M’kashefah – Witch

A Source Sheet for Jewish Witches and Witchy Jews about the words for witch in Hebrew and views about them.

Photo by Rhett Wesley on Unsplash

There are many words for magick-workers in the Torah and Talmud. The most well known seems to be m’kashefah (מכשפה) witch. This source sheet will focus primarily on that term, but a few others are:

• Baalat Ov (בעלת אוב) - Term used for the “witch” of Endor

• Charasha (חרשא) Aramaic for witch

• Char’tom (חַרְטֹם) magician priest

• Chover Chaver (חֹבֵ֖ר חָ֑בֶר) Tier of Knots

• M’onein (מְעוֹנֵ֥ן) Conjurer

• M’agel (מְעַגֵּל ) Circlemaker

When two women, who are sitting at a crossroads, one on this side of the road and the other on the other side, and they are facing each other, they are certainly engaging in witchcraft. (Talmud Pesachim 111a.12)