Comprehensive research with sources, exegesis and historical context
The Torahin the section Ki Tisá, not combat witchcraft as superstition folk, but as a theological direct. From the episode of the golden calf in Exodus 32 to the story talmudic witches of Ashqelon, biblical judaism and rabbinic develops a coherent system aimed at eliminating three fundamental axes:
- Idolatry is embodied in precious metals.
- The manipulation ritual occult forces.
- The sacralization autonomous of the matter.
This analysis examines the laws levíticas against witchcraft and the fight of the bible against idolatry from biblical sources, rabbinic commentaries, and historical context.
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I. The gold and the golden calf in Ki Tisá
In the ancient world, the gold symbolized incorruptibility, solar power and divine kingship. In Egypt, was regarded as the “flesh of the gods” and was associated with the bull Apis.
When Israel makes the calf in Exodus 32 (parashah Ki Tisá), deliberately chooses the gold. The metal more perfect becomes the support of idolatry.
The reaction of Moses is programmatic:
“Burnt it in the fire, ground it to powder and scattered it on the water” (Exodus 32:20).
This act is not only punitive; it is theological. The gold is divine: is triturable. Thus, the Torah dismantles the idea that matter has intrinsic power.
II. Sacrifices leviticus and neutralization of the symbol
The bull was sacred in Egypt and a symbol of cultural continuity. The calf of gold reflects the symbolic heritage.
After the sin, the sacrificial system described in Leviticus 1-9 prescribed bulls and calves as offerings. What was the object of worship, becomes the animal that was slain before the altar. The symbol is reversed.
Reading rationalism of Maimonides
Maimonides, in More Nevujim III:32, and III:46, argued that the sacrifice was a concession in teaching. The people needed a ritual framework known, but reoriented towards monotheism.
Sacrificing animals previously venerable show that lack of divinity. The sacrifice does not justify the symbol; neutralizes it.
The position of Nachmanides
Nachmanides recognizes a mystical dimension in the sacrifice, but agrees that the centralized system eliminates cults parallel and syncretic practices.
In both approaches, the laws levíticas operate as a barrier against the idolatry and witchcraft.
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III. Laws levíticas against witchcraft
The laws of priestly Leviticus 21-22 are not merely rituals. Constitute an architecture antibrujería.
1. No contact with corpses
Leviticus 21:1-4.
Necromancy —forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:11— involved the ritual use of human remains. The kohen represents radical separation of the death and of the whole manipulation spiritual associated with it.
2. Prohibition of incisions and cuts
Leviticus 21:5.
The pagan cults practiced cutting body (cf. 1 Kings 18:28). The Torah prohibits these ritual gestures linked to magical practices.
3. Restrictions on marriage
Leviticus 21:7-14.
These rules protect the priesthood of environments associated with cults idolatrous and sexual rituals pagan.
4. Centralization of worship
Deuteronomy 12 states that the divine service should focus on a single authorized location. The magic operates in secrecy; the cult of the bible is public, ruled and monitored.
Biblical holiness replaced manipulation by obedience.
IV. Gold, metals, and the myth of the art powerful
On systems that magical old:
- The gold symbolizes perfection and immortality.
- The silver is linked to the moon.
- The iron is associated with spiritual protection.
Medieval alchemy became the gold in the paradigm of material perfection, and sought the transmutation using the “philosopher's stone”.
Maimonides, in Hilchot Avodah Zarahrefuses to attribute inherent power to material objects. The matter does not mean the divine except by explicit command.
In the Torah, the gold of the Mishkán (Exodus 25-28) is not magical; it is material consecrated by divine order. The difference is ontological.
V. The case of the witches of Ashqelon
The treaty Sanhedrin 45b of the Talmud Bavlí mentions that Shimon ben Shetaj hung up to eighty women in Ashqelon.
Shimon ben Shetaj was a leading pharisee of the period hasmoneo, key in the consolidation of the legal order of a traditional one.
Ashqelon was a port city hellenistic, culturally hybrid and permeable to magical practices in the mediterranean.
The Talmud makes it clear that it was a hora''at sha'ah (as an exceptional measure, not of an ordinary procedure. The action responded to a social crisis, serious, and reaffirmed the sovereignty regulations against cults clandestine.
VI. Synthesis
The line of argument is consistent:
- The gold symbolizes power material whatsoever.
- The golden calf evidence the temptation to deify matter.
- The levitical system destroys symbolically that divinization.
- The laws of priestly block magical practices associated with death and manipulation.
- The leadership rabbinical intervenes to preserve the integrity monotheistic.
The Torah does not debate the magic in the plane experimental; the rejects on the ontological plane.
Conclusion
Ki Tisá invites us to reread the golden calf and the laws levíticas against witchcraft as part of the same project theological.
In biblical judaism and rabbinic:
- The gold has no intrinsic power.
- The bull is not divine; it is sacrificial.
- Death is not a channel spiritual legitimate.
- The magic is not an alternative religious valid.
The holiness cannot be tampered with; it obeys.
