Kiddush Levana: Sources and Strangeness

James G. Frazier. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion; 1890. [W]e can more easily picture to ourselves the anxiety which the savage...may have felt as to the continued operation of what we now call the laws of nature...and the savage, with his narrow sphere of observation and his short-lived tradition, lacks the very elements of that experience which alone could set his mind at rest in face of the ever-changing and often menacing aspects of nature. No wonder, therefore, that he is thrown into a panic by an eclipse, and thinks that the sun or the moon would surely perish, if he did not raise a clamour and shoot his puny shafts into the air to defend the luminaries from the monster who threatens to devour them. No wonder he is terrified when in the darkness of night a streak of sky is suddenly illumined by the flash of a meteor, or the whole expanse of the celestial arch glows with the fitful light of the Northern Streamers. Even phenomena which recur at fixed and uniform intervals may be viewed by him with apprehension, before he has come to recognise the orderliness of their recurrence. To the primitive savage... [he] watched the changing aspects of earth and heaven with a perpetual wonder, alternately delighted and alarmed, elated and cast down, according as the vicissitudes of light and heat, of plant and animal life, ministered to his comfort or threatened his existence...As day by day the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, could he be certain that the luminary would ever retrace his heavenly road? Even the waning moon, whose pale sickle rose thinner and thinner every night over the rim of the eastern horizon, may have excited in his mind a fear lest, when it had wholly vanished, there should be moons no more...

Encyclopedia Brittanica. A widespread phenomenon, appearing in various eras and cultures, moon worship has engendered a rich symbolism and mythology. The moon is viewed in terms of the rhythmic life of the cosmos and is believed to govern all vital change. The cyclical process of disappearance and appearance of the moon is the basis of the widespread association of the moon with the land of the dead, the place to which souls ascend after death, and the power of rebirth. The lunar governance of this cycle likewise leads to association of the moon and fate.

The mythology of the moon emphasizes especially those periods when it disappears—the three days of darkness in the lunar cycle and eclipses. Both are usually interpreted as the result of battles between some monster who devours or slays the moon and who subsequently regurgitates or revives it. The interregnum is interpreted as an evil period necessitating strict taboos against beginning any new or creative period (e.g., planting or sexual intercourse). In primitive hunting cultures the moon is frequently regarded as male and, particularly in regard to women, is understood as a preeminently evil or dangerous figure. In agricultural traditions the moon is usually regarded as female and is the benevolent ruler of the cyclical vegetative process.

Joshua Trachtenberg. Jewish Magic and Superstition, 1939.

The incantation was the most prominent element in Jewish magic...The incantation comprised several ingredients, all more or less constant: an appeal to ancient masters of magic, such as the statement that a certain charm for intelligence was "performed by our teacher Moses on behalf of Joshua"; citations from or allusions to Biblical passages; the invocation of angels; the enunciation of holy names; and finally the specific request or command...A familiar characteristic of magic is the injunction to do things in reverse, to walk backward, to put one's clothing on backward, to throw things behind one's back. The same principle applies in incantations, and Talmudic and medieval Jewish charms amply illustrate its operation. Biblical quotations were often recited both forward and backward, mystical names were reversed; sometimes the words were actually written backward as they were to be uttered, so that it requires considerable mental agility not to be taken in by the unnatural rendering. Phrases that are capable of being read alike in either direction were especially highly prized. The purpose was to capitalize the mystery of the bizarre and unfamiliar, and the power that is associated with the ability to reverse the natural order of things.

