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AJS Review 28:2 (2004), 217-248
by
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern
I. INTRODUCTION:THE MANUSCRIPT
Back in 1993, as senior librarianat the VernadskyLibraryin Kiev, Ukraine, in
chargeof cataloguinga newly uncoveredJudaicacollection, I came acrossan enig-
matic manuscriptentitledSefer ha-heshek.It did not matchthe bulk of the Judaica
holdings.' Nor did it fit in Abraham Harkavy'scollection of medieval manu-
scripts.2It was too Ashkenazic for AbrahamFirkovich'sKaraitepapers,3and too
217
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
218
The Masterof an Evil Name
219
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
Moshe Rosman, who saw SH (and encouragedme to write this essay) has
dubbedit "themost extensiveexpositionof ba'al shem techniquesand experiences
that I know of."17It is common knowledge that ba'al shem stands for "masterof
the Names of God," or, as Gershon Hundert suggested, "Manipulatorsof the
Name,"18 and signifies a Jewish magicianor healer,engaged in practicalKabbal-
ah and able to use his mystical knowledge and theurgicalpowers to producepro-
tecting amulets that neutralize evil and restore psychological and social order
among the healer'sclientele.19The term became particularlypopularafter Israel
ben Eliezer (ca. 1700-1760) adoptedthe name of Ba'al Shem Tov (the Besht), the
Master of a Good Name, and eventuallycame to be seen as the founderof mod-
em Hasidism.A numberof books illustratingpracticesof ba'alei shem were pub-
lished before and afterSH was written,yet SH exceeds all of them in terms of the
20
historical,social, cultural,andtheologicaldatait contains. Moreastonishingwas
tic abbreviations,see Eli Davis and David Frenkel, Ha-kameya' ha-'ivri (Jerusalem: Makhon le-
mada'ei ha-yahadut,1995).
17. Moshe Rosman, Founderof Hasidism:A Questfor Historical Bacal Shem Tov(Berkeley:
Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1996), 217-218 n. 19.
18. GershonDavid Hundert,Jews in Poland-Lithuaniain the EighteenthCentury:A Genealo-
gy of Modernity(Berkeley and Los Angeles: Universityof CaliforniaPress, 2004), 142.
19. Forthe analysisof intellectualandtheological aspectsof ba'alei shem, see ImmanuelEtkes,
"Magiyahu-vaCaleishem be-yamav shel ha-besht,"in Bacal ha-shem: ha-besht-magiyah, mistikah,
hanhagah (Jerusalem:MerkazZalman Shazar,2000), 15-53; idem, "Mekomamshel ha-magiyahu-
va alei ha-shem ba-hevrahha-ashkenazitbe-mifneh ha-me'ot ha-yud-zayin-ha-yud-het," Zion 60
(1995): 69-104. Forthe analysis of the genre of the books ascribedto variousba'alei shem, see Hag-
it Matras,"Sifrei segulot u-refu'ot be-civrit:tekhanimu-mekorotal pi ha-sefarimha-rishonimasher
yazu la-'orbe-'eropahbe-reshitha-me'ahha-18" (Ph.D. diss., HebrewUniversityof Jerusalem,1997);
GedalyahNigal focused on the folkloric aspect of the writings by ba'alei shem in his Magic, Mysti-
cism, and Hasidism (Northvale,NJ and London:J. Aronson, 1994); Michal Oron analyzedthe sab-
batean context of one of the most prominent ba'alei shem in her "Dr. Samuel Falk and the
Eibeschuetz-EmdenControversy,"in Mysticism,Magic and Kabbalahin AshkenaziJudaism:Interna-
tional Symposiumheld in FrankfurtA.M. 1991, ed. Karl Grrzingerand Joseph Dan (Berlin and New
York:Walterde Gruyter,1995), 242-256. Oronalso publishedimportantdocumentson and of the Ba-
SalShem fromLondon.These include letters,descriptionof theirbooks, ethical wills, and diaries. See
Michal Oron,Mi- "bacalshed" le- "ba'alshem: "shmuelfalk, "ha-ba'alshem mi-london"(Jerusalem:
Mosad Bialik, 2002). Ze'ev Gries contextualizedpopularKabbalahbooks writtenby East European
ba'alei shem integratingthem into the genre of regimenvitae (conduct)literaturethatregulatesevery-
day behavioralpatterns,prescribesattitudesand remedies, and establishes links betweenthe tradition
and popularcustoms. Gries also connectedthe popularizationof practicalKabbalahwith the rise of in-
terest in hermeneuticstudies and medicine triggeredby the Florentinerenaissanceneoplatonicacade-
my. See Ze'ev Gries, Sifrutha-hanhagot:toldotehau-mekomahbe-hayei hasidei r.yisra el ba'al shem
tov (Jerusalem:Mosad Bialik, 1990). For the most convincing socioculturaltypology of the ba'alei
shem in the context of social anthropology,see Rosman,FounderofHasidism, 13-19. Forthe recent
standardsummaryof the ba'alei shem and the books they produced,see Hundert,Jews in Poland-Lith-
uania, 142-153. Cf.: EncyclopediaJudaica (Jerusalem: Encyclopedia Judaica, 1972), s.v. "Bacalei
shem"; JoshuaTrachtenberg,Jewish Magic and Superstition:A Study in Folk Religion (Cleveland-
Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1939).
