I have been practicing Judaism for approximately 15 years.  Frequently, I find that a lot of people are confused about how I can mix my Jewish faith with Satanic ideology.I hope that this will help clear things up.

First, some history about me... I was not raised with any particular religious background.  As I child, I was most exposed to Catholicism.  In my late teens, I began studying the Bible and very quickly recognized a need to avoid the debate over which translations are best by learning Hebrew.  In my mid-20s, I began teaching myself Hebrew, studying the Tanakh (Old Testament), New Testament, and Judaism.  I soon received a job teaching Hebrew language courses at a local “Messianic Jewish” church.  Eventually, I was put in charge of all the Hebrew studies for students K-12 as well as for adults.  After about a year, I was made principal of the K-12 education, but continued to teach as well.  I taught from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  Because of some bylaws with the church government, I was ordained as a pastor.  This opened up a nationwide speaking tour for me, as well as required that I provide counseling services and other “pastoral” services for people.  

I worked there several years as an ordained pastor, despite rejecting many of the creeds that they taught as “gospel”.  I simply agreed to disagree with the senior pastor (a self-proclaimed, self-ordained “rabbi”).  Despite this agreement, he repeatedly insisted that I stop studying Kabbalah, “rabbinic” Judaism, and other traditions claiming that they were littered with "witchcraft".  They were always trying to bring me into their fold.  I would just smile, nod my head and let them know that it’s not for me.  The leadership of the church requested that I keep my personal beliefs private.  I assume that they were concerned about what would happen of the congregation found out that they had ordained a heretic.  Despite their many broken promises regarding my salary, I respected their wishes.  As far as anyone in the congregation knew, I was a Christian/Messianic Jew or whatever.   That is, unless they asked me specifically what I thought about something, in which case I would answer their questions honestly. At all other times, I kept it to myself.  I am happy to let people believe what they choose to believe about me or their religion, but I never agreed to lie for this church.  

My journey within Judaism - my personal journey, was not at this church.  The church was a job for me.  Yes, I had friends there - people I would consider family, but spiritually that wasn’t for me.  I studied elsewhere.

During my time away from work, I continued my studies in Hebrew.  I attended Synagogue with Lubavitchers when I could.  I attended Talmud/Torah with various groups.  I studied on-line, in libraries, and built my own rather extensive library.  I also wrote prolifically, on Judaism, Kabbalah, and Messianic Judaism.  I did have a rather large online Christian reader base who seemed to enjoy my insights.  I also traveled the U.S. for various speaking engagements, speaking in front of crowds that sometimes numbered in the thousands.  

Aside from Judaism, I studied other religions as well.  The subjects of religion and spirituality have always been fascinating to me.  I studied Buddhism, Hinduism, Huna, Sufism, and more.  Gnosticism, Hermetic Kabbalah, Astrology, Alchemy were all intertwined with all these studies, serving as foundations for all of these religions.  

So, how does Satanism fit in?  I get asked this all the time.  How can you be Jewish AND a Satanist?  Aren't they mutually exclusive?  This little syncretization of these two “religions” is most confusing to so many people when they hear me tell them this, that I decided to write this.  I believe that this confusion is due primarily to the holding of misconceptions about Satanism that are widespread.

When most people think of Satanism, usually some sort Hollywood imagery comes to mind.  Images of cloaked and hooded figures, vampires, black masses, perhaps animal or even human sacrifices fill one's thoughts.  Hollywood has done much to cash in on the fears that people hold about things that are either misunderstood, unknown, or "taboo".  Couple this with the great “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s, and it’s natural to see why Satanism is so frightening to so many people.  

Modern Satanism, for the most part is of the “La Veyan” variety - named after Anton Szandor La Vey, the author of The Satanic Bible.  La Veyan Satanism is a modern interpretation of what Kabbalists for centuries have referred to as the “Left-hand path” (more on this later).  In other words, despite the very recent authorship of The Satanic Bible, the ideas it presents are nothing new.  

So what are the basic principles of Satanism?  Does it differ from atheism?  

First and foremost, Satanists do not believe in Satan in the same way Christians do, neither do Jews for that matter.  Many people assume that Christianity adopted the idea of Satan from their Jewish foundations, but this is not entirely true.  While the idea of Satan is present in Judaism, what is presented in Christianity is a syncretization of Jewish ideas with demigods of other religions - most notably Pan, Hades, Pluto, Set, Ba’al Zebub, etc.  Much of the Christian imagery of Hell, Satan, and the falling of the angels, come from Dante’s Inferno, rather than the Bible.  

