Batsheva Goldman-Ida
From Talisman to
Judaica: The Magical
and Mystical Sides of
the Shmire (Blessed
Coin)
 See figs. 19 and 20 This essay1 discusses the significance of Judaica cre-
Shmire Torah Crown, ated from shmire (a blessed coin; from the Hebrew
Ukraine, latter half of
root sh-m-r meaning safeguarding; plural: shmiros)
the 19th century
and the range of objects made by forging a collec-
tion of such coins into a ritual object. William Gross
has a special collection of these objects, perhaps the
largest in the world. We are thus fortunately able
to reference the collection to underline various
aspects of this truly singular phenomenon. All
­illustrations are from the Gross Family Collection.
The custom is unique to Hasidism. In fact, it can
be used as a useful parameter for identifying
Hasidic objects in a collection. Often the phrase
“from the coins of the tzaddik (lit. the righteous
one; the Hasidic master or rebbe)” (figs. 1, 22) is
found, or the word shmire or shmiros is inscribed
on the Kiddush cups or other objects made from
shmire coins as in figures 3, 4, 5.
There is even a tray, likely for the Havdalah cere-
mony at the close of the Sabbath, with such a nota-
tion. The tray constitutes a custom of the Bohusz
Hasidic court.
301 Gross Family Collection
Another inscription often found on the shmire
objects is the name of the owner and his or her
mother. According to Rashi, “A talisman is [always]
in the name of the mother.”3 In this case, the shmire
object also becomes a kvitl or supplication note,
and when presented to the rebbe reminds him
to include the supplicant in his prayers as in
­figures 7, 8, 9.
For the Hasid, the shmire coin is seen as a kind
of talisman, with magical powers. Yet, the Hasid’s
meeting with the rebbe and the rebbe’s own experi-
ence of transmuting the coin through contempla-
tion carries a mystic charge. These two aspects
– the magical and the mystical – are expressed visu-
ally in the decoration of Judaica made from the
melted-down shmire coins. In the process, a new
kind of ritual object in the history of Jewish art,
comparable in its decoration to the expressive figu-
ration on amulets, is introduced to us by Hasidism.
The widespread use of the shmire can be traced
back to the Ruzhin-Sadigora and Chernobyl dynas-
ties in the nineteenth century. These Hasidic
groups are related by family ties to the Maggid Dov
Windows on Jewish Worlds
Fig. 1 Fig. 3
Shmire Kiddush Cup Shmire Kiddush Cup
(Beaker), Ukraine, (Beaker), Ukraine, late
late 19th century, 19th century, silver,
silver, engraved forged and engraved,
and chased, 6.4 × 6.2 cm.
7.2 × 6.5 cm. GFC 017.001.108.
GFCTrust 017.001.027. Inscription:
Inscription: ‫ רבה”ק [רב‬/ ‫משמירות‬
‫ של צדיקים‬/ ‫זה הכסף‬ ‫ מסדיגורא‬/ ]‫הקדוש‬
(This was made from (From the shmiros [coins]
the coins of tzaddikim) of the holy rebbe of
Sadigora)

Fig. 2
Another view
of the Shmire
Kiddush Cup,
fig. 1
(photograph provided
by William Gross)

Fig. 6
Shmire Tray for
Havdalah Ceremony,
Ukraine, late 19th
century, silver, cast,
chased and incised, Fig. 4
12 × 20.4 × 1.5 cm. Shmire Kiddush Cup
GFCTrust 103.001.004. (Beaker), Ukraine, late
Inscription: 19th century, silver
‫זה | נעשה | משמירו׳‬ chased and incised,
(This was made from 7.7 × 6.8 cm.
shmiros) GFCTrust 017.001.073.
Inscription:
/ ‫ עשה כוס‬/ ‫ר׳ [רב] אפרים‬
‫ משמירות ק״ו‬/ ‫של אליהו‬
(Rabbi Efraim made a
Havdalah cup from holy
shmiros)

Fig. 5
Shmire Kiddush Cup
(Beaker), Ukraine, late
19th century, silver,
engraved and chased,
6.2 × 5.7 cm.
GFC (2016) 017.001.110.
Inscription:
/ ‫ ממטבעות‬/ ‫ ישועות‬/ ‫כוס‬
‫( שמירה‬Cup of salvation
[for Havdalah] from shmire
coins)

302 Gross Family Collection Windows on Jewish Worlds 303 Batsheva Goldman-Ida From Talisman to Judaica
  Fig. 7
Shmire Small Kiddush Cup
(Beaker) for Kiddusha
Rabba on Sabbath
Morning or for tikkun,
Ukraine, late 19th century,
silver, engraved,
4.5 × 4 cm. Hallmark:
“SS”.
GFC (2016) 017.001.107.
Inscription:
/ ‫ היה ליבע‬/ ‫מענדיל בן‬
‫ שמירה‬/ ‫ממטבעות‬
(Mendil, son of Chaya
Liebe, from shmire coins)
 Fig. 8
Shmire Kiddush Cup
(Beaker), Ukraine,
late 19th century, silver,
engraved and incised,
6.4 × 5.8 cm.
GFC (2016) 017.001.109.
Inscription:
/ ‫רפאל בן ביילה‬
‫משמירות‬
(Raphael son of Beila,
from shmiros)
 Fig. 9
Shmire Kiddish Cup
(Beaker), Ukraine,
late 19th century, silver,
chased, engraved and
incised, 6.4 × 5.8 cm.
GFC 017.001.125.
Inscription:
‫ חיים‬/ ‫ משמירות‬/ ‫נעשה‬
‫ בן טשרנא‬/ ‫( זאב‬Made
from shmiros, Hayyim
Ze’ev, son of Tscherna)
304 Gross Family Collection Windows on Jewish Worlds 305
Ber of Mi’dzyrzecz (1704–1772). The Maggid was
the successor to Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, also known
by his abbreviated name as the Besht (ca. 1700–
1760), the founder of Hasidism. From its very
beginnings, Hasidism included within it the realm
of magic and amulets. The very name of its founder
reveals his occupation as a Ba’al Shem (Master of
the Name), a maker of amulets, wherein the divine
name of God is written for healing.4 The Besht is
mentioned in official Polish documents as a “Bal-
sem” and as a “Kabbalista,” as well as the “Balszam
Doktor.”5 His was not an unusual occupation for
the period.6
Receiving a shmire entails several activities. The
Hasid visits his rebbe and presents him with a
monetary donation, called a pidyon or pidyon
ha-nefesh (redeemer of the soul). In return, he
receives guidance and a blessing. The Hasid gives
the rebbe a note called a kvitl: a request for long
life, sustenance, and progeny, for himself and his
family; and a coin, which the latter holds briefly in
his hand and returns it “blessed,” a shmire. The
Hasidim refer to their meeting as hityahadut
(union) or, among Lubavitch Hasidim, hitva’adut
(assembly). Such a meeting carries a mystical
nuance and is conducted in a special room so des-
ignated. Thus, there was a tisch (table) and kvitl
room of the rebbe of Ger, R. Isaac Meir Alter
Rothenberg (1799–1866), a follower of the Maggid,
whose reception hall was allocated in 1839 in the
southwest wing of the house.7
This encounter between the Hasid and the rebbe
are depicted in two portraits: that of the Hasidic
rebbe Israel Hopstein, the Maggid of Kozhnits
(1737–1841), known for his interest in Kabbalah,
and the Holy Zeide (the Pious Grandfather),
Issachar Dov-Ber ben Isaac of Radovitz. Rather
than posed before a bookcase or at a table study-
ing, typical of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
rabbinic portraits, these depictions show the
Hasidic rabbi, with his shushbinim (assistants),
in a new and active role.
