7. Resultados por objetivo
7.1 Evaluación del potencial de aprovechamiento de los materiales presentes en el flujo
7.1.7 Los recicladores de oficio en el Corregimiento de Tribunas
Throughout Bashevis’s writings there are many references to the use o f Jewish mystical
works for magical purposes. Thus in ”‘7X1 ij/7 one o f the leaders o f the Shabbatean
movement in Goraj, R. Itshe Mates, utilises o f the Sefer Yezirah in an apotropaic manner
and, according to a rumour, by producing from it doves by means o f incantations.^ In
üHpWlü »7 one hasidic character named Akive decides to put the Sefer Yezirah
underneath his pillow as a protection against the forces o f the xnnx X"iü’D (the realm o f
Satan and the evil spirits).^ For the same reason the Sefer Razi ’el is placed underneath the
pillow o f Eydl, Oyzer-Heshl’s first wife, when she is about to give birth.^ In üDÿlp lÿ i
Yankev carries with him the Sefer Yezirah^ Sefer Razi ’el and Tikunei Zohar as a
protection against demons and he places the Sefer Yezirah underneath Sore’s pillow,
when she is struggling in a particularly difficult labour.^ In JID lÿD^DWlp lji7, when
the magician Yasha Mazur picks up a tom book from a synagogue, he wonders, whether
this is a kabbalistic text, which he could use for his magical performances, for instance in
order to tap wine from the wall or to create living doves.
These are only a few significant examples in Bashevis’s works, where Jewish
mysticism and magic are closely connected. In fact, there has been a considerable
“magical influence” on Jewish mysticm, beginning already with the Heikhalot literature.
It is assumed that the Hebrew language possesses “special traits, which account for the
influence o f masters using combinations o f letters that form the divine names”. This
“magical view o f the Hebrew language” is shared by most forms o f magic in Judaism
^ ”7/0 PH pm 7V7, 81, 160.
’ m p m iD v^b^DHD » 7 ,129. * Ibid., 412.
’ üDVip 7V7, 189, 207.
and has remained influential in numerous kabbalistic texts/^
All the examples from Bashevis’s writings o f the use o f Jewish mystical works for
magical or superstitious practices testify to the popular belief in the inherent power o f the
letters o f the Hebrew alphabet and particularly o f texts containing (holy names).
Among the texts employed for magical purposes the Sefer Razi ’el and Sefer Yezirah
figure most prominently. The Sefer Razi ’el, contains lists o f angelic names, specific
Divine names, incantation formulas, texts o f amulets as well as detailed instructions on
their preparation.^^ The Sefer Yezirah has also frequently been connected with forms of
Jewish magic, based on the “creative, magical power” o f letters and words, since it
speaks o f the letters, out o f which Heaven and earth were created.
This idea o f the power o f letters was already known in Talmudic times. Thus the
first generation Babylonian ’Amora Rab (c. 200 C.E.) said concerning Bezalel, the artist
who was chosen to build the tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex 31, 1-11), that he knew
“yixi pD ixiziw nvrnx (how to combine the letters, by which Heaven and
earth were created). According to another Talmudic text, two first generation
Palestinian ’Amoraim, R. ’Oshaya and R. Hanina (bar Hama), used to occupy themselves
every week before the beginning o f Shabat with a text referred to as “m ’ï ’ “IDD” {Sefer
Yezirah, Book o f Creation), by means o f which they created an “snb’D xbry” (a calf one
third o f its full growth, or: a calf in its third year), which they ate.^"^ In another version o f
the same story the work, studied by R. ’Oshaia and R. Hanina, is called “m ’S’ mDbn”
(Laws o f Creation). It is not clear, however, if this work refers to the extant Sefer
Yezirah, an earlier version or a completely different mystical text, which is no longer
extant.
