Golems, witches, dybbuks, ibburs, demons, monsters — things that go bump in the night — AAHHH!!! (It must be Halloween!)
If you think Jewish tradition isn’t rife with evil creepy things, you’d be wrong, DEAD wrong! So convinced were they that demons existed, our talmudic rabbis explained in a midrash exactly why and how G-d created them on the 6th day. There are multiple mentions of witches directly in the Torah (the Witch of Endor comes to mind) and even of sea monsters and divination. Read more about it here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/…/demons-dybbuks…/
The Talmud is also replete with tales of demons and witches and how to overcome them. One of the most famous is THE RABBI AND THE TWENTY-NINE WITCHES retold by Marilyn Hirsh, in which the wise rabbi of a small town outwits the witches who terrorized the population at every full moon.
I followed up with DEBORAH THE DYBBUK: A GHOST STORY, also by Marilyn Hirsh, about a mischievous girl who dies and whose ghost inhabits a living girl, making her do all sorts of outrageous things. (In this too, a wise rabbi solves the problem. I sense a pattern.)
With the older children, I explained the basics of midrash, especially in relation to demonology. The Rabbis not only believed in demons, but in their ability to thwart them with incantations, superstitious ritual, and excessive piety. Folk religion took up the mantle with amulets and incantation bowls buried beneath the floors of houses. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/magic-bowls/
And since there can be no discussion of magic without a Harry Potter type book, I introduced JORDAN AND THE DREADFUL GOLDM by Karen Goldman, about a group of children in Israel with special powers who must face an existential threat. The kids can check it out through our online catalog https://fisherlibrary.rmwebopac.com/
