THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
549 Hebrew
trauslitcrutiou of
"Majcstas
YHWH
doiiiini niti aiiiiniim iHiiiirMiiiii milii
YHWH
foster a kiiiilly disposition niajisty nf Ljiou llie other lord tlif king touanl ni<).
llie
in
r<'gis
foviiit " (Maj'
my
- " '^
mn> DxnDnxo iD DID ':x IN,
D'jm nnj
YHWH
"Majcstas fliiiet "
animum mei regis ad me majesty of YIIWII incline
in-
the CSlny till" king's soul to me). The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1493 caused the dissemination of the Cabala far and wide through the East and the West.
Amulet
demons" from a house upon digging into the fotiudations, the demons would then lie found in the sliajie of veritable croaking frogs. To find the body of one drowned, he provided a charm in the shape of a written parchment to be laid on the bank of the river or
pond. He claimed to have been particularly successful with his amulets in helping wimien in various emergencies; and statistics were said to supjiort his statements that since he had ofticiated as rabbi in Hamburg scarcely one Jewish woman had died in childbirth, while in the year preceding his arrival
"God's wiath had raged widely" in such eases. Thecongiegutional //(///v(/( Kadilix/ia (burial society) confirmed this claim officially. All of this became matter of public discussion when Jacob Emden, then residing iu Allona. ami Jacob Joshua Falk, chief nibbi of
Their unexampled sufferings served to foster
Frankfort onthe .Main, both learned and re-
theirinyslicbent
-
more tiian ever. The Holy Land, as far as re-
spected men, openly charged E b e n s c h li t z with invoking as Savior in his amulets the false Messiah. Shabbe-
peopled by
i
Spanish
exiles (notal)ly Safed), became the hot-
bed of the most abstruse
tliui Zebi. The contest waged fiiriouslj'; the
secret
which
lore,
favored, among other things, the employment of amulets. From Turkey on the
scholars and communities of Germany. Holland. Italy. Turkey, the Holy
one side, and Italy on other, the Cabala s|)reail to
Land, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, and else-
Poland and adjacent; Hasidism arose
where took active p a r t i n a most vehement
there ishes
and
discussion.
day.
This mys-
poral authorities
m also
were appealed to by E i b e nschlllz's oppo-
from the
lands
t
i
c
i
flour-
there s
t
Even the tem-
o-
prepared the groiuid for amulets, so that there are whole books devoted exclusively toljemi'ot
still extant manuNcript in
Ttils Amulet Is rlalincd tot)ewfllupprovofi. ami pr«itei*tstti«»h1np-in motticrand tier iimilnsl Hllilirnitl, tin- evil i-vc, and ileiiiuns. ami Is L'iveii In " Kaziel," wUli e.xIt-s authorship is a.si-rilM'd to .(laln. The four words outside of Hit* eilt-le are tllt* nanies of tlu' four livers IssuiHjf out of panulise, tieii. il. 10. In the circle uiv i'saliu, xci. 11 ; the imiiies of A<ia(n and Kve; also y^^, which Is etiulvalent to nin. Eve (la the S"3 "'!< system, see AT-IHSII, l"=^l : llieii Pi'", olillcl
pllrll illriM-Ilons fop use.
U
a misprint for the female demon mentioned In Isaiah xxxlv. then come • tlie tlrsl Kve." and names of ani^els and of liod 0"3 = hit tn ihls permutation each letter is n'pn'sented hv the next succtHMilnpr letter of the alphati*'t, thus < = 3, •1 = lelcl. Ilulsiile of thesiileld of David slaliil the initial leltei-s of the well-known jirayer hy Nehunln h. Iia-Knna, ^-^ NJ«<. also the wonis. ?-*' Vf, "May Hatjin U? torn a.sunder!" The Innermiist spai-e tinully rontjilns woiils from Ex. xl. H, and pennututlons of IV. a myHtlcul name of Uod. prolialily
P",
(compare IJenjacob,
"O/ar ha-
Sefarim," 530).
This
p.
so-
nents, apjilication being made to the City Council
of
and
Hamburg,
to the king e n in a r k.
of D The charge was based larly
jiarticulive i.ssued
upon
amulets
by Eibens<htttz
called " pnictical
Cabala" neoniiiiended a number of talismans, a description of which must lie omitted
The Eiben-
lure in order to di'scribe a eelcbialed keniia contest of the middle of the Centre- eighleenth century. Jonalhan Eilienversy. schnt/., rememlMied by Jews to-day as an eminent Talmudist, prepared a number of aiiiulcls. He issued them in Met/., where hi- was rabbi, and later in Hamburg. Altona, and Wandsbeek. over the iiniled communities of which he presided as chief rabbi. He inaile them for sick children, for expectant mothers, also as remedies aLrainsl nose bleed, epile|isy. and he evil eye i' furni.shed one that would banish "croaking
schiitz
I
while olhciating in Metz, and which were cerlitied to by the i-ongregational ofiicials, as having been written by him. It is a curious fact that in all the voluminous discussion, the only point tit issue was the employiuent of the false Messiah's name in these amulets; not a voice was raised against the folly of amulets in general. The common impression probably was that they could do no harm and might serve as spiritual stimulants in the way of the wearer's reassurance and mental comfort. This widespread dis(Us.sion, however, marks the turning-point in the history of the medieval failh in amulets; since Ihen it has gradually diminished and may now be s:iid to be
