posted 22 April 2005 01:32 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by ausar:
alTakruri, I am curious if you heard of the Geniza archive which was in Cairo during the Middle Ages. The texts were written by Jews living in this areas I believe from somewhere around 1200 AD or before. What peeked my interest about the following archive was that it contains both Jewish and Coptic magical traditions. Much of the Coptic magical traditions can be traced back to ancient Egypt,and I assume that this might have influenced the Jewish magical pratices. Have you heard of the Geniza archive?

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Yes, I have a 6 volume set by Goiten(?) that while not actually publishing
the Cairo Geniza contents does rely on them to give an analysis of Egyptian
Jewry and their contacts over the centuries.

Jewish magical practices have numerous influences. It all depends on
the locale of the particular Jewish group in question. For instance, the
Sepharadim who settled the Caribbean area picked up a lot from the West
Africans they enslaved. Analysis of cemeteries -- particularly in
Surinam and in the Netherlands Antilles -- and superstitions reveal the
Atlantic input.