"Consulto, forsitan, atque prudenter. La magia ebraica nella lettera di Jacques Gaffarel a Leone Modena

In 1637 a very fortunate book appeared in Paris, after at least twenty years of prudent incubation: the Historia de riti de gl’Hebrei by Leone Modena. The man who made the publication possible, Jacques Gaffarel, wrote as a preface a letter to the author in which, beside the word of praise, one finds also some critical remarks. Modena had neglected, according to Gaffarel, the topic of Jewish magic. Modena answered in public in the second edition of the book, published in Venice in 1638. The role and the importance of Jewish magic thus becomes the object of a curious public dialogue, which is still very interesting due to the examples the two interlocutors adopt and their deeply different line of argument. Whereas Modena inclines to minimize magic in Judaism, Gaffarel tends to see everywhere, even in purely religious ceremonies, venerable traces of ancient magical beliefs and practices. For him, in fact, as for his erudite friends such as Gabriel Naudé, magic ceases to be the object of theological execration and becomes a legitimate topic of learned “archeological” study. Modena, on the other hand, was rather engaged in an apology of Judaism against the malevolent accusations of Johann Buxtorf the Elder, who had utilized the old stereotype of the substantial coincidence of Judaism and superstition. Obviously, such a dialogue could not be fruitful but it is of the utmost interest that the first description of Jewish magic from a “neutral” viewpoint should come from a member of the circles of the “libertinage érudit” as Gaffarel was. The contemporary interest for Jewish magic deserves to be investigated in its features and motivations going back to its unexpected origin.