Date: 05.05.10

Opening May 5^th, 2010

How can you charm a woman?
How can you protect babies against the evil demon Lilith?
Why would you bury bowls upside-down at the entrance to your home?

The magical and mysterious world of Jewish incantations, spells and curses is revealed in the new exhibition Angels & Demons, Jewish Magic through the Ages. This thought-provoking exhibition explores the practice of magic in Jewish tradition from ancient times to day through archaeology, folklore and superstition in an all encompassing display of amulets, khamsas, jewelry, manuscripts and books of spells. These mystifying objects have been assembled together for the first time to illustrate this riveting subject.

Magic permeates our daily (Jewish) lives to such a degree that life devoid of the influence of magical forces is nearly inconceivable. An interesting fact is that many items in our daily lives are magical in nature or origin. For example, the classic magician’s formula ABRACADABRA, has its roots in the 3rd century CE.

The exhibition Angels & Demons, Jewish Magic through the Ages, examines the origins and development of magic in Judaism from the First Temple period to the present day by focusing on beliefs, customs and, particularly, the practical use of magical objects in daily Jewish life. Belief that the world was filled with supernatural beings and forces such as angels, demons, spirits and the evil eye was common in the ancient world. Indeed, many people today hold to that conviction. Many powers were attributed to these beings that were thought to be responsible for the good, but especially the bad things, happening to people on a daily basis.

Among the rare and interesting items is a child's tunic-shirt discovered in the Cave of Letters dated to the Bar Kochba period (132-135 CE). Thousands of fragments of textiles have been discovered in Israel, but the Cave of Letters was the only one where the phenomenon of tied textile ('sacks') was found. These little 'sacks' contained various items believed to have protective and healing powers and to guard against the evil eye.

Another exceptional object on display is an amuletic textile from Iran. The textile shows a variety of images and symbols that reflect a mix of Iranian Jewish and non-Jewish magical traditions. The names of the ten sons of Haman (villain from the Book of Esther) are inscribed on the fabric. It was believed that all evil directed at the owner of this textile would be deflected onto the ten sons.

Also on display is a rare 2,500 year old marble discus from the Sea of Yavneh-Yam (near Kibbutz Palmahim). This has been identified as representing the cornea, iris and pupil of an eye and was mounted on the bow of a ship to protect the ship, its captain and its crew from the evil eye. There are only four such objects known in the world, two in Israel and two in Turkey.

Many of the artifacts are on loan to this exhibition from private collections and have never before been on public display.

The exhibition is enhanced by artifacts on loan from the Golan Archaeological Museum, The Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Israel Antiquities Authority and private collectors.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full color catalog made possible by the support of the American Friends of the BLMJ, the British Friends of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem; the Lands of the Bible Archaeology Foundation, Toronto, Canada; the Israel Minister of Education and the Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport.