Books by Ortal-Paz Saar
Jewish Love Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages is the first monograph dedicated to the... more Jewish Love Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages is the first monograph dedicated to the supernatural methods employed by Jews in order to generate love, grace or hate.
https://brill.com/abstract/title/21914
The collection of Aramaic magic bowls and related objects in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berl... more The collection of Aramaic magic bowls and related objects in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin is one of the most important in the world. This book presents a description of each object and its contents, including details of users and other names, biblical quotations, parallel texts, and linguistic features. Combined with the detailed indices, the present volume makes the Berlin collection accessible for further research.
Furthermore, sixteen texts, which are representative of the whole collection, are edited. This book results from an impressive collaboration between Siam Bhayro, James Nathan Ford, Dan Levene, and Ortal-Paz Saar, with further contributions by Matthew Morgenstern, Marco Moriggi, and Naama Vilozny, and will be of interest for all those engaged in the study of these fascinating objects.
https://brill.com/abstract/title/38176
Edited books by Ortal-Paz Saar
While there is plenty of recent scholarship on the history of the Jewish communities of medieval ... more While there is plenty of recent scholarship on the history of the Jewish communities of medieval Europe, it is not always easy to access the ample inscriptional and archaeological remains these communities have left behind. Through a series of essays by leading researchers in the field, Letters in the Dust seeks to make the fascinating world of late antique and medieval Jewish epigraphy and archeology accessible to the scholarly community at large.
Containing essays that focus on late antique and medieval materials from Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the British Isles, this collection celebrates the richness and cultural importance of Europe’s Jewish heritage in an attempt to open up this captivating field for further study.
Articles by Ortal-Paz Saar
A Cultural History of Magic in Antiquity, 2025
In: E. Eidinow and R. Gordon (eds.), A Cultural History of Magic in Antiquity, Bloomsbury, London... more In: E. Eidinow and R. Gordon (eds.), A Cultural History of Magic in Antiquity, Bloomsbury, London, 2025.
In the past two decades, the notion of a “material turn” in the study of religion (and, consequently, magic) has come strongly to the fore. Scholars have discussed many material and sensory aspects of these fields in the past, but now materiality sometimes takes center stage, with scholars seeking to analyze spiritual phenomena, rituals, and other matters of belief by looking at their constituent materials (the journal Material Religion, established in 2005, being only one example of a broad academic trend). This article contributes to the discussion by providing some guidelines for discussing the materiality of late-antique magic.
In: A.W. Marcus & J.S. Mokhtarian (eds.), The Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Their Late Antique Jewish Contexts (Brown Judaic Studies, vol. 376), 2025
This article considers some gendered aspects of the Mesopotamian incantation bowls inscribed in ... more This article considers some gendered aspects of the Mesopotamian incantation bowls inscribed in Jewish Aramaic. Many of the incantation bowls were meant to benefit entire households or married couples. However, quite a few of them only display a female name or a male name as the beneficiary. Were these always the names of men and women, or also of male and female children? The article begins by looking into the issue of life stages of the bowls beneficiaries. Then, it attempts to establish whether there is a difference in the aims and content of bowls written for females and those written for males. If so, can this difference be effectively related to gender distinctions? The method employed to conduct this exploration relies on a close reading of the bowl texts, implying an increase in the exactitude with which the data is examined. The increase in exactitude is reflected in the necessity for a precise terminology, one that distinguishes between male and men, between beneficiary and commissioner, formulaic spells and partially custom-tailored ones.
Trends in Classics, 2025
Headaches, including those that conform to disorders identified today
as migraines, have been at... more Headaches, including those that conform to disorders identified today
as migraines, have been attested in magical texts as early as three millennia ago.
Ritual practitioners from different traditions and periods have attempted to treat
them by using spells, magical materials, and appeals to supernatural entities. This
article explores the attestations of migraines in the corpus of late antique Mesopotamian
incantation bowls. It begins with the modern medical classifications of
migraines and their symptoms. It then outlines some of the terminology, symptoms
and treatments for migraines in antiquity, followed by a description of migraine
attestations in the rabbinic corpus and in the Jewish ritual/ magical traditions. The
article then surveys and analyzes the attestations of migraines in the Mesopotamian
magic bowls, placing them in a historical medico-ritual context. Lastly, the
article puts forward a new interpretation of the Aramaic term baruqta, which is
frequently found in association with migraine terminology.
