Shavuot 15b ~ The Forgotten Havdalah of Rabbi Akiva

In a Mishnah that we learned two days ago, we read that any additions to the area of either Jerusalem or the Temple Courtyard had to be accompanied by certain attendees and specific offerings:

משנה שבועות יד, א

שֶׁאֵין מוֹסִיפִין עַל הָעִיר וְעַל הָעֲזָרוֹת אֶלָּא בְּמֶלֶךְ וְנָבִיא וְאוּרִים וְתוּמִּים וְסַנְהֶדְרִין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד, וּבִשְׁתֵּי תּוֹדוֹת וּבְשִׁיר

Additions can be made to the city of Jerusalem or to the Temple courtyards only by a special body comprising the king, a prophet, the Urim VeTummim, and the Sanhedrin of seventy-one judges, and with two thanks-offerings and with a special song.

On today’s page of Talmud we learn more from a Baraita about the identity of that “special song.”

שבועות טו, ב

וּבְשִׁיר. תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: שִׁיר שֶׁל תּוֹדָה – בְּכִנּוֹרוֹת וּבִנְבָלִים וּבְצֶלְצֶלִים עַל כל פִּינָּה וּפִינָּה וְעַל כל אֶבֶן גְּדוֹלָה שֶׁבִּירוּשָׁלַיִם, וְאוֹמֵר ״אֲרוֹמִמְךָ ה׳ כִּי דִלִּיתָנִי וְגוֹ׳״, וְשִׁיר שֶׁל פְּגָעִים, וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִין שִׁיר שֶׁל נְגָעִים

The Sages taught in a Baraita: They sang the song of thanksgiving, (Ps. 100, which begins: “A psalm of thanksgiving,)” accompanied by harps, lyres, and cymbals, at every corner and upon every large stone in Jerusalem. And they also recited (Ps. 30 which begins): “I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,” and the song of evil spirits, (Ps. 91, which begins: “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High.)” And some say that this psalm is called the song of plagues.

Psalm 91 - The Song of Plagues

In Jewish traditions, (including those of Ashkenaz, Yemen, Sefarad and North Africa) Psalm 91 is recited on several occasions. On Shabbat and Chagim in the morning service, it is added to the psalms of praise (פסוקי דזימרה). It is part of the prayers recited before sleep, and at Ma’ariv on Saturday night. It is also chanted at a Jewish burial. (You can hear many of the different ways in which various communities chant this Psalm on a charming website from the Jewish National Library here). But why does the Baraita call it The Song of Evil Spirits or The Song of Plagues?

Psalm 91 lists a number of dangers and tragedies that the psalmist faced. Snares and night terrors, “the arrow that flies at day, the plague that stalks in the darkness, and the scourge that rages at noon.” “In all likelihood” wrote the biblical scholar Robert Alter in his 2007 work (The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary (322),

..the setting evoked is a raging epidemic in which vast numbers of people all around are fatally stricken. The image of martial danger, however, introduced by the flying arrow of verse 5 and the shield and buckler of verse 4, is superimposed on the image of danger from the plague, life imagined as a battlefield fraught with dangers.” But for those who trust in God, wrote the psalmist “no harm will befall you, nor will affliction draw near to your tent.”

Here is the full text of Psalm 91, so you get a sense of what Alter is talking about:

יֹשֵׁב בְּסֵתֶר עֶלְיוֹן בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלוֹנָן׃

O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High
and abide in the protection of Shaddai—

אֹמַר לַיהֹוָה מַחְסִי וּמְצוּדָתִי אֱלֹהַי אֶבְטַח־בּוֹ׃

I say of the LORD, my refuge and stronghold,
my God in whom I trust,

כִּי הוּא יַצִּילְךָ מִפַּח יָקוּשׁ מִדֶּבֶר הַוּוֹת׃

that He will save you from the fowler’s trap,
from the destructive plague.

בְּאֶבְרָתוֹ  יָסֶךְ לָךְ וְתַחַת־כְּנָפָיו תֶּחְסֶה צִנָּה וְסֹחֵרָה אֲמִתּוֹ׃

He will cover you with His pinions;
you will find refuge under His wings;
His fidelity is an encircling shield.

לֹא־תִירָא מִפַּחַד לָיְלָה מֵחֵץ יָעוּף יוֹמָם׃

You need not fear the terror by night,
or the arrow that flies by day,

מִדֶּבֶר בָּאֹפֶל יַהֲלֹךְ מִקֶּטֶב יָשׁוּד צהֳרָיִם׃

the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the scourge that ravages at noon.

יִפֹּל מִצִּדְּךָ  אֶלֶף וּרְבָבָה מִימִינֶךָ אֵלֶיךָ לֹא יִגָּשׁ׃

A thousand may fall at your left side,
ten thousand at your right,
but it shall not reach you.

רַק בְּעֵינֶיךָ תַבִּיט וְשִׁלֻּמַת רְשָׁעִים תִּרְאֶה׃

You will see it with your eyes,
you will witness the punishment of the wicked.

