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Introduction to Everyday Ashkenazi Magic: Winter Wellness & Wonder

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Introduction to Everyday Ashkenazi Magic: Winter Wellness & Wonder Monday afternoons, November 16, 23, and 30 at 2pm and Tuesday evenings, November 17, 23, and December 1 at 7pm EST  ($125) Our journey may begin with the heymish comfort of a healing soup, but it goes much further: we’ll learn which herb was recommended for impotence and how the shtetl was hip to almond milk long before your local barista. You might be surprised to learn that in Yiddish-speaking Eastern Europe, going to the doctor could be quite controversial. When someone needed help, healing authority could just as well be found in a parent or grandparent’s remedies; herbal knowledge; local magical healer; spirits of the dead, or other supernatural entity, such as angels or biblical figures. Our first session will explore both the healers and the supernatural allies who figured so prominently in Yiddish culture. The other two sessions will explore some of the medical-magical means by which A...
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A Brief History of the Evil Eye: Mondays in October

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Rooster in the Cradle :  A Brief History of the Evil Eye and Yiddish Anti-Demonic Technologies Monday, October 19, 26 and November 2 at 2pm or 7 pm EST  (online) $125 Belief in the Evil Eye has been with us for 5000 years and is found all over the globe. Disease, sudden death, bad luck, sleeplessness, crop failure, and impotence have all been blamed on the power of a malevolent human gaze. Jewish belief in the Evil Eye ( ayin-hore ) appears in core rabbinic texts, as well as in Jewish folk cultures around the world. If you’ve ever put a red ribbon around a crib, or uttered a  kinehore  ( keyn ayin-hore , Yiddish for “no evil eye”), you have drawn on a rich tradition of apotropaic (anti-demonic) magic that goes back thousands of years. But the history of the Evil Eye, and the Jewish defense against it, goes far beyond red ribbons and kinehores . Indeed, in many shtetls and towns, you could find Jewish men and women who specialized in exorcising the Evil Eye.  Whe...
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A piece of Yiddish magic against grocery store inflation

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A magical auction for cheaper groceries Prices are absolutely out of control at the grocery store. Why are Doritos (DORITOS!!!) close to $7???  Even if we can all live without Doritos ( though what kind of life would that really be? ) we do  all need to eat real food to live. But who can afford the prices I'm seeing at my local supermarket, like a pound of chicken thighs for $20. It's nuts. (No, actually, I can't afford nuts, either. Let's say it's bananas .) I happened to be reading some Yiddish folklore sources on the holidays and I came across this sgule  (magic charm or remedy) against inflation. This practice was found during the holiday of Simkhes Toyre. It was performed at certain Hasidic courts while the rebbe held his tish (holiday meal with his followers). Now, you may not be eating a meal at the rebbe's tish any time soon, but perhaps you can adapt it to your own holiday table. If you do, lemme know how it goes! ליציטאציעס Auctions “ Litsitatsiyes ...
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Their jackets smelled of the fruits of the orchards - Elul days in Zhabne

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“Elul Days in a Rebbe’s Court in Galitsiye” by Menashe Unger Originally published in "Der Tog-Morgn Zhurnal" (New York City) September 1, 1957  translation by Rokhl Kafrissen Writing in 1957, Menashe Unger looks back on his childhood days in the shtetl of Zhabne/Zabno , in what was then Austro-Hungary. He was probably around 10 years old at the time of the events he recounts, so that would make it somewhere around 1910. Writing about hasidim and the hasidic world was Unger’s bread and butter as a working writer, and this essay is an excellent example.   I've used this piece to teach about Elul for the last two years. I love sharing it with students because it brings us right into Unger’s world: the tastes, smells, and sounds of Elul seem to waft off the page. I also love it for the delicious juxtaposition of the seriousness of the season next to the hijinks of Unger and his pals. There is the indoor, spiritual world of Unger’s father, the Rebbe, and the o...
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Jews Are Magic: Occult Practices from Palmistry to Professional Psychics

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On May 26 I had the great honor and delight to be part of the opening night event for the latest YIVO exhibit: Jews are Magic: Occult Practices from Palmistry to Professional Psychics . If you haven't seen it already, this wonderful exhibit is up at the Center for Jewish History through December 2026.     The full video of the opening event is now available to watch online:  
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New Class in July: Everyday Ashkenazi Magic and the Demons of Summer

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Introduction to Everyday Ashkenazi Magic – The Demons of Summer Wednesday afternoons: July, 15th, 22nd, and 29th at 2pm EST. ($125). All sessions are recorded and available to watch afterwards. To sign up, send an email to cjcrokhl@gmail.com   Summer school is in session You are warmly invited to join me for the newest edition of “Introduction to Everyday Ashkenazi Magic," summer session.    What is Everyday Ashkenazi Magic? We often associate Jewish magic with kabbalists and wonder working rabbis, men who study the Zohar and who use their mastery of sacred names and mystical techniques to write amulets and perform miracles. But what about everyone else? What about that 50% of the population (at minimum) who did not, and could not, study those sacred texts? Everyday Ashkenazi Magic is our frame for finding the magic wielded by  everyone else , especially women. Our primary source texts are mostly in Yiddish, the language of everyday life, rather than Hebrew-A...
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New July Class - Exorcists, Embodied Magic, and the Evil Eye

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Rooster in the Cradle (Part Two): A Brief History of the Evil Eye and Yiddish Anti-Demonic Technologies You are warmly invited to join us for Rooster in the Cradle (Part Two) on Tuesday evenings, July 14, 21 and 28 at 7pm EST. ($100)   To register, send an email to cjcrokhl@gmail.com   Everyone is invited to this class, even if you haven’t taken Part 1. If you’ve ever put a red ribbon around a crib, or uttered a kinehore ( keyn ayin-hore , Yiddish for “no evil eye”), you have drawn on a rich tradition of embodied, apotropaic (anti-demonic) magic  going back thousands of years.   In many Eastern European towns, you could find Jewish men and women who specialized in exorcising the Evil Eye: the (op)shprekher(ke)s . Where a specialist wasn’t available, ordinary mothers and fathers had their own techniques for lifting bewitchments. When I say this was an embodied magic, I mean it quite literally. Even the simple act of “poo poo poo-ing” drew on the power...
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