Geoffrey Dennis. Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, 2016.[There] are a number of distinctive stylistic features present in incantations. These can include: repetition, rhythm, reversals, nonsense words, foreign words, and divine names of power. Repetition,usually done three or seven times, or by another number symbolically relevant to the issue at hand, is the premier aspect of constructive words of power (Shabbat 66b) An incantation meant to undo the effects of a given event or phenomenon will often include elements of reversal, reciting a word or phrase backwards in some fashion. In Pesahim 112b we read that one afflicted with an ocular disease should recite the word shabriri (blindness) repeatedly in the phrase “My mother has cautioned me against shabriri. With each repetition, the speaker should reduce one letter from the word: shabriri, shabrir, shabri, shabr,shab, sha… The magical ritual of reducing the word is intended to yield a parallel reduction in the severity of the illness. Spells can include rhymed or nonsense phrases that have minimal or no semantic value (vocesmysticae). For example,to fend off an evil water spirit, the Talmud recommends intoning this: “Lulshafan anigeron anirdafon, I dwell among the stars, I walk among thin and fat people (Pesahim 112a).” While the second clause of this spell is strange enough, the first clause of the spell is neither Hebrew nor Aramaic; by all indications it is just gibberish. This feature, common to Greco-Roman magic, emerges in Jewish circles in late antiquity...Akin to nonsense phrases, incantations often include nomina barbara, the use of foreign words and phrases. This feature of Jewish spells goes back to the Babylonian tradition of using archaic Sumerian words in their incantations, and becomes characteristic of Jewish incantations by the Greco-Roman period. With the later decline of Hebrew and Aramaic as a spoken language, these languages themselves become lingua magica for many spell-casters, both Jewish and gentile. Rashi (medieval French commentator) explains that an integral part of spell-casting involves reciting words that maybe incomprehensible to the enchanter (commentary to Sotah 22a)...Magical incantations that appear in the Talmud (and are therefore presumably sanctioned by at least some sages) mostly serve the functions of healing and protection. In Tractate Shabbat 67a-b, one sage gives explicit sanction to the use of magic if it is done solely for the purposes of healing. Outside the talmudic/midrashic tradition proper, there are spells for summoning angels, love spells, and”binding” spells intended to curse or thwart a rival in love,business, or other personal matters. While rabbinic authorities have never endorsed the latter forms of incantations, they are more tolerant of spells that enhance goals the sages endorse, such as healing, or spells meant to enhance the learning of Torah. These latter two types are perhaps the most common in Jewish literature.Tolerance for the use of spells can also be regional. The Babylonian Talmud preserves several examples of spells (see especially tractates Pesahim, Shabbat, and Berakhot), while the Palestinian Talmud has virtually none.

The increasingly mystical Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky teaches that for a toothache, it is a “segula m'kadmonim", a segula from early generations, to add several words to the Kiddush Levana at a specific point in the prayer for relief from toothaches. After one has recited the passage of “kach lo yuchlu kol oyvai lingoa bi lera'a", so too, may my enemies not be able to harm me, one should immediately add “velo yehiye li ke’ev shinayim", and I should no longer have a toothache. It seems that the Lubavitcher Rebbe concurred with the efficacy of this segula, as well...Rabbi Kanievsky adds that his father would recite these additional words not only for himself when needed, but also on behalf of others who were suffering from toothaches. [Rabbi Ari Enkin, Ramat Beit Shemesh]

One time the Senior Rabbanit Kanievsky, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael’s wife got a toothache. Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael said the appropriate verses during Kidush Levana and the toothache went away immediately. [the internet]

Transactions of Gaelic Society of Inverness, 1892. Vol 17 , pg 251

Rabenu Yonah ben Avraham Gerondi, d. 1264. Cousin of Ramban. Ch 4 Berachot

Rabbi Samuel Lebens, 2018.

Did the rabbis really believe that the moon used to be a star like the sun? Did they really believe that God was a sinner; that He wronged the moon and needed atonement? No. The story must be a symbol. It needs decoding.
Judaism is a messianic religion. It believes that the best is yet to come. In the end of days, “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun” (Isaiah 30:26). In the meantime, the world is less than perfect. It had to be. A perfect world would need no improvement. But a world without the possibility of improvement would be a world without the possibility of human growth; a world without the possibility of human partnership with God. We could certainly enjoy life in such a world, but we couldn’t be a part of improving and building it...Accordingly, a perfect God has to create a world that falls short. This is symbolised by God’s diminishing the moon. Rabbi Soloveitchick explains: “The creator of the world diminished the image and stature of creation in order to leave something for man, the work of His hands, to do, in order to adorn man with the crown of [co-]creator and maker.”...The ultimate perfection of reality will come about through our efforts. Rosh Chodesh [and kiddush levana] celebrates this fact.