20. Cf.: Razi'el ha-mal 'akh (Amsterdam,1701), Shem tov katan (Sulzbach, 1706), Sefer kar-
nayim 1709), MifWalot'elokim (Z6tkiew, 1710, 1724 and 1725), Toldot'adam (Z6lkiew,
(SZ6kiew,
1720), Keren'or (Z6lkiew, 1721), Zevahpesah (Z6tkiew,1722), Divrei hakhamim(Z6tkiew,1725). For
the pioneering analysis of the genre of practical Kabbalahbooks, see Hagit Matras,"Sifrei segulot
220
The Master of an Evil Name
thatHillel Ba'al Shem, unlike otherba'alei shem knownto date, coincided in time
and space with the Besht: they traveledthroughcontiguousareas(Hillel in Volhy-
nia and the Besht in Podol), and sometimes almostthe same areas(Rovno district
in Podol), and did so almost at the same time. Thus, the portrayalof Hillel Ba'al
Shem against the backdropof early-eighteenth-centuryEast Europeanitinerant
healers, the comparisonand the differentiationbetween the kabbalisticpractices
of Hillel Ba'al Shem and those of the Ba'al Shem Tov,and a discussion of the re-
lationsbetweenHillel andhis own clientele arein order.Methodologically,this pa-
per representsa slow readingof this eighteenth-centuryKabbalahmanuscriptfrom
the vantagepoint of the history of culturewith special emphasison the behavioral
patternsof a ba'al shem vis-a-vis a Jewish community.This paper echoes the re-
cent appeals to "reconsiderthe meaning of the ba'al shem traditionin the devel-
opmentof early Hasidism"21and to reassess such pivotal facets of the premodern
East Europeanculturalhistory as its popularkabbalisticsubculture.22
II. HILLEL'S
CURRICULUM
VITAE
SH, our only source on Hillel, is a complex document.In it, first and fore-
most, Hillel is tryingto demonstratehis expertisein practicalKabbalah.He spends
hundredsof pages discussing how to use holy names (shemot ha-kedushah)and
impurenames (shemot ha-tum'ah)in orderto stop epidemics (14a, 20a); treat a
sick child (23b); preventepilepsy, dizziness, craziness, headache, and night fear
(24a-b, 159b, 279b); treat fever, wounds, pollution, diarrhea,insomnia and bad
smell from the mouth (117a, 145b, 254a, 255b, 260a-b, 295a,); expel evil forces
from the house (31b, 296b-297b); protecta feeding (32a-b, 267a); cure a barren
woman(166a, 178a-b), regulatemenstruation(168b- 169a,262b-264b) andheart-
beating (274b-275a, 278a); preventevil forces from harminga newly born child
(270a);keep healthydietarylaws (107b); stop girls' hairfromgrowing(145b); pro-
tect an individual and his habitatfrom an evil eye (156b, 293b, 385b), thieves
(174a-b), fire (188b), bandits(293b), Lilith (329b); identify a thief throughtalk-
ing to a homunculusin a bottle (163a-164a); and other things indispensablein
u-refuotbe-civrit"(Ph.D.diss.,HebrewUniversity,Jerusalem,1997) andHavivaPedaya,"Le-hitpathuto
shel ha-degemha-hevrati-dati-kalkali ba-hasidut:ha-pidyon,ha-havurah,veha-caliyahle-regel,"in Dat
ve-kalkalah:yahasei gomlin, ed. MenahemBen-Sasson (Jerusalem:ZalmanShazar,1995), 311- 373.
