The "Name of Seventy-two Names": A Biblical Spin-off - Part 8

I have basically concluded posting the promised portion of "The Book of Sacred Names." However, I thought I should add a brief "addendum," as well as a list of reference works which I employed in the shared portion from the "Shem Vayisa Vayet" chapter of my mentioned publication on Divine Names.

To start with, the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” is employed in “Practical Kabbalah” for designs quite different from the previously listed meditational uses. Further applications of this special “Name,” for example in prayer, “dream invocation,” prophecy, etc., can be found in works like “Sha’arei Tzion” by Nathan Neta ben Moshe of Hanover. Of course, since a “Divine Name” is for Kabbalists the strongest focus of Divine Energy in manifestation, the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” is highly favoured for its great potency. Yet, Moses Cordovero informed us regarding the power of the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” that “Some of the ancients commented that by the combination and permutation of the Name of Seventy-two or other names, after a great concentration (Hitbodedut), the righteous man.....combines the forces and unites them and arouses desires in them, each to his brother as the membrum virile of man and his companion until there is poured upon him a great influx, with the condition that he who deals with this will be a well-prepared vessel and worthy of receiving the spiritual force. For if it is not the case, it will become cruel to be turned into a ‘degenerate wild vine’.”

Keeping that admonition in the back of our minds, we note that the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” considered “holy and awesome,” and most powerful, has been employed for a variety of “magical” purposes, sometimes to the great indignation of Rabbinical authorities. As it is, Abraham Abulafia himself vociferously voiced his disapproval and dismay at the magical usage of the “Name of Seventy-two Names.” In fact, in his denigration of such magical uses, he unwittingly shared a rather unsavory magical practice involving the “Shem Vayisa Vayet.” He wrote:

“I have found in one of the books, whose title I would like not to mention [explicitly]: ‘Whoever wants to bring a woman to him so that she will love him, let him pronounce the name of VHV YLY SYT ALM, frontward and backward seven times, in the night of Wednesday, during the first hour of night, which is the time of Saturn, and let him conjure Kaftziel, that is the angel presiding over that planet, by that name. At that time let him write four names on a parchment of a deer, without interrupting the writing by any speech. Then, let him put the amulet on his neck as an amulet and then the woman, whose name and the name of her father he has pronounced, will love him a great love, by the virtue of that name.’ Similar things I have found in great numbers, and they are almost infinite; and these things have spread and reached the hands of great Rabbis, but they hide them in a scrupulous manner and they think that their treasury is replete with pearls. And they are very reverent [awesome] while studying the names when they need them.....”

Abraham Abulafia’s objection notwithstanding, the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” has been put to extensive magical usage over the centuries, as expounded in a variety of Jewish magical writings. It is said that Kabbalists employed it in the construction of a Golem, and that the generation of the force that animated this artificial anthropoid, was the fully expressed and perfectly enunciated “Shem Vayisa Vayet.” In fact, the Sefer Raziel, a famous mediaeval Kabbalistic magical text, claims no magic is successfully worked without the support of this Name.

The Name is used in exorcism and other matters of a similar ilk, and thus it is understood that “whoever pronounces this name against a demon, it will vanish; at a conflagration it will be quenched; over an invalid, he will be healed; against impure thoughts, they will be expelled; if it is directed against an enemy, he will die, and if it is uttered before a ruler, his favour will be won,” etc. Yet, the same voice extolling its magical virtues, is also telling us that “whoever pronounces this name while he is in a state of uncleanness and impurity will surely be struck dead.” Of course, included in this last statement of “uncleanness” and “impurity” are unclean thoughts involving any cerebration of ill intent, as well as feelings of the same. Therefore it is necessary that the practitioner should be mentally, emotionally and physically in a state of Hishtavut or equanimity, in order to employ Divine Names of this nature.

