Are you into Kabbalah?
It's a school of Jewish mysticism that has become fashionable in recent years — But some people who dabble in Kabbalah may have found themselves played for fools by a prankster who made some hilarious fake Hebrew magic symbols.
A Tumblr blogger called Will-o-the-Witch posted how they had created a "social experiment" in which they shared two fake magic symbols on non-Jewish occult Discord servers in response to how "Jewish mysticism has been heavily fetishized and appropriated by the occult community at large."
The first seal is a star. In the center of the star there is text that translates as "tomato soup." At the points of the star, the text translates to garlic bread. The alchemical symbols on the star mean salt, water, potassium, boil, and mix thoroughly.
My personal fave: pic.twitter.com/oh9J6B5E9g
— Nora Berman (@noraeberman) September 17, 2022
The blogger told people on the server it helps see through lies.
Everyone accepted the photo and one person asked that another one be made to help improve math. In response, the blogger gave them one with text that translates to “I am afraid of squirrels.” It contained symbols that had no extra meaning.
Shabbat Shalom! Good Shabbos!A special Good Shabbos to the Jews infiltrating goyish kabbalah groups and giving them new artwork. pic.twitter.com/z6RkCEcfNV
— Alex גדעון בן װעלװל (@JewishWonk) September 16, 2022
Stickers and shirts of this tomato soup alchemy can actually be purchased on some sites, though they seem to be in on the joke.
"Despite never bothering to learn how to speak, read, or understand Hebrew, many will tout it as an inherently mystical language carrying ancient Jewish truths in it and use it on everything."
Will-o-the-Witch
Cultural appropriation
"Instead of learning through the proper channels, they learn from widely-antisemitic historical occultists who also didn’t learn through the proper channels," wrote Will-o-the-Witch. "Despite never bothering to learn how to speak, read, or understand Hebrew, many will tout it as an inherently mystical language carrying ancient Jewish truths in it and use it on everything. To make a long story short, it’s cultural appropriation and antisemitism."
The experiment found that only one person asked what the Hebrew meant and the others accepted the seals for what they were.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg posted on Twitter that the fake magic symbols were a lesson why one shouldn't "fetishize things in a language you can’t read.”
The social experiment gained popularity on Twitter, with Forward columnist Alex Zeldin remarking "A special Good Shabbos to the Jews infiltrating goyish kabbalah groups and giving them new artwork."
What is Kabbalah?
Forming the foundation of mystical religious interpretations in Judaism, Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings that hope to explain the relationship between God and God's creation, the finite universe.
After the Renaissance, texts that entered non-Jewish culture from Jewish Kabbalah were studied and translated by Christian Hebraists. They read the texts and adapted the Jewish concepts without their Jewish understanding, merging them with many other theologies, religious traditions and magical associations, including alchemy and divination. The associations contributed to Kabbalah acquiring some occult connotations which are forbidden within Judaism.
Today, many Kabbalah publications belong to the non-Jewish occult traditions, not giving an accurate picture of Judaic Kabbalah.