Understood: Compliance with Heaven’s directives guides Jews to lead meaningful, wholesome lives. This
tenet is enshrined here in Deuteronomy 18: “You shall be wholehearted with God your Almighty.” The
Torah’s ways are achieved through clinging to the divine commandments. They are also attained by
steering clear of the immoral ways that beset the pagans. This will be the focus of this chapter’s blog.
“When you come unto the land which God your Almighty gives you, you
shall not learn to do like the abominations of those nations.”
"When you come unto the land which God your Almighty gives you, you shall not learn to do like the
abominations of those nations." This command urges Jews to abandon the ways of the Amorites, as well
to rid themselves of the perversions prevalent among Canaanite nations. In Leviticus 18, similar
warnings had been issued. "And like those acts of Canaan to where I bring you, you shall not do. And in
their statutes, you shall not walk."
Our chapter spells out additional prohibitions, pertaining to the general genre of witchcraft, as written,
"Or a charmer, or one who consults a ghost, or familiar spirit, or necromancer…" Engaging in these
prohibitions carry grave consequence: being vomited out from the land, as was the case with the
Canaanites. For Abravanel, these insidious pagan rites lead directly to gross laxity in sexual mores, not to
mention other misconduct so abhorred by the Maker.
When approaching our chapter, terminology is key. For brevity, we lay out a few examples of
Abravanel’s glossary or lexicon.
Infanticide by pyre: The ghoulish deed featured throwing babies into an all-consuming fire, dedicated to
a god called Molech. Another name of the murderous act was malchut. In Hebrew, that word conjures
up something kingly or regal. Infanticide might have been seen as sacrificing to a sun god. Hence, the
pathological rite featured incineration, a perceived sacrifice to the sun.
Divination: Here is the truth about divination, a form of voodoo top-heavy in theatrics or affectation. In
his attempt to read the future, the diviner flails and gesticulates wildly, relying heavily on trompe l'oeil
plus other tricks of the trade. The prophet Hosea exposed these charlatans. "My people ask counsel at
their stock…"
Soothsayer and enchanter: For Abravanel both of these go together, so we’ve paired them up here.
Essentially, he bases both of them on the words of the Talmudic sages. Soothsaying relates to someone
adept at reading horoscopes. Specifically, he determines which times are most propitious to embark on
this endeavor or the other. An enchanter refers to a man who carefully analyzes past events. Building
upon them, he applies his knowledge of history to predict the future.
Sorcery: This category of black magic brings our discussion to devils or demons. Again, Abravanel takes
his cue from the sages, who posit that they exist. "They sacrificed to demons – non gods", a later verse
in Deuteronomy says. The Talmudic sages, too, accepted as authentic acts of witchcraft. Once, the
Talmud relates, a certain woman wanted to put a spell on Rabbi Chanina. The rabbi egged her on,
confident that her efforts would amount to nothing because of his merits. Later rabbis chided Rabbi
Chanina for unnecessarily provoking the sorceress. Point being: sorcery and/or black magic work
Abravanel concludes by showing why all these practices undermine Torah piety. "For whoever does
these things is an abomination to God…” All variations of black magic repulse the Maker.