In Hebrew, the word “satan”, means “opposite” or “other side”.  It is understood among learned Jews, that satan is the other side of God -  it is God’s dark side.  The Bible states that In the beginning, the heavens and Earth were “formless and void”.  The Hebrew text here is “tohu v’vohu”, which carries a very mystical and esoteric meaning.  Rabbinical sages comment that the meaning of the Hebrew text refers to a perfect homogenization of light and darkness.  The second word “vohu” literally translates as “He is in it”, the Jewish sages state that “He” refers to God himself who is Light.  So, when God states “Let there be Light”, light came to be and the Bible continues, the Light was separated from the darkness.  Since Light was homogenous with the dark (meaning they were one), God’s first act of Creation was to separate the Light and Darkness within Himself.  The Bible then goes on saying He named light “day” and dark “night”.  Then says “there was evening and there was morning, one day”.  The sages go on saying that Light and Darkness are one day, just as light and dark are found within God Himself.  

Most people who believe in God when asked if they believe God is infinite, will answer "yes".  Something that is infinite in nature exists everywhere, is everything, and is not limited by any force, boundary, or concept.

 Therefore, it is contradictatory to claim that God is infinite but God is not Satan.  Just as it is a contradiction to claim that God is infinite while at the same time saying that God is only good and not bad.  Either God is infinite, or God is limited. You cannot have it both ways.  If God is responsible for good, and Satan for evil, then God is limited by Satan, and therefore Satan must be a more powerful force than God and perhaps more worthy of worship.  If God is infinite, then all is God...  you, me, rocks, birds, and Satan included; in which case all should be worshiped.  

Often, when presented with this dilemma, the Christian believer responds with “God chose to limit Himself (in order to allow free will/choice, etc.”)  In other words God restrained His Goodness in order to allow evil and all the pain, anguish, and suffering that comes along with it, so that humans could experience “choice”.  This seems hardly a good trade - evil for choice- and I would argue that this act alone makes God evil.  Not only does God tolerate evil in this scenario, but He is the source of it, and this again would make God just as evil or more evil than Satan.  

During my times teaching in Christian churches, I heard it repeatedly said that Satan (the fallen angel, etc) was nothing more than a “dog on a leash” under the will and control of God the Father.  Well, once again this makes God responsible of all the horrible crimes attributed to Satan, and Satan nothing more than a loyal servant.  

With this unavoidable dilemma that permeates Christian doctrine, let us turn back to the source - the Jewish idea of “Satan”, but first let’s look at the Jewish idea of God.  In Judaism, there is no name for God.  The four-letter tetragrammaton (often transliterated as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah"), represents an idea that helps one to know God.  But God in his highest understanding is without a name.  This is because of His infinite nature.  That which is infinite, cannot be defined (otherwise it would be definite rather than infinite).  In Judaism, it is taught that when you say “God is ____”, you’ve already sinned by the time you get to the word “is”.  Therefore the ancient Kabbalists devised a name that would avoid this error, they gave God the name of “Ein Soph”, which means “without boundary or definition or name”.  

The Jewish concept of Satan is not that of a being and not something separate from God.  Satan is a concept and an action.  It is energy, just as God is energy/Light, so is Satan.  Energy, unable to be created nor destroyed…  Not bound by  time or distance... infinite - Ein Soph.  God truly is LIGHT.  God has no body just as light has no mass.  

In Quantum Physics, we learn that as waves of light condense and lose energy, the wavelength lengthens and the frequency of the waves that make up light drop.  As these waves condense further, they form matter.  Matter is light, as illustrated in the equation E=mc2 (Energy = Mass x Speed of Light squared).  Matter is energy which is light - all is God.

This condensing of higher energy waves to lower energy waves to form matter, in the Kabbalistic understanding of Judaism, is the “descending” of the angels, the “falling of Lucifer” (Lucifer = Light Carrier).  It is this cooling down of energy that creates the solid matter that makes up the earth, and we read in the Bible that “Satan” is the God of the Earth and the lower realms.    

