Amulets for protection (Gaster Amulet 199)
Four paper amulets for protection of female and male newborns; in a paper folder.
Information about this document
- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Gaster Amulet Collection
- Classmark: Gaster Amulet 199
- Title: Amulets for protection
- Subject(s): Amulets
- Origin Place: Germany
- Date of Creation: 18th century
- Language(s): Hebrew and Yiddish in Hebrew script
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Technique(s): Printed
- Mode: Hung on the wall.
- Function: Protection.
- Note(s):
They include Psalm 121, divine names, an historiola of the encounter between the Elijah and Lilith, angelic names, and magical formulas.
- Quotation(s):"אדם וחוה חוץ לילית חוה ראשונה סינוי וסנסנוי וסמנגלוף שמריאל חסדיאל [...] בשם יהוה אלהי ישראל ששמו גדול ונורא אליהו הנביא זכור לטוב היה הולך בדרך ופגע בלילית ובכל כת דילה ואמר ללילית הרשעה [...] שיר למעלות אשא עיני אל ההרים מאין יבא עזרי..."
- Physical Description:
The four amulets are kept in a folder.
- Extent: height: 175 mm, width: 215 mm.
- Material(s): Paper
- Format: Sheet
- Condition:
Gaster Amulets 199A-B: a few usage stains; Gaster Amulet 199C-D: usage stains, part of the frame is missing.
- Shape: rectangle
- Script:
Printed Hebrew square and semi-cursive script.
- Layout: Within a decorative frame, the text is divided into paragraphs.
- Decoration:
Gaster Amulets 199A-B for female newborns: a woodcut of a woman lighting Shabbat candles in the centre on the top. Eve is depicted in the left margin (holding a fruit?). Adam is depicted in the right margin (eating a fruit?). Decorative floral elements are also included in the frame. Two crowns (one on each side) mark the title of this amulet (לנקבה).
Gaster Amulets 199C-D for male newborns: a woodcut of a Brit Milah (with two attendants, the mohel, the father and the baby) in the centre on the top. Eve is depicted in the left margin (holding a fruit?). Adam is depicted in the right margin (eating a fruit?).Decorative floral elements are also included in the frame. Two floral elements (one on each side) mark the title of this amulet (לזכר).
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Catalogue description is by Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva); edited by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:Isaiah Shachar, Jewish Tradition in Art: The Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1981), 19.
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- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Gaster Amulet Collection
- Classmark: Gaster Amulet 199
- Title: Amulets for protection
- Subject(s): Amulets
- Origin Place: Germany
- Date of Creation: 18th century
- Language(s): Hebrew and Yiddish in Hebrew script
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Technique(s): Printed
- Mode: Hung on the wall.
- Function: Protection.
- Note(s):
They include Psalm 121, divine names, an historiola of the encounter between the Elijah and Lilith, angelic names, and magical formulas.
- Quotation(s):"אדם וחוה חוץ לילית חוה ראשונה סינוי וסנסנוי וסמנגלוף שמריאל חסדיאל [...] בשם יהוה אלהי ישראל ששמו גדול ונורא אליהו הנביא זכור לטוב היה הולך בדרך ופגע בלילית ובכל כת דילה ואמר ללילית הרשעה [...] שיר למעלות אשא עיני אל ההרים מאין יבא עזרי..."
- Physical Description:
The four amulets are kept in a folder.
- Extent: height: 175 mm, width: 215 mm.
- Material(s): Paper
- Format: Sheet
- Condition:
Gaster Amulets 199A-B: a few usage stains; Gaster Amulet 199C-D: usage stains, part of the frame is missing.
- Shape: rectangle
- Script:
Printed Hebrew square and semi-cursive script.
- Layout: Within a decorative frame, the text is divided into paragraphs.
- Decoration:
Gaster Amulets 199A-B for female newborns: a woodcut of a woman lighting Shabbat candles in the centre on the top. Eve is depicted in the left margin (holding a fruit?). Adam is depicted in the right margin (eating a fruit?). Decorative floral elements are also included in the frame. Two crowns (one on each side) mark the title of this amulet (לנקבה).
Gaster Amulets 199C-D for male newborns: a woodcut of a Brit Milah (with two attendants, the mohel, the father and the baby) in the centre on the top. Eve is depicted in the left margin (holding a fruit?). Adam is depicted in the right margin (eating a fruit?).Decorative floral elements are also included in the frame. Two floral elements (one on each side) mark the title of this amulet (לזכר).
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Catalogue description is by Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva); edited by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:Isaiah Shachar, Jewish Tradition in Art: The Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1981), 19.