" Cf. Moshe Idel, Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic, Albany: SUNY, 1995, 65. Cf. J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, 77, 92, 95,117, 140, 145. b Berakhot 55 a.
b Sanhédrin 65 b. 15
During the Middle Ages, some circles in France and Germany interpreted Sefer Yezirah
as a “guide to magical usage”. According to a commentary on the Sefer Yezirah by
Judah b. Barzillai (beginning o f the twelfth century), after a “profound study o f the
mysteries o f Sefer Yezirah"^ on the creation o f the universe, the sages “acquired the power
to create living beings”, although the purpose o f such creation was “purely symbolic and
contemplative”.^^ From these Talmudic legends and their mediaeval interpretation, the
Hasidei ’Ashkenaz in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries developed the idea o f the
creation o f a golem as a “mystical ritual”. The commentary on Sefer Yezirah by R. Elazar
o f Worms (d. between 1223 and 1232) contains technical instructions on the creation o f a
golem, including 23 folio columns o f letter combinations to be recited during the act of
creation.
Bashevis must have been familiar with these magical interpretations o f Sefer Yezirah,
since he has many characters throughout his works, who employ Sefer Yezirah for
magical purposes, either to ward off demons or to create living beings with its help. In
a book for children, entitled The Golem, he narrates the famous legend o f the creation of
a golem by R. Judah Leyb b. Bezalel o f Prague. But apart fi*om this, the living creatures
supposedly created by Bashevis’s characters with the help o f Sefer Yezirah, are almost
exclusively doves. Such is the case with R. Itshe Mates in ij/7 and with some
o f the followers o f the Shabbatean movement in Pilica in the epilogue o f 7P7, who
have reportedly occupied themselves with “rr'ü/yü (practical Kabbalah), trying to
tap wine fi’om the wall and to create living doves with the help o f Sefer Yezirah}^ These
two examples o f practical Kabbalah are cited frequently throughout Bashevis’s works.
Cf. G. Scholem, Kabbalah, 352.
Ibid. Cf. also: J. Trachtenberg, Jewish M agic and Superstition, 85.
LB. Singer, The Golem, with illustrations by Uri Shulevitz, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982, translated by the author, with the help o f Alma Singer and Deborah Menashe and edited by Robert Giroux. The Yiddish original was published under the title m o p H im i pH ih5 nwvtû h 1V7 in owiimiHD in New York on 25 and 26 April and 2, 3, 9 ,1 0 , 16 and 17 May 1969.
They are reflected not only in )1D ivi, in Yasha Mazur’s speculations on
the magic he could perform with the help o f his newly discovered Hebrew text, which he
assumes to be kabbalistic, but also in ’7, in Herts Yanover’s theories on
psychic research, according to which in a state o f unconsciousness it is possible to create
“pXQ u/"»” (something out o f nothing), as an example of which the creation of doves by
unspecified Kabbalists is cited, again connected to the tapping o f wine from a wall/^
Furthermore towards the beginning o f Shosha the narrator boasts to his childhood friend
o f his familiarity with the Kabbalah, as a result of which he was able to draw wine from
the wall and create living doves/^ The narrator o f the short memoir nm o n ’
also boasts o f his ability o f performing the same two magical activities with the help o f
his kabbalistic studies/^
The idea o f the creation o f living beings through the power o f combinations o f Hebrew
letters is congruent with the Talmudic legends and the mediaeval commentaries on Sefer
Yezirah. But the fact, that the living creatures supposedly created in Bashevis’s writings,
are neither calves as in the Talmudic account, nor human-like creatures as the mediaeval
golem, but doves, can only be explained as a personal variation o f Bashevis’s own
making, possibly influenced by something he heard during his childhood. The particular
combination o f creating living doves and tapping wine from the wall indeed appears in
an untranslated episode o f Bashevis’s memoirs 2WW pi-n^n 02DSD ppD, as mentioned
previously.^^ But the use o f these two magical experiments as a recurrent motif
throughout Bashevis’s works can only be understood as a special stylistic device, which
accords with Bashevis’s frequent use o f other recurrent images, such as descriptions of
the nocturnal sky, connected with visions o f the higher spheres and the image o f sparks
PD liDHDJSJip iv i, 74; üi^7mr> Tb'^mD 136.
I.E. Singer, Shosha, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1978, 7.
