Hoodoo and Judaism

A little bit back a friend asked me "What is the connection between Hoodoo and Judaism? " I attempted to answer that question, it's a big question one worthy of a full book but I gave it a shot and here is my take on it.

I would be happy to try and answer that question but I warn you that it may be a bit long winded and hope you will forgive me for taking up a great deal of space here.. But here we go –

Let me start off by saying that what I am about to lay out here is in no way meant to offend anyone or any group and is not meant as unquestionable truth. Whenever we begin to discus matters that touch on race we open up that ol’ devil can of worms and I want you to know this is just how I see it.

First to examine the connection between Hoodoo and Judaism we must examine the connection between African Americans and Jews.

Now until recently (the late 1960s and early 1970s) there was generally a certain kind of closeness between Jews and African Americans – Many African Americans thought that Jews were some kind of black people that were simply light enough to “pass”, and many Jews believed that black people were some branch or kind of Jew. I would point you to the large number of mixed marriages between Jews and African Americans; marriages which also occurred in the past and at a time when such marriages were still often illegal in many states. This mutual connection often resulted in mutual friendship and mutual cooperation and mutual exposure.

You must also consider that in the “Anglo-zone” African slaves were “converted” to the religious beliefs of their owners en masse and this belief system was primarily Protestant Christianity – with this came, of course, the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament of course corresponds to the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), with some variations and additions and tells the stories and tales of the early Jewish peoples and most importantly the story of Moses and the bondage of the Jews in Egypt.

The story of Exodus resonated strongly with many African slaves who saw in it their own story of being enslaved and awaiting liberation. This helped lead to certain beliefs still seen in Hoodoo to this day; the belief in the Bible being the “world’s greatest conjure book”, the depiction of Moses as the “Greatest Hoodoo man of all time”… You may also be aware of many of the old spirituals that make reference to Moses, Egypt and the bondage and liberation of Exodus, even heard in modern reggae. Let’s also not forget the Rastafarian belief that they, and the rest of the black race, are descendants of the ancient twelve tribes of Israel, cast into captivity outside Africa as a result of the slave trade. These biblical influences also lead, eventually, to the belief in Hoodoo that kosher items (such as kosher salt, candles and soap) are more effective than non-kosher items, due to them having already been blessed by a holy person (a Rabbi), and the occasional use of mezuzahs on house door frames.

Later, after emancipation, we end up with two groups of people, both disenfranchised, both scorned, both often segregated into separate, closed neighborhoods and both treated with more than a little second class citizen attitude by the “ruling” whites. I would point out here to you that Jews, like Italians, Turks and others, are part of the “new white” phenomena and that before this they were not thought of as white at all by popular society.

Add to this the Pharmacy/Drugstore connection – in the 19th century many pharmacies and labs developing new drugs, chemicals, and beauty products were owned and operated by Germans. Germany was amongst the world leaders in Chemistry at this time and the invention of clear plastics, aniline dyes, and much more came out of German, Swiss and Austrian labs. Now what the hell does that have to do with anything? Well it’s easy; you see when German Jews with a background in chemistry and pharmacy immigrated to America in the late 19th century seeking to set up pharmacies or drug stores of their own they often found that they weren’t wealthy enough to set up as pharmacists or chemists to the ‘ruling’ whites, so they set up in the black community instead. It was here that these Jewish pharmacists and chemists found that their customers not only wished them to compound and mix up chemically based medicine, but also wanted to purchase roots, herbs, special perfumes for luck, and magical floor washes, oils and powders – many of which could be easily compounded by the pharmacists; you will in fact find in some old copies of pharmacists manuals recipes for some of these items. So now you have a vigorous, ongoing cultural exchange – Jews selling old style hoodoo products to urban African American hoodooists who were in turn explaining to Jews how to produce these products.

Toss into this growing pot a few more things; Selig’s “Secrets of the Psalms”, "The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses", "The Lost 8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses" and the mysterious Mr. Henri Gamache –

"The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses", "The Lost 8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses" (which are compilations of medieval European and Middle-Eastern magic texts attributed to Moses - here’s Moses again eh), and the “Secrets of the Psalms” were, and still are, stock sellers of the spiritual supply companies that served the hoodoo community from the early 1920s up to the present. With these books, as you can well imagine, came a great deal of Jewish Kabbalist tradition and a belief in the magical efficacy of the words of scripture, and remember these books were available easily through mail order or from local Hoodoo Drugstores.

The story of Henri Gamache is so complex that I leave it’s telling to a far superior source than myself - Ms. cat yronwode, you can read it in its entirety here http://www.luckymojo.com/young.html - I will digress into it here only in so much as to say that Mr. Gamache can easily be credited as being the source for the modern Hoodoo system of color correspondence.

So in conclusion, and we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg here, the connection between Judaism and Hoodoo is cultural, magical, social and systematic – based off mutual experiences, mutual beliefs, mutual oppression and slavery and mutual African roots and forms of folk magic.I hope that helps, and I apologize for such a rambling answer. It’s just not a question that I could answer more easily.

So that's, that... my take on the matter. Let the conversation begin.