JTS Hosts Book Launch for Dr. Avigail Manekin-Bamberger’s “Seder Mazikin: Law and Magic in Late Antique Jewish Society”

Earlier this month, JTS was honored to host a book launch for Dr. Avigail Manekin-Bamberger’s new book Seder Mazikin: Law and Magic in Late Antique Jewish Society (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2024).

Dr. Manekin-Bamberger, a senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was visiting from Israel and participated on a panel that also featured Dr. Sarit Kattan-Gribetz (Yale University), Ayelet Wenger (Columbia University), and Dr. Elly Moseson (JTS). Dr. Yitz Landes, Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures, JTS, served as chair of the event, which was well attended by students and professors from JTS and other institutions in the area.

Dr. Manekin-Bamberger is a scholar of the social and cultural history of Jews in antiquity, focusing on Jewish society in the Sasanian Empire and on ancient magic. Seder Mazikin is one of the only sustained monographs on Aramaic magic bowls—simple clay bowls, with magical amulets written on their surfaces, which were meant to protect their clients from demons and other dangers. First discovered in archeological digs in modern day Iraq over a century ago, the majority of the bowls discovered contained amulets written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and date to the sixth and early seventh centuries. Since these initial archeological discoveries, thousands of bowls have appeared in the antiquities market.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Landes said, “Dr. Manekin-Bamberger’s study will have a lasting impact on how we think of Jewish elites; on our understanding of Aramaic diplomatics and everyday writing; on our knowledge of Jewish–non-Jewish encounters; and of course, on the study of Jewish magic.”