Who or what are the demons that are mentioned in the talmud??

shalom william, at this time i am not able to look it up however if you like i can tell you were to look in the talmud in which it is mention. the only reason i can tell you this is by using an Index not beacuse i know it by heart.

I apoligize you asked what they are in the talmud, not where they are, from what I have read, they are the "interaction of sunlight with smoke and vapor which then clings to the body, causing illness" (Sefer ha-Atzmim).

there is more to this with Adam (B.T. Ervuin 18b; Zohar) and Lillith, but I am unlearned in this area and I can only give references (Alef-Bet ben Sira).

The rest of my information that I am refering to is from the subject Demons
by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis

http://pantheon.org/articles/d/demons.html

Please note that I only strive to help others and if I am on the wrong track, I mean no offense, only trying to help

always love
lis

good site
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/index.jsp

there is info there on demons.

Lisa,
I am sorry I had to delete your previus reply on this topic because it had links to an anti-Jewish site. It is a tricky site so you may not have been aware that it was anti-Jewish.

I apoligize, I had no idea or I would have never have posted it.

love
lis

Are they 'real' or meant to symbolize something else. Although I did find basic background info, I could not find much on the nature of them. I have to admit, that my mind wants to visualize them immediately.
Do they have any real power of their own??

It has been taught demons are real. what do you mean real power of their own? what type of information are you looking for in regards to their nature? If i recall it has be taught that if our eyes were open to see them we would go mad

Mack K
I guess what I mean is do demons have power to affect us in this world. What are they able to do and not do to us.
I have been able to find commentary in Berachos.
I have heard that there was entire book made about them with reference to the Talmud.
All in all do they do things to us that are condering bad or evil??

yes demons can do thigns to us that are consider bad or evil, if one does not does not study enough. now how much is enough? I don't know... funny i am 24 and i forget everything. far as what they are able to do and not do i guess whatever the talmud says they are able to do. (personally I don't know if they exist but if they exist then one should study torah which will protect one from them and if they don't exist well you learn alot of Torah)<shrug>

Demons generaly have the power G-d gave them, just like humans and any animal. They are destructive by nature, but just like animals, they can't destroy what G-d doesn't let them (like if G-d deems to intervene etc.)

A great Rabbi once told me his theory that if there is any truth in the UFO phenomenon, he thinks that they are really the demons of the Talmud. (He bases this on a Gemarah in Bava Basra that says they have a parallel civilizations to us and they have vehicles that they travel with.)

zohar
the zohar.com. the powerful tool of the kabbalah. well the zohar said that the demons go out to deceave the world of there sin. it turns man from the torah. we should know also in the tobus said his brother wife had a demon and he took her to the preist and he made an heave offering as it is written with cinnimon anf finr flour. with the grain offering. satan the fallen angel that he has caused the people tp deceive them to beleave meany false things. but we also know that in heshem all things is possable. so have faith in all do truth that you will not beleive. why do people love evil. aginst the torah

One example that give us an insight to the behavior and character of demons can be found Gemara Gittin 68a - 68b.

The Gemara there describes how Shlomo HaMelech confronted demons, and the king of the demons, in his search for the Shamir worm.

quote:

Originally posted by Rav Chaim:
Demons generaly have the power G-d gave them, just like humans and any animal. They are destructive by nature, but just like animals, they can't destroy what G-d doesn't let them (like if G-d deems to intervene etc.)

Do they have free will, or are they like mal'achim: enormous powers, but no or limited free will? Is it the Shaddim that are mentioned in the closing chapters of Dvarim/Deutoronomy?

quote:

A great Rabbi once told me his theory that if there is any truth in the UFO phenomenon, he thinks that they are really the demons of the Talmud. (He bases this on a Gemarah in Bava Basra that says they have a parallel civilizations to us and they have vehicles that they travel with.)

That's an interesting point of view. And as a matter of fact, mathematically the existence of an infinite - or finite - number of parallel worlds of bnei-adam-kadmon which normally do not interact is very possible, and the glimpses of these parallel worlds are what we perceive as demons or angels.

Would it then be possible that demons know so little about our civilization and species, and how to approach us, that simply any attempt of contact causes trouble, much to their dismay and our disaster?

Then if a human can get a demon to do his bidding (King Solomon and Asmodeus, for example; also such possibility is mentioned in The Sefer Bahir in a discussion between R" Akiva and other Rabbanim), it stands to reason that a demon can get the human to do its/his bidding, which is then what "possessed" means; correct?

Doesn't hasatan create demons?

demons are evil spirits created by evil Souls that rebelled against G-d at the beginning...Souls are for Eternity; for all created by G-d cannot stop from Being. In the case of demons, they disappear into 'ayin'

If I remember currectly, in "Tomer D'vora" (somebody please remind me who the author was) we are given credit for the creation of Demons through our averot. They stand in the presense of Ha-Kadosh Baruch-hu and say the name of their creator. "So and so created me" over and over again until we do Tshuva or die and face judgement.

you are correct; the angels that rebelled against YHVH created them; but they ( demons ) can be detroyed by the YHVH (Good Angels)

Leal, if you could not spell the four letter name for HaShem that would be great.

Jacob Tomer Dvora was wrrten by Moshe Caravo.

every tiem a person does a postive mitzvot we create little angels and every time we do a negtative mostivt we create little demons. it has been taught.

now these demons or any other demon which exist in all worlds do not have free will. the only creature that was given free will is man. the concept of angels rebelling against G-d is mainly a chirstain concept.

BS"D
The correct spelling of the author's name who wrote Tomer D'vorah is Rabbi Moshe Cordovero.