Obj. ID: 51730
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Adonai Shadai, Israel/Eretz Israel, circa 1900

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

From earliest times, man has tried to protect himself from misfortune by the use of objects which he considered holy or otherwise (e.g., magically) potent. Amulets and talismans are items generally worn around the neck or wrist, carried in a pocket or purse or hung on a wall. They are meant to protect or aid those who carried or wore them. The Hebrew word for amulet, kame‘a, has the root meaning "to bind". Jewish amulets are usually comprised of texts (either letters or graphic symbols) that are inscribed on some sort of material; some may also contain plant matter or precious stones. The texts of amulets usually include holy names that are believed to have the ability to affect reality, along with incantations summoning angels or other magical powers. For the most part, an amulet has a specific purpose: to ease childbirth, facilitate recovery from illness, improve one’s livelihood, and so on, but in the modern world many are also made for general protection.

While only a small amulet for general protection, this talisman is one of the few in the Gross Family Collection that is signed by its maker and dedicated to a listed individual. In this case the amulet scribe was Yitzhak Moshe Ferrera, a well known Kabbalist during the last half of the 19th century and until he passed away in 1917. He was connected to the Beit El Yeshivah and was a student of the Rashash. It was known that he supported himself as a scribe and by writing amulets. This example was made for Menachem Chaim Eliyahu, a propminent personality in Jerusalem of that time, for whose family two other amulets were also written: Gross Family Collection 027.012.233 for his wife and 027.012.234 for him.

The Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzhak Moshe Ferrera was the son of the reknowned Kabbalist Rabbi Aharon Rafael Chaim Moshe Ferrara (died 1887) who was the author of Toldot Aharon v'Moshe and Efer Moshe. In 1848, as a young boy, Yitzhak came to Jerusalem  from Salonika with his father. He became a Jerusalem Kabbalist, belonging to the Beit El Yeshiva community. He delivered a sermon every evening in a yeshiva in the Old City. He worked as a scribe for the Kabbalist Beit El Yeshiva, writing and copying Kabbalistic books of the Rashash as well as his father;s compositions and earned his living by also writing amulets (four are in the Gross Family Collection). He wrote several books on Musar in Ladino, published his father's book Meil Ha-Kodesh u-Bigdei Yesha (Jerusalem, 1888) with his own additions with penetrating comments on Kabbalistic matters, a volume also found in the Gross Family Collection. He is also the scribe of the Siddur Rashash for the Counting of the Omer, EI.011.017, in the Gross Family Collection.

The book, "Me'il Kodesh ve-Bigdei Yesh'a",  a New Year Greeting in Ladino in beautiful script and three amulets are all connected to Menachem Chaim Eliyahu.