Does Judaism believe demons are real?

Question

I was reading something written by a Rabbi and he said that Jews don't believe demons are real, just metaphors for bad feelings..?

Answer 1

Nope- there is no devil in Judaism in the sense of the devil in Christianity. In Judaism HUmans are the ONLY beings that God gave the gift of free-will to. Angels cannot rebel since they do not have freewill and thus do not have the capacity to act on their own accord. The word "satan" in hebrew literally means "the accusser", referring to his jon as the prosecutor at the heavenly trial after death.

However, there are various supernatural forces aside from angels, including shedim and others whose job is to disseminate the negative commands from God. Since these forces are unable to operate freely- but are bound into a specific form of act- someof these are seen as forces of negativity or chaos. However, they are merely servants of God performing an assigned role without the ability to act on their own accord. The leats powerful, but at the samtime the ones with the largest range of acts, are the shedim. Of the supernatural forces, these are the closest to human and share some characteristics with us- they are seen as forces of chaos and desiring to bring chaos into the world, within the boundaries that have been set by God.

Generally the more liberal Jewish movements such as Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist etc deny the existence of the supernatural forces- claiming Kabllah is a medieval innovation and should not be seen as part of Judaism. It is generally rabbis from these movements that would claim supernatural phenomenon as emotional or psychological phenomenon.

Answer 2

Check:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=245&letter=D&search=demons#690

Answer 3

First off, I can't tell you a 100% concrete 'Yes or No' that these things are real. I will tell you that they are real to me. Some say all demons are fallen angels. Those who have followed Satan and have been cast out of Heaven. They are miserable, live in the shadow and in hell, and seek nothing but the ruin of man. I believe they are real because I have seen one. My g/f has seen several. Hell is the place of suffering, the anti-thesis of Heaven. Some describe it as a lake of fire where the damned souls burn for eternity. I do not know exactly the purpose of Hell, or what it is like. I only have ideas, and I believe it is real. Purgatory is limbo, a place in the afterlife between Heaven and Hell where souls wait to be judged, or they wait until they prove themselves to be allowed into Heaven. Some don't believe in it and some do. Poltergeists are paranormal phenomenon that occurs in a house when objects move around. IE: Plates jumping off counters, doors slamming. Some say that it is a spirit that causes it. But usually it happens in ahouse when a person living there is experiencing something traumatic. Like the death of a loved one. One theory is that the person itself is causing the phenomena unintentionally with psychic powers. Some say the person attracts poltergeists with his or her negative emotions.

Answer 4

Let's consider what demons would be for a moment.

They would be at least somewhat immortal, with supernatural powers of various types. After a few millenia of immortality, they'd probably be smarter than the average would-be demon hunter.

With all that power and intellect at their disposal, they'd certainly have better things to do than to notice humans, let alone try to get us to do silly things.

It would be rather like a human going out into the forest trying to outsmart a pile of leaves.

Answer 5

Jews do not believe in demons, and there is no mention of demons in the old testament, only in the new.

Answer 6

Yes.
Rabbinical demonology has three classes of, demons, though they are scarcely separable one from another. There were the shedim, the mazziḳim ("harmers"), and the ruḥin ("evil spirits"). Besides these there were lilin ("night spirits"), ṭelane ("shade", or "evening spirits"), ṭiharire ("midday spirits"), and ẓafrire ("morning spirits"), as well as the "demons that bring famine" and "such as cause storm and earthquake" (Targ. Yer. to Deuteronomy xxxii. 24 and Numbers vi. 24; Targ. to Cant. iii. 8, iv. 6; Eccl. ii. 5; Ps. xci. 5, 6.)
For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggadah

Answer 7

I think the Jews believe in Satan as God's right hand man in picking out the good. He's head Tempter up there.

And without Satan as evil, no demons.

Answer 8

The Jewish religion has several sects, at least one believes in angels, demons, ( which are fallen angels ) heaven, hell, and pretty much all the same things Christians believe except that Jesus is the Messiah.

Answer 9

He may the exception, but he is definitely NOT the rule among Judaism.