Is Witchcraft Real?

Shalom uveracha,

There is a dispute on this matter among the early authorities, for the view of the Rambam (Hilchot Avodat Kochavim, chapter 11, halacha 16) is that witchcraft is not real, and that these are not words of wisdom but emptiness and vanity that were followed by the foolish, and so on. However, the view of the Ramban on the Torah (Devarim 18:9) is that witchcraft is real.

In any case, in our time there is no witchcraft, as the Torah Temimah wrote (Vayikra chapter 19, letter 238) in the name of Rabbi Yaakov Haggiz zt"l in his commentary Etz Chaim, that now, as we are close to the end of days, the divine light will spread over all flesh, and all flesh will see that there is none besides Him. Therefore that light has already broken through and come, and impurity will pass away entirely and the forces of impurity will be nullified, and there is not even one who has the power to perform sorcery or witchcraft, and belief in these things now exists only in the minds of fools and children. See there.

And in the book Mayan Omer, volume 12 (chapter 1, siman 30), it is recounted that a man came to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt"l and said that they had done various kinds of witchcraft to him, etc., and that it was disturbing several matters; what should be done? He replied: There is no such thing, for not a divination in Jacob and not a spell in Israel (Bamidbar 23:23). Afterward the rabbi zt"l blessed him, and at the end of the blessing said to him: Not a divination in Jacob and not a spell in Israel.

And in the book Segulot of our Sages (page 390), Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky zt"l was asked about someone who was not succeeding in his business or in raising his children, and who also was having difficulty with shalom bayit, and many troubles surrounded him, etc., and he was concerned that some kind of witchcraft had been done to him and his family; our master zt"l should teach him what to answer. He replied (page 391): Today there is no witchcraft.

With blessing,

Hillel Meirs