Now, I personally believe that before one can enact any of the practical applications of the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” one needs to be mentally and emotionally aligned with all associated aspects. In this regard, I have found this easy to achieve with the seventy-two triplets by simply vocalising the entire set every day in the form of a simple chant. However, we have to follow different routes when it comes to the associated elements, e.g. biblical passages, “Spirit Intelligences,” etc. As it is, the seventy-two letter triplets comprising the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” are respectively associated with seventy-two verses from the “Book of Psalms,” all said to be arranged by Rabbi Moses Isserles (Rama), in accordance with the “revealed truth” which Rabbi Moses Nachmanides (Ramban) passed on to his students. Each verse is constructed from seven words only, comprises the Ineffable Name (Adonai in one instance), and reveals, in exact order, the letters comprising its associated triad from the “Shem Vayisa Vayet.” I have listed and elucidated these in "The Book of Sacred Names."

As it is, these seventy-two verses from Psalms not only aid one in becoming fully aligned with the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” but are also collectively employed to invoke the “spiritual forces” inherent in the Name. The “Name of Seventy-two Names” is said to open spiritual “gates of goodness and purity,” and is often employed in its entirety when requiring spiritual assistance, or needing relief and rescue from stressful circumstances. In this regard, the associated biblical verses constitute an awe-inspiring prayer-incantation, which is equally employed for these exact reasons. Whilst it was oftentimes employed as a prayer of protection prior to undertaking a journey at sea or when travelling into deserts, or for travels in general, it was recommended that one utters this prayer every day, in order to protect oneself against anything disadvantageous happening to oneself during the day. However, it is worth noting that the great benefit of this prayer-incantation is that it purifies the soul.

As can be expected, I have included an extensive delineation of the magical employment of the "Name of Seventy-two Names" in "The Book of Sacred Names," however, as said, this comprises an enormous chaper which I simply cannot publish in its entirety on this blog, hence I will conclude this partial excursion into the "Shem Vayisa Vayet" with the mentioned list of references which I have employed in writing the relevant material posted on this blog.

(References/Bibliography to follow)

Magical Healing & a Consumer Society - Part 2

Naturally I am quite aware that some readers will raise the challenge that the previously listed "barbaric customs" are amongst the reasons for the separation between mainstream Judaism and "Practical Kabbalah." That is only true if one turns a blind eye to a somewhat tasteless "magical anomaly" in the very heart of fundamentalist Judaism. I am referring to a sacrificial ritual practice, regarding which a dear friend queried me a while back. He was under the impression that this was "an old Kabbalistic ritual" in which a chicken is slaughtered to "take away the sins" of all present. As it is, the sacrificial ritual in question is not of kabbalistic derivation at all. It is the Kaparot, meaning "expiations" or "atonements," which is a sort of "scapegoat" ceremony in which sins are transferred to a sacrificial victim, and which is mostly performed by the ultra-Orthodox on the day prior to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The custom represents the symbolic transference of personal sins onto a chicken which is afterwards slaughtered, and whilst its body is presented to the poor, some have it that the entrails should be given to the wild birds. [Trachtenberg, J.: Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion, Behrman’s Jewish Book House Publishers, New York 1939; Strassfeld, M., Teutsch, B.P., Eisen, A.M.: The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary, Harper & Row, New York 1985.]

The custom is to offer a rooster for a male and a hen for a female. The individuals in question commence the ritual by reciting the Bnei Adam (Children of Man) prayer, while holding the live bird in the hand. Afterwards, while twirling the fowl around the head, several prayers are read which say, in effect: “May this be a substitute for me; if it has been ordained that I die, may this fowl die in my place,” or “Although I have sinned, I’m being given the opportunity to live again.....I must atone for my sins.” The fowl is then placed under the table, and afterwards presented to the Shochet (kosher butcher), and finally given to the poor, or better still eaten by everyone present and its value in money donated to the poor.

