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Folk Judaism

In one of the first major academic works on the subject, titled Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion, Joshua Trachtenberg provided a definition of Jewish folk religion as consisting of ideas and practices that, whilst not meeting with the approval of religious leaders, enjoyed wide popularity such that they must be included in what he termed the field of religion. This included unorthodox beliefs about demons and angels, and magical practices.

Later studies have emphasized the significance of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem to the many Jewish folk customs linked to mourning and in particular to the belief in hibbut ha-qever (torture of the grave) a belief that the dead are tortured in their grave for three days after burial by demons until they remember their names. This idea began with early eschatological aggadah and was then further developed by the kabbalists.

Raphael Patai has been acknowledged as one of the first to utilize anthropology to study Jewish folk religion. In particular he has drawn attention to the important role of the female divine element, which he sees in the goddess Asherah, the Shekhinah, the Matronit, and Lilith.

Writer Stephen Sharot has stated that Jewish popular religion in common with other forms of folk religion, has a focus on the apotropaic, or thaumaturgical, i.e. it is used to assist in protecting the individual from sickness, and misfortune. He emphasizes that while Rabbinical Judaism dealt with orthodox Jewish ritual, and Halakha, magicians claimed to use unorthodox magical rituals to help people in everyday life. He points to the example of a relatively professionalised type of magician being the Baal Shem of Poland, who beginning in the 16th century thrived with the popularity of practical Kabbalah in the 18th century. These ba'alei shem promised to use their knowledge of the names of god, and the angels, along with exorcism, chiromancy, and herbal medicine to bring harm to enemies, and success in areas of social life such as marriage, and childbirth.

Charles Liebman has written that the essence of the folk religion of American Jews is their social ties to one another, illustrated by the finding that religious practices that would prevent social integration – such as a strict interpretation of dietary laws and the Sabbath – have been abandoned, whilst the practices that are followed – such as the Passover Seder, social rites of passage, and the High Holy Days – are ones that strengthen Jewish family and community integration. Liebman described the rituals and beliefs of contemporary Jewish folk religion in his works, The Ambivalent American Jew (1973) and American Jewry: Identity and Affiliation.