Sanhedrin 67b (סז:) — the Talmud in English

Ben Azai says: It is stated [

Exodus 22:17 ]

“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.” And it is stated immediately afterward [

Exodus 22:18 ]:

“Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.”

They juxtaposed them:

the Torah juxtaposed the

matter of

sorcery

to it—

to the matter of bestiality—and to teach:

Just as one who lies with an animal is executed by stoning,

so too a sorcerer is executed by stoning!

Rabbi Yehuda said to him: Is it merely because they juxtaposed it to it

that, because you expounded the juxtaposition of the passages [Rabbi Yehuda himself does not expound juxtaposed passages], you will

remove this one—

the sorcerer—from the lighter form of execution and judge him

by stoning,

which is the most severe of all executions?

Rather,

Rabbi Yehuda holds that there is another proof that a sorcerer is executed by stoning:

An ov and a yideoni,

were included among sorcerers.

For they too perform acts of sorcery.

And why were they singled out

and written separately ?

To juxtapose

and compare the other sorcerers

to them, and to tell you: Just as an ov and a yideoni

are judged

by stoning, so too a sorcerer

is judged by stoning!

There is a principle in the Torah that if something is singled out from a general category, it is singled out only in order to teach about the entire general category. For example, here: Just as an ov and a yideoni are executed by stoning, so too all other sorcerers are executed by stoning.

Now,

according to

the

opinion of Rabbi Yehuda,

who accepts this derivation that a sorcerer is judged by stoning from an ov and a yideoni,

also

another difficulty arises.

After all,

should

the

ov and the yideoni be two verses that come as one,

since both were stated with identical laws,

and

we have established that

two verses that come as one

in the same matter and with the same law

do not teach?

If the Torah wished to teach from an ov and a yideoni with regard to other sorcerers, it should have written either an ov or a yideoni, and not both.

Rabbi Zekharya said: This tells us

that is to say, Rabbi Yehuda does not accept the principle that two verses that come as one do not teach.

Rather,

Rabbi Yehuda holds: Two verses that come as one do teach!

And therefore it is possible to derive from an ov and a yideoni that all sorcerers are judged by stoning!

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why are they called sorcery?

The answer is:

Because they defy the heavenly entourage! [

The word “sorcery” is an acronym: kaf—“they defy,” peh—“entourage,” shin-lamed-mem—“of above.” ]

And in what way do they defy it? One whose life has been decreed to continue—through their sorcery, they kill him!

It is stated [Deuteronomy 4:35]: “You have been shown to know that the Lord is God;

there is none beside Him.” Rabbi Hanina said: Even with regard to sorcery,

they have no power in opposition to the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He, because there is no power besides Him!

There was an incident involving

a certain woman

who

was going about

seeking

to take dust from beneath Rabbi Hanina’s feet,

to take dust from beneath the feet of

Rabbi Hanina,

in order to perform an act of sorcery against him and harm him.

He said to her,

Rabbi Hanina:

If you succeed,

if the matter succeeds at your hand,

go and do it!

go and do this!

For

“there is none beside Him” is written.

If the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes me well, you will not be able to harm me at all!

And if you are able to harm me, this can only be because it has been decreed before Him, and I accept it!

Is it not so?

But this is not so. For

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why are they called sorcery? Because they defy the heavenly entourage,

and if so, one must fear sorcery?!

The answer is:

Rabbi Hanina is different,

Rabbi Hanina is different,

as his merit is abundant,

his merits, Torah, and righteousness are abundant, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves him!

Rabbi Aivu bar Nagri said that Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said:

With regard to the Egyptian sorcerers, it is stated [

Exodus 7:22 ]

“With their secret arts”—these are the acts of demons,

which remain hidden and are not seen.

And wherever “with their secret arts” is stated, it means that the Egyptian sorcerers performed their acts secretly, through demons.

“With their flames,”

which is also stated with regard to the Egyptian sorcerers [

Exodus 7:11 ]—these are acts of sorcery,

for the sorcerer does not perform this through demons, but by himself!

And similarly it says [

Genesis 3:24 ]

“And the flame of the sword that turns

on its own to guard the way to the Tree of Life,” referring to a sword that turns by itself—that is, not through demons, but through sorcery.

Abaye said: One who is particular about the implement

one who is particular about using a specific implement designated specifically for performing sorcery—this is a sign that he is doing it through a

demon.

One who is not particular about the implement,

if he is not particular about doing it specifically through one particular implement, but performs the act with any implement—this is a sign that he is performing an act of

sorcery!

Abaye said: The laws of sorcery

are

like the laws of Shabbat. Some of them

in the laws of Shabbat have several levels: a. labor—is

punishable by stoning;

b.

some of them entail exemption

from Torah punishments,

but are prohibited

by rabbinic ordinance; c.

and some of them are permitted ab initio.

So too with sorcery:

a.

One who performs an actual act

in reality

is executed by stoning.

b.

One who deceives the eyes,

making it appear as though he performed an act, although in reality he does nothing,

is exempt but prohibited.

c.

That which is permitted ab initio

is

like

the act of

Rav Hanina and Rav Oshaya.

