Do You Believe in Magic?
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By Agur bin-Yakeh
In Parashas
Vaeira the Torah recounts the first of the many miracles
performed by Moshe in Egypt:
Moshe came with Aharon
to Paroh and they did so, as Hashem had commanded; Aharon cast down his staff before Paroh
and before his servants, and it became a snake. Paroh,
too, summoned his wise men and sorcerers, and they, too - the
necromancers of Egypt - did so with their magic. Each one cast down his
staff and they became snakes; and the staff of Aharon
swallowed their staffs. The heart of Paroh was strong
and he did not heed them, as Hashem had spoken. (Shemos
7:10-13)
The question is: Did Paroh's sorcerers do real magic? The
answer to this question is a machlokes Rishonim (a disagreement between medieval authorities). Some
Rishonim, such as the Rambam,
Ibn Ezra, and Radak,
maintain that there is no such thing as Òreal magic.Ó All instances of magic,
sorcery, and occult practices mentioned by the Torah were nothing but illusions
and trickery, whether by sleight of hand or by sleight of mind. For the sake of
simplicity, we will refer to this position as Òthe RambamÕs
view,Ó [1] since he was more vocal about
his position on this matter than many of the other Rishonim.
Other Rishonim,
such as the Ramban, Sefer haÕChinuch, and Rashi, maintain
that magic – at least, some forms of magic – are real, and involve
tremendous chochmah (wisdom). Of course, they do not believe (chas vÕshalom) that
magic involve powers other than Hashem. Rather, they conceive of magic as a
method of manipulating natural phenomena in ÒunnaturalÓ ways. This may be
compared to the act of ÒhackingÓ a computer program: the program was designed
to be used in a certain way, but the potential for the other uses exists within
its code, and if one knows programming language, he can change the program to
be used in an ÒunnaturalÓ manner – that is, in a manner contrary to the
intent of the programÕs original designer. We will refer to this position as
Òthe RambanÕs view,Ó since he was one of the most
vocal opponents of the RambamÕs view.
Last but not least, there
are Rishonim who are in doubt. They acknowledge both
sides of the issue, but admit that they donÕt know which side is correct. One
of these Rishonim is the Ralbag[2], who writes:
I maintain that these Òwise men [of
Egypt]Ó were the men who were knowledgeable in the chochmas Mitzrayim (Egyptian wisdom). This chochmah enabled
its practitioners to produce acts of sorcery to bring about strange and
unnatural phenomena. They either (a) perform illusions which cause people
to think they are doing what they are not actually doing; or (b) they
devise natural mechanisms to produce strange phenomena that appear to
be acts of sorcery; or (c) they did these strange actions by means of actual
sorcery – that is, assuming these things are possibly by way of
actual sorcery. Today, however, we lack knowledge of the nature and
character of this [Egyptian] Òsorcery,Ó and so we have not seen fit to discuss
it.
Whenever I present this machlokes between the Rambam
and the Ramban to my students, I am inevitably asked
two questions: ÒHow do we know which view is correct?Ó and ÒWhat do you
believe?Ó
My answer to the first
question is: analyze each of the theories in depth, evaluate their relative
strengths and weaknesses, and arrive at a conclusion with your own mind.
If you are enable to conduct a full investigation or are unable to arrive at a
conclusion, the most intellectually honest position to hold is that of the Ralbag, who said, ÒI donÕt know.Ó Do not be intellectually irresponsible
and adopt whichever belief you find most emotionally pleasing or the most
stimulating to your imagination and fantasy.
My answer to the second
question, ÒWhat do you believe?Ó is a bit more nuanced than the two
basic Rishonic positions outlined above. I will say,
without hesitation, that I believe the RambamÕs view to
be correct. I do not believe that there is or ever was such a thing as Òreal
magic,Ó and anything that appears to be real magic is the product of
trickery, imagination, and/or ignorance. Not only that, but I maintain that if
the Ramban were alive today, he would agree with the Rambam. There would be no machlokes.
In order to understand why
this is the case, we need to understand why the Ramban
believed in magic in the first place. The answer is not simply ÒBecause the
Torah talks about people doing magic, and prohibits magic, so magic must
be real!Ó After all, the Rambam and other Rishonim were also aware of the references to magic
in the Torah, and they still maintained that magic is fake.
The RambanÕs
clearest statement of his reasons for believing in occult practices (such as
magic, astrology, omen-reading, etc.) can be found in his commentary on Devarim
18:9. He writes that we ought to believe in these phenomena because Òwe cannot deny things [that] have been done publicly in the sight of
witnessesÓ and because are based on Òempirically verified
scienceÓ – that is to say, they have been confirmed by observation and
experience. Scientists[3] at
the time of the Ramban believed in these occult
phenomena, and the Ramban relied on their conclusions.
To deny magic would be to reject science and sense observation,[4] which
is the basis of everything – including our acceptance of Torah.
The RambanÕs true position
is now clear. Just as he relied on the empirical conclusions of the scientists in
his times, so too, if he were alive today, he would embrace the empirical conclusions
of modern day scientists. To my knowledge, there is absolutely no scientific
evidence to support a belief in magic and the occult. Scientists today know
what the Rambam wrote over 800 years ago:
Anyone who believes in these and similar things and, in his
heart, holds that they are true and scientific but forbidden by the
Torah, is nothing but a fool with a deficient mind, who belongs to the same
class with others whose intellects are immature. Intelligent people, however,
whose rationality is intact, know by clear proofs that all these practices
which the Torah prohibited have no scientific basis but are senseless and
empty; and that only those with deficient minds are attracted by
these follies and, for their sake, leave the ways of truth.
In the RambanÕs time, the
evidence wasnÕt so clear. To deny magic was to take a stance on what was
regarded as a two-sided scientific dispute. Today, however, there are no two
sides. In this day and age, to believe in magic is to reject science and
to deny sense observation. That, we can be sure, is a stance that the Ramban would never take, and never advocate.
[1] See Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Mishneh Torah: Hilchos Avodah Zarah 11:16; Commentary on the Mishnah, Maseches Avodah Zarah 4:6; Letter to the Rabbis of Montepellier
[2] Rabbeinu Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag / Gersonides), Commentary on Sefer Shemos 7:11 (Beur haÕMilos)
[3] There wasnÕt any ÒscienceÓ in RambanÕs time. They called it Ònatural philosophy.Ó IÕm speaking in the vernacular.
[4] This isnÕt the only instance of the Ramban basing his interpretation of Chumash on empirical evidence. In our dvar Torah on Parashas Noach we saw that the Ramban relied on the explanation of rainbows given by the Greek scientists, even when their words undermined the plain pshat of the pesukim. The Ramban wrote: ÒWe are compelled to believe the words of the Greek [scientists] that rainbows are a natural phenomenon resulting from the sunÕs rays passing through moist air, etc.Ó