Most recentdiscoveriescorroboratethe fact thatSH occupies a unique place among seventeenth-and
eighteenth-centuryEast Europeanwritings on practicalKabbalah.Thus, for instance, in 1996, Moshe
Rosenfeld from Jerusalem(the authorof a numberof book catalogueson early Hebrewprint)briefly
introduced me to an untitled manuscript apparentlywritten by the ba'al shem from Tomashpol
(Ukraine).The size of the manuscriptdid not exceed 80 pages. Its content to some extent resembled
the content of SH. However,unlike the often used SH, the clean white paperand the overall physical
conditionof that manuscript(especially edges and cornersof the pages), testified to its rareuse by the
owner or its readers.In addition,the amountof practicalKabbalahinformationincludedin the manu-
scriptof the ba'al shem fromTomashpolfalls short in comparisonwith SH.
21. KarlGrrzinger,"TsadikandBa'al Shem in EastEuropeanHasidism,"Polin 15 (2002): 162.
22. Moshe Rosman, "A Prolegomenonto the Study of Jewish CulturalHistory,"JSIJ (Jewish
Studies, an InternetJournal) [Bar-IlanUniversity] 1 (2002): 126. See http://www.biu.ac.il/JS/JSIJ/
1-2002/Rosman.pdf (accessed 11/7/04).
221
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern
222
The Masterof an Evil Name
the University of Padua or in one of the German universities.Yet, avid for the
knowledge of medicine, he apprenticed with various professional doctors in
Poland.Among his teachersHillel refersonce to Dr. Simhah,27twice to the great
sage and doctorRabbiYadakovZilon [Zahalon],28and more than a dozen times to
Isaac Fortis,"the great Rabbiand a great sage in all the countriesof Poland."29
AbrahamIsaac Fortis (dubbed also Hazak), a professional doctor from an
Italianand Polish family of doctorsand rabbis,probablystudiedat the University
of Mantua.30He also spent some time learningKabbalahunderthe famousMoshe
Zakut(1620-1697).31 He returnedto Polandin the last decade of the seventeenth
century,settled first in Lw6w and later in Rzesz6w, and establishedhimself as a
court doctor to two of the five wealthiest Polish noble families, Lubomirskiand
Potocki. Between 1726 and 1730 he held a position of the highest prestige when
electedparnas at the Councilof the FourLands.32Hillel claimed he had learntun-
der Fortis,consulted his books and manuscripts,and copied Fortis'samulets and
remedies.33He learnedfromFortisrules of hygiene, bothpersonalandpublic,par-
ticularlyimportantin the context of the late 1730s epidemic of cholera in Podo-
223
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
34. Recommendationson public hygiene appearin SH on f. 13a-15b, 20a-22b. See the story
aboutthe 1654 (in fact, 1656-see Ruderman,Jewish Thoughtand ScientificDiscovery,232) epidemic
in Rome which Hillel ascribedto Fortis,SH, f. 12b. Some primaryknowledgeof medical Latin,which
Hillel demonstrates,may also have come from Fortis.
35. Forexample, when Hillel discusses differentways of preparingamuletsor herbalremedies
to treatmelancholy(marahshehorah)he says thathe learnedthis is from "professionaldoctors in the
countryof Poland,"6a-b; when he explains what should be done to a sick person,he recommendsen-
ema with milk and sugarand makes a double referenceto Doctor Simhahand DoctorZilon [Zahalon],
23b; he claims he learnedfrom Doctor Fortishow to protecthumanbody fromevil spirits,25a; he says
that Doctor Zalnik (?) taught him what measuresto take in orderto completely recover after having
drunka poison (sam mavet), 108a.
36. In the second half of the seventeenthcentury,Italybecame a paramountEuropeancenterof
Kabbalahlearning.It suffices to mention Moshe Zakutand his circle. For an analysis of ItalianKab-
balah, see Moshe Idel, "MajorCurrentsin Italian Kabbalahbetween 1560-1660," Italia Judaica II
(1986): 243-262; RobertBonfil, Rabbisand Jewish Communitiesin Renaissance Italy (Oxford Uni-
versity Press for the LittmanLibrary,1990), 280-298; idem., "Changein the CulturalPatternsof a
Jewish Society in Crisis;ItalianJewryat the close of the sixteenthcentury,"JewishHistory2-3 (1988):
11-30; Moshe Halamish,"cOdle-toldot ha-pulmusal ha-kabalahbe-Italiyahbe-reshitha-me'ahha-
17,"Peterburgskiievreiskii universitet,9 vol. 3 (1986): 101-106.