Aramaic Studies, 2024
This article discusses three gender-related aspects found in the Mesopotamian incantation bowls (... more This article discusses three gender-related aspects found in the Mesopotamian incantation bowls (a field where the topic of gender has only been addressed in a limited fashion): the scholarly terminology, the bowls’ beneficiaries, and their creators. It begins by clarifying the terminology, a task that is essential for a better understanding of the gendered aspects of the incantation bowls. Second, the article considers the bowls’ beneficiaries. While many of these objects were meant to benefit entire households, or at least couples, quite a few of them only display a female name or a male name. Can anything be concluded about the beneficiaries of these bowls based on the names they contained? The third part of the article addresses the creators of the incantation bowls. Can women be identified amongst the authors or producers of these texts, and if so, how?
Entangled Religions, 2024
This article discusses curses found in ancient and late antique Jewish funerary inscriptions. It ... more This article discusses curses found in ancient and late antique Jewish funerary inscriptions. It begins with a typology of imprecatory texts based on a survey of funerary epigraphy, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It proceeds with an analysis of explicit curse formulae found in a Jewish funerary context: on ossuaries, on the walls of burial caves, or on architectural elements of graves. The article discusses several aspects of these curses, placing them in a physical, religious, and psychological context.
In: L.V. Rutgers and O.-P. Saar (eds.), Letters in the Dust: The Epigraphy and Archaeology of Medieval Jewish Cemeteries, 2023
Scrinium: Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography, 2022
Authors: A. Cherkashina, D. Cherkashin and O.-P. Saar.
This article considers a text-unit known... more Authors: A. Cherkashina, D. Cherkashin and O.-P. Saar.
This article considers a text-unit known in five Syriac codices and consisting of up to three magical recipes. The target of all these recipes is a mill: two of them are curses (ˀassārā ‘binding spell’) and intend to stop the mill, while the third one is a counter-spell (šeryānā ‘loosening spell’), which aims to annul the curse. One of the two binding spells includes a rare example of an Arabic incantation written in Garshuni. The main purpose of this article is to make these texts available via critical editions. In addition, light is shed on the broader context of magical practices, by drawing attention to Syriac recipes for an oven and their Jewish parallels, and by presenting two Jewish parallels of spells related to a mill: a Judaeo-Arabic text from the Cairo Genizah and a spell from a Byzantine manuscript. We offer a reconsideration of the interpretation of the Judaeo-Arabic text, as our reading differs from that of the Editio Priceps.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
In: O. Leaman (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Jewish Ritual and Practice, 2022
This chapter provides an overview of practices that may be termed “magical”, employed by Jews in ... more This chapter provides an overview of practices that may be termed “magical”, employed by Jews in various locations, primarily during Late Antiquity. The practices are divided according to aim (protective or aggressive magic) as well as form (oral, textual, or a manipulation of materials). The chapter provides examples from the rabbinic literature as well as magic manuals, exemplifying magical practices and beliefs common among some Jews in that period.
Religion in the Roman Empire, 2021
Relatively few curse tablets have been uncovered in the area covering late-antique Syria-Palaesti... more Relatively few curse tablets have been uncovered in the area covering late-antique Syria-Palaestina. Among these (with one recent exception from Antioch), none display signs of having been inscribed by Jews: they do not employ the languages associated with Judaism-Hebrew or Aramaic-nor have any of them been uncovered in locations speci cally associated with Judaism, for instance in a Jewish tomb. Even though recipes found in Jewish magic manuals indicate that Jews were aware of the use of metal tablets for erotic and aggressive magical ends, the nds from Syria-Palaestina (and, incidentally, elsewhere), suggest they were not among the producers of such artefacts. Nonetheless, the notion of cursing was not alien to Judaism (intriguing resemblances exist between imprecations in the Hebrew Bible and Greco-Roman 'prayers for justice'), and cursing actions may be encountered in a variety of sources. One wonders, then, whether the typical de xiones found di erent modes of expression in the context of late-antique Judaism. My article asks whether there are any Jewish counterparts to typical curse tablets, and if so, how they di er from the latter: in form or also in essence? Additionally, can one identify reasons for the absence of Jewish curse tablets and for the preference for other magical means?