כִּי־אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מַחְסִי עֶלְיוֹן שַׂמְתָּ מְעוֹנֶךָ׃

Because you took the LORD—my refuge,
the Most High—as your haven,

לֹא־תְאֻנֶּה אֵלֶיךָ רָעָה וְנֶגַע לֹא־יִקְרַב בְּאהֳלֶךָ׃

no harm will befall you,
no disease touch your tent.

כִּי מַלְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּךְ לִשְׁמרְךָ בְּכל־דְּרָכֶיךָ׃

For He will order His angels
to guard you wherever you go.

עַל־כַּפַּיִם יִשָּׂאוּנְךָ פֶּן־תִּגֹּף בָּאֶבֶן רַגְלֶךָ׃

They will carry you in their hands
lest you hurt your foot on a stone.

עַל־שַׁחַל וָפֶתֶן תִּדְרֹךְ תִּרְמֹס כְּפִיר וְתַנִּין׃

You will tread on cubs and vipers;
you will trample lions and asps.
כִּי בִי חָשַׁק וַאֲפַלְּטֵהוּ אֲשַׂגְּבֵהוּ כִּי־יָדַע שְׁמִי׃

“Because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him;
I will keep him safe, for he knows My name.

יִקְרָאֵנִי  וְאֶעֱנֵהוּ עִמּוֹ־אָנֹכִי בְצָרָה אֲחַלְּצֵהוּ וַאֲכַבְּדֵהוּ׃

When he calls on Me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress;
I will rescue him and make him honored;

אֹרֶךְ יָמִים אַשְׂבִּיעֵהוּ וְאַרְאֵהוּ בִּישׁוּעָתִי׃ 
I will let him live to a ripe old age,
and show him My salvation.” 

Because of these references, the psalm was called an “amulet psalm,” although on today’s daf the Talmud refers to it as a Song [to Ward Away] Evil Spirits (shir shel pega’im) or a Song [to Ward Away] Plagues (shir shel nega’im).[ii] In it, plague – dever - is personified. It moves unseen and is therefore unstoppable; in its wake “a thousand fall.” Then something extra happened; by reciting it, the psalm took on magical properties, as we read on today’s daf:

רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי אָמַר לְהוּ לְהָנֵי קְרָאֵי, וְגָאנֵי

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi would recite these verses to protect himself from evil spirits during the night and fall asleep while saying them.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi (c. 220-250 CE), a talmudic sage from the village of Lod would say the psalm as he fell asleep at night, despite objections from his colleagues that it was forbidden to use words of scripture as protection. And according to the Midrash, Moses himself recited this amulet psalm when he ascended Mount Sinai, “because he feared evil spirits”:

במדבר רבה 12:3

וְנֶגַע לֹא יִקְרַב בְּאָהֳלֶךָ, אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן, עַד שֶׁלֹא הוּקַם הַמִּשְׁכָּן הָיוּ הַמַּזִּיקִין מִתְגָּרִין בָּעוֹלָם לַבְּרִיּוֹת, וּמִשֶּׁהוּקַם הַמִּשְׁכָּן שֶׁשָּׁרָה הַשְּׁכִינָה לְמַטָּה, כָּלוּ הַמַּזִּיקִין מִן הָעוֹלָם, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וְנֶגַע לֹא יִקְרַב בְּאָהֳלֶךָ, זֶה אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן לָקִישׁ מַה לְּךָ אֵצֶל סֵפֶר תְּהִלִּים, וַהֲלֹא בִּמְקוֹמוֹ אֵינוֹ חָסֵר (במדבר ו, כד): יְבָרֶכְךָ ה' וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ, מִן הַמַּזִּיקִין, אֵימָתַי, וַיְהִי בְּיוֹם כַּלּוֹת משֶׁה, מַהוּ בְּיוֹם כַּלּוֹת, שֶׁכָּלוּ הַמַּזִּיקִין מִן הָעוֹלָם

And no plague will come near your tent” (Psalms 91:10) – Rabbi Yochanan said: Until the Tabernacle was erected, the demons would provoke people in the world. When the Tabernacle was erected, when the Divine Presence rested below, the demons were eliminated from the world. That is what is written: “And no plague will come near your tent” – this is the Tent of Meeting. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Why must you go to the book of Psalms? In its place it is not lacking: “May the Lord bless you and protect you” (Numbers 6:24). When? “It was on the day that Moses concluded.” What is “the day that [Moses] concluded [kalot]’? It means that all the demons were eliminated [shekalu] from the world.

Rabbi Yehoshua’s custom spread in the period following the final editing of the Talmud, an era roughly from 590-1040 C.E. and known as the period of the Ge’onim. It was sometime during this period that Psalm 91 was incorporated into a prayer that is now completely forgotten: Havdala de Rabbi Akiva.

The Forgotten Havdalah of Rabbi Akiva

The composition is a lengthy addendum to the traditional brief prayer, the havdala, said over wine, a candle and spices at the end of the Sabbath and Chagim. The Havdala de Rabbi Akiva was part prayer and part incantation, whose purpose was to ward off witchcraft and evil spirits for the week that lay ahead. Although not recited today, the Havdala de Rabbi Akivah spread from Babylonia to Italy and Spain, and from there to the Jewish communities of Ashkenaz living in the Rhineland. In it, Psalm 91 was recited in its entirety, with the names of God and several angels additionally woven into each verse.

