Shedim

Kabbalah seeAlso Some benevolent shedim were used in kabbalistic ceremonies (as with the golem of Rabbi Yehuda Loevy) and malevolent shedim (mazikin, from the root meaning "to damage") were often credited with possession.

Huggermugger: Shedim: erewhon: Wow, they must have been running this on the cheap, too.

Aggadah seeAlso Aggadic tales from the Persian tradition describe the shedim, the mazziḳim ("harmers"), and the ruḥin ("spirits").

As a consequence of the rise of influence of the Babylonian Talmud over that of the Jerusalem Talmud, late rabbis in general took as fact the existence of shedim, nor did most of the medieval thinkers question their reality.

In both places, the term appears in a scriptural context of animal or child sacrifice to non-existent false gods that are called shedim.