The current “flirtation” with “demonic possession and exorcism of evil spirits” is rejected by contemporary Judaism according to Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, director of interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee. He cited the film, “The Exorcist,” as having become “the occasion for the surfacing of all the discussion about the devil and the demonic,” adding that this had been “predictable for some time.”
He said every period of major social disruption and radical change “has given rise to mass movements yearning for instant salvation, messianic redemption and apocalyptic experience with the occult” in “a weary and emotionally battered America.” Rabbi Tanenbaum said Jewish theology “does not deny the reality of evil nor the existence of spiritual beings capable of harming persons” but “sin itself, rather than Satan, is regarded by the rabbis as the opponent of man and of the Deity.”
The best antidote against the demonic, the rabbis taught, “was the observance of authentic religious traditions,” Rabbi Tanenbaum declared, adding that “the best response to the current epidemic of the demonic is to refuse to be caught up in that collective hysteria and to face soberly and responsibly the real demons of oppression, injustice and intolerance that are of our own making.” “The Exorcist” is an immensely popular film and theaters showing it have reported record attendances with long lines of patrons waiting sometimes for hours outside the movie theaters braving even inclement weather.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
