What is this sorcery? Survival of Jewish magic and Hebrew grimoires after 1492.

Abstract

Despite the fact that the Bible and rabbinic literature emphatically forbid the practice of witchcraft and sorcery, over the centuries there has been an intrinsic association of the Hebrew and the magical, especially those referring to texts of an esoteric nature, with special profusion during the Middle Ages. Sefer ha-razîm, Sefer Raziel ha-malaḵ or Clavicula Salomonis among others, enjoyed great profusion among the Jewish population. And although the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 could suggest that these texts disappeared from the Iberian Peninsula, a detailed study shows that certain practices and rites may have persisted among the conversos. Inquisitorial testimonies show that there was great fear that alleged Jewish magic books would attack Christian population and their beliefs.