Daily Podcasts Video Research

Jewish witchcraft isn't as weird as it sounds

JL;DR SUMMARY The article explores the exhibit "Jews are Magic: Occult Practices from Palmistry to Psychics" at YIVO and the Center for Jewish History, shedding light on the mystical elements within Ashkenazi Jewish tradition. 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'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

Jewish HistoryJewish LawKabbalahShtetlMagicOccultAmuletsSeancesFortune Telling

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"The exhibit Jews are Magic is on display from May 26 to Dec. 31 2026 at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in the Center for Jewish History in New York City."
London, United Kingdom
"Some of these performers tried to hide their Judaism, like the turban-wearing Laila, who managed to become famous enough to tell the fortunes of celebrity clients in Los Angeles and London."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"Some of these performers tried to hide their Judaism, like the turban-wearing Laila, who managed to become famous enough to tell the fortunes of celebrity clients in Los Angeles and London."
Russian Federation
"Another was trusted by Stalin."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 84005
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-06-04 05:30:59 UTC
Curated 2026-06-04 08:30:40 UTC