In: M. Heiduk and H.-Ch. Lehner (eds.), Prophecy and Prognostication in Medieval European and Mediterranean Societies, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2020
Groniek, 2019
Fire and burning are often mentioned in recipes and products of Jewish love magic in Late Antiqui... more Fire and burning are often mentioned in recipes and products of Jewish love magic in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This article interprets the motif of fire as a key symbol, exploring its different manifestations. The motif is expressed in three main forms: (a) burning as part of the magical practice, (b) appeal to supernatural entities whose names are related to fire and (c) use of fire metaphors. A comparison between these manifestations and fire symbolism in aggressive spells sheds light on some special characteristics of Jewish love magic.
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2018
The corpus of late antique Babylonian incantation bowls comprises a class of double-bowl sets, co... more The corpus of late antique Babylonian incantation bowls comprises a class of double-bowl sets, consisting of two bowls facing each other, fastened together with bitumen. Occasionally, such bowl sets have been found to contain inscribed egg shells or human bones. The double-bowl configuration is highly reminiscent of the double-jar burial practice attested in Mesopotamia from the second millennium to the sixth century BCE. The double-jar (or double-pot) burial involved placing the deceased between two wide-mouthed jars, occasionally joining them with bitumen at the rims. This article explores the double-bowl configuration and suggests a connection between double-jar burials and the later ritual artifacts of the Sasanian period. The double-bowl sets attached with bitumen may have originated on analogy to the ancient burial practice, intending symbolically to bury evil entities or human adversaries.
Revue des études juives, 2015
This prosopographic study lists and discusses the personal names found in Cairo Genizah manuscrip... more This prosopographic study lists and discusses the personal names found in Cairo Genizah manuscripts pertaining to the fields of magic, divination and astrology. The names derive primarily from amulets, but also from divinatory spells, curses, exorcisms and magic manuals or recipes prepared for named owners or against named opponents. The study corpus included all the Genizah texts that have been published
thus far, all the unpublished magical texts from the Cambridge Genizah collection, and numerous unpublished texts from other Genizah collections, yielding a total of 156 named individuals. The article attempts to identify some of the listed names with individuals known from non-magical texts. Its conclusions address several questions related to the place of magic in the Jewish society of medieval Cairo.
Aramaic Studies, 2015
This article explores the similarities and differences between Babylonian incantation bowls and G... more This article explores the similarities and differences between Babylonian incantation bowls and Graeco-Roman binding spells and ‘prayers for justice’. It does not intend to demonstrate a direct historical link between the two, but rather to examine the conceptual relations between magical texts and artefacts stemming from different cultures.
Journal of Jewish Studies, 2014
During the Middle Ages magical texts circulated between different geographical regions and, remar... more During the Middle Ages magical texts circulated between different geographical regions and, remarkably, also between different religious groups. The article illustrates this interesting phenomenon by presenting an edition of a medieval manuscript fragment uncovered in the Cairo Genizah, T-S AS 144.208. The fragment, dated to the fifteenth century, contains magical recipes in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. Some of the recipes have close parallels in Hebrew manuscripts originating in Europe, outside the Genizah. Yet most noteworthy is the fact that one of its recipes has been translated from Latin, and may be found in a Christian grimoire. The article examines these parallels and considers the nature of information exchange between Jews and Christians in the field of medieval magic.
