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Shareתַּנְיָא, אַבָּא בִּנְיָמִין אוֹמֵר: אִלְמָלֵי נִתְּנָה רְשׁוּת לָעַיִן לִרְאוֹת — אֵין כׇּל בְּרִיָּה יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד מִפְּנֵי הַמַּזִּיקִין.
In another baraita it was taught that Abba Binyamin says: If the eye was given permission to see, no creature would be able to withstand the abundance and ubiquity of the demons and continue to live unaffected by them.
הַאי מַאן דְּבָעֵי לְמִידַּע לְהוּ לַיְיתֵי קִיטְמָא נְהִילָא, וְנַהְדַּר אַפּוּרְיֵיהּ, וּבְצַפְרָא חָזֵי כִּי כַּרְעֵי דְתַרְנְגוֹלָא. הַאי מַאן דְּבָעֵי לְמֶחֱזִינְהוּ, לַיְתֵי שִׁלְיְיתָא דְּשׁוּנָּרְתָּא אוּכַּמְתָּא בַּת אוּכַּמְתָּא בּוּכְרְתָא בַּת בּוּכְרְתָא, וְלִיקְלְיֵהּ בְּנוּרָא, וְלִשְׁחֲקֵיהּ, וְלִימְלֵי עֵינֵיהּ מִנֵּיהּ, וְחָזֵי לְהוּ. וְלִשְׁדְּיֵיהּ בְּגוּבְתָּא דְפַרְזְלָא, וְלַחְתְּמֵיהּ בְּגוּשְׁפַּנְקָא דְפַרְזְלָא, דִּילְמָא גָּנְבִי מִנֵּיהּ, וְלַחְתּוֹם פּוּמֵּיהּ, כִּי הֵיכִי דְּלָא לִיתַּזַּק. רַב בִּיבִי בַּר אַבָּיֵי עֲבַד הָכִי, חֲזָא וְאִתַּזַּק, בְּעוֹ רַבָּנַן רַחֲמֵי עֲלֵיהּ, וְאִתַּסִּי.
One who seeks to know that the demons exist should place fine ashes around his bed, and in the morning the demons’ footprints appear like chickens’ footprints, in the ash. One who seeks to see them should take the afterbirth of a firstborn female black cat, born to a firstborn female black cat, burn it in the fire, grind it and place it in his eyes, and he will see them. He must then place the ashes in an iron tube sealed with an iron seal [gushpanka] lest the demons steal it from him, and then seal the opening so he will not be harmed. Rav Beivai bar Abaye performed this procedure, saw the demons, and was harmed. The Sages prayed for mercy on his behalf and he was healed.
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן, שִׁשָּׁה דְּבָרִים נֶאֶמְרוּ בַּשֵּׁדִים: שְׁלֹשָׁה כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת, וּשְׁלֹשָׁה כִּבְנֵי אָדָם. שְׁלֹשָׁה כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת — יֵשׁ לָהֶם כְּנָפַיִם כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת, וְטָסִין מִסּוֹף הָעוֹלָם וְעַד סוֹפוֹ כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת, וְיוֹדְעִין מַה שֶּׁעָתִיד לִהְיוֹת כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת.יוֹדְעִין סָלְקָא דַּעְתָּךְ?! אֶלָּא, שׁוֹמְעִין מֵאֲחוֹרֵי הַפַּרְגּוֹד, כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת.וּשְׁלֹשָׁה כִּבְנֵי אָדָם — אוֹכְלִין וְשׁוֹתִין כִּבְנֵי אָדָם, פָּרִין וְרָבִין כִּבְנֵי אָדָם, וּמֵתִים כִּבְנֵי אָדָם.
§ The Gemara returns to discussing the heavenly beings. The Sages taught: Six statements were said with regard to demons: In three ways they are like ministering angels, and in three ways they are like humans. The baraita specifies: In three ways they are like ministering angels: They have wings like ministering angels; and they fly from one end of the world to the other like ministering angels; and they know what will be in the future like ministering angels.The Gemara is puzzled by this last statement: Should it enter your mind that they know this? Not even the angels are privy to the future. Rather, they hear from behind the curtain when God reveals something of the future, like ministering angels.And in three ways they are similar to humans: They eat and drink like humans; they multiply like humans; and they die like humans.
(ז) וְלֹא־יִזְבְּח֥וּ עוֹד֙ אֶת־זִבְחֵיהֶ֔ם לַשְּׂעִירִ֕ם אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥ם זֹנִ֖ים אַחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֛ם תִּֽהְיֶה־זֹּ֥את לָהֶ֖ם לְדֹרֹתָֽם׃
(7) and that they may offer their sacrifices no more to the goat-demons after whom they stray. This shall be to them a law for all time, throughout the ages.
