[Avodah] The Talmud's Many Demons

[Akiva Miller]

R' Joel Rich wrote:

> 2. HKB"H creating demons, angels etc.. ... I have often
> wondered about the theology of angels and demons - perhaps
> they are psychological drives etc. but there is certainly
> what to talk about!

For some psychological effects, I totally agree. And similarly, for some physical effects, such as illnesses, "demons" might be how Chazal chose to describe germs and other physical things.

Similarly, R' Zev Sero offered:

> There is such a thing as Shedin Yehuda'in, "Jewish" demons, who
> do good.  In Yosef's case, he transmitted Torah that was said
> in one yeshivah to another the same day, filling a niche that
> would one day be taken over by the telephone and then by the
> internet.

The problem, as I see it, is that there is a limit to how far these metaphors can go, and this was explicitly addressed in the article cited. I am referring to the procedures which (we are told) can be used to make these demons visible:

> The problem is that the rabbis did not intend it as a metaphor.
> This becomes clear from the ensuing discussion of the effects
> of demons and the ways of making them visible. ... All you have
> to do is find a black female cat who is the firstborn daughter
> of a firstborn mother, burn her placenta to ashes, grind the
> ashes, and put some of them in your eye, and you will be able
> to see the demons. Be sure, however, to place the remainder of
> the ashes in a sealed iron tube, lest the demons steal it from
> you.

I do realize that many wise men of the time, both Jewish and not, believed this stuff. But how should **I** understand it?

We on Avodah have had many conversations on these topics before. For example, we've explained that maggots are not cases of spontaneous generation scientifically, but that because the eggs are microscopic, halacha considers the eggs as virtually non-existent. I am similarly bothered when there is an electronic device where we *know* that lights are being turned on and off, and poskim allow its use on Shabbos because the lights are hidden.

At some point we cross the line from explanations to apologetics.

I am not sure that we have ever crossed that line, but we might have, and I'm very uncomfortable about even being in the neighborhood. Sometimes, I think I might prefer to say that sheidim really and truly did exist, but stopped existing in modern times (similar to our loss of open [read: Biblical-style] miracles). Or perhaps they even continue to exist, but that our ability to *see them* was lost in modern times (again, similar to our loss of open miracles).

Surely, none of this chevra laughs at the idea of Biblical nissim the way we (want to) laugh at the idea of physical sheidim, right? Why is that?

Akiva Miller

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. --- Arthur C. Clarke


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