Like blessings, curses are invoked in the name of God, either explicitly or implicitly. The curse (Kelalah) may be pronounced for some past misdeed, as on Cain after his slaying of Abel, or it may be uttered conditionally, as when Joshua curses anyone attempting to rebuild the destroyed city of Jericho. Particularly ferocious was the malediction to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven”. A dramatic ceremony, whereby a series of curses is invoked against anyone performing certain forbidden acts, is described in Deut. Six tribes were to be stationed on Mount Gerizim for a series of blessings, and six tribes on Mount Eh’val to hear and respond Amen to the curses pronounced by the Levites. Apart from these collective blessings and curses, a number of curses are also directed against individuals and their families - the curse pronounced by Joshua on Achan, for example, and the Divine curse on the house of Eli uttered by a prophet.
The seriousness with which a curse was taken can be seen from an episode in the life of King David, who was roundly cursed - as a man guilty of shedding innocent blood - by Shim’ee, son of Gehra, a member of King Saul's family. On his deathbed, David commanded Solomon, his successor, to bring Shimee’s “grey head down to the grave in blood”. It was taken for granted that a curse spoken in the name of God was bound to be fulfilled unless it was nullified by a blessing. When hiring Balaam to put a curse on the people of Israel, Balak, the king of Moab, said: “For I know that he whom you bless is blessed indeed, and he whom you curse is cursed”. In the sequel, it is only through God's intervention that Balaam pronounces blessings on Israel rather than curses.
Something similar occurs elsewhere, in episodes concerning two individuals. Jacob, fearing that his deception of Isaac will bring down on him a curse rather than a blessing, is reassured when Rebecca declares that, in such an event, she will take the curse upon herself. An even more direct nullification of a curse by a blessing occurs in the story of Micha, a pious Ephraimite. His mother discovered that 1100 silver shekels had been taken from her, whereupon she cursed the person who had stolen them. When Micha admitted that he had taken the money, she hastened to say “Blessed be my son of the Lord”, thus nullifying the curse she had pronounced.
The consuming power of a malediction to destroy an evildoer is graphically described as “the curse which goes out over the whole land... and shall enter the house of the thief... and consume it down to the last timber and stones.” This helps explain why, in biblical law, cursing God or the king, a national leader, or one's parents is a crime punishable by death. For further information.
In the talmudic period, blessings giving thanks to God were standardised and categorised. The performance of every commandment (Mitsvah) has to be preceded by the appropriate blessing, and just as a benediction is pronounced on receiving good news, so one must also be pronounced on evil tidings. That the biblical concept of the power of blessing and cursing persisted in the talmudic era may be seen from the following statements: “Never underestimate the blessings [or curses] of an ordinary person”. “A curse pronounced by a sage, even if groundless, is bound to be fulfilled” and “Rather the curse of Ahiyah the Shilonite than the blessing of Balaam the wicked!”.
Cursing was forbidden, unless religiously motivated, and the Rabbinic maxim was “Let yourself be cursed, rather than curse [someone else]”. However, one expression that has remained current among Jews is (Yimmah shemo ve’zichro) “May his name (and memory) be blotted out!” This phrase, stemming from the Bible, is usually applied to such persecutors as Haman and Hitler.
