Pulsa diNura
Encyclopedia
Pulsa diNura or Pulsa Denoura. (Aramaic
: פולסא דנורא "lashes of fire") is a purportedly kabbalistic
ceremony in which the angels of destruction are invoked to block heavenly forgiveness of the subject’s sins, causing all the curses named in the Bible to befall him resulting in his death. However, the Torah
prohibits to pray that something bad should happen to another Jew. Rather it offers the solution to pray that the bad in the person dies and he becomes a righteous person. The source for this modern ritual is not to be found in Kabbalah, but among the Hebrew magical manuals of antiquity, such as Sefer ha-Razim and Harba de-Moshe.
, in tractate Hagigah 15a. This page contains an Aggadic
section concerning the heresies of Elisha ben Abuya, an account is given of Elisha’s encounter with the angel Metatron
and the subsequent erroneous course of action taken by Metatron
. The seeming mistake of Metatron
established him as being liable to receive a sentence of 60 Pulsei (pl. of ‘Pulsa’) D'nura: "אפקוהו למיטטרון ומחיוהו שיתין פולסי דנורא" "They took out Metatron and lashed him with 60 pulses of fire."
A pulsa d'nura is also mentioned once in the Zohar
(section 3:263c, Raya Mehemna), one of the classic works of Kabbalah
(Jewish mysticism). There it is described as a heavenly punishment against a person who does not fulfill their religious obligations. The phrase appears in a small number of other locations in the Talmud and Zohar, but not in the context of a mystical curse.
Some adherents of Kabbalah developed the idea of invoking a curse against a sinner, which they termed pulsa diNura.
According to Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok, from Yeshiva
t Benei N'vi'im, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the popular perception of the pulsa dinura as a curse is mistaken. He writes:
, there have been rumors that the curse had been recited against him by right-wing extremists.
Avigdor Eskin
, a member of the Gush Emunim
(bloc of the faithful) claimed to have recited the following maledictions of the Pulsa diNura on the night of October 6, 1995: "Angels of destruction will hit him. He is damned wherever he goes. His soul will instantly leave his body... and he will not survive a month. Dark will be his path and God's angel will chase him. A disaster he has never experienced will befall him and all curses known in the Torah will apply to him. I deliver to you, the angels of wrath and ire, Yitzhak, the son of Rosa Rabin, that you may smother him and the specter of him, and cast him into hed, and dry up his wealth, and plague his thoughts, and scatter his mind that he may be steadily diminished until he reaches his death. Put to death the cursed Yitzhak. May he be damned, damned, damned!"
Rabin was assassinated within the month.
In July 2005, the Israeli media, without citing sources reported that opponents of the Gaza pullout plan recited the Pulsa diNura in the old cemetery of Rosh Pina, asking the "Angel of Death" to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
. Six months later Sharon suffered two strokes and is currently in a coma, fighting for his life. Of course, most analysts link this to his age, 77, and obesity.
Reportedly, ten rabbis and kabalists, instigated the same curse at the gravesite near Safed several months prior to the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
.
On November 7, 2006 the HaEdah HaCharedis
said it was considering placing the curse on the organisers of the gay pride parade scheduled to march in Jerusalem on November 10, 2006. Israel Army Radio
interviewed Rabbi Shmuel Papenheim who announced, “The Rabbinical Court has held a special session and discussed placing a ‘pulsa denura’ on those who have had a hand in organizing the march.” Papenheim, editor of the haredi
religious umbrella organization’s weekly magazine, added that the rabbis were also considering placing the curse “against the policemen who beat hareidi Jews.”
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
: פולסא דנורא "lashes of fire") is a purportedly kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
ceremony in which the angels of destruction are invoked to block heavenly forgiveness of the subject’s sins, causing all the curses named in the Bible to befall him resulting in his death. However, the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
prohibits to pray that something bad should happen to another Jew. Rather it offers the solution to pray that the bad in the person dies and he becomes a righteous person. The source for this modern ritual is not to be found in Kabbalah, but among the Hebrew magical manuals of antiquity, such as Sefer ha-Razim and Harba de-Moshe.
Overview
The origin of this phrase seems to come from the Babylonian TalmudTalmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, in tractate Hagigah 15a. This page contains an Aggadic
Aggadah
Aggadah refers to the homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash...
section concerning the heresies of Elisha ben Abuya, an account is given of Elisha’s encounter with the angel Metatron
Metatron
Metatron or Mattatron is the name of an angel in Judaism and some branches of Christian mythology. There are no references to him in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Scriptures...
and the subsequent erroneous course of action taken by Metatron
Metatron
Metatron or Mattatron is the name of an angel in Judaism and some branches of Christian mythology. There are no references to him in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Scriptures...
. The seeming mistake of Metatron
Metatron
Metatron or Mattatron is the name of an angel in Judaism and some branches of Christian mythology. There are no references to him in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Scriptures...
established him as being liable to receive a sentence of 60 Pulsei (pl. of ‘Pulsa’) D'nura: "אפקוהו למיטטרון ומחיוהו שיתין פולסי דנורא" "They took out Metatron and lashed him with 60 pulses of fire."
