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The "Devil"
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This discussion area is for Jews to talk with each other. Others may participate as respectful guests. Disputes or criticisms of Judaism must be directed to Judaism Debate. Attempts, no matter how courteous, to convert anyone to a different religious belief are not appropriate here. Messianic Jews please click here. Not Jewish? Want to learn more? Post respectful questions in Learn about Judaism. See also: Qabala (for non-Jews). Hosts: tlennhoff, eliava
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Messages: 1 - 4 (25 total)
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audrasun
5/24/2004 12:04 PM
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1 out of 25 |
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I posted this question on the "Learn About" board, but I thought that those who know Kabbalah infintely better than I do might have a different answer to this question.
Anyway, I have over the last few years been “returning” to Judaism after a decade spent as an atheist – so I’m sort of learning things all over again. It’s the ultimate refresher course. My best friend is studying to be a Trapist Monk (the ones that take the vow of silence – oy) but as he goes along he’s coming up against the larger theological issues of Christianity and he asked me a question I’m finding it hard to answer.
The “devil” has been described to me as the “prosecuting attorney” rather than the source of all evil the devil is in Christianity. He asked me to explain what that means, and how it differs from what he was taught and I’m at a loss.
Can anyone point me in the direction of how to find out?
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dovber2
5/24/2004 12:47 PM
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2 out of 25 |
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In the 1st century BCE some practicing jewish rabbis and Jews took on many traits of Persian dualistic system in which God and the forces of good and truth were opposed in heaven and on earth by the powerful forces of evil and deceit. This seems to have been under the influence of Persian religion, with its opposition of Ormuzd the good god and Ahriman (Angra Mainyu) the evil god, but at the same time Jewish dualism drew on older, native resources in constructing a more elaborate demonology. Ancient mythological themes, and figures from the Bible only potentially demonic, like Satan, were drawn in to fill out the enlarged conception of the role of evil spirits in the cosmos. It is characteristic of this period that the evil spirits are led by a prince, often called Belial but also Mastemah, Satan, or other names. The spirits of good and evil also struggled within the human soul, for in this period the role of demons is often conceived of as that of tempting men to evil rather than of inflicting physical harm. As a result, in many passages it is difficult to say whether "spirit" refers to a demon external to man or to a trait within the human soul. Belial (or Beliar, a corruption of the original form) is the most common name for the leader of the demons in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the intertestamental literature Belial is "the spirit of perversion, the angel of darkness, the angel of destruction" and other spirits are subject to him.
In the middle ages, East European Jews believed in the existence of evil spirits which enters into a living person, cleaves to his soul, causes mental illness, talks through his mouth, and represents a separate and alien personality and called this evil force a dibbuk. The term appears neither in talmudic literature nor in the Kabbalah, where this phenomenon is always called "evil spirit."
In talmudic literature it is sometimes called ru'ah tezazit. The term was introduced into literature only in the 17th century from the spoken language of German and Polish Jews. It is an abbreviation of dibbuk me-ru'ah ra'ah (a cleavage of an evil spirit"), or dibbuk min ha-hizonim ("dibbuk from the outside"), which is found in man. The act of attachment of the spirit to the body became the name of the spirit itself. However, the verb davok ("cleave") is found throughout kabbalistic literature where it denotes the relations between the evil spirit and the body.
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dovber2
5/24/2004 12:49 PM
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3 out of 25 |
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Stories about dibbukim are common in the time of the Second Temple and the talmudic periods, particularly in the Gospels; they are not as prominent in medieval literature. At first, the dibbuk was considered to be a devil or a demon which entered the body of a sick person. Later, an explanation common among other peoples was added, namely that some of the dibbukim are the spirits of dead persons who were not laid to rest and thus became demons. This idea (also common in medieval Christianity) combined with the doctrine of gilgul ("transmigration of the soul") in the 16th century and became widespread and accepted by large segments of the Jewish population, together with the belief in dibbukim. They were generally considered to be souls which, on account of the enormity of their sins, were not even allowed to transmigrate and as spirits sought refuge in a living person. The entry of a dibbuk into a person was a sign of his having committed a secret sin which opened a door for the dibbuk. A combination of beliefs current in the non-Jewish environment and popular Jewish beliefs influenced by the Kabbalah form these conceptions. The kabbalistic literature of Luria's disciples contains many stories and "protocols" about the exorcism of dibbukim. Numerous manuscripts present detailed instructions on how to exorcise them. The power to exorcise dibbukim was given to ba'alei shem or accomplished Hasidim. They exorcised the dibbuk from the body which was bound by it and simultaneously redeemed the soul by providing a tikkun for him, either by transmigration or by causing the dibbuk to flee.
From mid 1th century reports in Hebrew and Yiddish on the deeds of dibbukim and their testimonies about themselves were preserved and published. A wealth of material on actual stories of dibbukim is gathered in Samuel Vital's Sha'ar ha-Gilgulim, in Hayyim Vital's Sefer ha-Hezyonot, in Nishmat Hayyim by Manasseh Ben Israel (chief rabbi of dutch jewry. Other stories emerged from rabbis in Smyrna and Baghdad. Special booklets on the exorcisms of famous spirits which took place in Korets, Nikolsburg, and Detmold in 18th century and Stolowitz in mid 19th century. The last protocol of this kind, published in Jerusalem in 1904, concerns a dibbuk which entered the body of a woman and was exorcised by Ben-Zion Hazzan. The phenomena connected with the beliefs in and the stories about dibbukim usually have their factual background in cases of hysteria and sometimes even in manifestations of schizophrenia.
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binarystar
5/24/2004 1:17 PM
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4 out of 25 |
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Dear Audrasun:
If you are interested in some good books on the evolution of the concept of Satan in Judaism, from an obedient prosecuting attorney angel to a full-fledged Lord of Hell, especially in the Kabbalah, there are:
1. "A Gathering of Angels" by Rabbi Morris B. Margolies, which has several chapters on Satan and the dark angels (demons):
2. "Kabbalah" by Gershom Scholem, which has a chapter on "Samael" (Satan) plus innumerable other references to the evolution of his role as the rule of the Sitra Achra (the Other Side);
3. "Everyman's Talmud" by A. Cohen, which has a chapter on demonology in the Talmud, and many references to Satan as "Samael" and Satan;
4. "Collected Stories" of Isaac Bashevis Singer, which show how the concept of Satan was regarded by the Hasidic Orthodox Jews of Poland in 1900. The stories contain a lot of Jewish mystical theology and folk beliefs about Satan.
4. Satan also shows up in the Orthodox prayerbook, such as in the "Foundation of Repentance" essay at the beginning of the Rosh Hashanah machzor:
"for the seducer [Satan] lurks like a fly at the entrance of the heart. He renews his offensive every day. He scrutinizes and seeks ways to trip him [a Jew] up and convince him of this evil counsel."
Cordially,
Robin
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