R. Moses Hayyim Ephraim of Sudilkov (1742–
1800), the grandson of the Besht, seeking to recon-
cile the mystical and magical aspects wrote that the
giving of shmire coins is an expression of the Torah
in its entirety:
In the Holy One Blessed-be-He and in the Torah
from which we derive our vitality, and when we
see sometimes the bringing back of a soul from
illness through healing or by way of divine names
and an amulet or talisman and seem opposed to
Batsheva Goldman-Ida
it, do not [feel this way] for it is truly the Torah,
for everything is included in the Torah, that is,
divinity and healing and the talisman and divine
names, for there can be nothing lacking in it. The
beginning of the Torah alludes in the word
bereshit, to the initials aleph which is elohut
(divinity), resh which is refuot (healing), shin
which refers to the use of shemot (divine names,
and a shin on the right and a shin on the left
speaks of talismans), and tav refers to [the Torah
being] temima [unsullied, pure]; that is, because
it is flawless, therefore it is not missing a single
thing, it is only completeness including every
aspect.8
Yet, the ritual objects made from the shmire coins
became talismans that were often perceived as
magical, as were the various components of the
ceremony. R. Leizer, a wealthy follower of R. Abra-
ham Jacob of Sadigora, had a Kiddush cup made of
seventeen shmire coins, the gematria (the numeri-
cal equivalent) of the word in Hebrew for good
(tov), which is seventeen.9
R. Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827)
emphasized: “One can look at a kvitl and know
everything, as do the great tzaddikim (…) and that
is easy in a kvitl, for even through a name alone one
can know everything, even without a kvitl.”10 When
considering the special abilities of the rebbe, this
idea was expressed in the perception of him as a
channel or conduit,11 capable of bringing down
shefa (abundance) and ameliorating the severe
decree of Gevurah (Judgment). In kabbalistic
thought, the tzaddik is equivalent to the sefirah of
Yesod (Foundation) and through his prayers he is
able to initiate a change in the order of the letters
in the upper worlds of the sefirot, in the hope of
reversing decisions of the Divine.12
As the rebbe was considered to be a worker of
wonders and a prophet, any object or vessel that he
touched could become a talisman for healing,
effective when touched by another, who was then
cured. In this regard, the number of successful mir-
acles brought about by the object would give it the
same credence as the qame’a mumheh (the effective
amulet) in Talmudic times.13
In the Gross Family Collection there is a spoon
and fork, on the back of which is written: shmiros
(see fig. 10). Every time the Hasid ate, he would
ingest the blessing of the rebbe anew. From fre-
quent use and cleaning the word has almost disap-
peared on the fork.
From Talisman to Judaica
Fig. 10
Shmire Cutlery
(Fork and Spoon),
Ukraine, late 19th century,
silver, engraved and
incised; spoon,
18 × 5 × 2.7 cm,
65 grams; fork,
18.1 × 2.5 × 2 cm.
GFCTrust 103.001.001.
Inscription on spoon:
‫( שמירה‬Shmire).
Inscription on fork:
‫( שמירה‬Shmire)
306
A soup spoon that once belonged to R. Abraham
Jacob of Sadigora is described as a talisman. A writ-
ten description accompanying the spoon, now held
in a private collection, details an event witnessed
by R. Abraham Jacob’s granddaughter Hadassah
Feige regarding a kvitl given to the Besht during a
family wedding. The magical or mystical context
of this encounter rendered the spoon as worthy of
talismanic properties. In the context of our discus-
sion of the shmire, the story also demonstrates the
magical properties attributed to the kvitl:
When the holy rabbi of Ruzhin, may his merit
preserve us, married off one of his grandsons,
Edel, the daughter of R. Baruch of Medzhybizh,
Gross Family Collection
also came [to the wedding] and since the rabbi
of Ruzhin wanted the Rebbitzin Edel to see the
chuppah from close up, he asked that a high plat-
form be erected to see the chuppah and asked his
granddaughter Hadassah Feige, who was then a
young girl of seven or eight [to sit with her]. And
she told how right before the chuppah, the rabbi
of Ruzhin turned to the Rebbitzin Edel to ask for
a blessing for the couple, and then the Rebbitzin
Edel opened her purse and took out a kvitl and
said to the Ruzhiner that as her great-grandfa-
ther, the Besht, would surely come to the chup-
pah to celebrate in joy of his offspring as is cus-
tomary, could the Ruzhiner please give the Besht
the kvitl when he sees him. The Ruzhiner placed
the kvitl under his avnet (sash) and promised to
do so. Thus did Hadassah Feigel see with her
own eyes the above-mentioned, and related that
immediately after the chuppah, the Ruzhiner
approached Edel and told her that his mission
was accomplished and he had given the kvitl to
the Besht.14
According to this account Edel, the daughter of
R. Baruch of Medzhybizh (1757–1810), gave a kvitl
to her great-grandfather, the Ba’al Shem Tov, with
the assistance of the Ruzhiner rabbi during the
chuppah. The tale describes a supra-temporal
­connection between the Besht and the Ruzhiner to
the degree that a physical object – the kvitl – could
have passed between them. The notion of the pres-
ence of earlier generations of rabbis at a wedding
ceremony is still preserved in the Lubavitch wed-
ding ceremony. These kinds of tales are also told
repeatedly in regard to shmire coins and objects
made of them.15
On the note attached to the spoon is written
­further: “The spoon’s supernatural qualities and
healing powers are well known in the family and on
several occasions when a member of the family was
sick, they were given soup to eat with this spoon
and were healed and comforted”.
James Frazer distinguished between two kinds
of sympathetic magic: homeopathic or imitative
(influencing by an action from afar) and contagious
magic, which involves direct touch. “‘[B]oth
branches,’ he wrote, ‘assume that things act on
each other at a distance through a secret sympathy.
(…) This belief in the sympathetic influence exerted
on each other by persons or things at a distance is
of the essence of magic.’”16 Yitzhak Even, a Sadig-
ora Hasid, relates, discussing the shmire custom:
Windows on Jewish Worlds
These coins would not be given at first hand;
a father could take a coin for his children or a
husband for his wife. A Hasid could ask for a coin
for his friend who stayed at home and it was suffi-
cient if he gave the kvitl of his friend with a pidyon
contribution to the tzaddik.17
Trachtenberg, however, viewed the connection
between magic and religion as a natural process:
“It is characteristic of magic that with the advance
of religious thought and the recognition of a spirit
world, it tends to move closer to religion, and to
depend increasingly upon the spirit forces of
­religion for its effects.”18
How can the phenomenon of the Shmire coin,
relying as it does on sympathetic magic, be recon-
ciled within a religious framework?
