Thank you all for clueing me in on this subject. All hail my fellow dopers! 
CMK: etc Do ant of the Jewish 'sects" or “cults” still practice magic re the Kabbala?
Do any still sacrifice?
And, what do YOU think happened to the Ark of the Covenant?
Danielinthewolvesden:
The Kabala is something that in all of the Jewish “sects” is only used by the most highly-trained rabbis. There is no Jewish sect in which knowledge of Kabala, much less its usage for overriding nature, is a commonplace thing.
However, such Kabalistic rabbis are found amongst the Sephardim (Jews of Middle-Eastern descent), I believe. Amongst Ashkenazim (European-descended Jews) Hasidim (including Lubavich) probably incorporate more Kabalistic themes into their practice than the others, but I don’t think there are any who claim to use it to work miracles.
Not as far as I know.
The Talmudic Rabbis (and they’re my source for everything, as you no doubt have been able to tell) say that it was hidden by King Josiah. They say that II Chronicles 35:3 refers to this, that Josiah, hearing prophecies of doom (in the prior chapter) had it hidden in hidden chambers that Solomon had dug under the Temple Mount. (and that’s what the Rabbis say that the verse I quoted means by “The house that Solomon…did build.” Naturally, on the surface, one assumes that that means the Temple itself, but the Rabbis say not so because a) there is no indication that it had ever been removed from the Temple to begin with, and b) it was not in the list of Temple vessels that Nebucadnezzar brought to Babylon, even though most other Temple vessels were.)
Chaim Mattis Keller
Check out What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? … and the three or four related postings that followed. My punishment for giving too much information.
Interesting, CM, that you would classify the sects of orthodoxy based on their degree of exclusivity or isolation. That makes sense, although I’ve thought of it more on philosophic grounds than on practical grounds.
On Kabalah, I take (slight) exception to your phrasing, CM. The question was whether “magic” was still practiced… And in that context, your reply that it “is only used by the most highly-trained rabbis” implies that you think demon-summoning and such-like actually work and are “still practiced.”
Kabalah is studied by various sects, and a very pervese version (akin to transcendental meditation) has become quite popular in Hollywood, for instance, among Jews and non-Jews. Kabalah is NOT “magic” (although there are some elements of magic included in some of the writings) but mysticism, and there is a difference. My rebbe is currently involved in a many-year project to translate the entire Zohar into English. He would be very annoyed to hear the term “magic” given credence.
CKDextHavn:
You’re right. I had a conversation with my wife about this over the weekend, and in that discussion, we came to a way of distilling those practical differences into philosophical reasons, and this is what we came up with:
The “Modern Orthodox” believe that one can find a sense of fulfillment in life from worldly sources, such as one’s career, as long as one lives by the laws of the Torah. The “Yeshivish” believe that one can only find fulfillment in Torah study, and other things should be done only out of necessity. If you must engage in a career to earn a living, do so and enjoy it, but it’s not an end in and of itself.
Well, I go by the statements of some of the great Rabbis of the past. There are definitely those who have used the Kaballistic “magic” for certain purposes, e.g., the Maharal (Rabbi Moses Loewy, 16th century) of Prague created a Golem to protect the Jews of his city, and The Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Elijah of Vilnius, Lithuania, 18th century) says he created a Golem when he was 12 years old, but destroyed it soon afterward, and he supposedly offered to used the Kabbalistic “magic” to save the life of Abraham the Righteous convert (an offer which he refused, preferring to die for his faith and make a statement by it). More recently, many Sephardim ascribe “magical” feats to the Baba Sali, who lived in Israel.
On a lesser scale, there are definitely Sephardic Rabbis who write kabbalistic amulets, and I know I’ve heard of a few who examine mezuzot (scrolls Jews hang on their doorposts) and diagnose a person’s spiritual problems. Maybe not David Copperfield stuff, but certainly within the realm of using Kabbalah for supernatural purposes.
I apologize if you prefer the term “mysticism” to “magic,” and if you wish, I’ll revise my answers to subsequent questions accordingly. To me, they’ve both always meant “accomplishment of supernatural feats,” which certain kabbalists have done and some still claim, to some degree, to do.
Chaim Mattis Keller
[QUOTE]
**
Not as far as I know.
Ethiopian Jewry, to my understanding, still practice Biblical Judiasm (or, at least, Biblical Judiasm as it evolved in approximately two millenia of isolation). This includes animal sacrifice.
It is my understanding that there is a debate whether Ethiopian Jewry is “real” Judaim. I’d appreciate it if someone could give the Straight Dope on this in a new thread. Forgive my oversensitivity and/or cowardice, but, as a goy, I don’t feel comfortable posting an OP that reads “are those Ethiopians REALLY Jews?”