Obj. ID: 53920
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Kame'a Yerushalmit, Jerusalem, 1930

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

This specific form of amulet was first published by Israel Dov Frumkin soon after establishing his printing press in Jerusalem in 1874. It was published in two different versions as well as on different colored paper.  Subsequently, it appeared in many different printings, some by Frunkin himself but afterward by many different presses in other variations, even today. Many of these publications are represented in the Gross Family collection.

Frumkin was an important printer of books and single sheets for almost 30 years. Such a single sheet was printed to be hung on the wall of a home and represents the kind of printed single pages that made their frequent appearance in the marketplace during the last half of the 19th century. This is the type of decorative page that provided the average Jewish person with the ability to have "art" on the walls of his home. Frumkin was the son-in-law of the first printer in Jerusalem, Yisrael Bak, and worked in Bak's printing establishment from 1870 until he acquired his press four years later. He was also the printer and editor of the Hebrew newspaper "Havatzelet".

This amulet was intended, as described in the large letters at the top, as a talisman and Shmirah against fire, as a protection for a pregnant woman, and as a general shield against all bad things. It contains many Kabbalistic formulae and "names" as well as several visual elements, including the depiction of an angel at the center that was the defining image of many amulets printed in Jerusalem. This is a change from the depiction of the three angels in the same place on the original Frumkin amulet. The image originated in Eastern Europe but was copied in the Holy Land and became exceedingly popular as an amuletic device on publications in Jerusalem. The amount of text is much greater than what is normally seen and deals with names of angels and other Kabbalistic lore for the protection of the house and its inhabitants. This is one of the later versions that are much smaller and simply a photographic reprint.