Generally, one does not invoke the idea of magic
when speaking of Jewish ritual objects.19 That
world is reserved for objects of another kind:
­amulets and talismans, written on parchment or
engraved on metal; containers holding herbs and
various stones; and personal effects and items not
used in connection with a religious obligation or
ceremony.
In the 1950s, a group of Judaic Studies scholars,
including Max Kadushin, Louis Finkelstein, and
Abraham Joshua Heschel, sharply criticized the
concept of magic in Judaism. They explained
­holiness as a form of respect that did not embody
any mystical or magical implications. They refuted
the idea that the tashmishei kedushah (objects con-
nected with the name of God in a synagogue or rit-
ual context) were theurgic or that the tashmishei
mitzvah (ceremonial objects) were holy in and of
themselves: “The objects so designated (as tash-
mishei mitzvah – sukkah, lulav, tsitsit, shofar) were
regarded as having basically an ordinary character,
notwithstanding the central position they occupy
in the rites.”20 According to Heschel, “There is no
inherent sanctity in Jewish ritual objects.”21 This
approach is contested in this essay and through
the gradual acceptance of magic and mysticism in
Judaism. But this is far from being a consensus
even today.22 E. E. Urbach, in his definition of rab-
binic thought, acknowledged the mystic signifi-
cance of objects that were produced under the
influence of the Kabbalah.23 The popularization
of the Kabbalah was part and parcel of early
­Hasidism.
To the Hasid, the mundane world is suffused
with divinity. The Besht emphasized the concept of
307 Batsheva Goldman-Ida
‘avodah be-gashmiyut (worship through corporeal-
ity): the possibility to enter the realm of spirituality
by a direct encounter with the material world.
Underlying this concept is the assumption of the
immanence of God in the world, following on the
proof text from Isaiah 6:3, “Holy, holy, holy, is the
LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.”
According to Rachel Elior, this “assumes the equal
presence of God in everything that exists, and
which emphasizes the constant reality of hidden
divine life and vitality in all dimensions of revealed
being.”24 The Chernobyl rebbe explained it thus:
“The Creator, blessed be He, fills the entire world
with His glory; there is no place empty of Him (…)
for He, may He be blessed, is embodied in every-
thing. And this aspect is called Shekhinah, for He
dwells (shekhem, in Hebrew) in everything.”25
As R. Moshe Hayyim Efraim of Sudilkov wrote:
“For in all corporeal things, the righteous attach
themselves to the root of divine life within them
(…) [to] its innerness.”26 One may compare this
with Plato’s dialogue The Sophist: “Stranger [to
­Theaetetus]: Any you say we [experience] becoming
by means of the body through sense, whereas we
[relate to] real being by means of the soul through
reflection.”27
With this understanding in mind, we can now
approach the seemingly magical act of “blessing”
the coin in another way. The use of the shmire coin
might be viewed as a theurgic practice, similar to
Greek theurgy, which, as defined by E.R. Dodds, is
“magic in the service of religion”: “Theurgy (…) may
be described (…) as magic applied to a religious
purpose. Whereas vulgar magic used names and
formulae of religious origin to profane ends,
theurgy used the procedures of vulgar magic
­primarily to a religious end.”28 Greek theurgy was
given expression in the Chaldean oracles of
Julianus (c. 170 BCE) and is characterized by a
­magical aspect, as opposed to the Neo-Platonism of
Plotinus (203–270 BCE), which is mystic in nature.
Whereas the former combines the projected ani-
mation of inanimate objects, fortune-telling,
séances, soothsaying, etc., the latter is typified by
a unio mystica using cognitive powers. The telling
question is whether these two directions in Greek
religion meet at some point:
Clarifying the relationship between Neo-Pla-
tonism and theurgy in their historical develop-
ment: The creator of theurgy, Julianus, the
­Chaldean Oracles, was a magician, not a Neo-­
From Talisman to Judaica
 Platonist. And the creator of Neo-Platonism
(Plotinus) was neither a magician nor a theurgist.
Plotinus’ experience of unio mystica is attained,
not by any ritual of evocation or performance of
prescribed acts, but by an inward discipline of
the mind which involves no compulsive element
and has nothing whatever to do with magic. The
opposing school asserted that the road to salva-
tion is found not in reason but in ritual. Theurgic
union is attained only by the efficacy of the
unspeakable acts performed in the appropriate
manner (…) and by the potency of the unutter-
able symbols (…). Without intellectual effort on
our part the tokens by their own virtue accom-
plish their proper work. (…) at least part of this
lore goes back to (…) Julianus (…) and the Chal-
dean Oracles (…). The animals, herbs, stones,
and scents (…) [are] good for various purposes.
Each god has his “sympathetic” representative in
the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral world,
which is or contains a [part] of its divine cause
and is thus en rapport with the latter (…) which
include such things as the seven vowels symbolic
of the seven planetary gods [that] might be writ-
ten down or uttered. The correct manner of utter-
ing them was a professional secret orally trans-
mitted. (…) Its center of diffusion was evidently
Egypt, where it was rooted in native religious
ideas (…). The magical papyri offer recipes for
constructing such images and animating them,
where the image is to be hollow (…) and is to
enclose a magic name inscribed on a gold leaf
(…) While theurgy type 1 sought to induce the
presence of a god as an inanimate “receptacle,”
theurgy type 2 aimed at incarnating him tempo-
rarily in a human being (…). Manifestations usu-
ally took the form of luminous apparitions (…) by
pronouncing certain spells, the operator should
see “fire shaped like a boy” or “an unshaped fire
with a voice emanating from it” (…) [and] two
types of séances, the “autoptic” [séance, wherein
there is one] who witnessed the phenomenon
for himself [at first hand] and the “epoptic,”
where it was [only] described [by a second indi-
vidual].29
According to Dodds, these two trends are contra-
dictory. In Judaism, by contrast, one may assume
that phenomena such as shmire may have both a
magical and a mystical side.
While the Hasid receiving the blessed coin may
assume a magical cause and effect, the process
308 Gross Family Collection
underlying the shmire is permeated by a profound
mystic understanding. As propounded by the Mag-
gid Dov Ber of Mi’dzyrzecz, contemplative thought,
which differs from prayer, takes on a thaumaturgi-
cal aspect. Related to a doctrine of change, hishtan-
nut (mutation or transmutation), the object to
mutate, the coin in this case, is spirited away to
‘Ayin, the “sefirah of nothingness,” which the Mag-
gid associated with the sefirah of Hokhmah (Wis-
dom). There the coin is returned to its source to
disintegrate and then be reborn or transmuted.
The mystical transmutation involves a dissolution.
