school (no, not in this topic), and other matters that kpet me from working on the site.

The page names and site structure have changed, but the topics and article titles are the same. You may have old pages bookmarked, so please browse and update—I have created some redirecting "transition pages" but eventually they will go away.

UPDATED AND ADDED ARTICLES (as of Dec. 2007/Jan. 2008)

All articles received edits and corrections (and occasinally a little expansion) in a 2006 site overhaul that I did not post until now. Here are some notable additions and changes:

What else has changed? What will happen next?

Well, on the first pass (done), the layout has been converted to CSS, the edits and additions described above have been made, and there's a new "suggested reading" feature at the bottom of each article! Please also note the updated disclaimer that appears at the end of every article.

The second pass should hopefully involve two things: 1) Some "navigation tweaks" I'd like to make—I am not sure I like how the major topic navigation on top is looking. I may see about consolidating everything on the left, but as I've switched over to XML that needs to be processed (dynamically generating the side menu in the process), I'll need to work out a new stylesheet to do that. 2) The gradual addition of a backlog of material that has been sitting around for a regretfully long time.

The third pass, if I really get off my butt, will be to migrate the site to my own host and domain, because it's been squatting on my friend's server space for, er...years.

I appreciate everyone's patience and interest, and all the people who took the time to write with comments or questons.

Here are some quick links back to the main topics for you:

The Practice

What is practical Kabbalah? Can it be called magic?Who were the people who utilized it, and what rules did they follow?

Holy Letters & Names of God

Words, and the Hebrew alphabet itself, were at the center of practical Kabbalah.

Amulets

Over the centuries, practical Kabbalists created variety of objects to keep their owners from harm.

Demons

The Jewish take on demonology, including their origins, classification, Lilith, and Ashmedai.

The Golem

A golem is an artificial man created by means of practical Kabbalah. Explore the famous legend and the mysticism behind it.

 

Contents © 2000-2006, F. Levine. May not be reproduced without permission. Contact the author with questions or to report errors.

The information contained in this document is based on the author's personal research and is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as religious instruction or to represent contemporary practice of Judaism or the Kabbalah. Although every attempt has been made to gather information from legitimate sources, the author does not guarantee the complete accuracy of this document. The author is not a rabbi; nor is the author a professor, curator, translator, practitioner or instructor of the Kabbalah. The author does not, cannot, and will not provide any training in the topics contained in this document. The author does not condone performing any of the practices or rituals described herein.