‘lîsnnyo k .n'73p "cn itd m no in: yivrm ps iv7,274.
o f light in contexts of darkness, which will be discussed below?"^
The second kind o f magical usage o f Sefer Yezirah and other Jewish mystical works,
referred to above, is connected to the superstitious practice o f warding off the demons,
which were supposed to surround a person in a time o f danger. The apotropaic practices,
described in Bashevis’s works, are employed by various Jewish characters, living in the
seventeenth century, including Yankev and members o f the community in Pilica in
ÜDV2P IVI and the Shabbatean leaders R. Itshe Mates and R. Gedalye in *7J^7,
as well as by various other traditional Jewish characters from later centuries, including
several twentieth century hasidic and other traditional Jewish characters in ’7
The apotropaic devices employed by Bashevis’s characters include the superstitious
practice o f carrying Jewish mystical works as a protection against demons and the use
o f written amulets. A particularly critical time, when apotropaic practices were
considered necessary, was the moment o f birth.^^ Thus “’|mbS7iDn-T’t27” (amulets hung up in
a lying-in chamber) are prepared for Eydl in ’7, when she is about to give
birth.^^ These are special amulets containing sections o f the Psalms, beginning with the
words (A Song o f Ascent) - [Ps 120-134]. The Psalms were “highly
regarded for their potency”. Psalm 126, for instance, was placed in a house to protect
children “against the hazards o f infancy”.^^ The same practice o f placing “im'7S7ün-*T>U7”
in a lying-in chamber is also employed by Yankev in üDmp 1V7. In addition to this,
Yankev provides Sore with a “r o p ” (amulet), which she has to wear around her neck as
a protection against Igeret, the queen o f the evil spirits, and other demons.^^ Written
Regarding images o f the nocturnal sky and higher spheres, see below: Sections 5.4.2 and 6.3.5. Regarding the image o f “sparks”, see: Section 3.4.2 and Sections 4.4.2, 5.4.4, 6.4, 7.5.2.
ÜDmp imr, 189, 2 0 7 ,2 1 4 f.; p s jüw imr, 78, 81,119; ü H p m n v ^ w s »7,129,412. Cf. J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, 168 f.
üH pw tü ’7 , 4 1 2 .
Cf. J. Trachtenberg, Jewish M agic and Superstition, 109, 139. ÜDmp iv i, 207, 211,214.
amulets were particularly popular as a protection against demons, since they contain the
“most powerful elements o f Jewish magic - the names”.^^ Another apotropaic device,
mentioned both in connection with Sore in üDV2p iv i and with Eydl in ’7,
is the knife placed underneath the pillow o f the woman in childbirth, together with either
the Sefer Yezirah in the case o f Sore or the Sefer Razi 'el in the case o f Eydl/^ The knife,
given to a woman during the last days prior to her delivery, was one o f the widespread
“anti-demonic weapons”. The use o f Sefer Yezirah and Sefer Razi ’el for magical or
superstitious practices has already been discussed above.^^ Further magical practices
employed on Sore’s behalf by the women o f the Pilica community, who gather at her
bedside, include the use o f a magic bowl and incantations, which were one o f the most
prominent elements in Jewish magic.^^
Another superstitious idea, expressed in connection with Sore in DDVp IVI and in various
other places throughout Bashevis’s works, is the belief in ’ (dybbuks). When
Sore, who is supposedly mute, begins to cry out in her native Polish, the women at her
bedside are convinced that a dybbuk has entered her.^"^ The idea o f the dybbuk as the
spirit o f a dead person, seeking refuge in the body o f a living person, was combined with
the doctrine of (transmigration o f the soul) in the sixteenth century and became
a widespread popular belief. The term “pU’T” is an abbreviation o f “ny*i m iü plT l”
(cleaving or adhesion o f an evil spirit) and was “introduced into literature only in the
17^ century from the spoken language of German and Polish Jews”.^^ Seventeenth
century Poland is, in fact, the setting o f both tûDÿlp ij/7 and ”7^.7 ;vf iv i, where an
abundancy o f superstitious beliefs and practices can be found. With regard to DDV2p W7,
Cf. J. Trachtenberg, Jewish M agic and Superstition, 139,
1P7, 207; m pw w ’7, 412.
Cf. J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, 160,168 f. - On the magical use o f Sefer Yeprah and Sefer Raziel, see above; Section 3.2, 67.