But it is not the physical destruction of the first
thing. Rather, it is a momentary withholding from
it of the continuous emanation of the divine force
of life.30
Later followers of the Maggid were careful to dis-
tinguish between the magician and the rebbe: in
the latter case, the final transformation was under-
taken by God. For this reason, the result would
always come as a surprise, and not as the known
end result of a magical technique. Other ritual acts
among the Hasidic masters also follow this use of
contemplative magic or mystic practice. The move-
ment of the Kiddush cup from the left to the right
hand during the recital of the benediction is meant
to bring about a mitigation of the harsh decree
stemming from the sefirah of Gevurah (Judgment)
on the left with an influx of Hesed (Compassion) on
the right.31
A further explanation for the significance of
shmire coins relies on an understanding of inter-
personal relations. Marcel Mauss, in his delibera-
tion on the meaning of gifts, insisted that the gift is
mutual. The person presenting the gift also gives
part of his own self and thus the gift is closely tied
to the giver. Such transactions transcend the divi-
sions between the spiritual and the material in a
way that, according to Mauss, is almost “magical.”
Because of this bond between giver and gift, the act
of giving creates a social bond with an obligation to
reciprocate on part of the recipient.… The giver
does not merely give an object but also gives part of
himself, for the object is indissolubly tied to the
giver: “The objects are never completely separated
from the men who exchange them.”32
Mauss also included in his theory the giving of a
serving of food during a meal (such as the potlatch
meal of the Indian tribes of North America), includ-
ing fish and meat, and sometimes accompanied by
dancing. Claude Levi-Strauss claimed that the pot-
latch is an a-temporal structure, independent of its
Windows on Jewish Worlds
content.33 This recalls the Hasidic custom of shi-
rayim (leftovers), according to which the rabbi dis-
tributes his food to his Hasidim during the tisch
(lit. table, referring to the third communal Sabbath
meal).
Mauss distinguished among three obligations:
giving – the necessary initial step for the creation
and maintenance of social relationships; receiving
– for to refuse to receive is to reject the social bond;
and reciprocating – in order to demonstrate one’s
own liberality, honor, and wealth. Interestingly, the
Hasidic masters explained the shmire custom in
similar terms:
The reason behind the praise for giving a pidyon
to the tzaddik is according to what is written in
Liqutei Torah (Parashat Pinhas), that the [holy]
sparks in a person are contained in the objects
[found] in his home. And here, as well, since the
monetary sums [of the Hasid] are given to the
tzaddik, they are mixed with the sparks of the
soul of the giver, and can therefore enable the
tzaddik to further the goals of the giver of the
pidyon by the use of his or her monies [that tie
their essence to the rabbi] (Or Eliyahu, Parashat
va-Yezeh).34
And
The reason is that if someone is in need of a tzad-
dik for some prayer, he gives him a pidyon in a
certain sum, for without this he cannot come
close to the tzaddik at all. That is because by way
of this giving of the pidyon as mentioned, he
attaches his soul to the will of the tzaddik by tak-
ing something of his [and of himself] away and
giving it to the tzaddik. In truth the tzaddik may
do as he wishes with the monies. He may give
them to other charities or use it for another com-
mandment, and sometimes he may take benefit
from the monies as he sees fit. However, even if
the tzaddik does not want benefit from others, [it
is necessary that] he should receive the monies
from the petitioner so that the petitioner will be
able to become attached to him.35
Judaica from Talismans
At the end of his major work Laws and Custom in
Hasidism, Aaron Wertheim (1831–1913) noted:
“I have a Hanukkah menorah that a Hasid made
from shmire coins collected by him from the tzaddi-
kim of the House of Ruzhin over many years and he
309 Batsheva Goldman-Ida
melted them down into a holy vessel.”36 According
to Yitzhak Even, a Sadigora Hasid, “Hasidim who
had many coins, would give them [to an artisan] to
be welded into a Kiddush cup or Hanukkah meno-
rah.”37 In the Gross Family Collection is one such
Hanukkah lamp (figs. 11, 12).
On the Passover festival, R. Twersky of Azarni-
tz-Hutin would place a soup tureen made from the
coins of tzaddikim on his Seder table:
On the night of the festival, the Seder night, won-
derful was the scene, his holy table was decorated
with (…) valuable and wonderful silver vessels
that were an inheritance from his holy forefa-
thers. (…) The large silver-covered soup tureen
was one of the objects inherited from his holy
forefather (our R. Mordechai of Chernobyl) and
was made according to his instructions from the
blessed coins of tzaddikim and pious men before
him.38
This soup tureen was taken from the grandson of
the rebbe Mordechai Israel Twersky of Hutin or
given away in the aftermath of World War II while
rescuing ritual objects hidden during the war.39
Yitzhak Even goes on to say that one always kept
a few extra coins on the side to place in the grave:
“They never forgot to keep some aside to place on
their graves40 (…) for the coins were ready to be
placed on the grave as a shmire, a guard against the
dumah angel and other misfortunes, may the Lord
have mercy on our souls. This was not a request
that a Hasid had to set down in his will, for it was
already accepted by all the Sadigora Hasidim that
all his coins should be thrown in the grave.”41 In
­talmudic and gaonic periods (fifth to seventh cen-
turies CE), magical formulas were written on the
interiors of Aramaic incantation bowls, which were
then buried beneath the foundations of homes.42
Similarly, the Hasidim buried a shmire in the foun-
dation of a new house as a talisman for the protec-
tion of the house and its inhabitants.43 The expres-
sive decoration on the Aramaic incantation bowls,
seen in one example from the Gross Family Collec-
tion (fig. 13) compares with that found on objects
forged of shmire coins. As in primitive art, there is
an attempt here to express emotion, the chief
objective of which is magical. The expressive imag-
ing of the figures on the cup can be compared with
that of the demons and angels, also figures of
­mystical and magical significance, that feature
on  Aramaic incantation bowls and amulets.
From Talisman to Judaica
Fig. 11 Animal Imagery
Shmire Hanukah Lamp, In a representative book of magic formulas by a
Ukraine, latter half of the Maggid in the period just before the rise of Hasi-
19th century, silver, cast,
dism, the use of the visual image of a lion is recom-
24 × 20 cm.
GFCTrust 010.001.010. mended as an amuletic device. The lion is a com-
Inscription along the rim: mon motif on many of the shmire objects, and a
‫( נעשה משקל הקודש‬Made particularly expressive pair is found on a shmire
from the holy shekel) Kiddush cup in the Gross Family Collection (see
(photograph provided fig. 1). The Maggid Isaac Pessah writes (see fig. 14):
by William Gross)
“For a talisman: Engrave the form of a lion on gold
plate and write on it aryeh [lion], and place on it
Fig. 12 Ruta chalepensis, since the word Ruta in Hebrew
Shmire Hanukah Lamp, corresponds to the numerical equivalent of aryeh
detail of fig. 11 in gematria. Do so on a Sunday when the Sun, asso-
ciated with gold, is in dominance, and have the
intention of the 72-letter name, equivalent to the
word aryeh. The form should be concave (chased)
and not convex (repoussé), as is acceptable to most
poskim [halakhic authorities].”44
Indeed, sometimes the animal figures that
appear on the shmire objects are drawn with highly
animated expressions, as on amulets and on this
important cup made from the shmirot given by the
Sadigora rebbe (see figs. 15, 16, 17, 18 below).
