The problem with poltergeists

My parents were not the type to have flights of fancy or be interested in metaphysical theories. But in the absence of any rational explanation —there had been no windows left open that could cause draughts and no faulty plumbing that might have produced sounds — they were convinced there was a poltergeist in the house.

Despite the upheaval of moving again so quickly, as well as the cost, they put the house on the market and sold as soon as possible. They never had any similar occurrences in subsequent homes, while the new owners of that property never complained of anything odd taking place.

The second instance involved me much more actively in a rabbinic role. Miriam was a very down-to-earth woman. When her husband was ill, she took over his business affairs till he recovered. When her children had problems, she was the one that sorted them out. I was very surprised, therefore, to receive a phone call from her asking me to come round to say a prayer to get rid of the bad spirit in the house. I listened to her tale without interrupting lest she think I was being dismissive. She said a strange atmosphere had recently developed, as if there was something negative in the air. She had heard noises, felt cold and hot winds, lost items that turned up in strange places.

Personally, despite my earlier episode, I reckon that in nearly all such cases there are practical causes, even if we cannot locate them. Moreover, once a person thinks there is a poltergeist, then anything unusual that happens is seen as reinforcement of that fact, rather than chance or coincidence.

Still, I did recognise that although Miriam’s angst was a subjective matter in my eyes, for her it was an objective reality. So, I duly went off and composed a benign prayer — nothing mystical or involving black candles at midnight — and recited it in the house in her presence. It was a prayer for domestic tranquillity, rather than an ousting of spirits.

She phoned me the next week. The noises had stopped, the gusts disappeared and objects stayed where they should be. Was it due to me? I strongly doubt it and am much more inclined to put it down to Miriam’s powers of auto-suggestion. But ask her what happened and she will tell you a very different story as to why the poltergeist left her home.

As for the official Jewish view of such matters, rabbis of all denominations are happy to admit there are things that occur which we simply cannot explain. It may be there is a spirit realm and it may be that on rare occasions we encounter it. Notice I say “may be” — because just as we cannot be definite it does exist, we cannot be sure it does not.

Where Judaism is more adamant is that we should not try to delve into it, partly because we do not know how real it is, partly because fixating on it deflects us from everyday life and partly because it is easy to be manipulated by charlatans who claim to know this realm.

Jewish history highlights all possibilities. As far back as the Bible, Saul tries to summon up the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel, though it is unclear whether he did do so or was duped into thinking he had (I Samuel 28.8).

The question marks remain, both then and now, and Judaism is content to live with them: better to be definitely cautious than certainly wrong. It is interesting to speculate, but only to a limited extent. There is too much to do in the here and now to be distracted by the possible and the maybe.

Jonathan Romain is author of Confessions of a Rabbi