Jewish Magic and Superstition, by Joshua Trachtenberg, [1939], at sacred-texts.com
Jewish Magic and Superstition, by Joshua Trachtenberg, [1939], at sacred-texts.com
1. S. Ḥas. 305; Rokeaḥ 313, p. 79b; Moses Taku, Oẓar Neḥmad, III, 88; Nishmat Ḥayim III, 3; REJ, XXV (1892), 4. On Jewish polypsychism see Ginzberg, Legends, V, 74, n. 18; JE, III, 458; Preis, 9-10; Franck, 192; Ginsburg, 114; Kammelhar, 60 f.; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 6a ff. Among the multitude of proofs for the continued existence of the spirit after death, this one, for which "non-Jewish scholars" are cited as authority, is perhaps the most extraordinary: "Dice made out of the bones of a corpse will win a man as much wealth as he wishes"! Ẓiyuni, 2,c, cf. also 29a.
2. S. Ḥas. 35, 63, 271, 1543, 1546, 1547, addendum on pp. 126 f., etc.; Rokeaḥ, 229 (quoted in Ta‘ame HaMinhagim, 112b); Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 17a; Ẓiyuni, 10d; Neubauer and Stern, 5, 52; Marmorstein, MGWJ, LXXI (1927), 43-4.
3. S. Ḥas. 266, 321, 322, 331, 1530, 1543; S. Ḥas. B 1163; Testament of Judah the Pious, 11 (cf. Or Zarua, II, 419, p. 85c); Kammelhar, 62; Leket Yosher II, 87; Responsa of Israel Bruna, 181, p. 66b; Ma‘aseh Book 521 f.; Lowenthal, Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln, 12-13.
4. S. Ḥas. 265, 305, 1885; Testament of Judah the Pious, 1; Rokeaḥ, 316, p. 83a; Toledot Adam veḤavah, 28:1, p. 182b; Ẓiyuni, 21b, c; Nishmat Ḥayim II, 26; Yore Deah 362:6;—Landshuth, p. xlviii; S. Ḥas. B 25; Responsa of Meir of Rothenburg, Lemberg, 164; Nimuke of Menaḥem of Merseburg, 85b, 86a; Orḥot Ẓadikim, 78a.
5. S. Ḥas. 273, 323, 1537; S. Ḥas. B 1171; Kol Bo 114; Yesh Noḥalin, 3a;
[paragraph continues] I. Lévi, "Si les morts ont conscience de ce qui se passe ici-bas," REJ, XXVI (1893), 69-74.
6. S. Ḥas. B 1135; Lowenthal, op. cit., 27; Marmorstein, JJV, II (1925), 351 ff.;—Landshuth, pp. iv-vi (for Talmudic and medieval references); J. Mann, CCAR Yearbook, XLIV (1934), 231; Testament of Judah the Pious, 12; Maharil, 37a; Oraḥ Ḥayim 579:3, 581:4, 605:1; Joseph Omeẓ, 956, p. 212, 986, p. 219; Mateh Moshe, 738, 789, 839; ‘Emek Beracha, II, 61, p. 74b; Grünbaum, Jüdischdeutsche Chrest., 572. The practice has arisen, in fairly recent times, of measuring the grave of a pious man with wicks, when someone is ill, and presenting the candles made with them to the synagogue. Cf. B’er Heteb on Yore Deah 376:4.
7. S. Ḥas. 1723; Testament of Judah, 9; Rokeaḥ, 316, P. 83a; Ẓiyuni, 14b.
8. S. Ḥas. 26g, 327; S. Ḥas. B 708; Testament of Judah, 13; Rokeaḥ, loc. cit.; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 15b; Toledot Adam, loc. cit.; MJV, XLIV (1912), 135.
9. Gen. R. 11:5; Maḥ. Vit. 83-4, 113-4; Rokeaḥ, 362, p. 109a; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 26c; S. Ḥas. B 1170; Marmorstein, JJV, I (1923), 305 f. A similar belief in the repose of the dead on the Sabbath is to be found in Christianity, which of course transferred the day of rest to Sunday. According to Israel Lévi (REJ, XXV [1892], 7-10) this Christian belief was borrowed from the Jews in the second half of the fourth century. See also Grimm III, 417.
10. HaPardes, 57a; Siddur Rashi, 521, p. 260; HaManhig, 65; Mateh Moshe, 391, 497; etc.—HaPardes, 7b; Siddur Rashi, 207, P. 95; Tos. Beẓa 33b; Maḥ. Vit. 151, p. 117; Kol Bo, 41; etc.—Tashbeẓ, 14; Leket Yosher, I, 58.
11. The material has been discussed in an interesting essay by Israel Lévi, "Le Repos Sabbatique des Ames Damnées," REJ, XXV (1892), 1-13, XXVI (1893), 131-5. See also David Kaufmann, "Was the Custom of Fasting on Sabbath Afternoon part of the Early Anglo-Jewish Ritual?" JQR, OS, VI (1894), 954-6, and Ginzberg, Legends, V, 143 and VI, 22. In addition to the sources cited in these articles, see Lev Tov, 6:64, p. 63b, and Isserles, Oraḥ Ḥayim, 291:2. In medieval Lorraine the belief was current among Christians that on New Year's night the souls in purgatory bathe in the wells and streams, and water should therefore not be drawn then (Digot, III, 185).