The full text of the Havdalah of Rabbi Akiva can be found in several Hebrew manuscripts, although they differ in many places. This one, from the collection of the Vatican (ebr. 228 93r-98v), is dated 1426-1500:

Havdala de Rabbi Akiva, Vat. ebr. 228.

Another version of the text is held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. It is catalogued as Bodleian Library MS. Michael 9. (Gershon Scholem and others referred to it simply as Oxford MS 1531, when they are referring to what they should have referenced as Neubauer 1531.) The manuscript dates to the early 1300s and is described as “Ashkenazic cursive script, most probably by one hand over a long period.” It contains kabbalistic and Hekhalot texts, the latter being collections of mystical literature, mostly about entering heaven alive, written in late antiquity through to the early Middle Ages. Here is the opening page:

Bodleian Library MS. Michael 9. 137a.

This forgotten Jewish prayer is mentioned in several texts. Rabbi Avraham ben Azriel cites it in his perush on the piyyutim called ערוגת הבושם (Arugot Bosem) written around 1230, and the kabbalist Rabbi Naphtali Hertz of Treves (1473-1540), mentions it in his siddur. (In a long paper on the Havdalah of Rabbi Akiva, that was published posthumously by Gershon Scholem, he notes several other medieval and early modern texts that mention the prayer.) It was also mentioned by the rabbis of Sepharad, such as Shlomo ibn Aderet (1235–1310) known as the Rashba who refers to it in one of his responsa.

The full text is very, very long (Scholem broke it down into 15 sections). You can find it here, and the only attempt of an English translation of which I am aware is here.

זו היא הבדלה דרבי אקיבא

לבטל הכשפים לבטל הכשפים ולניזוק מרוח רעה ולמי שאסור מאשתו ולפתיחת לב
הרוצה להזכיר במוצאי שבת צריך לרחוץ במים וללבוש בגדים נקיים ולישב במקום טהור או בבית הכנסת ויהיו ידיו טהורות. וכשיבא לאומרה ישים לפניו כלי נקי וישפוך אחד על ידיו מים טהורים

השופך יאמר ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר. והמקבל יאמר הָבָה לָּנוּ עֶזְרָת מִצָּר וְשָׁוְא תְּשׁוּעַת אָדָם. באלה’ים נעשה חיל והוא יבוס צרינו. ויהיו המים שמורים לפניו עד שישלים לומר כל ההבדלה. וצריך להדיח ולשטוף כוס נקי ולמלאותו מיין טוב מקנקן מלא. ולא ידבר המוזג עד שיתנהו ביד הקורא

This is the Havdalah of Rabbi Akiba to defend against witchcrafts and against injury from an evil spirit, or for [one] who his woman is forbidden him, or to open a heart. The one who desires to remember at the end of Shabbat needs to wash in water and to dress in clean clothes and sit in a pure place or in a synagogue. He will have pure hands. When he is about to recite it, he will place before him a clean vessel and he will pour pure water once upon his hands. The one pouring will recite, “To Jews let there be light, celebration, joy, and dignity,” while the recipient [of the water] will say, “Bring to us help from distress and falsehood; the deliverance of humanity. Through God may we do virtue and may He trample our enemies. And they will be keep the water in front of him until he completes reciting the entire havdalah. And he needs to wash and rinse a cup clean and fill it from a full pitcher of good wine. But the wine-pourer is not to speak until the cup is given in to the hand of the one reciting [the ritual].

And what of Psalm 91, יושב בסתר? Well, it appears, but not in its usual form. Instead, interspersed within the traditional text are a several mystical words, some of which are the names of angels, some of which are names sound like angels. Here it is

יֹשֵׁב בְּסֵתֶר עֶלְיוֹן ביאו בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלוֹנָן צבאות׃ אֹמַר לַיהֹוָה מַחְסִי וּמְצוּדָתִי מיכאל. אֱלֹהַי אֶבְטַח־בּוֹ גבריאל׃ כִּי הוּא יַצִּילְךָ מִפַּח יָקוּשׁ מלטיאל מִדֶּבֶר הַוּוֹת יהוה ׃ בְּאֶבְרָתוֹ  יָסֶךְ לָךְ אימיאל וְתַחַת־כְּנָפָיו תֶּחְסֶה עמניאל צִנָּה וְסֹחֵרָה אֲמִתּוֹ אבאל׃ לֹא־תִירָא מִפַּחַד לָיְלָה נתנאל מֵחֵץ יָעוּף יוֹמָם אנאל׃ מִדֶּבֶר בָּאֹפֶל יַהֲלֹךְ יהיאל מִקֶּטֶב יָשׁוּד צהֳרָיִם סוריאל׃ יִפֹּל מִצִּדְּךָ  אֶלֶף צוריאל וּרְבָבָה מִימִינֶךָ אֵלֶיךָ לֹא יִגָּשׁ סמאל׃ רַק בְּעֵינֶיךָ תַבִּיט גדיאל וְשִׁלֻּמַת רְשָׁעִים תִּרְאֶה אזאל׃ כִּי־אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מַחְסִי י’י צבאות עֶלְיוֹן שַׂמְתָּ מְעוֹנֶךָ ירבאתה׃ לֹא־תְאֻנֶּה אֵלֶיךָ רָעָה צדעיאל וְנֶגַע לֹא־יִקְרַב בְּאהֳלֶךָ אזקיאל חזקיאל׃ כִּי מַלְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּךְ שומריאל לִשְׁמרְךָ בְּכל־דְּרָכֶיךָ שלהיאל סרתיאל׃ עַל־כַּפַּיִם יִשָּׂאוּנְךָ מלאכי השרת פֶּן־תִּגֹּף בָּאֶבֶן רַגְלֶךָ אדוניאל׃ עַל־שַׁחַל וָפֶתֶן תִּדְרֹךְ אדריאל תִּרְמֹס כְּפִיר וְתַנִּין מלכיאל׃ כִּי בִי חָשַׁק וַאֲפַלְּטֵהוּ אבראות אֲשַׂגְּבֵהוּ כִּי־יָדַע שְׁמִי חי אכתריאל׃ יִקְרָאֵנִי  וְאֶעֱנֵהוּ יה פתי?וה עִמּוֹ־אָנֹכִי בְצָרָה מטטרון אֲחַלְּצֵהוּ וַאֲכַבְּדֵהוּ רחום זיותאל זכוריאל׃ אֹרֶךְ יָמִים אַשְׂבִּיעֵהוּ רוח פיסקונית וְאַרְאֵהוּ בִּישׁוּעָתִי ברחמים׃