Journal of Semitic Studies, 2013
The article presents a new interpretation of an Aramaic incantation bowl from the Iraq Museum col... more The article presents a new interpretation of an Aramaic incantation bowl from the Iraq Museum collection, IM 9736. This bowl was first published in 1941 by C.H. Gordon, who referred to it as a spell ‘to ward off from the client the curses of an enemy’. The text is analysed afresh using later sources, such as manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah. The new reading indicates this was actually a separation spell, designed to sow discord between a man named Gušnin and a woman named Namoy. This incantation is exceptional among the hundreds of bowls that have been published to date, only three of which are designed for love magic, and none (hitherto) for sowing hatred.
Pe'amim, 2013
This article explores the motif of fire and burning as it appears in medieval magic from the Cai... more This article explores the motif of fire and burning as it appears in medieval magic from the Cairo Genizah, by employing metaphor theories developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, James Fernandez and Zoltán Kövecses. The first part of the article surveys and analyses a variety of texts designed for love magic (recipes and finished products), which include this motif as part of the practice or the formula. In the second part, the article looks at Jewish aggressive magic from the Genizah, and examines the way in which it, too, employed the motif of fire. A comparison between the two categories sheds light on the distinct features of Jewish love magic and the Jewish magical tradition as a whole.
Uploads
Books by Ortal-Paz Saar
https://brill.com/abstract/title/21914
Furthermore, sixteen texts, which are representative of the whole collection, are edited. This book results from an impressive collaboration between Siam Bhayro, James Nathan Ford, Dan Levene, and Ortal-Paz Saar, with further contributions by Matthew Morgenstern, Marco Moriggi, and Naama Vilozny, and will be of interest for all those engaged in the study of these fascinating objects.
https://brill.com/abstract/title/38176
Edited books by Ortal-Paz Saar
Containing essays that focus on late antique and medieval materials from Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the British Isles, this collection celebrates the richness and cultural importance of Europe’s Jewish heritage in an attempt to open up this captivating field for further study.
Articles by Ortal-Paz Saar
In the past two decades, the notion of a “material turn” in the study of religion (and, consequently, magic) has come strongly to the fore. Scholars have discussed many material and sensory aspects of these fields in the past, but now materiality sometimes takes center stage, with scholars seeking to analyze spiritual phenomena, rituals, and other matters of belief by looking at their constituent materials (the journal Material Religion, established in 2005, being only one example of a broad academic trend). This article contributes to the discussion by providing some guidelines for discussing the materiality of late-antique magic.
as migraines, have been attested in magical texts as early as three millennia ago.
Ritual practitioners from different traditions and periods have attempted to treat
them by using spells, magical materials, and appeals to supernatural entities. This
article explores the attestations of migraines in the corpus of late antique Mesopotamian
incantation bowls. It begins with the modern medical classifications of
migraines and their symptoms. It then outlines some of the terminology, symptoms
and treatments for migraines in antiquity, followed by a description of migraine
attestations in the rabbinic corpus and in the Jewish ritual/ magical traditions. The
article then surveys and analyzes the attestations of migraines in the Mesopotamian
magic bowls, placing them in a historical medico-ritual context. Lastly, the
article puts forward a new interpretation of the Aramaic term baruqta, which is
frequently found in association with migraine terminology.
This article considers a text-unit known in five Syriac codices and consisting of up to three magical recipes. The target of all these recipes is a mill: two of them are curses (ˀassārā ‘binding spell’) and intend to stop the mill, while the third one is a counter-spell (šeryānā ‘loosening spell’), which aims to annul the curse. One of the two binding spells includes a rare example of an Arabic incantation written in Garshuni. The main purpose of this article is to make these texts available via critical editions. In addition, light is shed on the broader context of magical practices, by drawing attention to Syriac recipes for an oven and their Jewish parallels, and by presenting two Jewish parallels of spells related to a mill: a Judaeo-Arabic text from the Cairo Genizah and a spell from a Byzantine manuscript. We offer a reconsideration of the interpretation of the Judaeo-Arabic text, as our reading differs from that of the Editio Priceps.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
thus far, all the unpublished magical texts from the Cambridge Genizah collection, and numerous unpublished texts from other Genizah collections, yielding a total of 156 named individuals. The article attempts to identify some of the listed names with individuals known from non-magical texts. Its conclusions address several questions related to the place of magic in the Jewish society of medieval Cairo.