[Cz-L] Black Magic

     Black Magic

  In Yiddish it is called " Kishef" from the Hebrew "Kishuf " for magic.
  Goldfaden who lived and created in our neighborhood wrote a musical
 " Di Kishefmacherin " which was a big success.
     He took it from real life . Black Magic in Czernowitz was a =
profession
    as any other. The standard Kishefmacherin had to be old
    have a crooked nose ,of any nationality and as the name suggests
    female . There was no Kishefmacher , as much as I know.
    When would you go to a Kishefmacherin?=20
    If you had problems in love affairs , money affairs, family affairs =
.
        Application of spells, curses , damnations .
          Removal of spells etc. applied by competition.=20
          All for a modest fee . All reliably effective .=20
        If your betrothed announces 2 weeks before the wedding=20
      that she has fallen in love with the neighbor's son =96 you go
      to the Kishefmacherin.
       For a modest fee the culprit can : Get smallpox. Break a leg.
       drown in the Pruth. Elope with a Gipsy.
         All according to price. All you have to do is chose.
       =20
                 As we get up and look out of our window, across the=20
     court , on the door of the Gelbers what is this ? Hanging from
     the door is the strangest of things : All kind of vegetables bound
      together in a wreath with chicken legs and rat tails..
         All this pinned to the front door of the Gelbers.
            A Kishef !
      In no time the news spread in the neighborhood:
        " The Gelbers got a Kishef. "
        They also knew why and who the instigator was.
       If they didn=92t they made something up.=20
          The Gelbers went to their Kishefmacherin to take immediate
       counter actions.

           This is not Voodoo in Jamaica.
              Czernowitz 1938.
                        =20
                                  Hardy

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Received on 2008-06-27 11:57:28