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A museum exhibit explores the Jewish fascination with the occult

JL;DR SUMMARY The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has opened an intriguing exhibit titled 'Jews Are Magic,' exploring the historical Jewish engagement with the occult. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryEastern European JewsKabbalahSigmund FreudMysticismYivo InstituteNaftali Herz ImberExhibitsJewish OccultismFolk Religion

Places mentioned

Manhattan, New York, United States
"Jews Are Magic, opening this month at YIVOs Manhattan headquarters, explores the Jewish fascination with mysticism, fortune telling, amulets, psychics and occult practices."
Warsaw, Warmia-Masuria, Poland
"YIVOs Eddy Portnoy, who curated the exhibit Jews Are Magic, with a reproduction of a High Holiday card featuring a Jewish palm reader, Warsaw c. 1910."
Lublin, Poland
"Born in a shtetl near Lublin in 1874, Shiller-Shkolnik fused occultism with the language of modern science and self-improvement."
Lower East Side, New York, United States
"On the Lower East Side, celebrity psychic Abraham Hochman operated out of 169 Rivington Street, where he dispensed prophecies, published manuals and built a small business empire that included custom wedding contracts, a wedding hall and a Catskills hotel."
New York City, New York, United States
"Jews Are Magic: Occult Practices from Palmistry to Professional Psychics opens May 26 at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, located at the Center for Jewish History in New York City."
Vienna, Austria
"The exhibits most tragic figure may be Erik Jan Hanussen, born Herschel Steinschneider to a Jewish family in Vienna."

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Cairo Item ID 82863
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2026-05-24 18:00:25 UTC
Curated 2026-05-24 19:00:43 UTC