Shabbat 61 ~ On the Ubiquity of Amulets

Among the things that may not be carried in public on Shabbat is an amulet, known in Hebrew as a קמיע -kemiah (pl. kemiaot). But that is only true of amulets that have not been demonstrated to be effective, as the Mishnah in yesterday’s page of Talmud (60a) made clear:

לֹא יֵצֵא הָאִישׁ … וְלֹא בְּקָמֵיעַ בִּזְמַן שֶׁאֵינוֹ מִן הַמּוּמְחֶה

A person may not go out on Shabbat… with an amulet when it is not from an expert…

In today’s page of Talmud, the corpulent Babylonian Rav Pappa (~300-375 CE) clarrified this ruling:

שבת סא,א

וְלֹא בְּקָמֵיעַ בִּזְמַן שֶׁאֵינוֹ מִן הַמּוּמְחֶה. אָמַר רַב פָּפָּא: לָא תֵּימָא עַד דְּמוּמְחֶה גַּבְרָא וּמוּמְחֶה קָמֵיעַ, אֶלָּא כֵּיוָן דְּמוּמְחֶה גַּבְרָא, אַף עַל גַּב דְּלָא מוּמְחֶה קָמֵיעַ 

Nor with an amulet when it is not from an expert: Rav Pappa said: This does not mean that one may only go out with an amulet if the person who wrote it is an expert and the amulet has proven effective. Rather, if the person who wrote it is an expert, even though the amulet has not proven effective, he may go out with it.

According to Rav Pappa, so long as the provenance of the amulet was from an expert, it may be carried. The Talmud then defines an “effective amulet”:

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: אֵיזֶהוּ קָמֵיעַ מוּמְחֶה — כֹּל שֶׁרִיפֵּא, וְשָׁנָה, וְשִׁלֵּשׁ. אֶחָד קָמֵיעַ שֶׁל כְּתָב וְאֶחָד קָמֵיעַ שֶׁל עִיקָּרִין, אֶחָד חוֹלֶה שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ סַכָּנָה וְאֶחָד חוֹלֶה שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ סַכָּנָה

The Sages taught in the Tosefta: What is an effective amulet? It is any amulet that healed one person once, and healed him again, and healed him a third time. That is the criterion for an effective amulet, and it applies to both a written amulet and an amulet of herbal roots; both if it has proven effective in healing a sick person who is dangerously ill, and if it has proven effective in healing a sick person who is not dangerously ill. It is permitted to go out with these types of amulets on Shabbat…

In the coming pages of Talmud there will be a long discussion of amulets and talmudic cures. In this age of heightened awareness of the need to disinfect, Talmudology would like to remind its readers not to actually take any of these talmudic remedies. Injecting bleach is also not a good idea. And with that warning let’s take a deep dive into the efficacy of amulets.

“Amulet (noun):
a charm often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to aid the wearer or protect against evil such as disease or witchcraft...

...an ornament or small piece of jewelry thought to give protection against evil, danger, or disease.”

Some Talmudic Amulets

Here are some of the many amulets listed in the Talmud:

• A coin would be pressed against a wound to heal it - but this worked only if it had an image on it (משום צורתא, Shabbat 65a)

• A shoe strap worn by a son on his left arm to alleviate the sadness from missing his father who may be traveling, or had perhaps died (Shabbat 66b).

