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Pulsa diNura, also Pulsa Denoura, Aramaic, refers to a kabbalistic ceremony in which God is asked to curse someone who is believed to be a sinner.The origin of this phrase seems to come from the Babylonian Talmud, in tractate Hagigah 15a. This section mentions sixty "pulsey d'nura" (plural) in order to discipline the angel Metatron. A pulsa d'nura is mentioned once in the Zohar, one of the classic works of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, section 3:263c, Raya Mehemna. There it is described as a heavenly punishment against a person who does not fulfill their religious obligations. The phrase appears in a small number of other locations in the Talmud and Zohar, but not in the context of a mystical curse.
Some adherents of Kabbalah developed the idea of invoking a curse against a sinner, which they termed pulsa diNura.
According to Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok, from Yeshivat Benei N'vi'im, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the popular perception of the pulsa dinura as a curse is mistaken. He writes:
- The Pulsa D’Nora has wrongfully been associated with a certain school of Kabbalah known as Kabbalah Ma’asit (magic). The Pulsa D’Nora is not a magical formula. Torah and Judaism have no connection to or tolerance of magic in any form. Therefore, the consideration of anything in holy Kabbalah, an integral part of HaShem’s Torah from Sinai to have any ties to magic is a spurious and offensive suggestion. The Pulsa D’Nora is actually not a “curse of death” as many mistakenly believe. No Rabbi or Kabbalist has the right or authority to curse another to death. In accordance to Torah Law, the only way a Jew is put to death is for violation of specific Biblical laws and then only after being tried and condemned by a kosher and authoritative Sanhedrin, the likes of which have not existed in Israel and among the Jewish people since the days of the Temple.
The most famous recent example of a use of this curse occurred in the State of Israel. Rabbi Yossi Dayan , a political extremist, threatened to curse Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, because he disagreed with Sharon's plan to evacuate Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.
During an interview on an Israeli television network, Dayan said that he had invoked the curse in 1995 against Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, just before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
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