Pesachim 112 a, b

Although the rabbis attempt to move back to the mishna in question, they cannot seem to stop themselves from talking about demons, superstitions, witchcraft and incantations.

We begin by learning that failing to wash our hands after bloodletting, cutting our hair or cutting our nails will cause us to feel afraid. Touching our nostrils will also cause fear, and touching our foreheads will cause us to sleep. Leaving food and drink, even covered, under the bed will attract demons. Tuesday and Friday nights are dangerous and thus we cannot drink water without reciting psalms, or the names of the demons and an admonishment, or we should perform ritualized actions. We cannot drink from rivers/ponds at night without similar actions.

We return to the mishna for a moment, regarding the four cups of wine given to the poor. Rabbi Akiva suggests that one should treat Shabbat like a weekday to avoid taking charity. This is modified by others - if a person has enough money for one week: 14 meals, s/he need not ask for extra meals on Shabbat. But if s/he is already taking charity, s/he should ask for Shabbat provisions as well. Either way, a person should find a way to make Shabbat special.

And we move back into the realm of clear superstition. Rabbi Akiva told his son, Rav Yehoshua, seven things:

1) don't sit in a high point in a city and study (lest you are interrupted)
2) don't live in a city where the leaders are Torah scholars (lest they spend no time leading)
3) don't enter your house or another's house suddenly (be like G-d, who asked where Adam was in the garden)
4) don't deny shoes to your feet
5) arise early and eat in the summer and be strong to withstand cold in the winter
6) make Shabbat like a weekday and don't be beholden to others
7) put effort into befriending those upon whom the hour shines

Rav Pappa shares advice: Do not buy or sell from another person, but form a partnership with him.

And back to Rabbi Akiva, in jail, when Rav Shimon ben Yochai begged for Akiva to teach him while imprisoned. Rabbi Akiva noted that he was afraid that they would be found out, to which Rav Shimon answered, "will you be reported to the government? [ie. you are already in jail! What more can be done to you?]. Answering: "more than a calf wants to suck, a cow wants to suckle," Rabbi Akiva taught further through metaphors:

• if you are going to strangle yourself, use a tall tree [ie. when asking about halachot punishable by death, speak with lofty scholars]
• when you teach your son, teach him from a corrected text
• do not cook in a pot in which your colleague cooked his food [ie. don't marry the ex-wife of your colleague as she may judge you harshly compared with him, because she may think of him while you are intimate, a no-no]*
• it is a mitzvah and good for the body to eat fruits without payment, meriting a wife and healthy children

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi gave his sons four pieces of advice:

1) Do not live in Shechanziv as its people are 'mockers' and will draw you into mockery of Torah
2) Do not sit on the bed of an Aramean woman [meaning do not marry a convert OR say the shema before bed OR learn from Rav Pappa, who had to flee his town when collecting money from a gentile who had him sit on her bed and then accused him of killing her baby, whom she had placed under the bed]
3) Do not avoid paying taxes, for you will lose your assets
4) Do not stand in front of an ox leaving the marsh

Abaye tells us that these things lead to leprosy: hide, fish, cup, water, eggs, white lice. We are given the reasons for each connection. Rav Pappa tells us to wear shoes when entering a home with a cat in it lest we step on bones of a caught serpent. He also tells us to avoid entering any home in the dark, for fear that one could step on a snake. Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yosei tells us not to inflict a blemish on oneself, not to go up against three people who likely will turn against you, and not to look over a potential purchase with interest. He also instructs us not to be intimate with one's wife for one day following ritual immersion, to ensure that her flow does not continue. Finally, Rabbi Yishmael tells us not to go out alone at night due to demons,** not to stand naked in front of a candle, and not to enter a new bathhouse for a year to ensure that it is a stable structure. And this is where we move into epilepsy.

Apparently the rabbis believed that we can cause and prevent epilepsy in children through our actions. Engaging in intimacy while an infant is in the bed can cause epilepsy. This result can be avoided if one can block the baby from the couple with one's hand, if the baby is at the head and not the food of the bed, or if the baby is over one year old.

The daf ends with two stories, both about a demon who meets up with a Torah scholar and admits to his power. In each case the scholar grants the demons some access to inhabited places - in limited ways, ie. on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The extent to which our Sages were consumed with beliefs regarding supernatural creatures is fascinating. How can we reconcile these beliefs with our modern understandings of Torah and the supremacy of G-d alone?  We watch our Sages give advice to their children, to each other, and to us.  The incantations used draw upon text, but the superstitions themselves and the majority of their remedies are not at all based on Torah.  How did these concepts manage to get into the Talmud?  They must have been so ubiquitous; such commonly-held beliefs that they were not questions.  As an aside, it is not suprising that women's menstrual blood was part of today's discussion, as it seemed to hold almost magical power.  I hope to read and think more about these concepts over the days and months to come..

* although our notes do not interpret this, we are told that "all fingers are not equal". When marrying a widow, she might compare her new husband to her past husband. But his fingers? I am imagining that this is a euphemism...

** we learn on a side note by Steinsaltz that this had practical implications. Demons were said to be out in force at night, but on Tuesday and Friday nights, people were usually at home anyhow. On Sunday and Wednesday nights, rural folk would walk through the night into town for market days on Mondays and Thursdays. The following nights they would return. Thus Tuesdays and Saturdays could be deemed 'dangerous'.