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JTA
EST 1917

angels

You might not know it, but you have a philtrum and everyone who looks at you can see it. The philtrum—that groove we all have above our upper lips—may not be a commonly-referenced body part, but in Jewish mystical tradition, it’s quite significant. And it’s said to be the result of a tap from Lailah, […]

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Some people fill their diaries with secrets and desires, others with the details of nighttime angel rendezvous.In 1646, such a diary appeared. Titled the Maggid Mesharim, or “Preacher of Righteousness,” the odd and mystical book belonged to Rabbi Joseph ben Ephraim Caro, an esteemed Toledo-born scholar best known for the last essential codification of the Shulhan Arukh, a major […]

Rabbi, kabbalist, alchemist, sorcerer. The CV of Rabbi Dr. Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, otherwise known as the Ba’al Shem of London, boasts no shortage of extraordinary feats. Born in 1708 somewhere in Europe (sources point to either Bavaria or present-day Ukraine), the Ba’al Shem of London was known to keep a magic trick or two up his sleeve. One observer claimed to […]

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