(טז) יַקְנִאֻ֖הוּ בְּזָרִ֑ים בְּתוֹעֵבֹ֖ת יַכְעִיסֻֽהוּ׃(יז) יִזְבְּח֗וּ לַשֵּׁדִים֙ לֹ֣א אֱלֹ֔הַּ אֱלֹקִ֖ים לֹ֣א יְדָע֑וּם חֲדָשִׁים֙ מִקָּרֹ֣ב בָּ֔אוּ לֹ֥א שְׂעָר֖וּם אֲבֹתֵיכֶֽם׃
(16) They incensed [God] with alien things, Vexed [God] with abominations. (17) They sacrificed to demons, no-gods, Gods they had never known, New ones, who came but lately, Who stirred not your forebears’ fears.
(א) יֹ֭שֵׁב בְּסֵ֣תֶר עֶלְי֑וֹן בְּצֵ֥ל שַׁ֝דַּ֗י יִתְלוֹנָֽן׃ (ב) אֹמַ֗ר לַ֭יי מַחְסִ֣י וּמְצוּדָתִ֑י אֱ֝לֹקַ֗י אֶבְטַח־בּֽוֹ׃ (ג) כִּ֤י ה֣וּא יַ֭צִּילְךָ מִפַּ֥ח יָק֗וּשׁ מִדֶּ֥בֶר הַוּֽוֹת׃ (ד) בְּאֶבְרָת֨וֹ ׀ יָ֣סֶךְ לָ֭ךְ וְתַחַת־כְּנָפָ֣יו תֶּחְסֶ֑ה צִנָּ֖ה וְסֹחֵרָ֣ה אֲמִתּֽוֹ׃ (ה) לֹֽא־תִ֭ירָא מִפַּ֣חַד לָ֑יְלָה מֵ֝חֵ֗ץ יָע֥וּף יוֹמָֽם׃ (ו) מִ֭דֶּבֶר בָּאֹ֣פֶל יַהֲלֹ֑ךְ מִ֝קֶּ֗טֶב יָשׁ֥וּד צׇהֳרָֽיִם׃ (ז) יִפֹּ֤ל מִצִּדְּךָ֨ ׀אֶ֗לֶף וּרְבָבָ֥ה מִימִינֶ֑ךָ אֵ֝לֶ֗יךָ לֹ֣א יִגָּֽשׁ׃ (ח) רַ֭ק בְּעֵינֶ֣יךָ תַבִּ֑יט וְשִׁלֻּמַ֖ת רְשָׁעִ֣ים תִּרְאֶֽה׃ (ט) כִּֽי־אַתָּ֣ה יי מַחְסִ֑י עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן שַׂ֣מְתָּ מְעוֹנֶֽךָ׃ (י) לֹא־תְאֻנֶּ֣ה אֵלֶ֣יךָ רָעָ֑ה וְ֝נֶ֗גַע לֹא־יִקְרַ֥ב בְּאׇהֳלֶֽךָ׃ (יא) כִּ֣י מַ֭לְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּ֑ךְ לִ֝שְׁמׇרְךָ֗ בְּכׇל־דְּרָכֶֽיךָ׃ (יב) עַל־כַּפַּ֥יִם יִשָּׂא֑וּנְךָ פֶּן־תִּגֹּ֖ף בָּאֶ֣בֶן רַגְלֶֽךָ׃ (יג) עַל־שַׁ֣חַל וָפֶ֣תֶן תִּדְרֹ֑ךְ תִּרְמֹ֖ס כְּפִ֣יר וְתַנִּֽין׃ (יד) כִּ֤י בִ֣י חָ֭שַׁק וַאֲפַלְּטֵ֑הוּ אֲ֝שַׂגְּבֵ֗הוּ כִּֽי־יָדַ֥ע שְׁמִֽי׃ (טו) יִקְרָאֵ֨נִי ׀ וְֽאֶעֱנֵ֗הוּ עִמּֽוֹ־אָנֹכִ֥י בְצָרָ֑ה אֲ֝חַלְּצֵ֗הוּ וַאֲכַבְּדֵֽהוּ׃ (טז) אֹ֣רֶךְ יָ֭מִים אַשְׂבִּיעֵ֑הוּ וְ֝אַרְאֵ֗הוּ בִּישׁוּעָתִֽי׃ {פ}
(1) O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the protection of Shaddai— (2) I say of the LORD, my refuge and stronghold, my God in whom I trust, (3) that He will save you from the fowler’s trap, from the destructive plague. (4) He will cover you with His pinions; you will find refuge under His wings; His fidelity is an encircling shield. (5) You need not fear the terror by night, or the arrow that flies by day, (6) the plague that stalks in the darkness, or the scourge that ravages at noon. (7) A thousand may fall at your left side, ten thousand at your right, but it shall not reach you. (8) You will see it with your eyes, you will witness the punishment of the wicked. (9) Because you took the LORD—my refuge, the Most High—as your haven, (10) no harm will befall you, no disease touch your tent. (11) For He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go. (12) They will carry you in their hands lest you hurt your foot on a stone. (13) You will tread on cubs and vipers; you will trample lions and asps. (14) “Because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him; I will keep him safe, for he knows My name. (15) When he calls on Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will rescue him and make him honored; (16) I will let him live to a ripe old age, and show him My salvation.”