Even when the figures appear to be heraldic in
Fig. 13 the context of Jewish art, as in the case of the lion
Amulet Bowl, Iraq, c. 650 and unicorn (figs. 16, 17), there is a messianic or
CE, ink on clay, diameter eschatological context.45 The Messiah son of David
17 cm, depth 7.2 cm.
represented by the lion and often found on the
GFCTrust 027.024.001
(photograph provided by shmire objects indicates the aspiration to the final
William Gross) stage of the redemption, while the unicorn rep-
resents the Messiah ben Joseph, also called the
Messiah ben Efraim. The pair of doves, beyond
being a decorative motif, can be seen in the context
of sources that recall the sacrificial doves of the
Temple service. Alternatively, the dove, and the
image of the eagle, are associated with the Assem-
bly of Israel, the Shekhinah, as the Hasidic rebbe
Zeev Wolf of Zhitomir explains: “And the Shekhinah
is called an eagle among birds, a dove among fowl,
a rose among flora, as the activities in the world are
subdivided, so does the Shekhinah change, and
whosoever has the intellect of his Creator, his heart
shall discern that the Shekhinah is alluded to and
Fig. 14 appears in different guises, to awake in us an
Jacob ben Isaac Pessah, understanding so that we can perceive the singular-
Sefer Zevah Pessah ity of the Lord, the Blessed One.”46
(Zolkiev: Hayyim ben
David Segal, 1772,
excerpt from the
photocopy of the printed
book

310 Gross Family Collection Windows on Jewish Worlds 311 Batsheva Goldman-Ida From Talisman to Judaica
Figs. 15–18 four different
views of fig. 3, Shmire
Kiddush Cup (Beaker)
from different angles,
Ukraine, late 19th century,
silver, forged and
engraved, 6.4 × 6.2 cm.
GFC 017.001.108
312
Shmire Objects with Coin Decoration
The belief in talismanic properties of coins and
their value as a status symbol are common to many
nations. The Chinese believe that coins that repre-
sent successful dynasties in China’s history are
lucky charms and they are prepared to pay large
sums of money for these coins, which they hang in
a suitable place in their homes. Today, three Chi-
nese coins with holes in their centers are consid-
ered sufficient and, tied together by string, are a tal-
isman for success.
Mainly among the Jews of Asia and Africa, coins
were also placed on head-coverings or added to a
string of amulets. In communities in Germany and
Alsace-Lorraine, a special circumcision talisman
consisted of a heart- or triangle-shaped cloth hung
with ribbons with coins attached. The spread of
amulets in this region was ascribed to the Ba’al
Gross Family Collection
Shem of Michelstadt, R. Ezekiel Leib of Worms
(1768–1847).47 The addition of a coin in a string of
amulets testifies to magical folk beliefs of the popu-
lace that influenced the Jews and to the belief in the
power of the coin itself, owing to its circular form
and the valuable material from which it was cast.48
However, these influences do not provide a suffi-
cient explanation for the Hasidic practice where the
rabbi gives a follower a shmire coin. For this, we
need to return to the custom of the pidyon ha-nefesh
and its connection to the giving of coins for charity.
As the magical background of amulets provides us
with only a partial explanation of the tradition of the
shmire we have to look further, and we find that a
fuller explanation lies in the concept of pidyon
ha-nefesh. The relationship between pidyon
ha-nefesh and a coin was discussed in a Midrash
aggadah:
Windows on Jewish Worlds
When the people sinned and each gave a
“redemption for his soul” (Exodus 30:12), Moses
said: “Master of the world, who can give a
redemption for his soul?” (…) The Holy One
Blessed-be-He said to him: “Not as you think but
rather ‘this’ they will give” (Exodus 30:13), mean-
ing like “this” they will give. R. Meir said: “A type
of fiery coin (he showed him). The Holy One
Blessed-be-He took it out from under His Throne
and showed it to Moses and said to him: ‘This
they will give, like this.’”49
The association between the giving of money and
redemption or penance is well grounded in Jewish
tradition. According to the Talmud, there is a rela-
tionship between the giving of a half-shekel and
the absolving of sins: “R. Eleazar said: ‘At the time
of the Temple, a man could weigh his shekel and
313 Batsheva Goldman-Ida
be forgiven.’”50 Maimonides also noted: “And the
shekels redeem your souls.”51 For these reasons,
another inscription often found on the shmire
objects is: “made from the holy shekel.” In gema­­
tria the word nefesh (soul) has same the numerical
value as the word shekel (430).
The two examples here are unusual in their char-
acter as well as for the inscription The Torah crown
would seem to have required the shmirot of an
entire congregation as a group effort to acquire an
abject as large as this Keter. It is perhaps among the
very largest shmire items known today (figs. 19, 20).
From Talisman to Judaica
Figs. 19 and 20
Shmire Torah Crown,
Ukraine, latter half of
the 19th century, silver,
repoussé and engraved,
height 14.3, diameter
19.2 cm, 605 grams.
GFC 053.001.007.
Inscription: / ‫זה הכתר‬
‫ נעשה משקל הקדש‬/ ‫תורה‬
(This Torah Crown is made
from the holy shekel)

 Figs. 21 and 22
Shmire Hasidic Epl-Becher
(Apple-Shaped Kiddush
Cup), Ukraine, late 19th
century, silver, chased and
incised, cast, 20 × 9.5 cm.
GFC 017.001.071.
Inscription:
/ ‫ נעשה‬/ ‫משה ווערנר‬
‫( משקל הקדש‬Moshe
Werner, made from the
holy shekel)

314 Gross Family Collection Windows on Jewish Worlds 315 Batsheva Goldman-Ida From Talisman to Judaica
 There is a second shmire Torah crown in the collec-
tion of The Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The Epl-becher or apple-shaped Kiddush cup is in
the typical Ruzhin-Sadigora or Chernobyl form
from a family tradition dating back to the Maggid
Dov Ber of Mi’dzyrzecz,52 as well as being from
shmirot. It is personalized with the name of the
owner. The hollow cover with holes on top is for bes-
amim (spices), indicating perhaps that this cup was
intended for use during Havdalah (figs. 21, 22).
One kind of pidyon ha-nefesh combines the words
kesef (money), etz (tree), and tzelem (the divine
image), the numerical value of each in gematria
equaling 160. In this rite, the monies are divided
into three parts corresponding to the three upper
spheres of the sefirot and, at the ceremony’s conclu-
sion, mixed up so that Gevurah (Judgment) is sweet-
ened by Hesed (Lovingkindness). Subsequently,
129 of the coins are given to charity and 31 are given
to the person arranging the pidyon. R. Naftali Ha-­
Cohen Katz of Stefan explains that the value of the
pidyon is mainly for protection and as a cure for
­illness. There were, however, also pidyonim for
cases of threats, bad dreams, and more.53
We should now consider the relationship
between confession and pidyon ha-nefesh, and
between pidyon ha-nefesh and the shmire custom in
early Hasidism. The importance of confession was
well known in the milieu of the Besht and among
the group that centered around R. Nahman of
Kosov (d. before 1746): “I heard from our commu-
nity rabbi, that the well-known rabbi, our teacher,
Nahman of Kosov (…) would send to each of the
members of the holy society in the city that (…) they
fix their sins in this world.”54 Joseph Weiss con-
cluded that: “From the discussion of the prophecy
of R. Nahman [of Kosov] it is clear that “prophecy”
includes, or is even identical to, the revealing of
hidden sins.”55
Confession was apparently prevalent among the
Karlin, Amdur, and Bratslav Hasidim and was part
of a now discontinued initiation process in the early
period of Hasidism. R. Nahman of Bratslav insti-
tuted the custom of confession in Medvediovka
before traveling to Eretz Israel in 1798. Upon his
return to Russia in 1800, he moved to Zlatopol and
made the custom a condition of acceptance into
his group. The Mitnagdim (opponents of Hasidism)
called the Bratslav Hasidim: viduinikim (confes-
sors). The procedure was mystical: R. Nahman
would uplift the combination of letters spelling out
316 Gross Family Collection
the sins to the higher worlds of the sefirot and there Figs. 23 and 24
rearrange them to reach a level of holiness and Spice Box, Kraków, 1866,
thus annul the influence of the sins on the sefirah silver, filigree and incised;
four coins attached to
of Malkhut (Kingdom, the tenth and lowest sefirah,
base, 24 × 7.8 cm,
closest to this world). However, when he moved to Hallmark: “E”.
