Gal Sofer

Post-Doctoral Researcher

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Gal Sofer recently submitted his Ph.D. dissertation to the Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University. His research focuses on Jewish and Christian magic, especially demonic magic, from the late Middle Ages to the modern period. He is particularly interested in Solomonic magic texts that have been translated into various languages, including Hebrew, Aramaic, Italian, French, Latin, Greek, and English. Within the JEWTACT project, Gal will be investigating translations of magical recipes, particularly the translations and transformations of amulets with their verbal and non-verbal components from the sixteenth century onwards.

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Selected Publications:

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• 'The Jewish Reception of the Ars Notoria: Preliminary Insights into a Recent Discovery', Religions 15(3) (2024): 339-360

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• ‘Crooked Manners and Strange Figures: Visuality as a Tool for Constraining Demons,’ Mabatim: Journal for Visual Culture 1 (2022): 77–100 [Hebrew]

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• ‘Wearing God, Consecrating Body Parts: Berengar Ganell’s Summa Sacre Magice and Shi’ur Qomah,’ Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 16 (Winter 2021): 304–334

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• “‘And You Should Also Adjure in Arabic:’ Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Formulas in the Solomonic Corpus,” in Esoteric Transfers and Constructions, ed. Mark Sedgwick and Francesco Piraino (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021): 57–71.

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• The Reception of Ritual Magic in Max Théon’s Circles,’ in The Cosmic Movement: Sources, Contexts, Impact, ed. Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss (Beer Sheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, 2020): 169-197

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• ‘The Magical Cosmos of Yohanan Alemanno: Christian and Jewish Magic in the Service of a Kabbalist,’ Jewish Thought 2 (2020): 65-92

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• ‘Lover, Son and Prophet: Magic and Kabbalah in The Autobiography of Yohanan Alemanno,’ Tarbiz – A Quarterly for Jewish Studies 86/4 (2019): 663-694. [Hebrew]