מחץ יעוף יומם. שד המעופף כחץ:
the arrow that flies by day the demon that flies like an arrow.
מדבר, ומקטב. שמות שדים הם, זה מזיק בלילה וזה מזיק בצהרים:
Pestilence, etc., destruction These are names of demons; one destroys at night, and one destroys at noon.
אָמַר רַב הוּנָא: כֹּל חַד וְחַד מִינַּן, אַלְפָא מִשְּׂמָאלֵיהּ וּרְבַבְתָּא מִיַּמִּינֵיהּ.
Rav Huna said: Each and every one of us has a thousand demons to his left and ten thousand to his right. God protects man from these demons, as it says in the verse: “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; they will not approach you” (Psalms 91:7).
וּפָגְשׁ֤וּ צִיִּים֙ אֶת־אִיִּ֔ים וְשָׂעִ֖יר עַל־רֵעֵ֣הוּ יִקְרָ֑א אַךְ־שָׁם֙ הִרְגִּ֣יעָה לִּילִ֔ית וּמָצְאָ֥ה לָ֖הּ מָנֽוֹחַ׃
Wildcats shall meet hyenas, Goat-demons shall greet each other; There too the lilith shall repose And find herself a resting place.
אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא: אָסוּר לִישַׁן בַּבַּיִת יְחִידִי, וְכׇל הַיָּשֵׁן בַּבַּיִת יְחִידִי — אֹחַזְתּוֹ לִילִית.
Rabbi Ḥanina said: It is prohibited to sleep alone in a house, and anyone who sleeps alone in a house will be seized by the evil spirit Lilith.
תָּנָא: אוֹכָלִין וּמַשְׁקִין תַּחַת הַמִּטָּה, אֲפִילּוּ מְחוּפִּין בִּכְלִי בַּרְזֶל — רוּחַ רָעָה שׁוֹרָה עֲלֵיהֶן. תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה אָדָם מַיִם לֹא בְּלֵילֵי רְבִיעִיּוֹת וְלֹא בְּלֵילֵי שַׁבָּתוֹת, וְאִם שָׁתָה — דָּמוֹ בְּרֹאשׁוֹ מִפְּנֵי סַכָּנָה. מַאי סַכָּנָה? רוּחַ רָעָה.
A Sage taught: If food and drink are under one’s bed, even if they are covered with iron vessels, an evil spirit rests upon them. The Sages taught: A person should not drink water on Tuesday nights or on Shabbat nights, i.e., Friday nights. And if he drinks water, his blood is upon his own head, due to the danger. The Gemara asks: What is this danger? The Gemara answers: The danger of the evil spirit that rules on these days.
Similarly, a person should not place the palm of his hand under his armpits, lest his hands have touched a leper or a poisonous substance, for "hands are active."A person should not place a cooked dish under the couch on which he is reclining, even though he is in the midst of his meal, lest an entity that could harm him fall into the food without his noticing.
אָמַר רָבָא: מַתְרֶה שֶׁאָמְרוּ, אֲפִילּוּ מִפִּי עַצְמוֹ, וַאֲפִילּוּ מִפִּי הַשֵּׁד.
Rava says: The one forewarning the accused of whom the Sages spoke need not be a third witness, but even if the victim forewarns the murderer from his own mouth, and even if the forewarning emerged from the mouth of a demon, meaning the source of the forewarning is unknown, the forewarning is legitimate.
Amongst that which you should know is that the perfected philosophers do not believe in tzelamim, by which I mean talismanery, but scoff at them and at those who think that they possess efficacy and I will extend on this to say this because I know that most people are seduced by this with great folly, and with similar things, and think that they are real — which is not so, even though the best of the pious in our religion think that they are true, just being forbidden by the Torah, and they do not understand that those things are completely empty lies. We are commanded in the Torah not to do them just as we are commanded against lying. And these are things that have received great publicity amongst the pagans, especially amongst the nation which is called the Sabians, this is a nation that came from Abraham our father, peace be upon him, from his sons, and they follow [those sons'] errors and rotten thinking [...] and they promoted and gave honor to the stars, connecting to them deeds that have no connection to them; wrote works dealings with the stars, and witchcraft, and adjurations, and spiritual astrology, and things about stars, and demons, and old tales, and magic, and soothsaying, and asking the dead, and many other such issues. which the true Torah fights and cuts off, being the essence of idolatry and its branches.