• Madder plants were worn around the neck as a cure. If it had three knots it could ward off illness; five would heal from illness and seven “שבעה אפילו לכשפים מעלי” - would prevent the effects of witchcraft - but only if the knots were not exposed to sunlight or moonlight (Shabbat 66b)

• An even tekumah (preserving stone) which was worn by a woman to prevent miscarriage (Shabbat 66b)

• A locust egg (Shabbat 67a)

• The tooth of a fox (Shabbat 67a)

• The nail that had been used to crucify a person (Shabbat 67a)

• If a person had the ill fortune to have been bitten by a mad dog: “Let him bring the skin of a male hyena and write on it: I, so-and-so, son of so-and-so, am writing this spell about you upon the skin of a male hyena: Kanti kanti kelirus. And some say he should write: Kandi kandi keloros. He then writes names of God, Yah, Yah, Lord of Hosts, amen amen Selah. And let him take off his clothes and bury them in a cemetery for twelve months of the year, after which he should take them out, and burn them in an oven, and scatter the ashes at a crossroads. And during those twelve months of the year, when his clothes are buried, when he drinks water, let him drink only from a copper tube and not from a spring, lest he see the image of the demon in the water and be endangered, like the case of Abba bar Marta, who is also called Abba bar Manyumi, whose mother made him a gold tube for this purpose” (Yoma 84a)

• To avert the spells of the demon Shavrirei, an evil spirit that rules over water: “Knock with the lid on the jug and say: So-and-so, son of so-and-so, your mother said to you to beware of the shavrirei verirei rirei yirei rei, found in white cups.” (Avodah Zara 12b).

Medieval amulet to protect mother and child against attack from the demon Lilith during childbirth. From Sefer Raziel, Amsterdam 1701.

Might a Jew use an Amulet from the Church of the Sepulcher?

Sefer Hasidim (The Book of the Pious) was composed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and describes the religious life, beliefs and customs of the Jews of medieval Germany. It contains many unusual tales, and here is one of the best:

ספר חסידים # 1352

אישה אחת יהודית חלה בנה באתה [=באה] גויה ואמרה לה תני לבנך על זאת האבן לשתות ויתרפא אמרה היהודית מה טיבה של זאת האבן? אמרה הגויה שהביאו האבן מן השוחה והיא מן האבן שנטמא[יתכן וצ"ל נטמן] בה ישו ולכמה גוים נתנו לשתות ונתרפאו. אמרה היהודית כיוון שאמרה שהיא של ישו אין אנכי חפיצה שישתה בני על האבן ולא רצתה לעשות שום רפואה באותה אבן וזה :(דברים ו, 5) ובכל נפשך (שם יט, 9) לאהבה את ה' אלוקיך

The son of a Jewish woman fell ill. A gentile woman came and told her to give the boy a stone chip to swallow so that he would be cured. The Jewish woman asked, “where is this stone from?” The gentile replied that it was a stone from [the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem] where Jesus had been buried, and that many gentiles had been given similar stones and they had recovered.

The Jew replied that since she had told her it had come from Jesus, “I do not want my son to drink it” and she did not want to use the stone for any form of therapy. This is the meaning of the Torah “You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul,” and to “to love the Lord your God” (Deut. 5:1 and 19:9).

This story describes an attempt to heal a dying Jewish boy with a stone chip from either the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem (or possibly a stone chip from the Rock of Calvary within the same church). It echoes a tale found in the Talmud that points to the efficacy of shrines. Rabbi Akivah was once asked by a person “even though I do not believe that there is any substance to idol worship, don’t we see people who go with broken limbs to worship idols and come back when they are whole?” (לבי ולבך ידע דעבודת כוכבים לית בה מששא והא קחזינן גברי דאזלי כי מתברי ואתו כי מצמדי Avodah Zarah 55a).

In an email, Professor Ephraim Shoham-Steiner from Ben Gurion University explained to Talmudology that “the practice of chipping little stone fragments from the “stone of unction” or the bare rock of Calvary by pilgrims to Jerusalem is very well recorded and such a stone chip could have easily made its way to Europe. The common practice for healing was usually to pour water on the chip and then have the sick person drink the water or use the water as a healing potion.” In his fascinating paper in the Harvard Theological Review, Shoham-Steiner wrote that

Research has shown that both Jewish and Christian pious circles expressed concern over what seems to have been a rather widespread phenomenon, namely the interreligious exchange of domestic remedies, charms, and miracle cures. Attempts to limit and discourage this exchange fits within the larger framework typical of certain pietistic trends in both religions…For devout Jews like Rabbi Judah the Pious of Regensburg (d. 1217), the co-author and editor of the Book of the Pious, such exchanges [of Jewish and Christian domestic and medical knowledge] were especially objectionable when the methods of healing involved the use of ritually impure ingredients or typically non-Jewish (pagan or Christian) folk remedies. For their part, pious Christians objected to Jewish use of the healing powers of Christian saints…

In this story, the author praises a Jewish mother for rejecting her Christian neighbor’s offer to use a stone chip relic from no less then the ultimate Christian shrine — the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

I doubt that any practicing Jew today would consider using an amulet from a religious tradition outside of her own, but this story in Sefer Hasidim was clearly placed to warn the reader who might be tempted that the practice was not permitted. And it demonstrates the degree to which the use of amulets - even Christian ones - had penetrated the medieval Jewish community.

The Use of Amulets in an Israeli Intensive Care Unit

Amulets were not only a feature of medieval Jewish life. As a paper published from Assaf Harofeh hospital in Tel Aviv demonstrates, they certainly remain part of contemporary Jewish practice. The staff asked the parents of every child (Israeli and Arab) admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) over a two-month period to complete a questionnaire, which included demographic data on the patient and the family, the use of talismans or other folk medicine practices, and the perception of the effects of these practices on the patient’s well-being.

