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Magic


The Postmodern Golem The Postmodern Golem
Tuesday, August 7, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

To Elizabeth Baer, the recent spate of golem literature, going beyond novels to comic books, artwork, even The X-Files, is an “intentional tribute to Jewish imagination as well as to the crucial importance of such imagination in the post-Holocaust period.”
Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews
Monday, July 11, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

1897 was a watershed year in Jewish history. And now, Jewish historians may consider adding a surprising entry to the list of that year's events that proved so repercussive in Jewish history: the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Of Devils and Dybbuks Of Devils and Dybbuks
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Many an enlightened reader of the New York Times must have indulged in yet another condescending laugh at the Catholic Church upon seeing a November 12 report about a conclave of bishops in Baltimore; the purpose was to discuss the urgent need for priestly experts in the task of expunging the devil from possessed parishioners. Among those chuckling, no doubt, were many Jews.
Rav Ovadia Rav Ovadia
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

One of the more outsized personalities in Israel's history is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the longtime head of the Shas political party, who has just marked his ninetieth birthday.  The foreign public knows of him, vaguely, as a right-wing fanatic. But the truth and perhaps the tragedy of the man are far more complicated and fascinating.
The Golem: Universal and Particular The Golem: Universal and Particular
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 by Benjamin Kerstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The most famous and enduring of all Jewish legends is that of the golem, the artificial man. Indeed, with the possible exception of the demon Lilith, briefly pressed into service as a feminist icon, the golem remains the only post-biblical Jewish myth to be widely adopted by non-Jewish culture. Among its recent incarnations are a computer game that bears its name and the army of humanoids who populate James Cameron's film Avatar. 
Editors' Picks
Fixed Stars Govern a Jewish Life? David S. Zinberg, Rationalist Judaism. An alarming fundamentalist tendency has arisen in Orthodox thought—leading, for instance, to a book whose premise is that astrology is a true science having the full support of Jewish tradition.
Vampires, Witches, and Werewolves Eli Clark, Torah Musings. Among the supernatural creatures detailed in traditional Jewish sources are women called estries, who fly, assume different forms, and suck the blood of their victims.
From Our Archives: Kabbalah and its Discontents Aryeh Tepper, Jewish Ideas Daily. Aside from a small circle of students and admirers, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag was an unknown figure at his death in 1954. Today, religious schools and New Age "educational centers" around the world are actively spreading his ideas, and his writings are being analyzed by professors and graduate students. After spending an hour in the rabbi's stone mausoleum, the pop-diva Madonna emerged with tears in her eyes.