Compendium of Practical Kabbalah, Magical Charms, Amulets, Astrology, and Medicine [Podolia: ca. 1760-1765]

225 leaves (7 1/2 x 6 1/8 in.; 190 x 155 mm.)

From the collection of the Skolye Rebbe, a descendant of the Ba’al Shem Tov.

One of the most important and comprehensive compilations of Ashkenazic magical and practical kabbalistic material from the eighteenth century, containing various remedies, therapies, prayers, charms, spells, adjurations of demons, astrological symbols, and amulets. The codex was assembled from a number of separate treatises written in different hands at various points, making it seem likely that it was owned by several ba‘alei shem (magical healers in Ashkenazic society who used folk remedies and special permutations of God’s Names for therapeutic purposes), each of whom added new treatments as they were learned. Much of the material here is unknown from other Ashkenazic magical and medicinal compendia, either in manuscript or in print. Many of the therapies are written in Yiddish, and one section of the book gives the names of remedies in Latin, presumably so that they could be shown to non-Jewish apothecaries. 

Authorities quoted include some of the most prominent ba‘alei shem of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, such as Elijah Loanz (1564-1636), Naphtali Katz (1645-1719), and Aryeh Leib ben Sarah (1730-1791). Most importantly, an entry on f. 156r, a prescription to prevent nocturnal emissions, is quoted as having been learned directly from Israel ben Eliezer Ba‘al Shem Tov, also known as the Besht (ca. 1700-1760). This record was apparently made before the Besht’s passing, as on the following leaf (f. 157r), the honorific “of blessed memory” is attached to his name.