[C]ertain sects of the Sabians worshipped the jinn [demons] and believed that they assumed the outward forms of goats and therefore called the jinn goats. This teaching was very widespread in the days of Moses our Master: And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto the goats [se’irim](Lev 17:7), and so on. Hence these sects also used to prohibit the eating of goats.
[…]
Know that the Sabians held that blood was most unclean, but in spite of this used to eat of it, deeming that it was the food of the devils and that, consequently, whoever ate it fraternized with the jinn so that they came to him and let him know future events according to what the multitude imagine concerning the jinn. There were, however, people there who considered it a hard thing to eat of blood, this being a thing abhorrent to the nature of man. Accordingly they used to slaughter an animal, collect its blood in a vessel or in a ditch, and eat the flesh of this slaughtered animal close by its blood. In doing this they imagined that the jinn partook of this blood, this being their food, whereas they themselves ate the flesh. In this way fraternization was achieved, because all ate at the same table and in one and the same gathering. Consequently, as they deemed, these jinn would come to them in dreams, inform them of secret things, and be useful to them. All these were opinions that were in those times followed, favoured, and generally accepted; the multitude did not doubt of their truth.
Thereupon the Law, which is perfect in the opinion of those who know it, began to put an end to these inveterate diseases. Consequently it prohibited the eating of blood, putting the same emphasis on this prohibition as on the prohibition against idolatry. For He, may He be exalted, says, I will set My face against that soul that eateth blood, and so on,(Lev 17:10) just as He has said with regard to him who gives of his seed to Moloch. I will even set My face against that soul, and so on (Lev 20:6) No such text occurs regarding a third commandment other than the prohibition of idolatry and of eating of blood.
[...]
Thus the aim was achieved and the purpose realized: namely, to break the brotherhood between those truly possessed and their jinn.
Consider the song on mishaps [Psalm 91]: You will find that it describes this great providence and the safeguard and the protection from all bodily ills, both the general ones and those that concern one individual rather than another, so that neither those that are consequent upon the nature of being nor those that are due to the plotting of man would occur. […] He then goes on to describe the protection against the plotting of men, saying: If you should happen to pass on your way a widely extended field of battle and even if one thousand were killed to your left and ten thousand to your right, no evil at all would befall you. Do you not perceive and see with your eye God's judgment and retribution directed against the wicked that are killed while you are safe? [...]This is followed by what is said about divine safeguard; then it gives the reason for this great protection, saying that the reason for this great providence being effective with regard to the individual in question is this: Because he hath set his passionate love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known My Name. We have already explained in preceding chapters that the meaning of knowledge of the Name is: apprehension of Him. It is as if [the psalm] said that this individual is protected because he hath known Me and then passionately loved Me.
Our sixth combat is with what the Greeks call ἀκηδία, which we may term weariness or distress of heart. This is akin to dejection, and is especially trying to solitaries, and a dangerous and frequent foe to dwellers in the desert; and especially disturbing to a monk about the sixth hour, like some fever which seizes him at stated times, bringing the burning heat of its attacks on the sick man at usual and regular hours. Lastly, there are some of the elders who declare that this is the “midday demon” spoken of in the ninetieth Psalm [...] When this has taken possession of some unhappy soul, it produces dislike of the place, disgust with the cell, and disdain and contempt of the brethren who dwell with him or at a little distance, as if they were careless or unspiritual. It also makes the man lazy and sluggish about all manner of work which has to be done within the enclosure of his dormitory.
I have taken the phrase ["Noonday Demon"] as the title of this book because it describes so exactly what one experiences in depression. The image serves to conjure the terrible feeling of invasion that attends the depressive's plight. There is something brazen about depression. Most demons – most forms of anguish – rely on the cover of night; to see them clearly is to defeat them. Depression stands in thef full glare of the sun, unchallenged by recognition. You can know all the why and the wherefore and suffer just as much as if you were shrouded by ignorance.
Someone asked Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk: The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim denies the existence of demons and magic, yet in the Torah i is written 'and they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to seirim?' Also, how can the words of Rashi be resolved, that Noach was commanded from the Mouth of the Omnipotent to bring demons to the ark? The Rabbi of Kotzk replied, 'This and that are simultaneously true. In days of old, demons and magic existed. But, from the time that Rambam came and said that they did not exist, behold, Rambam is a posek, and they agreed to him as well in Heaven, and established his words halacha l'maaseh such that demons vanished from the earth.
Now read on...
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• Slifkin, Natan, 'Wrestling with Demons: A History of Rabbinic Attitudes to Demons' in Rationalism vs. Mysticism: Schisms in Traditional Jewish Thought (The Torah and Nature Foundation/ Gefen Books)
• Solomon, Andrew The noonday demon : an anatomy of depression (London : Vintage) 2016
• Toorn, K. van der, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Leiden ; Brill) 1999
