Written:7/15/2021
Updated: 11/3/2022, 4/24/2022
The word שֵׁד / shed is not found in the T’nach (Hebrew Bible). The plural of it, שדים / sheidim, is found twice. The two are:
la’sheidim / לַשֵּׁדִים in D’varim / Deuteronomy 32:17 which speaks of false gods (demons) which means they are not “real.”
“They provoked His jealousy with alien practices; made Him angry with vile deeds. They sacrificedla’sheidim / לַשֵּׁדִים / to demons who were non-gods, deities they never knew. These were new things, recently arrived, which their fathers would never consider.”la’sh’dim / לַשֵּׁדִים in T’hillim / Psalm 106:37 which mentions idolaters sacrificing their children to demons (this means false gods so the demons are not “real”).
“They worshipped their idols, which became a snare for them. They slaughtered their sons and daughters la’sheidim / לַשֵּׁדִים / to demons.” T’hillim / Psalm 106:36 – 37.The term la’sheidim / לַשֵּׁדִים is the plural of שֵׁד / shed — translated as “demons” with a prefix of a la- / לַ which means “to the.”
Note that both are speaking of idolaters bringing sacrifices to false gods / demons. These are not real entities in either mention.
As the Rabbi wrote the concept of demons is found in our rich history of midrashim — stories meant to make a moral point. Are there demons? Some may think so personally I highly doubt it. There is only one G-d and He creates good and evil…
The Rambam’s commentary on the Mishna Avoda Zara 4 states emphatically that demons do not exist and that it is a sign of mental illness or emotional distress.
Understanding Aggada…. Demons in the Talmud by R’ Yitzchak Blau:
There is a well-known debate about how to understand Talmudic references to demons. Some commentators took these gemarot at face value while the Rambam denied that demonic beings exist. For example, one gemara (Makkot 6b) explicitly mentions the possibility of a criminal receiving warning from a demon. Rambam (Hilchot Sanhedrin 12:2) cites this case as a scenario in which one hears the warning but cannot identify the source. Rambam offers a naturalistic reading in which no demonic beings exits and the term “shed” refers to a natural phenomenon whose source we have not yet discovered…
Why did our sages not simply tell the masses that these beliefs were false? Perhaps because they knew that such a campaign would require great energy and had little chance of success. Once people internalize certain beliefs, it is quite difficult to convince them otherwise.
Judaism defines demons as “physical creatures that have quasi-spiritual properties” and describes them as follows:
They are not visible to the naked eye, they exist in the Aether (atmosphere electromagnetic field) of the world. They are affected by copper,water, and fire yet they are so many that they would drive a person insane if he beheld them. They live, die, and reproduce like living things and have an intellegence. They are of countless different varieties and cause disease and madness. Those who are attached to Holiness are not affected by them because they are agents of punishhment via their impure nature.
The modern sages state that “demons” in Jewish literature refers to Bacteria, Viruses, and Twisted Ideas transmitted via neurology, mass mob mentality, or upbring by wicked (Narcissistic) people.
Interaction with demons (agents of disease) does not make one “unholy” but rather need precautions as dealing with dangerous things brings down judgement on a person. This judgement is due to the prohibition of endagering one’s life. The person is judged as to wether they are interacting with this “agent of the King” without permision.
The King Solomon was infected with the sin of pride. This caused him to become narcissistic and he was “possesed” so to speak. When he was cured of this and the Narcissism removed he was restored to his high esteem. Solomon’s period of possesion is reffered to in Jewish Apocrypha as the time when the demon “pretended to be Solomon”. This is a metaphor for Solomon acting completely out of character. When he “returns” and “expels the demon” this is a metaphor for his healing from mental illness. The chaining of the demon is a metaphor for the perpetual struggle he had with his narcissism in that he “chained” this aspect of himself bit never truly expelled it. The effect of this was the division of the kingdom after his death.
“Doctors are given permision to heal by the King” today. Judaism at one time had exorcism procedures where the demons were comunicated with directly and made to leave. The Jewish sages state that as The King revealed physical meaures to expell these things exorcism was forbiden as that required the person to have near (not actual) prophecy. Today these things are forbidden as they involve using The Name of G-d. A Prayer and Medicine are the tools used today.
We hold Solomon in high esteem because he conquered Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He is called the wisest of all men because he was able to have analytical thinking beforehand and eventually achieved the mindfulness that it takes to conquer Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Keep in mind that the estimates today for this are about 1/1,000,000 people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder will do this. This is of a population of 1% of the world population. This is about 80 people of a population of 8 billion overcome Narcissistic Personality Disorder completely via mindfulness. Solomon did not have medication available to him.
An Objective Mindfulness and positive action for the sake of G-s are the definition of holiness.
Meiri (Sanhedrin 101a) ואלו שמאמינים במציאות השדים ובפעולותיהם אסור להם לשאול בהם אף בחול ויש להתיר בשרי בהן ושרי ביצים אלא שאינם אלא דברי הבאי והגירסא לפי דעת זה אלא שמכזבין וגדולי הפוסקים גורסין מפני שמכזבין כלומר שעיקר התירם מפני שהם דברי הבאי ואין אדם מצוי לימשך אחריהם וכן עיקר והוא נמשך למה שכתבנו בסוף פרק ארבע מיתות בענין המעוננים והוא מה שהתירו בתלמוד הרבה בלחישות המוניות והדומים לאלו:
Meiri (Sanhedrin 101a) and those who believe in the reality of demons and their actions must not ask them in the sand, and must be permitted in them, and eggs, but are but the words of the Bai and the version in this opinion, but the greater and the Gorsin ruling because the main thing is that they contributed because they are the Bai’s words and there is no one that is to go on after them and is mainly attracted to what we wrote at the end of the four deaths in the cloudy matter and what has given the Talmud much in mass whispers and similar to those:
