Worshipping Demons: Between Spain and the Land of Israel Meir Bar-Ilan Abstract Indulco is a rite of worshipping demons, in which man invokes demons when confronting specific medical issues. It consists of prayers to the demons as well as offerings such as honey, sugar, wheat, and more. is rite is relatively famous because of those who fought against it and described it at the same time. Raphael Patai, one of the founders of the study of Jewish folklore, considered this rite to be “Sephardic”—that is to say, originating in the Iberian Peninsula, since it was practiced by Jews who migrated from that region. He was also of the opinion that the word indulco comes from dolce, which means “sweet.” e aim of this paper is to show that the rite originated much earlier than the time when Jews were living in Spain and that it was not only carried out millennia earlier but was practiced by Jews and non-Jews alike in several forms throughout the ages. e method- ological aspect of a living heathen rite is demonstrated by similar practices of invoking “masters of oil,” as is known from Babylonian magic texts as well as from the baraita in the Babylonian Talmud (B. Sanhedrin 101a), which describes a rite that was practiced in both Ashkenaz and Spain. Biblical texts will be quoted demonstrating that the ancient Jews believed in demons and worshipped them as semi-gods (or heathen gods). An interdisciplinary study will reveal anew a well-known rite, a “relic” of a heathen rite that was practiced by monotheists for generations. Keywords: Bible, demonology, folklore, idolatry, indulco, religion, ritual, Spain, theology SJHSS Annual Review 2021–2022 (DOI | 10.26613/sjhss/4.1.77) INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to discuss a rite of worshipping demons practiced by Jews named indulco, which will be analyzed methodologically from the historical as well as theological points of view. The interdisciplinary study will combine history, theology, magic, and folklore, and will discuss Jewish as well as non-Jewish sources that span millennia, from the current day back to Biblical times. Naturally, there is no intention of judging the rite or, needless to say, anything concerning its success in healing. The focus of the study will be on demons. It is noteworthy that the scholar who presided over this subject was Gershom Scholem, the author of a compre- hensive study of Jewish demonology. 1 However, Scholem did not discuss or even mention indulco, since he was interested in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism while indulco comes from another sphere, as will become evident. That is to say: much more research should be conducted on indulco in general and with this fascinating subject of Jews worshipping demons, in particular. This discussion opens with historical evidence in which the rite is described as it occurred in several time-periods and places. First, we will see how this ritual was practiced