Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion

by Joshua Trachtenberg, Moshe Idel

Overview

These notes give a fairly elementary introduction to the local theory of differentiable mappings. Sard's Theorem and the Preparation Theorem of Malgrange and Mather are the basic tools and these are proved first. There follows a number of illustrations including: the local part of Whitney's Theorem on mappings of the plane into the plane, quadratic differentials, the Instability Theorem of Thom, one of Mather's theorems on finite determinacy and a glimpse of the theory of Toujeron. The later part of the book develops Mather's theory of unfoldings of singularities. Its application to Catastrophe theory is explained and the Elementary Catastrophes are illustrated by many pictures. The book is suitable as a text for courses to graduates and advanced undergraduates but may also be of interest to mathematical biologists and economists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812218626
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	02/13/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.12(d)

About the Author

Joshua Trachtenberg (1904-59) served in the American rabbinate for nearly three decades. He is the author of The Devil and the Jews. Moshe Idel is Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His numerous publications include Kabbalah: New Perspectives, Messianic Mystics, and Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic. He received the Israel Prize for excellence in the field of Jewish philosophy in 1999.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Moshe Idel
Preface

I. the Legend of Jewish Sorcery
II. The Truth Behind the Legend
III. The Powers of Evil
IV. Man and the Demons
V. The Spirits of the Dead
VI. The Powers of Good
VII. "In the Nature of . . ."
VIII. The Bible in Magic
IX. The Magical Procedure
X. Amulets
XI. The War with the Spirits
XII. Nature and Man
XIII. Medicine
XIV. Divination
XV. Dreams
XVI. Astrology

Appendix I. The Formation of Magical Names
Appendix II. Ms Sefer Gematriaot on Gems

Abbreviations and Hebrew Titles
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary of Hebrew Terms
Index