They found that an astonishing 30% of the Jewish families used amulets and talismans in the ICU, irrespective of the socioeconomic status of the family or the severity of the patient’s illness. None of the Muslim families used them, but only eight Arab (compared with 42 Jewish) children were surveyed. Amulets and talismans were used significantly more by religious Jews, by families with a higher parental educational level, and where the hospitalized child was very young.

And what were these modern amulets, used by one in three of the families of these very sick children?

“A total of 25 objects were used. These included 16 holy books, a note written by a rabbi, a picture of a rabbi, a thread tied around the patient’s limb, and 6 other talismans. The most common types of amulets and talismans used in our pediatric ICU, in descending order of frequency, were:

Holy books — the whole Bible or a part thereof, e.g., the book of Psalms (Tehilim), placed on the patient’s bed, usually adjacent to his/her head or under the pil- low.

Photograph of a rabbi — usually placed on the patient's bed, or on the wall nearby.

Dollar note — a U.S. dollar note, sent by a well-known rabbi in the USA, usually placed on the patient's bed.

Card or note from a rabbi — with a written blessing, placed adjacent to the patient’s head or under the pillow.

Bottle of "holy water" or "holy oil" — to be applied to the patient's skin, once or several times, or poured in a glass and placed on the floor under the patient's bed. This liquid is usually prepared by a rabbi.

Red thread — tied around the patient's wrist or ankle.

Medallion — pinned to the clothes or hanging on a necklace. Common medallions are blue beads and amulets in the form of an eye or a palm with five fingers (hamsa, meaning five in Arabic).

Blessing by a rabbi — who prays next to the patient's bed or outside the ICU. If the rabbi cannot come personally, one of the patient’s relatives will go to the rabbi to obtain a blessing.

Adding a name — either a new first name or one or several letters. The names of angels in the Bible were usually added to the original names of male patients, and names of known personages in the Bible, or names with a certain meaning (for example, long living), were given to both male and female patients.

Changing the name — from the patient's original first name to a new one, in accordance with the above mentioned considerations.

Other types of talismans, amulets and various kinds of stones with various shapes — the most well-known is the hand-shaped hamsa. Others are hexagonal, circular, knife-shaped, rectangular, hexagram (Star of David), heart-shaped, amuletic rings, etc. These usually contain an inscription, e.g., one of the several names of God (Shaddai, Jehova, etc.), angels (Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, etc.), rivers in Paradise (Gihon, Pishon, Hiddekel, etc.), and others (Zion, King David, Jerusalem), etc.

“We believe that the frequent use of talismans, as found in this study, might express the families’ need for emotional and psychological support. We therefore suggest that this issue be taken seriously, and that consideration be given to increasing the involvement of psychologists in the global care of the critically ill child. We also contend that a greater awareness and follow-up by the staff is needed to understand, help and encourage families who use amulets as an extra treatment for children in the ICU.”

— Barr, J. et al. Talismans and Amulets in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Legendary Powers in Contemporary Medicine. IMAJ. 2000: 2; 278-281.

universal beliefs in the power of amulets

The belief in the power of amulets is a powerful one. It was true in talmudic times, and it remains so today. Some of the beliefs of the rabbis might feel strange to our modern minds, but they reflected what everyone believed back then. Galen, the second century Roman physician wrote that assertion that a peony root hung about the neck was effective against epilepsy and that stones of green jasper worn over the stomach cured stomach complaints. And here, as another example, is an amulet against the disease we call malaria, written in the third century by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus (d. 212 CE) who was the physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla.

Inscribis chartae, quod dicitur Abracadabra, Saepius: et subter repetas, sed detrahe summae, Et magis atque magis desint elementa figuris Singula, quae semper rapies et coetera figes, Donec in angustam redigatur litera conum. His lino nexis collum redimire memento.

Write several times on a piece of paper the word ‘Abracadabra,’ and repeat the word in the lines below, but take away letters from the complete word and let the letters fall away one at a time in each succeeding line. Take these away ever, but keep the rest until the writing is reduced to a narrow cone. Remember to tie these papers with flax and bind them round the neck.

After wearing the talisman for nine days, it was to be thrown over the shoulder into an eastward-running stream. Should this treatment fail, Sammonicus recommended the application of lion’s fat, or the wearing of cat’s skin tied with yellow coral and green emeralds around the neck.

Abracadabra written as an amulet remained popular for more than 1,500 years after it was mentioned by Sammonicus. In fact it was widely used during the outbreaks of bubonic plague in London in the seventeenth century, as Daniel Defoe recorded in his book Journal of a Plague Year.