Every Friday eve

every Friday eve,

they would engage

Rav Hanina and Rav Oshaya

in the laws of Creation;

they would engage in the laws of Creation and in combinations of the letters of the Divine Name through which the world was created,

and

consequently,

a third-grown calf would be created for them,

a calf would be created and formed through their study of the laws of Creation—

and they would eat it!

And they would eat it!

This did not involve sorcery, since they performed the act of the Holy One, blessed be He, through the Divine Name; an act of this kind is permitted even ab initio!

Rav Ashi said: I saw the father of Karna,

I saw the father of Karna, who was a sorcerer,

who would blow his nose

he would forcefully blow his nose

and cast pieces of silk garments from his nostrils.

It is stated [

Exodus 8:15 ]: “And the sorcerers said to Pharaoh: It is the finger of God.”

The sorcerers acknowledged that the plague of lice could not be produced through sorcery, but only by the Holy One, blessed be He!

Rabbi Eliezer said: From here

it is proven

that a demon cannot create a creature smaller than a barley grain,

since a louse is smaller than a barley grain. The sorcerers acknowledged that they cannot create a creature of this kind!

Rav Pappa said: By God, [

an expression of oath and affirmation of the truth of the matter, ]

even a creature

the size of

a camel [

a camel ]

they are also unable to create!

They cannot create one!

Rather, when a demon needs to produce large creatures, it gathers and brings them from ownerless places. It forms the creatures from what it gathers. But it does not possess the power to create something from nothing!

And why does the demon specifically construct large creatures from what it gathers, but not small creatures?

Because

these,

large creatures,

it can gather,

as it is easy for them to be gathered near the demon and assembled together.

But

if

these

small creatures, smaller than a barley grain—

it cannot gather them,

for they lack the power to come from a distant place and gather near it.

And Rav said to Rabbi Hiyya: I myself saw

I saw

a certain Arab

that Arab

take a sword

and take his sword

and cut up a camel

and cut the camel into pieces

and strike it with a board.

He struck it with the implement in his hand—

and it rose

the camel came back to life!

Rabbi Hiyya said to him: After he cut it,

after he cut it,

was there blood and secretion

blood and discharge

present?

Were they found there, having flowed from the slaughtered camel?

Rather,

since no signs or remnants of the filth of slaughtering the camel were found,

that was an instance of deception of the eyes!

For he cannot revive the dead!

Zeiri happened to come

arrived

in Alexandria of Egypt. He bought a donkey.

He bought a donkey

. When he came to give it water,

when he approached to give it water—

the sorcery dissolved,

the sorcery dissolved from the donkey, [since water melts and dispels sorcery,]

and it became a wooden bridge beam.

And it became a wooden bridge beam!

For they had bewitched the bridge and made it a donkey, and now, after it came into contact with water, it reverted to being wood!

Zeiri approached the merchants from whom he had bought the “donkey” and asked for his money back, since he had bought a donkey and received a bridge!

They said to him,

the merchants:

If you were not Zeiri,

if you were not Zeiri [a great man,]

we would not return it to you;

we would not return your money to you.

Since

does anyone buy anything here

is there anyone who buys an object in this city, which is full of sorcery,

without testing it with water

and does not test the object with water to determine whether it has been bewitched?!

Yanai

happened to come

arrived

at a certain inn.

At an inn.

He said to them: Give me water to drink.

Give me water to drink.

They brought him a drink of shetita.

They brought him a drink of flour mixed with water.

He saw that her lips were moving.

Yanai saw that the lips of the woman hosting him were moving, and understood that she was a sorceress.

He cast a little of it away

he threw a little of the drink onto the ground—

and it became scorpions!

And it became scorpions!

Yanai understood that sorcery had been performed against him, but he pretended not to know about it, as though he were drinking the beverage.

He said to them,

Yanai said to that woman:

I drank from yours;

I drank from your water;

you too drink from mine.

You too drink from my beverage!

He too prepared a beverage through sorcery,

gave it to her,

gave the woman to drink,

and she became a donkey.

And the woman became a donkey!

He mounted it,

Yanai mounted her and

went up to the marketplace

and went with her to the marketplace.

Her companion came,

the companion of that woman came, and

released her!

She dissolved and removed the sorcery from her.

They saw him riding

everyone saw him

that he was

he

riding and standing

walking

a woman in the marketplace!

a woman in the marketplace!

It is stated with regard to the plague of frogs in Egypt [

Exodus 8:2 ]:

“And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt.” Rabbi Elazar said: There was one frog, as is implied by the singular in the verse, “the frog”

spawned

offspring from within itself

and filled the entire land of Egypt.

And this matter

is subject to a dispute between tannaim:

it is a dispute between tannaim:

Rabbi Akiva says: There was one frog, and it filled the entire land of Egypt.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya said to him: Akiva, what are you doing

occupying yourself

with

the words of

aggada?

Put an end to your discourses;

refrain from matters of aggada,

and go

and engage

in [the tractates of] Nega’im and Ohalot,

which are serious matters, and in which you are sharp and outstanding!

And with regard to the plague of frogs in Egypt, this is what happened there:

There was one frog that called to them,

to all the frogs in the world,

and they

heard its voice—and

came!

We learned in our Mishna:

Rabbi Akiva said

in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: Two people gather cucumbers

and so on: