ToC Studia Rosenthaliana 2020, Vol. 46, No. 1/2, 2020
Table of Contents of 'The Jewish Bookshop of the World; Aspects of Print and Manuscript Culture i... more Table of Contents of 'The Jewish Bookshop of the World; Aspects of Print and Manuscript Culture in Early Modern Amsterdam,' guest edited by Theodor Dunkelgrün.
Much scholarship has focused on providing models for the relationship between Jews and their Musl... more Much scholarship has focused on providing models for the relationship between Jews and their Muslim neighbours in North Africa. Both Muslims and Jews, however, also faced another kind of neighbour: the world of the invisible. Using a wide variety of sources, including colonial ethnography, AIU reports, and rabbinic literature, I aim to reconstruct the complex ways in which demons and spirits (Hebrew shedim, Arabic jnun) appeared in the Maghrebi Jewish world, focusing on the 19th and early 20th century. Classical scholarship on North African Jewish demonology assigned it to the realm of syncretic folklore, reproducing colonial binaries between tradition and religion, superstition and rationality, and hybridity and purity. The resonances between Muslim and Jewish demonological practices have led to an overwhelming scholarly focus on the ‘local,’ North African nature of these demons, ignoring the importance of their placement within Jewish social contexts. While I avoid reducing jnun to solely metaphoric or symbolic subjects, I argue that Jewish practices, rituals, and beliefs about demons deserve attention both for the ways they reveal concerns for the boundaries of Jewish society and for how they enrich our understanding of the Jewish imagination.
Jewish interactions with demons, like their interactions with Muslims, had a variety of contexts and manifestations: apotropaic, placatory, exorcistic, and even co-operative. Many practices were interwoven with the Jewish ritual and textual tradition; some were found only among Jews, others were shared with Muslims, and some even included or depended upon Muslim participation. More than simply a borrowed belief, however, demonology was an integral part of the Jewish world. Stories and practices about demons reinforced the spiritual power of Torah, the importance of strong-yet-flexible communal boundaries, and above all the imaginative potential of the invisible; they continue to resonate to this day among North African Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. This thesis explores the possibilities for analysis that are opened by focusing on the in-between space occupied by demons and spirits, the fence separating Maghrebi Jews from their visible and invisible neighbours.
This course explores the history of magic in Jewish communities across the world from the times o... more This course explores the history of magic in Jewish communities across the world from the times of the Bible until the present day. We will focus on the inhabitants of what might be termed 'the Jewish imagination' — angels, demons, and other supernatural forces — and the various ways to interact with them. Some texts strongly discourage interacting with the supernatural, while other texts provide detailed instructions on how to do it correctly...
ToC Studia Rosenthaliana 2020, Vol. 46, No. 1/2, 2020
Table of Contents of 'The Jewish Bookshop of the World; Aspects of Print and Manuscript Culture i... more Table of Contents of 'The Jewish Bookshop of the World; Aspects of Print and Manuscript Culture in Early Modern Amsterdam,' guest edited by Theodor Dunkelgrün.
Much scholarship has focused on providing models for the relationship between Jews and their Musl... more Much scholarship has focused on providing models for the relationship between Jews and their Muslim neighbours in North Africa. Both Muslims and Jews, however, also faced another kind of neighbour: the world of the invisible. Using a wide variety of sources, including colonial ethnography, AIU reports, and rabbinic literature, I aim to reconstruct the complex ways in which demons and spirits (Hebrew shedim, Arabic jnun) appeared in the Maghrebi Jewish world, focusing on the 19th and early 20th century. Classical scholarship on North African Jewish demonology assigned it to the realm of syncretic folklore, reproducing colonial binaries between tradition and religion, superstition and rationality, and hybridity and purity. The resonances between Muslim and Jewish demonological practices have led to an overwhelming scholarly focus on the ‘local,’ North African nature of these demons, ignoring the importance of their placement within Jewish social contexts. While I avoid reducing jnun to solely metaphoric or symbolic subjects, I argue that Jewish practices, rituals, and beliefs about demons deserve attention both for the ways they reveal concerns for the boundaries of Jewish society and for how they enrich our understanding of the Jewish imagination.
Jewish interactions with demons, like their interactions with Muslims, had a variety of contexts and manifestations: apotropaic, placatory, exorcistic, and even co-operative. Many practices were interwoven with the Jewish ritual and textual tradition; some were found only among Jews, others were shared with Muslims, and some even included or depended upon Muslim participation. More than simply a borrowed belief, however, demonology was an integral part of the Jewish world. Stories and practices about demons reinforced the spiritual power of Torah, the importance of strong-yet-flexible communal boundaries, and above all the imaginative potential of the invisible; they continue to resonate to this day among North African Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. This thesis explores the possibilities for analysis that are opened by focusing on the in-between space occupied by demons and spirits, the fence separating Maghrebi Jews from their visible and invisible neighbours.
This course explores the history of magic in Jewish communities across the world from the times o... more This course explores the history of magic in Jewish communities across the world from the times of the Bible until the present day. We will focus on the inhabitants of what might be termed 'the Jewish imagination' — angels, demons, and other supernatural forces — and the various ways to interact with them. Some texts strongly discourage interacting with the supernatural, while other texts provide detailed instructions on how to do it correctly...
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Papers by Noam Sienna
Jewish interactions with demons, like their interactions with Muslims, had a variety of contexts and manifestations: apotropaic, placatory, exorcistic, and even co-operative. Many practices were interwoven with the Jewish ritual and textual tradition; some were found only among Jews, others were shared with Muslims, and some even included or depended upon Muslim participation. More than simply a borrowed belief, however, demonology was an integral part of the Jewish world. Stories and practices about demons reinforced the spiritual power of Torah, the importance of strong-yet-flexible communal boundaries, and above all the imaginative potential of the invisible; they continue to resonate to this day among North African Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. This thesis explores the possibilities for analysis that are opened by focusing on the in-between space occupied by demons and spirits, the fence separating Maghrebi Jews from their visible and invisible neighbours.
Teaching Documents by Noam Sienna
CFP by Noam Sienna
Jewish interactions with demons, like their interactions with Muslims, had a variety of contexts and manifestations: apotropaic, placatory, exorcistic, and even co-operative. Many practices were interwoven with the Jewish ritual and textual tradition; some were found only among Jews, others were shared with Muslims, and some even included or depended upon Muslim participation. More than simply a borrowed belief, however, demonology was an integral part of the Jewish world. Stories and practices about demons reinforced the spiritual power of Torah, the importance of strong-yet-flexible communal boundaries, and above all the imaginative potential of the invisible; they continue to resonate to this day among North African Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. This thesis explores the possibilities for analysis that are opened by focusing on the in-between space occupied by demons and spirits, the fence separating Maghrebi Jews from their visible and invisible neighbours.