But there was still another madness beyond all this, which may serve to give an idea of the distracted humour of the poor people at that time: and this was their following a worse sort of deceivers than any of these; for these petty thieves only deluded them to pick their pockets and get their money, in which their wickedness, whatever it was, lay chiefly on the side of the deceivers, not upon the deceived. But in this part I am going to mention, it lay chiefly in the people deceived, or equally in both; and this was in wearing charms, philtres, exorcisms, amulets, and I know not what preparations, to fortify the body with them against the plague; as if the plague was not the hand of God, but a kind of possession of an evil spirit, and that it was to be kept off with crossings, signs of the zodiac, papers tied up with so many knots, and certain words or figures written on them, as particularly the word Abracadabra, formed in triangle or pyramid, thus:—

     ABRACADABRA
     ABRACADABR     Others had the Jesuits’
     ABRACADAB         mark in a cross:
     ABRACADA             I H
     ABRACAD               S.
     ABRACA
     ABRAC          Others nothing but this
     ABRA               mark, thus:
     ABR
     AB                   * *
     A                    {*}

I might spend a great deal of time in my exclamations against the follies, and indeed the wickedness, of those things, in a time of such danger, in a matter of such consequences as this, of a national infection. But my memorandums of these things relate rather to take notice only of the fact, and mention only that it was so. How the poor people found the insufficiency of those things, and how many of them were afterwards carried away in the dead-carts and thrown into the common graves of every parish with these hellish charms and trumpery hanging about their necks, remains to be spoken of as we go along.

Rashi, who lived about 500 years earlier than Defoe, recognized Abracadabra and its disappearing letters. Here is his explanation of the talmudic amulet that we have already mentioned, to be used against the demon Shavrirei. To recall, the Talmud (Avodah Zara 12b) states that the incantation should include the phrase “your mother said to you to beware of the shavrirei verirei rirei yirei rei.” And here is Rashi:

רשי, עבודה זרה יב, ב

איזדהר משברירי שברירי ברירי רירי ירי רי בכסי חיורי - לחש הוא ומתמעט והולך משם השד כאשר הוא שומע מיעוט תיבות אות אחר אות עד רי וכן הוא הלחש להבריחו משם

He whispers and reduces the number of letters of the name of the demon. When the demon hears his name loosing letter after letter, until all that is left are the letters “rei” [he vanishes] and the whispering expels him from there…

Robert Boyle and His Powdered Toads

Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is considered the father of modern chemistry. He discovered the law that describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, and Britain’s Royal Society of Chemistry gives out a Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science, named in his honor. But as Margaret Baldwin shows in her fascinating paper Amulet Therapy in Seventeenth-Century Medicine, Boyle was very fond of his amulets.

He believed that amulets of powdered toad cured urinary incontinence, while amulets of excised kidney stones, when tied to the wrists, relieved pain caused by stones in the kidneys. He cited the case of a friend who had been cured of violent cramps by wearing and handling the tooth of a hippopotamus. He had seen cases where plague had been cured, and cases where plague had been averted, by drinking an extract of horse dung and rotting ivy berries.

Boyle attributed the efficacy of amulets to the invisible material effluvia exuded by the chemical or animal substance contained in the externally applied medicine. Such particles entered through the pores of the skin, then passed into the blood and circulated throughout the body until they reached the diseased part, where their shape caused them to produce a lasting alteration in the textures of the body…

Boyle described himself as being of a frail and weak constitution and constantly prone to sickness. He recorded that he had been cured of a violent quotidian fever by amulets made of basalt, hops, and a quarter pound of blue currants tied upon his wrists. Chronically subject to violent nosebleeds, Boyle recounted one incident in which he had been afflicted in this manner while visiting his sister's house. As she happened to have on hand some moss from a dead man's skull (it had been sent her as a present from Ireland, where it was esteemed a useful remedy), Boyle tried the remedy on himself. But rather than stuffing it up his nostrils, as was the custom, he chose to hold it in his hand. Covering the moss with his fist "that the warmth might a little actuate the medicine," he found that the nosebleed stopped speedily, much to the wonder of the bystanders. Moreover, he recounted that he had not been troubled with a nosebleed for several years following the use of the moss. On another occasion, Boyle tried to cure himself of leg cramps by wearing a ring made of elk's hoof provided him by a physician. Boyle candidly reported that the remedy had failed to help his leg cramps, but noted that it had in fact relieved more moderate cramps in his hands and that it was his habit to keep the ring at his bedside for times when the finger cramps returned.

““Well, ah, I did inquire as to the contents, and I was not persuaded of any great good to come therefrom...but the man who sent it is a well-esteemed physician, and he says it is a remedy much thought of among the Florentine doctors who had had a large experience with Plague.”

”But what is it?” I asked again.

”It contains a dried toad,” she said”

— Geraldine Brooks. Year of Wonders. Penguin 2001. 84

Judaism’s Most popular Amulet - The Mezuzah

On the front door of a Jewish home you will find an amulet, called a mezuzah. In fact, it is placed on all of the doors in the house, other than bathrooms and closets. My home has at least fifteen of them. The mezuzah is placed to fulfill the biblical command to “write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house" (Deut. 6:9).  The Rav Chaninah of Sura, who lived in the fourth century, suggested that the mezuzah could work to protect the inhabitants of the home in which it was placed:

מנחות לג, ב

אמר רבא מצוה להניחה בטפח הסמוך לרה"ר מאי טעמא רבנן אמרי כדי שיפגע במזוזה מיד רב חנינא מסורא אומר כי היכי דתינטריה 

Rava says: It is a mitzva to place the mezuza in the handbreadth adjacent to the public domain. The Gemara asks: What is the reason for this? The Rabbis say that it is in order that one encounter the mezuza immediately upon one’s entrance to the house. Rav Chaninah from Sura says: It is in order that the mezuza protect the entire house, by placing it as far outside as one can.