Bratslav in 1802, he discontinued the practice.56 GFC 015.001.073
The Hasidic confession disappeared over time, (photographs provided
­perhaps because of its similarity to Christian by William Gross)
­practices in Eastern Europe.
It is possible that the custom of shmire is a rem-
nant of those confessional or pidyon redemption
ceremonies. However, it also reflects the economic
reality of maintaining the Hasidic court in the nine-
teenth century with its attendant costs of hosting
the many guest to the court. Although there are
many tales of amulets and talismans in the work
Shivhei ha-Besht, there is no mention of a special,
blessed coin. Indeed, the extant written testimo-
nies of the shmire date from the second half of the
nineteenth century. Thus, the available evidence
– from written and visual sources – verifies the fact
that shmire developed in parallel with the institu-
tionalization of the Hasidic courts in the nine-
teenth century, and specifically within the
Ruzhin-Sadigora and Chernobyl dynasties. By
­contrast, among the Sanz Hasidim, who had a
long-standing and bitter conflict with the Sadigora
dynasty, there is no trace of such a custom.57
R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, who immigrated
to Eretz Israel in 1777 with a group of 300 Hasidim, In eighteenth-century Russia, decorating with
did not give out blessed coins and did not receive coins on the outside was common on vodka glasses
kvitlech although he was a follower of the Maggid called charkas: “Charka is sometimes translated as
of Mi’dzyrzecz and of the Besht. vodka cup. In the eighteenth century charki with
An important difference must be made between inlaid coins or tokens were produced, generally
the shmire objects forged from melted-down coins while the coins were still in circulation.”60
and the decorative use of coins soldered onto metal There are only a few Jewish or Hasidic objects
commonly found among gentiles in this period. that are decorated in this manner, among them a
The shmire coins were generally melted down per- spice box in the Gross Family Collection decorated
haps due to the invective “not to make any graven with shmire coins on its base (figs. 23, 24).
image,” which, according to Maimonides, forbids The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has a spice box
high relief of a human figure such as is often found adorned entirely with coins from the time of King
on coins.58 Sigismund of Poland (1803–1818), reg. no.124/113,
which was possibly not originally for Jewish use,
Jugs, tankards and beakers inlaid with coins were but appropriated. Occasionally, we see cups of the
made in such great numbers at Königsberg from Hevra Kadisha (Burial Society) in Germany deco-
the mid-seventeenth century onwards that they rated with coins. A private collection in New York
may almost be regarded as the characteristic type holds a Safed cup with a coin imbedded in the
of goldsmiths’ work in that city. The fashion base.
reflects the dominant influence of Berlin and the
provincial status of Königsberg, since the Prus- Another such object is a salt holder for the Shabbat
sian court had developed a special love of outsize table for which the legs are actual coins and the
display vessels decorated with coins.59 bottom is marked as shmirot (figs. 25, 26, 27).
Windows on Jewish Worlds 317 Batsheva Goldman-Ida From Talisman to Judaica
Figs. 25–27
Shmire Salt Cellar,
Ukraine, late 19th century,
silver, chased; imbedded
with coins on base,
4.4 × 4.8 × 6.5 cm.
GFC 103.001.003.
Inscription:
‫ מין שמירת‬/ ‫פ״נ‬
(Shmira made of blessed
coins)
(photograph of fig. 27
provided by William Gross)
318
In answer to the question of whether the shmire
custom indicates a magical or mystical approach,
one must distinguish between the outlook of the
Hasid, which may be folk-belief oriented, and the
rabbi’s interpretation, which is of a more mystical
aspect. It appears that the rabbis tried to minimize
the magical dimension of the shmire coin and
emphasize the role of the will of God: Thus wrote
R. Ya’akov Yehezkel Greenwald:
If men and especially your students honor you
with gifts, and in particular with the kvitl and the
pidyon ha-nefesh that is customary with true tzad-
dikim, or by way of your Torah or prayers,
remember and do not forget that which is written
in Sefer Hasidim [of the medieval German
Pietists] and this is what is says: “For God is
­master of the world, and if He so desires to raise
up man, He shall give to him and his progeny
riches so as to repay him in this world.”61
Gross Family Collection
In this essay, I have discussed the possibility that
the custom of shmire evolved from an earlier pidyon
ha-nefesh ceremony that accompanied the confes-
sion in early Hasidism. The giving of the pidyon and
kvitl and the giving in return of the shmire coin
developed in the third generation of Hasidism,
when the Hasidic dynasties and in particular the
Ruzhin-Sadigora and Chernobyl dynasties and
their branches, institutionalized the Hasidic
courts, which were in need of constant upkeep.
The early Hasidic masters were radical in their
desire to bring sanctity to the mundane world and
to material culture. They went beyond the catego-
ries of tashmishei kedushah ve-mitzvah, and sought
everyday objects that were not so designated even
in those categories such as the Kiddush cup, the
Hanukkah lamp, even a tray, which they chose to
uplift and take them to a higher plane, endowing
them through the shmire custom with a talismatic
quality.
Windows on Jewish Worlds
The pivotal collection of William Gross holds the
largest collection of shmire Judaica in the world.
Since most of the pieces are mid to late nineteenth
and early twentieth century, they attest to a
long-standing tradition of shmire Judaica over time.
This important group constitutes a new form of
Judaica initiated by Hasidism and closely tied to
the magical origins of the group and the mystical
undercurrents developed by its leaders in conso-
nance with concepts in the Kabbalah, and original
ideas of contemplative magic on the part of the
Maggid Dov Ber of of Mi’dzyrzecz, a vibrant tradi-
tion among the Hasidic dynasties related to him
and preserved until today.
319 Batsheva Goldman-Ida From Talisman to Judaica
 1 ha-18 (Israel Ba‘al Shem
This essay contains
passages from and builds
on chapter 7, “Hasidic
Talismans,” of my book
Hasidic Art and the Kabbalah
(Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018)
without providing end note
references in all cases.
Sometimes a reference is
made for further reflection
2 7
The caption mentions
beaker between parentheses
to indicate that it is not a
stemmed goblet. As location
Ukraine is given, which is
short for the former Russian
or Austro-Hungarian
Empires, now Ukraine.