VDP7P1P7, 214 f. Cf. J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, 115.
üDÿzp 1P7,216 ff.
the reader knows from the beginning that the dybbuk, which has supposedly entered Sore,
is nothing other than a superstitious fantasy, but with regard to p s JDW 1P7,the
dybbuk reportedly possessing Rekhele appears to be substantial, at least in the context o f
this fictional creation/^
Bashevis, however, is consistently ambivalent on the subject o f demons and dybbuks.
The question o f Bashevis’s belief in the demonic and his use o f it in his fiction frequently
arises in his many interviews. In an interview with Joel Blocker and Richard Elman,
Bashevis distinguishes between his own belief and his literary use o f the supernatural. On
the one hand, he states: “I truly believe that there are forces and spirits in the world,
about which we know very little, which influence our lives. A hundred years from now,
when people know more about other things, they will also know more about these
spiritual powers. [...] I find it very easy to believe in reincarnation, possession by devils,
and other such things. We have many proofs that these things e x i s t . O n the other hand,
he speaks o f his “literary reason” for his use o f “the demonic and supernatural”: “It’s a
kind o f spiritual stenography. It gives me more freedom. For another thing, the demons
and Satan represent to me, in a sense, the ways o f the world. Instead o f saying this is the
way things happen, I will say, this is the way demons behave. Demons symbolize the
world for me, and by that I mean human beings and human behaviour”.^* In an interview
with Cyrena Pondrom, Bashevis, on the one hand, agrees with the suggestion that in his
works demons or supernatural forces often “manifest themselves in psychological terms,
as psychological forces”, saying: “In writing you have to find a way to say these things or
hint them. I found that folklore is the best way o f expressing these feelings, because
folklore has already expressed them, has already given clothes to these ideas. By really
36
p t i n , 169-189
Ibid., 19 f.
Cf. Joel Blocker and Richard Elman, ‘An Interview with Isaac Bashevis Singer’, in: Commentary 36 (November 1963), reprinted in: G.Farrell (ed.). Conversations, 18 f.
calling demons names and by assigning to them certain functions, it makes it more
concrete and in writing you have to be concrete; if not it becomes philosophy or
brooding.”^^ On the other hand, Bashevis again stresses his belief in supernatural powers
as a substantive reality: “But basically behind all these names and all these functions is
the idea that powers exist - o f which we really don’t know.” And: “It is true I don’t know
what these powers are. They may be divine powers or other kinds o f powers, but I will
always have this feeling, and this is the reason that I write about the supernatural. The
supernatural for me is not really supernatural; it’s powers which we don’t know.”"^®
In an interview with Grace Farrell, Bashevis replies to a question regarding the “imps
who are always testing man”: “It’s all parables; we don’t know what they are. It’s man
himself who is always... we are always tempted whether the imps do it or some other
creatures. All these names are taken from f o l k l o r e . O n a deeper level he connects the
existence o f the powers o f evil in this world with the fact that human beings have free
choice: “The material world is a combination o f seeing and blindness. This blindness we
call Satan, If we would become all seeing, we would not have free choice anymore.
Because if we would see God, if we would see His greatness, there would be no
temptation or sin. And since God wanted us to have free will this means that Satan, in
other words the principle o f evil, must exist. Because what does free choice mean? It
means the freedom to choose between good and evil. If there is no evil there is no
freedom.
Bashevis’s ideas on the origins and purpose o f evil and its connection to free will,
however, are closely connected with a particular interpretation o f the Lurianic doctrine
o f creation, which will be discussed in more detail below.
Cf. Cyrena Pondrom, ‘Isaac Bashevis Singer: An Interview’, in: Contemporary Literature 10:1-2 (1969), reprinted in: G. Farrell (ed.). Conversations, 65 f.
Ibid., 64, 66.
Cf. Grace Farrell, ‘Seeing and Blindness: A Conversation with Isaac Bashevis Singer’, in: Novel: A Forum on Fiction 9:2 (Winter 1976), reprinted in: G. Farrell (ed.). Conversations, 137.
3.3. Creation and Language — The Central Idea of Sefer Yezirah and Its Implications