For the week ending 17 January 2026 / 28 Tevet 5786
Taamei Hamitzvos - Witchcraft
Mitzvos #62 and #511
Witchcraft was so prevalent in ancient Egypt that when Moshe sought to impress Pharaoh with the miracle of Aharon’s staff turning into a snake, Pharaoh replied that even Egyptian schoolchildren know that trick (Shemos Rabbah 9:6). When Aharon’s staff swallowed the Egyptians’ conjured snakes, it began to dawn on Pharaoh that there is a power that is exalted over all. It would take ten national calamities and a mass drowning before Pharaoh would acknowledge this truth wholeheartedly (Midrah Sechel Tov, Shemos 14:28), but this was surely a start.
The Torah refers to a practitioner of witchcraft using the feminine term machasheifah because most are women (Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 7:13). Radvaz (§553) explains that this is because women are more adept in this practice, for Kabbalistic reasons.
The Torah subjects one who practices witchcraft to the most severe type of death penalty (stoning) and exhorts us not to allow him or her to remain alive. We do not find such an exhortation regarding most other death penalties. Ramban explains that the Torah is especially stringent regarding this prohibition because a witch is steeped in impurity, attracts fools, and is a stumbling block for society. In other words, not only do foolish people who seek her counsel become contaminated with the impurity of witchcraft, but they also follow her predictions, which are questionable at best.
Sefer HaChinuch gives several reasons why the Torah regards this sin with such severity. First,manipulating reality through witchcraft for any purpose contradicts the natural order that Hashem decreed in His world. Second, Hashem designed the world to provide the maximum benefit for His creatures, and witchcraft, which is always destructive, runs counter to this goal. Third, witchcraft is similar to idolatry, as it acknowledges powers other than Hashem. Fourth, Hashem wants us to trust in Him and only in Him, and one who invests even the smallest measure of his trust in witchcraft weakens his relationship with Hashem. Fifth, witchcraft is a lowly, abominable practice, and it is not fitting for the holy Jewish people, possessors of the sole truth, to dabble in it instead of focusing their attention on the exalted service of the Creator.
Witchcraft was so prevalent in ancient Egypt that when Moshe sought to impress Pharaoh with the miracle of Aharon’s staff turning into a snake, Pharaoh replied that even Egyptian schoolchildren know that trick (Shemos Rabbah 9:6). When Aharon’s staff swallowed the Egyptians’ conjured snakes, it began to dawn on Pharaoh that there is a power that is exalted over all. It would take ten national calamities and a mass drowning before Pharaoh would acknowledge this truth wholeheartedly (Midrah Sechel Tov, Shemos 14:28), but this was surely a start.
The Torah refers to a practitioner of witchcraft using the feminine term machasheifah because most are women (Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 7:13). Radvaz (§553) explains that this is because women are more adept in this practice, for Kabbalistic reasons.
The Torah subjects one who practices witchcraft to the most severe type of death penalty (stoning) and exhorts us not to allow him or her to remain alive. We do not find such an exhortation regarding most other death penalties. Ramban explains that the Torah is especially stringent regarding this prohibition because a witch is steeped in impurity, attracts fools, and is a stumbling block for society. In other words, not only do foolish people who seek her counsel become contaminated with the impurity of witchcraft, but they also follow her predictions, which are questionable at best.
Sefer HaChinuch gives several reasons why the Torah regards this sin with such severity. First,manipulating reality through witchcraft for any purpose contradicts the natural order that Hashem decreed in His world. Second, Hashem designed the world to provide the maximum benefit for His creatures, and witchcraft, which is always destructive, runs counter to this goal. Third, witchcraft is similar to idolatry, as it acknowledges powers other than Hashem. Fourth, Hashem wants us to trust in Him and only in Him, and one who invests even the smallest measure of his trust in witchcraft weakens his relationship with Hashem. Fifth, witchcraft is a lowly, abominable practice, and it is not fitting for the holy Jewish people, possessors of the sole truth, to dabble in it instead of focusing their attention on the exalted service of the Creator.