In Christianity, the Godhead consists of 3 parts - Father, Son, Holy Spirit/Ghost.  In the Jewish Godhead, there are 3 pillars.  The Father or Right-Hand, the Mother or Left-Hand, and Tifferet or “Balance” which is centered between the two.  These three pillars consist of 10 Sephirot (Spirits, sprites, or spheres).  This configuration is known as the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
 

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The Left-Hand side of this tree is often referred to as the Pillar of Severity.  It is the judgmental side of God.  On this side, there is no forgiveness for sin or imperfection.  The Right Hand side is called the Pillar of Mercy.  It is the side of complete forgiveness for all imperfection, disharmony, and sin.  Here there is no correction for wrongdoing.  The Left-Hand path illustrates the pathway of the “descending angels”.  They carry the light from Ein Soph (the uppermost sphere - sometimes drawn above the uppermost sphere) where it is unknowable, and bring it down to “Earth” (the bottom Sephira also known as “Malkhut” or “Kingdom”).  So, in other words… on the diagram of the Jewish Godhead, you have the Kingdom at the bottom, and the Heavens above (Ein Soph).  The lowest realm is Earth, there is no "underworld" as in Christianity. If there were a "Hell" in Judaism, it would Earth as this is the lowest sphere, which is served by the Satanic powers or "fallen angels".  
Now examine the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus said “Our Father, Hallowed be Thy Name.  Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.  This prayer is literally calling for the descending angels to carry the Light down from on High to fill the lower sephira of Malkhut - that is an invocation to the falling or descending angels (a.k.a. demons) to descend the Tree of Life.  

This may sound hard to swallow for many Christians and even for many Jews, who are not well-versed in Kabbalah or Talmud.  So I will provide some other examples.  
The Talmud tells us that King Solomon was able to build the Temple only through the help of Amodeus, the King of the Demons.  The Temple itself is a microcosm of the Earth, which is patterned after a design given in the Heavens. This simple concept explains why the demons were absolutely necessary for the building of the Temple. Light (Enlightenment) is brought down from on high through the descending angels.  
Then there is the story where God charges Moses with saving the Jewish people, then in the very next verse, it says that God went out to kill Moses.  The Hebrew words for “went out” in this case, literally mean “cooling down” and “extending outwards” - referring to the descending energy, the demonic/descending/falling angels, which are clearly shown to be God Himself in this verse.  
Lastly, you have the story of Jacob wrestling the strange man during the night.  Many Christians state that Jacob wrestled a Satan or the angel Samael.  The story makes the point that this occurred at night, and that he wrestled all night long.  Then as the sun was about to rise, the angel demanded to be let go, saying “Let me go for daylight is coming!”.  This tells us that this angel exists within the domain of darkness/night.  This is why many scholars refer to this angel as Samael or Satan.  Jacob demands a blessing first, and the angel blesses him with a new name “Israel”, meaning “struggles with God”.  Once again we see that the dark angel/Samael/Satan is God Himself.  

Now, that this foundation has been explained, let us move on to the tenets of (La Veyan) Satanism itself.  In Satanism, there are no real set dogmas or creeds (save a few). There is the idea that man is God or the highest manifestation of God, therefore the idea that all is God is certainly compatible with Satanism.  Since man is God, it is a crime or a sin to harm another man, unless they have done something to deserve it - in that case they are begging and crying out for their own punishment.  The holiest day of the year is one’s birthday, for that is the day that they received the conscious awareness that makes up their “life”.  Bringing harm to a baby, child, or animal is strictly forbidden in Satanism - they contrast this with Judaism and Christianity in which animals (and at least one human) were sacrificed to appease a separate deity.  Satanism forbids sacrificing of animals or harming them in any way.  

According to the Satanic Bible, there are nine Satanic Statements upon which the religion is based.  They are:

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!

In addition to the 9 Satanic Statements, there are 11 Satanic Rules of the Earth which provide good guidance in how to live in harmony with others.  They are:

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
3. When in another's lair, show them respect or else do not go there.
4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat them cruelly and without mercy.
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and they cry out to be relieved.
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
9. Do not harm little children.
10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they don’t stop, destroy them.

The Satanic Bible is written in 5 parts or books.  Each book corresponding to one of the five alchemical elements and a point on the Shield of Solomon (Pentagram).  The first book is the Book of Fire also known as the Infernal Diatribe.  In this book, La Vey unleashes a verbal assault on the religious institutions and so-called piety of their members.  Once this is out of the way, the next couple of books offer constructive lessons in self-improvement, protection against vicious people, and applied psychology.  The last two books offer incantations and spells based on Enochian magick for people who are interested in such things.   

If nothing else, the Satanic Bible is extremely entertaining.  But I encourage everyone to read it (not to convert anyone or anything like that - Satanism does not recruit members or go on “missions”).  Satanism respects the rights of others to choose their own paths, make up their own minds, etc. - even to deceive themselves.  Afterall, we are all Gods, so who am I to tell you what you need to believe or think??  
The book does offer valuable advice on how to identify and deal with psychic vampires (people who drain you emotionally), ingrates, and anyone else who has a tendency to use your or other people.  The lessons it contains are empowering, and nothing within its pages will require you to give up your own religion of choice, sell your soul, or give you cooties.