A pulsa d'nura is also mentioned once in the Zohar
Zohar
The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
(section 3:263c, Raya Mehemna), one of the classic works of Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
(Jewish mysticism). There it is described as a heavenly punishment against a person who does not fulfill their religious obligations. The phrase appears in a small number of other locations in the Talmud and Zohar, but not in the context of a mystical curse.
Some adherents of Kabbalah developed the idea of invoking a curse against a sinner, which they termed pulsa diNura.
According to Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok, from Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
t Benei N'vi'im, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the popular perception of the pulsa dinura as a curse is mistaken. He writes:
- The Pulsa D’Nora has wrongfully been associated with a certain school of Kabbalah known as Kabbalah Ma'asit (practical). The Pulsa D'Nora is not a magical formula. Torah and Judaism have no connection to or tolerance of magic in any form. Therefore, the consideration of anything in holy Kabbalah, an integral part of [God's] Torah from Sinai to have any ties to magic is a spurious and offensive suggestion. The Pulsa D'Nora is actually not a "curse of death" as many mistakenly believe. No Rabbi or Kabbalist has the right or authority to curse another to death. In accordance to Torah Law, the only way a Jew is put to death is for violation of specific Biblical laws and then only after being tried and condemned by a kosher and authoritative Sanhedrin, the likes of which have not existed in Israel and among the Jewish people since the days of the Temple.
Recent usage
Accusations of the use of this curse by religious Jews against figures whom they find objectionable has been made often over the past 50 years and quoted in mostly Israeli media. As the saying goes in Israel "you have not made it in Israeli politics until you've been cursed by the Pulsa DiNura" Early in the 20th century, agitated Haredi Jews in Jerusalem were accused by the media of having recited the curse against the linguist Eliezer Ben Yehuda. There have been unsubstantiated media reports of the curse being recited against archaeologists and authors. Prior to the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak RabinYitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
, there have been rumors that the curse had been recited against him by right-wing extremists.
Avigdor Eskin
Avigdor Eskin
Avigdor Eskin is Russian-Israeli controversial conservative journalist and political activist. Born in the Soviet Union, Eskin emigrated to Israel where he became involved in radical right-wing politics...
, a member of the Gush Emunim
Gush Emunim
Gush Emunim was an Israeli messianic and political movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. While not formally established as an organization until 1974 in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, Gush Emunim sprang out of the conquests of the Six-Day War in 1967, encouraging...
(bloc of the faithful) claimed to have recited the following maledictions of the Pulsa diNura on the night of October 6, 1995: "Angels of destruction will hit him. He is damned wherever he goes. His soul will instantly leave his body... and he will not survive a month. Dark will be his path and God's angel will chase him. A disaster he has never experienced will befall him and all curses known in the Torah will apply to him. I deliver to you, the angels of wrath and ire, Yitzhak, the son of Rosa Rabin, that you may smother him and the specter of him, and cast him into hed, and dry up his wealth, and plague his thoughts, and scatter his mind that he may be steadily diminished until he reaches his death. Put to death the cursed Yitzhak. May he be damned, damned, damned!"
Rabin was assassinated within the month.
In July 2005, the Israeli media, without citing sources reported that opponents of the Gaza pullout plan recited the Pulsa diNura in the old cemetery of Rosh Pina, asking the "Angel of Death" to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
. Six months later Sharon suffered two strokes and is currently in a coma, fighting for his life. Of course, most analysts link this to his age, 77, and obesity.
Reportedly, ten rabbis and kabalists, instigated the same curse at the gravesite near Safed several months prior to the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
.
On November 7, 2006 the HaEdah HaCharedis
HaEdah HaCharedis
The Edah HaChareidis, , also known as the Edah for short and popularly as the Badatz, is a prominent Orthodox Jewish communal organization based in Jerusalem, Israel. It represents a large section of the Ashkenazi Haredi community and provides facilities such as kashrus supervision, mikvas, an eruv...
said it was considering placing the curse on the organisers of the gay pride parade scheduled to march in Jerusalem on November 10, 2006. Israel Army Radio
Israel Army Radio
Army Radio or Galei Tzahal known in Israel by its acronym Galatz , is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces....
interviewed Rabbi Shmuel Papenheim who announced, “The Rabbinical Court has held a special session and discussed placing a ‘pulsa denura’ on those who have had a hand in organizing the march.” Papenheim, editor of the haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
religious umbrella organization’s weekly magazine, added that the rabbis were also considering placing the curse “against the policemen who beat hareidi Jews.”
External links
- Statement by Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok, from Yeshivat Benei N'vi'im (PDF)
- Description of the Action
- The Sharon Death Curse article in the February 2006 issue of the Fortean TimesFortean TimesFortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
[FT206:55] - Video of Pulsa diNura performed by Robert Kleindienst and Mario Rosivatz
- Video of Pulsa diNura performed on Ariel Sharon