Weekly Torah Study: Sacrifices & Demons Acharei-Mot 2024/5784

(1) ולא יזבחו עוד את זבחיהם לשעירים, “so that they will no longer offer their sacrificial offerings to the (he-goats) demons.” While the Israelites were exiled in Egypt they were enthusiastic followers of that particular cult in order to gain some advance knowledge of what was in store for them in the future. This particular cult was known by the name שעירים because the people worshipping it either dressed up as he-goats or because people’s hair would stand on edge from fright when they beheld the worshippers of that cult. Alternatively, these apparitions were known as שדים, demons, because they would dwell in regions which are not inhabited by man such as wildernesses, deserts, regions too cold for humans to be comfortable in. (2) These “demons” were primarily composed of only 2 of the 4 elements which man is made of, i.e. of fire and air (spirit). Seeing that they are also light in weight they can fly all over at will. At the time of their creation they were composed of only two elements instead of the four elements which human beings, animals, as well as the plants have in common. As a result, instead of possessing solid bodies such as human beings and animals which therefore are tangible and easily recognizable, these demons are of such transparent shape that they cannot be easily seen and identified. However, they are able to assume a visible form when they so desire by “dressing up” as if they were humans or animals. Their “bodies” are essentially spiritual in nature The creatures composed of four elements are germane to their environment being a composition of the elements in which they exist, i.e. earth, and they fall sick when the correct balance of their four elements is disturbed so that they die as a result and the respective elements disintegrate each to merge again with its constituent part. These demons experience a similar fate when there is an imbalance in the two elements they consist of.
This is what our sages (Chagigah 16) meant when they said that we have been told of six features possessed by these demons to help us identify them. In three respects they are like human beings, whereas in another three respects they are like angels, i.e. disembodied creatures. These demons have wings, can fly, and have foreknowledge of future events just like the angels. (3) Their “knowledge” is not the result of their intelligence; rather they have overheard such information which abounds in the celestial regions originating with G’d. G’d reveals such information to the mazzalot, horoscopes, etc. The demons overhear this being able to move in those regions. In fact it is logical that the demons possess such “knowledge.” If even birds are aware of future events and communicate them by means of their twittering (and the diviners came by their foreknowledge of events through having learned to decipher the twittering of the birds) then the demons which fly much higher in much more rarefied regions than the birds are certainly privy to such information, getting their information from the planets in charge of the various mazalot. Whatever knowledge of impending events either the birds or the demons possess relates only to events in the near term; neither birds nor demons have foreknowledge of events in the distant future.
The three areas in which these demons are closer to human beings are that they eat and drink like human beings, they procreate like human beings, and they die like human beings. The Talmud did not mean that the demons eat the kind of food humans eat. Seeing that humans are composed of four elements some very tangible and substantive, the food requirements of humans are similar, i.e. man requires what is known as “solid food.” The demons being composed of very “light” elements only naturally do not require “solid” food. Their requirements are limited to fragrances needed by the fire in their components and by moisture to replenish the moisture lost through its close association with fire, its other component. The fire dried out some of the natural moisture of the air; hence this moisture needs replacement. The reason the sages in the Talmud compared the eating of the demons to our eating habits is only to describe that just as man’s body uses up fat if he does not eat, and liquid if he does not drink and replaces those sources of energy in order to revive these vital parts, so the demons need to eat and drink because of parallel considerations. The matter of fire consuming water is illustrated in Kings I 18,38 where the prophet describes the fire consuming the sacrifices Elijah offered as also consuming the water in which the animals had been drenched as well as the moat he built around the altar. When people (pagans) burn up sacrifices to these demons they do so in order to feed them. The smoke from the animals being burned provide the fragrance and the moisture these demons require. Seeing they receive benefit from what people do for them, the demons in return tell people of events about to happen. The discipline which studies these phenomena is known as “necromancy.” Concerning the “death” of these demons which the Talmud speaks of and compares to the death of human beings, what they mean is simply that parts (elements) which are fused into living tissue combining all these elements disintegrate after death. The parts making up the creature known as demon similarly disintegrates at some point. When it does this is called the “death” of the demon.
Regarding the matter of demons “flying,” described in the Talmud as comparable to the flight of the angels, this is due to the lightness of their bodies, If birds can fly then these demons obviously can fly even better. After all, the bodies of the birds are composed of all four basic elements and all have to be transported by their wings.