The Return of the Death Curse

Hat tip: Shmarya

Just when you thought it was safe to enter the 21st century, out come the witch doctors with the holy craft of cursing an evil man to death. And who is their target? Not Palestinian and Al Qaeda militants. No, we have missiles for that. Not the chilonim. No, we have rocks for that. Not even the French! No, they wouldn't even fight back.

Fresh from their victory over Rabin (assassinated a couple of months later by a right wing assassin), and possibly Stalin (according to an old Chabad legend), they are after the Rosh HaMemshala, Arik Sharon. Sharon did not wipe out the Jewish communities of Europe, Bavel, or Russia. He did not bring plague, pestilence or the Jerry Springer show to Israel. Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown showed up, but there is no evidence that Sharon was behind it. He committed the grievous sin of trying to protect the borders of Israel and the people of Israel in a way with which these particular mekubalim disagree. I personally think that the disengagement is a bad idea in many respects. Trading something for nothing, even if that is the relative nothing of Gaza, has just never increased the peace. But politics is for another venue. Sharon is for it, along with alot of Israelis, and they think it help in the big picture.

No doubt, if the PM gets ill or if they successfully have him conventionally murdered (they have obviously examined the possibility as they know the details of Sharon's security arrangements and express dismay that they cannot get passed it), they will claim the credit. I am not sure how many Pulsa D'Nura's have failed to kill the intended victim. But we can be sure that if the PD fails to kill its victim, there will be an adequate answer for why. He was too far away. His advocates were davening against it. The sun was in our eyes. Or perhaps a kabalistic answer, like the potatoes of atzilus were not sufficiently fried in the olive oil of Atik Yomin. And this is to say nothing of the fact that it seems fashionable among certain elements to clamor for death. It seems that everytime a bell rings for dealing with the peace process, an "angel of destruction" gets his wings. The people who speak calmly, gleefully, hopefully, about killing the political or religious opponent du jour remind me of something very deep seeded in world culture. It is the culture of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Nazis, the Klan, and now the Jews of the deep right. It is met with a blood curdling passivity in some mainstream circles.

Of what value is this power of death curse, if it can be so easily thwarted? I do not know.

The question that begs to be asked is, if we have this awesome power, why did we have to put up with so much throughout history? Surely, the Maharal could have put the whammy on Thaddeus. The mekubalim and Rebbes of Europe could have stopped Hitler. The misnagdim could have eliminated the Chasidim. (Note: if you are a Chasid, please reverse the terms misnagdim and Chasidim in the previous sentence.) Instead of working out the issues in Beis Din, we could have solved issues by curses at 20 paces.

(Editors note: Rebel, that last comment sounded too much like that Harry Potter kefira stuff! Please consider revising!)

In fact, why do we not mix the prescience and omniscience of the mekubalim with the ability to perform a death curse and really start the party! One mekubal can divine the relative value of children in a particular class while another applies the voodoo to the ones who will grow up to be a car thieves, koferim b'farhesia, or lawyers. Mixing the Nitro of kabala wih the Glycerine of the ability to visit death on thine enemies may be a wonderful stress relieving fantasy, but when Professor McGonagal finds out, many points will be taken from Gryfindor House.