It is not clear if Chaninah’s position is an outlier. Several other passages in the Talmud can be read either as supporting this position or as suggesting that it is not the mezuzah per se that is protective. Instead, it serves as a reminder of God’s commandments. Nevertheless, later rabbinic literature began to ascribe supernatural powers to the mezuzah, like this passage from the Sheiltot (145), complied by Achai Gaon in the eighth century:

ארטבן שלח לרבינו הקדוש (רבי יהודה הנשיא) מרגלית ( פְּנִינָה ) אחת טובה שאין להעריך את שוויה; ואמר לו - שלח לי דבר שטוב כמותה. כתב לו רבינו הקדוש מזוזה אחת ושלח לו. שלח ארטבן ואמר לו - מה עשית? אני שלחתי לך דבר יקר שאין להעריך את שוויו ואילו אתה שלחת לי דבר ששווה מטבע אחת. שלח רבינו הקדוש ואמר לו - אתה שלחת לי דבר שאני צריך לשמור אותו; ואני שלחתי לך דבר שאתה ישן והיא (התורה) משמרת אותך, שכתוב (משלי ג, טו) ' יְקָרָה הִיא מִפְּנִינִים וְכָל חֲפָצֶיךָ לֹא יִשְׁווּ בָהּ' - חפציי וחפציך לא ישוו בה

מיד נכנס שד בביתו של ארטבן; ולא היה לו אלא בת אחת ובאו כל הרופאים ולא הועילו לה. כיון שנטל ארטבן את המזוזה ושם לה על הפתח - מיד ברחה אותה שדה; ונטל רבינו הקדוש מרגלית לעצמו

Artaban sent to our Holy Rabbi an invaluable pearl together with the message: Send me something as good. He wrote him a mezuzah and sent to him. Artaban sent him (word) and said: I sent you something priceless, and you send me something that is not worth anything.He sent him (an answer): You sent me something that I have to guard, and I sent you something that protects you when you sleep, as it is written “She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you can desire are not to be compared unto her” (Prov. 3:15). Your thing and my thing can not be compared to her.

Immediately entered a demon into the daughter of Artaban and this was his only daughter and all the physicians came and they could do nothing for her, (but) as soon as Artaban took the mezuzah and attached it to the door the demon fled from her at once and our Holy Rabbi kept the pearl to himself.

During the middle ages Jews started to add the names of angels or verses or other symbols with a distinctly magical character onto the parchment of the mezuzah for extra protection. Maimonides was dismayed by this custom, and ruled against it in his Mishnah Torah (Hilkhot Tefilin Mezuzah 5:4):

It is universal custom to write the word Shaddai on the other side of the mezuzah, opposite the blank space between the two sections. As this word is written on the outside, the practice is unobjectionable. They, however, who write names of angels, holy names, a biblical text or inscriptions usual on seals, within the mezuzah, are among those who have no portion in the world to come. For these fools not only fail to fulfill the commandment, but they treat an important precept that expresses the Unity of God, the love of him and his worship, as if it were an amulet to promote their own personal interests, for according to their foolish mind, the mezuzah is something that will secure for them advantage in the vanities of the world.

This didn’t do much to dissuade. In thirteenth century Spain, a kabbalist named Joseph Gikatilla penned Sod Hamezuzah (The Secret of the Mezuzah), in which he wrote:

The Holy One, blessed be He, because of His great love for Israel, gave them these two passages, which are Shema and Vehaya Im Shamoa, and they are the secret of the two passages called Gedulah (grace) and Gevurah (severity). Encompassing Gedulah and Gevurah are all the external forces, and in order to protect Israel from the external forces that surround Gedulah and Gevurah, which are called the mezuzot of the supreme palace, He commanded Israel to place a mezuzah on the gates of their homes, so that there should be no permission for the external forces to enter the homes of Israel, so that they cannot harm them.

And the secret: God shall pass over to plague Egypt, and He shall see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and so on (Exod 12:23). Now then, the mezuzah always stands in the place of those things that were done on the night they left Egypt, and the mezuzah guards at the entrance against all the external forces of impurity, so that they may not enter the house. Likewise, when a man goes out the door of his house, those camps of sanctity and purity that are attached to these two passages ‒ namely, Shema and Vehaya Im Shamoa ‒ they all go with the man who has a mezuzah in his doorway, and when he goes out the door of his house, they protect him from the harmful spirits and from all the external forces of impurity until he returns home. The mezuzah therefore protects a person when he enters his home, when he goes out ... and those angels that are appointed for those two passages in the mezuzah protect a man when he goes out the door of his house. And it is about this that it says, For He shall command His angels, for you, to protect you on all your paths, to carry you in His hands (Ps 91:11).

All of this goes to show that the talmudic belief in amulets must be contextualized. It was part of a worldview in which demons and witches were commonplace, and spells could be made or broken with the right ingredients. It was a worldview that continued for over fifteen hundred years. That amulets were once used by everyone should not be a surprise. Far more difficult to explain is the fact that they continue to be used by many Jews today.