בית דין הצדקThe Demons' Lawsuit in Posen

beit din ha-tzedekIn Gamatria ↗

Even spirits must answer to a court of Torah.

The band of Machalat can appear even to a waking man as a beautiful, laughing woman, bear him strange children and destroy his line. Kaidanover tells what happened in his own day. In 5441–42 (1681–82) a stone house on the main street of Posen had a sealed cellar. A young man went in and was found dead on its threshold. Then ash appeared in the cooking pots, lamps were thrown down, and the family fled. The community sent for R. Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość. Adjured, the spirits claimed the house by Torah law and agreed to stand before the rabbinic court. A voice was heard, no form seen. Their father, a goldsmith, had lived with a she-demon and willed them the cellar. The court ruled against them, and R. Yoel drove them out to the forests.

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