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How to Get Rid of Pesky Demons
 Gittin 68


The lengthy discussions about demons and Ashmedai in Gittin are not out of the realm of Gemara discourse but are certainly strange and completely unrelated to the topic of divorce.  Or are they? In a fascinating article  Avigail Manekin Bamberger shows that Aramaic incantation bowls discovered in Babylonia sometimes used the language of gittin to rid the house of demons.

The bowls had a formula that bore similarities to divorce papers. They cite that this is a divorce between the owner of the house and Lilith (or another demon) and even include the standard וכל שום דאית ליה ; and any (other) name the owner has. Bamberger suggests that this shows how widespread and accepted the gittin formula was among Babylonian Jews, as well as how perhaps scribes could have written both writs of divorce and incantation bowls (gotta make a living).

Divorce those demons and have a happy home!

http://thegemara.com/naming-demons-the-aramaic-incantation-bowls-and-gittin/


www.brill.com
(In case you want to try these at home)

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