Is Sorcery Permitted In Judaism? Kabbalah, Witchcraft and Quick Fixes

0:03Witchcraft: is it allowed? Is it not allowed? But don't worry, it's not even up for discussion. Witchcraft is forbidden, as the Torah itself says. There’s a verse in the Torah that says if someone is dealing with witchcraft or sorcery, they, according to the Torah at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu and at the time of the Sanhedrin, would get the death penalty. Why? Witchcraft is not tolerated whatsoever in Judaism. Now, why do people go to Jews for witchcraft? they, according to the Torah at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu and at the time of the Sanhedrin, would get the death penalty. Why? Witchcraft is not tolerated whatsoever in Judaism. Now, why do people go to Jews for witchcraft? if it's forbidden now, of course, the easy explanation would be that they're not religious. No, no, but I'm not talking about those who are not religious. I'm talking about people who are religious. They do keep Shabbat, they do dress modestly, they eat kosher, and they give tzedakah. not to the local zoo, but rather to an organization of some kind, yet they go to witchcraft. Witchcraft like the famous Arab woman who lives in Jaffa, or the people who deal with tarot cards, or read in the coffee, or all types of fortune tellers, all types of mumbo jumbo types of con men. And some of them even look like they are, you know,

1:30But again, a mekubal, I can tell you one thing for sure, is not going to do the things that people who call themselves mekubalim today and charge an extraordinary amount of money do. I've met a few, and the behavior of the real ones versus the fake ones is literally such a world of difference that... it's surprising that people even fall for this trap. But again, ignorance, unfortunately, is a disease worse than Corona, or at least the vaccine, or at least the Corona. I'm not sure which one was worse. Anyway, witchcraft, Rabotai, is forbidden. There's no permission for witchcraft. There is something called Kabbalah. Kabbalah Maasit is using different teachings from the Kabbalah, which is part of the mystical aspects of the Torah. ...in order to elevate your soul, elevate reality, and do all types of things. Kabbalah can even manipulate nature. I know someone who can manipulate metal with ease. Just like you can eat cereal, he can manipulate the spoon, bend it, and do whatever he wants with it.

2:50Then there's all types of interesting people. But again, these are not things that you use just for entertainment. It's not something that is to be messed with. But the point being is, is that there are Mekubalim out there. There are very holy people out there. Generally speaking, most of them do not see the public. They do not even disclose this to the public. There's just, you know, a few people that they know that they usually tell this to or their students. uh, you know, maybe perhaps even some parts of their own family don't know. Either way, to get yourself to a point of being able to practice Kabbalah means that you have a command and expertise over all of the foundational principles of the Torah and teachings of the Torah, meaning you have a complete command over the Shas Bavli, Shas Yerushalmi, Shulchan Aruch, the Poskim, the Tanach, of course the Zohar, and a lot of other things that most people are most likely unaware that they even exist, needless to say, have read them.

3:55now, if somebody is out there and says that they teach Kabbalah publicly, like on YouTube or something like that, you should know that if they are an honest person, all they're teaching you are things that are like Midrashim, stories within the Zohar or other Kabbalistic books that you're allowed to talk about, stories about the weekly parasha, stories about tzaddikim, things like that, no problem. Maybe even different aspects of Kabbalah that are very fundamental, like different parts of the neshama. Those things are usually not so difficult to learn, needless to say, to teach. but if they're telling you they're going to teach you secret parts of the Kabbalah and the root of the neshama and all types of things that are, in essence, the higher level of teachings, either they are a liar or they are a liar. Why? Because you don't teach Kabbalah publicly, and anyone that actually says he does is a liar. Now, you would say, "Wait, maybe they're a wicked Kabbalist." No such thing.

5:02those things, there are certain people that know Kabbalah that have become wicked throughout history, like Shabtai Tzvi and some of his students. But again, it's not something that is even teachable to the average person out there because they wouldn't know what to do with it. And anyone that even learned a little bit of it would know, they wouldn't know what to do with the information you would teach them, even if you would simply teach them the simplest Name. wouldn't know what to do with it. So again, people that say that they teach it are usually very good con men. Now, back to our issue at hand: witchcraft, going to forbidden places such as these sorcerers, tarot cards, you know, psychics, psychos, understanding evil... why do people do it? The short of it is that people are looking for a shortcut. They have some type of problem, they have some type of desire, and they want a quick solution. They want a quick solution now. If a person comes to a talmid chacham, they come to a true Torah scholar, they're going to find out really quickly that

6:25nothing has a quick solution. Anything that's quick is usually bad; it's usually forbidden. Nothing has a quick solution. Someone got sick, you want a quick solution. Someone lost their money, you want a quick solution. All of these types of things that people come for, they want a quick solution. There is no quick solution. Even the kabbalistic, the real kabbalistic tikkunim are very arduous to say the least, very difficult, and take an enormous amount of effort and time. Generally speaking, if the average person was even made familiar with the process of any one of the real tikkunim, they would simply realize there is no shortcut in Judaism. Anything that's introduced to you as a shortcut it's usually a long cut. What do I mean by long cut? It could usually create more problems than good. Now, I've said in recent months and over the years, there are times that people come to me for questions. Every day we have hundreds of questions. There are also times where people come to me looking for a quick solution. Someone got sick, someone lost their money, someone is looking for a zivug, someone is looking for a divorce, you know, all types of interesting requests that people have. And I try to guide them to the best of my ability, of course always under the guidance of my Rabbi, Rabbi Ephraim.

7:29I've said in the recent months and over the years, there are times that people come to me for questions. Every day we have hundreds of questions. There are also times when people come to me looking for a quick solution. Someone got sick, someone lost their money, someone is looking for a zivug, someone is looking for a divorce, you know, all types of interesting requests that people have. And I try to guide them to the best of my ability, of course always under the guidance of my Rabbi, Rabbi Ephraim. But, of course, sometimes people don't really want the answer. They simply want a solution. So they say, can you just speak to a Mekubal and he'll fix it? Or can I just pay this person and they'll do it? Can you just cure cancer for me or cure this problem for me? And the reality is that when you give them the answer that even if... uh we were to help, uh we were to do something, uh for you or for your loved one, it wouldn't work unless there was some type of big mitzvah connected to it, fueling it. Meaning, the change or the tikkun cannot just be in the, uh, you know, the so-called tzadik's hands. The person involved has to be

8:53involved in the actual tikkun itself. And that's where people, you know, back away and they go look elsewhere for someone else who could sell them, you know, the Golden Gate Bridge, perhaps at a higher price but with a bigger promise. Of course, they end up with nothing other than bitterness and disappointment. But needless to say, there are constantly people looking for a quick solution, whether it's the request that I get from people, "Rabbi, how can I make a quick $10,000 this month?" or "Rabbi, you know, I have a loved one that is on their deathbed right now. How could I just fix it?" Well, I mean, God is not limited, so He could fix it. the fact that God is not limited does not mean that He needs to fix it and they have to deal with it, but it's the same attitude that people have towards, let's say, rich people, where they say, "Oh yeah, listen, he's a billionaire, he's a millionaire, so why wouldn't he give me a hundred thousand dollars?" Just because someone has the ability to do something doesn't mean that they'll do it. So, putting all of this as a so-called introduction

10:05in essence, addressing the foolishness that usually surrounds these issues, we're going to go into the holy Torah and learn from stories from the Zohar HaKadosh, from the Gemara, from the Chumash that will give us a little bit of, I guess, information Information that could help us arrive at a better understanding of how to apply it to today when it comes to dealing with evil, understanding evil, and rationalizing it. Is it truly evil?