Recently there has been quite a rumpus over the practice with Jews and gentiles alike objecting to it as being cruel and barbaric. In fact, it made the front page of the New York Times. [New York Times, 16th September 2002.] Rabbi Avi Shafran, the director of public affairs for Agudat Israel of America, replied to the article calling it “simple ignorance,” and tried to detract from the main argument of the practice being barbaric, by referring to the “adorable little girl in Jerusalem with a squeal-smile on her face as a chicken was being swung around her head,” and saying that the rite has nothing to do with the transference of sin. Tell that to the rest of the populace who believes otherwise, and “wrongly” as far as this Rabbi is concerned! He sharply steers away from the Kaparot ritual onto the need for Teshuvah (repentance), and does concede that the Shulchan Aruch, the authoritative “Code of Jewish Law” disapproves of the Kaparot ritual. [Karo, J. ben E.: Shulchan Aruch: Orach Chayim, Mishkal, Tel Aviv 2009.]

Afterwards he continues by saying that the renowned “Chofetz Chaim,” Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, “explains that when anyone performs the ritual, the individual should consider that what will happen to the bird—its slaughter—would be happening to him or her were strict justice, untempered by God’s mercy, the rule. As a result, the supplicant will come to regret his sins and ‘through his repentance’ cause God ‘to revoke any evil decree from him’.” The good Rabbi means to tell us that we need to sacrifice hens and roosters by swinging them three times (some nine times) around our heads, then killing them, feed them to the poor and throwing their entrails to the birds, purely as a reminder of what the Divine One would do to us should we not toe the line? Does he honestly believe that this act spurs the practitioner on to “meditation on the need for atonement, and.....to stir feelings of repentance and recommitment to the performance of good deeds”?

Rabbi Shafran did not clarify the exact meaning of the following words being uttered while swinging the unfortunate fowl around the head: “This is instead of me; this is in my place. Let this chicken die, so that I may go on to have a good, peaceful life”? Its plain meaning reads exactly like those one would use during vicarious sacrifices, i.e. ritual acts of transferring sinfulness to a substitute. It also seems hardly appropriate for the Rabbi to speak of “the deep meanings that lie in the rites and rituals of Jewish religious life,” when fowls are treated in a cruel manner, which actually goes totally against the grain of the traditional Jewish stance of kindness to all God’s creatures.

Throughout the history of this unsavoury practice, participants have claimed that they are following this custom as an honest and heartfelt act of contrition, as they contemplate the perception that, due to their sins, the same lot which is now befalling the chicken might be in store for them, if not for the mercy of the Divine One. At the same time a large number of rabbis, equally as distinguished as the “Chofetz Chaim,” have raised the strongest objections to the ritual of the Kaparot. Amongst these were the great Maimonides, Nachmanides, Solomon ben Adret who deprecated the custom as a heathen practice at variance with Judaism, in which he maintained there is no history of vicarious sacrifices. Rabbi Joseph Karo, the famous 16th century Kabbalist, Halachist and author of the earlier mentioned Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), called it a stupid custom which should be stopped. Others objected to the magical ideas associated with it, e.g. that white fowl are especially efficacious, and so forth. Rabbi Chaim Halevy, late Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, in his ruling against the custom, said: “Why should we show unnecessary cruelty to animals specifically on the eve of the holiest day, slaughtering them without mercy, precisely when we stand to plead for long life for ourselves before the Living God?” [Cohen, J.M.: Prayer and Penitence: A Commentary on the High Holy Day Machzor, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale 1994.]

That sums up my feeling exactly. As far as the Kaparot ritual itself is concerned, I think it is worthwhile understanding how and why it started in the first place. It appears to be a “spill over” as it were, from the animal sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem, despite the fact that it started in Babylonia in the 9th century, many centuries after the destruction of the Temple. Rashi, commenting on the Babylonian Talmud, said that fishes and plants were used at first in the Kaparot rituals, but it also appears that the ram was used as a sacrifice in Babylonia, as a reminder of the ram substituted for Isaac in the well-known biblical saga. Later the rooster became more popular in the Kaparot ritual, and I believe we need to look at this practice from a much wider perspective, i.e. from the angle that this kind of ritual was and still is being practised by many other nations around the world. Thus we can get a much clearer understanding of it. [Bloch, A.P.: The Biblical and Historical Background of Jewish Customs and Ceremonies, Ktav Publishing House, New York 1980.]

(More to follow)