3 Efrayim (Jerusalem: Mir
Rashi, BT Shabbat 60, 2.
4 Publications, 1974), 1,
Moshe Rosman,
“Miedzybo‘ve-R. Yisra’el
Ba’al Shem Tov” (Miedzybo’
and R. Israel Ba’al Shem
Tov), in Tzaddik ve-’Eda
(Zaddik and Devotee:
Historical and Sociological
Aspects of Hasidism), ed.
David Assaf (Jerusalem: The
Zalman Shazar Center for
Jewish History, 2001), 106–
18.
5 mevasser, Parts I and II
See Gershon David
Hundert, Jews in Poland-
Lithuania in the Eighteenth
Century: A Genealogy of
Modernity (Berkeley/Los
Angeles: University of
California Press, 2004), 169.
According to Hundert, the
term “Doktor” refers to a
teacher and not to a doctor.
6 The Zaddik, The Doctrine of
See Hundert, Jews in
Poland-Lithuania, 169;
Moshe Rosman, Founder of
Hasidism: A Quest for the
Historical Ba’al Shem Tov
(Berkeley/Los Angeles/
London: University of
California Press, 1996);
Immanuel Etkes, The Besht
as Magician, Mystic and
Leader, trans. Saadya
Sternberg (Waltham, MA:
Brandeis University Press,
2005); Rachel Elior, Yisra’el
Ba‘al Shem Tov: ben magia
le-mistiqa – diyun ruhani
ve-hashpa‘ot tarbutiyot
ba-‘Olam ha-Yehudi
be-Mizrah Eropa be-Mahazit
ha-rishonah shel ha-me’ah
320
Tov: Between Magic and
Mysticism – A Spiritual
Discussion and Cultural
Influences in the Jewish
World of Eastern Europe in
the First Half of the 18th
Century) (Jerusalem: The
Zalman Shazar Center for
Jewish History, 2005).
Eleonora Bergman,
“Góra Kalwaria: The Impact
of a Hasidic Cult on the
Urban Landscape of a Small
Polish Town,” Polin 5 (1990):
3–23.
8 44
Moses Hayyim Efraim
of Sudikow, Degel hahane
Parashat Bereshit. All
translations in this article
from the Hebrew are by the
author.
9 51
S. A. Horodetzky,
Ha-Hasidim ve-ha-Hasidut
(Hasids and Hasidism), 4
vols. (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1943),
vol. 3, 301.
10
Simha Bunim ben Tzvi
Hirsch of Peschiha, Sefer Qol
(Raanana: Machon Torat
Simcha, 1991), Part II, Bava
Metsia, 13a.
11
See Jacob Joseph of
Polonoye, Toledot Ya‘akov
Yosef, 2 vols. (Jerusalem:
Agudat Beit Wielpali,1973),
vol. 1, 64, Parashat hayyei
Sarah ; Samuel H. Dresner,
the Zaddik According to the
Writings of Rabbi Yaakov
Yosef of Polnoy (London/New
York/Toronto: Schocken
Books, 1960).
12
See Menachem Kallus,
Pillar of Prayer: Teachings of
Contemplative Guidance in
Prayer, Sacred Study, and the
Spiritual Life from the Baal
Shem Tov and his Circle
(Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae
Publishing, 2011), 160, no.
119, end.
13
Jacob Neusner, The
Tosefta, 6 vols. (New York:
Ktav Publishing House,
1981), 16; Saul Lieberman,
Tosefta ke-peshuta (Tosefta
Gross Family Collection
in Its Simple Meaning), 12
vols. (Jerusalem: Schocken
Press, 1993), 205; see
Tosefta Shabbat 3:14; BT
Shabbat 115b.
14
The text was attached
to the spoon when
purchased by the collector. I
received a copy of the text
from the collector in August
2003.
15
See Yitzhak Even,
Fun’m rebin’s hoyf
(Ba-Hatzer penima) (In the
Rabbi’s Court: Memoirs
and Tales of the Ruhzin-
Sadigora Court), trans. into
Hebrew and ed. Avraham
Ya’akov Zilbershlag (Tel
Aviv: A. Y. Zilbershlag,
1993), 243–45, n. 55; see
also original Yiddish:
Yitzhak Even, Fun’m rebin’s
Hoyf. Zikhroynes un mayes,
gezehen, gehert un
nakhdertsehlt (In the
Rabbi’s Court. Memoires
and stories, seen, heard and
retold) (Brooklyn: Der
Farfesser, 1922).
16
James Frazer, The
Magic Art and the Evolution
of Kings, 2 vols. (London:
MacMillan, 1920), vol. 1, 54,
119, quoted in Joshua
Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic
and Superstition: A Study in
Folk Religion (New York:
Atheneum, 1977), 21, note
14.
17
Even, Fun’m rebin’s
hoyf, 243.
18
Trachtenberg, Jewish
Magic and Superstition, 21.
19
An exception to this is
the mezuzah that from a
number of perspectives
maintains a dimension of
magic; see Trachtenberg,
Jewish Magic and
Superstition, 146–52. See
also Georg Langer, “Die
jüdischen Gebetriemen
(Phylakterien),” Imago 16,
nos. 3–4 (1930): 435–85.
20
Max Kadushin, The
Rabbinic Mind (New York:
The Jewish Theological
Seminary, 1952), 171, 232;
also 171–80, 143–52.
21
Abraham Joshua
Heschel, “Symbolism and
Jewish Faith,” in Religious
Symbolism, ed. Frederick
Ernest Johnson (New York:
Jewish Theological
Seminary, 1955), 58–59.
22
See Batsheva Goldman-
Ida, Hasidic Art and the
Kabbalah (Boston/Leiden:
Brill, 2018), 385–87.
23
Efraim Elimelech
Urbach, “Ha-Masoret al
Torat ha-sod be-tekufat
ha-tana’im” (The Tradition
of the Secret Torah in the
Tannaic Period) in
Mehqarim be-Qabbalah u-be-
toledot ha-datot le-Prof.
Gershom Scholem (Studies in
Kabbalah and Comparative
Religion for Prof. Gershom
Scholem) (Jerusalem:
Magnes Press, 1965), 1-25.
24
Rachel Elior, Herut al
ha-luhot: ha-mahshavah
ha-Hasidit, meqoratav
ha-mistiim ve-yesodeteha
ha-qabbaliim (Written on
the Tablets: Hasidic
Thought, The Mystical
Sources and Its Kabbalistic
Foundations) (Tel Aviv:
Univerita Meshuderet 1999),
101.
25
Menahem Nahum
Twersky of Chernobyl, Me’or
‘Einayyim (Jerusalem: n.p.,
1987), Parashat Lekh Lekha,
quoted in Moshe Halamish,
“Le-Shem Yihud ve-gilgulav
be-Qabbalah u-ba-
Halakhah” (For the Sake of
Unification and its
Ramifications in Kabbalah
and Halakhah), Asufot
(1997), 158, n. 117.
26
Moshe Hayyim Efraim
of Sudikow, Degel mahane
Efrayim, 33, Parashat
Toledot.
27
Edith Hamilton and
Huntington Caines, eds.,
The Completed Dialogues of
Plato (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press,
1973), 992, Sec. 248.
28
E.R. Dodds, The Greeks
and the Irrational (Berkeley/
Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1966), 291;
see also Appendix II:
Windows on Jewish Worlds
Theurgy, 283–311.
29
Dodds, Greeks and the
Irrational, 283–94.
30
J.G. Weiss, “The Great
Maggid’s Theory of
Contemplative Magic,”
Hebrew Union College
Annual, 31 (1960): 137–47.
On transmutation and
emanation, see 138–39; on
the followers of the Maggid
and their reticence, see 144–
47.
31
See Goldman-Ida,
Hasidic Art and the
Kabbalah, chap. 2: Hasidic
Wine Cup, 110–11.
32
Marcel Mauss, The Gift:
The Form and Reason for
Exchange in Archaic
Societies, trans. W.D. Halls
(New York: Routledge,
Taylor and Francis E-library,
2002), on “magical,” see 16,
62; on “the bond,” see 17,
76.
33
Octavio Paz, Claude
Lévi-Strauss: An Introduction
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1970), 8–9.
34
Sperling, Abraham
Yitzhak of Lvov, Ta‘amei
ha-minhagim ve-meqorei
ha-dinim (Reasons behind
Customs and the Sources of
Laws) (Jerusalem: Eshkol,
1947), Liqutim – Inyanim
shonim, 512, no. 56.
35
Ta‘amei ha-minhagim,
514, no. 60.
36
Aaron Wertheim, Law
and Custom in Hasidism
(Hoboken, NJ: Ktav
Publishing House, 1992),
256.
37
Even, Fun’m rebin’s
hoyf, 243–45.
38
Yitzhak Meyer
Twersky, Mi Yareinu Tov,
Rabbi Mordechai Yisrael
Twersky of Azaranitz-Khotyn,
the Dynasty of Chernobyl,
(New York: Geneology
Research Center of the
Twersky Chernobyl
Dynnasty, 2001), para. 6
Passover, 4, 21.
39
Menachem Kahane,
“The Seder Plate of the holy
rebbe Mordechai of
Chernobyl,” HaMevaser,
Kehillot, Friday, 11 Nisan
2011 (6–7), 7 [Hebrew].
40
Even, Fun’m rebin’s hoyf,
247.
41
Even, Fun’m rebin’s hoyf,
243–45.
42
Joseph Naveh and Shaul
Shaked, Magic Spells and
Formulae: Aramaic
Incantations of Late Antiquity
(Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1993).
43
Isaac ben Leib Landau,
Zikaron Tov (Pietrokov:
Bellcatowsky Brothers,
1882), 51.
Jacob ben Isaac Pessah,
the Maggid of Zolkiev, Sefer
Zevah Pessah (Zolkiev:
Hayyim ben David Segal,
1772), not paginated. This
was first brought to my
attention by Haviva Pedaya;
see Haviva Pedaya,
“Ha-Degem ha-hevrati-dati-
kalkali be-Hasidut” (The
Social-Religious-Economic
Example of Hasidism), in
Tzaddik ve-’eda, ed. David
Assaf, 331–32, n. 72.
45
See Boris Khaimovich,
The Jewish Tombstones of the
16th–18th Centuries from the
Eastern Province of the Polish
Kingdom: A Study of the
Iconography and Style Genesis
(PhD diss., The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem,
2005), 121, 130; Batsheva
Goldman-Ida, “Synagogues
in Central and Eastern
Europe in the Early Modern
Period,” Jewish Religious
Architecture (Leiden/Boston:
Brill, 2020), 195–200.
46
Zeev Wolf of Zhitomir,
Or ha-Meir, 6:2 (fol. 8b),
Parashat Lekh Lekha; see also
Hillel Zeitlin, Be-Pardes
ha-Hasidut ve-ha-Qabbalah
(In the Orchard of Hasidism
and Kabbalah) (Tel Aviv:
Yavneh, 1997), 22, n. 1.
47
Otto Schnitzler,
“Jüdische
Beschneidungsamulette aus
Süddeutschland, dem Elsass,
der Schweiz und aus
Hessen,” Schweizerisches
Archiv fur Volkeskunde 74
(1978): 44.
321
48
See Herman Pollack, Torah, ‘Avodat kokhavim
Jewish Folkways in Germanic ve-hilkhotehem, chap. 3,
Lands (1648–1806): Studies 10–11. See Vivian B. Mann,
in Aspects of Daily Life ed., Jewish Texts on the
(Cambridge, MA/London: Visual Arts (Cambridge:
MIT Press, 1971), 15. Cambrige University Press,
49
Psikta Rabbati, Par. 16. 2000), 19–24.
59
“In the secret of the half- Alfred Rhode and Ulla
shekel (…) He showed Stover, Goldschmiedekunst in
Moshe Rabbenu a type of Königsberg: Bau-und
fiery coin, which is the Kunstdenkmaler des
redemption of the soul of Deutschen Ostens
Israel (Tanchuma, Ki Tissa, (Goldsmithery in
9) because nefesh and shekel Königsberg, Architecture
are the same number (…) and Art Monuments in
and this thing should not be Eastern Germany)
revealed.” Ashkenaz, (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer,
Menahem Mendel ben 1959), 33, 145.
60
Baruch Bendet of Sklo’, Alexander von
Derushim al seder Solodkoff, Russian Gold and
ha-hishtalshelut, 2 vols. Silverwork, 17th–19th
(Jerusalem: Sh.A. Stern, Century (New York: Rizzoli
2001), 304. Books, 1981), 38.
50 61
BT Baba Batra 9a. R. Ya‘akov Yehezkel
Ramban, Commentary Greenwald of Pupa, quoted
on Numbers 1:34. See also in Hayyim Shlomo ha-Levi
Wertheim op. cit., 163 n. 39. Rothenberg, ed., Hanhagot
52
See Batsheva Goldman- tzaddikiim, 3 vols.
Ida, Hasidic Art and the (Jerusalem: Hayyim Shlomo
Kabbalah (Leiden/Boston: Rothenburg, 1988), vol. 1,
Brill, 2018), chap. 2, Hasidic 753.
Wine Cup, 83–117.
53
Pedaya, “Ha-Degem
ha-hevrati-dati-kalkali,”
367, n. 84.
54
Avraham Rubinstein,
ed., Shivhei ha-Besht
(Jerusalem: Ruben Mass,
1991), 264–66.
55
Joseph Weiss, “A Circle
of Pneumatics in Pre-
Hasidism,” Journal of Jewish
Studies, 8 (3/4) (1957): 199–
213.
56
See Ada Rapoport-
Albert, “Confession in the
Circle of R. Nachman of
Braslav,” Bulletin of the
Institute of Jewish Studies I
(1973): 65–97; Nahman of
Bratslav, Liqutei moharan, 2
vols. (Jerusalem: Hasidei
Breslov, 1993), vol. 1, para.
4, 14–24.
57
David Assaf, The
Regal Way: The Life and
Times of Rabbi Israel of
Ruzhin (Stanford, CA: Stan-
ford University Press, 2002),
244.
58
Maimonides, Mishneh
Batsheva Goldman-Ida From Talisman to Judaica