37. SH, f. 187a.The questionof whetherHillel was in directcontactwith Italian(Venician)kab-
balists must be left open due to the thin evidence.
38. ElishevaCarlebach,ThePursuitofHeresy: RabbiMoshe Hagiz and the SabbatianContro-
versies (New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1990), 172-185; Gelber,"Toldotyehudei zolkiv,"96-
104; Geshom Scholem.SabbataiSevi: TheMysticalMessiah,1626-1676 (Princeton:PrincetonUniver-
sity Press, 1973), 78-85; Moshe Arie Perlmuter,Ha-ravyehonatan eybeschuezve-yahasole-shabta'ut
(Jerusalem:Schocken PublishingHouse, 1947), 26-29, 42-49; YehudaLiebes, "Ketavimhadashim
be-kabalahshabta'itmi-hugo shel r. yehonataneybeschuez,"in JerusalemStudies in Jewish Thought,
ed. Yosef Dan (Jerusalem:HebrewUniversityof Jerusalem,1986), 141-349. Fora broadercontext of
the crypto-Sabbateanism,see MortimerJ. Cohen, Jacob Emden:a man of controversy(Philadelphia:
Dropsie College, 1937) and JacobSchacter,"Historyand Memoryof Self: the Autobiographyof Rab-
bi Jacob Emden,"in Jewish Historyand Jewish Memory:Essays in Honor ofYosefHayimYerushalmi,
ed. ElishevaCarlebachet al. (Waltham,MA: BrandeisUniversityPress, 1998),428-452. A useful sum-
mary is to be found in Michal Galas, "Sabbateanismin the Seventeenth-CenturyPolish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth:A Review of Sources,"in TheSabbatianMovementand Its Aftermath:Messianism,
Sabbatianismand Frankism,ed. RachelElior(Jerusalem:The Instituteof Jewish Studies,HebrewUni-
versity of Jerusalem,2001), 2:51-63.
39. Carlebach,Pursuitof Heresy, 11, 171-172.
224
The Masterof an Evil Name
225
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
preparationfor his career.Second, Hillel's claim that he had copied amulets and
remedies from Zevi Hirsch implies that practicalKabbalahhad alreadybecome
part and parcel of general Jewish culture-even prominentrabbiswere engaged
in it, to say nothing of itineranthealers, well-established doctors, and ba'alei
shem.47
Thus, with medicaland kabbalisticexperiencesgained underFortisandZevi
Hirsch, in the 1730s Hillel took to the road. FromMezerich he moved to Podolia
andVolynia,and,at the end of the 1730s, to Lithuania.48It was in Galicia andVol-
hynia thathe startedhis careerof a ba'al shem. In 1731 he performedan exorcism
in the town of Shinove(Pol.: Sieniawa,nearPrzemys'l).49Between 1731 and 1733
he was active as ba'al shem in Olik (Olyka), and in 1733 he came to Ostrah(Os-
tr6g) and laterto Tutchin.50 During his trip to the north,Hillel came to Shklov.51
In 1739 he reachedKeidan.52Apparently,at that time he was marriedand had at
least two daughters.53Between 1739 and 1741 he moved westward,headingprob-
ably to Posen (Poznani),where he startedwriting his manuscript,which, he be-
lieved, would change his life for the better.54
III. HILLEL
BAcALSHEMANDTHEJEWISHCOMMUNITY
The beginning of Hillel's careerwas promising. He visited importantJew-
ish communitiesin Volyniaand Podoliaandwas commissionedas bacalshem. His
success in Ostrah,the third place he visited in his itinerary,was pivotal. In the
1730s, Ostrahwas an importantprivatePolishtown. It boasteda huge Polishpalace
and fortress,one of the busiest annual fairs in Poland,a beautiful,big sixteenth-
century,fortress-shapedsynagogue, more than 20 smallersynagogues and prayer
houses, and illustriousrabbis, some of them descendantsof the disciples of Ma-
haral(RabbiYehudahL6we ben Bezalel of Prague, 1525-1609).55 Hillel came to
226
The Masterof an Evil Name
the town of Ostrahand stayed at the home of the rabbiof the kloyz,who was the
son of the chief rabbiof the town. EitherHillel could not prove his pedigree and
learningand was not allowed into the kloyz, an elitist prayerhouse of East Euro-
pean kabbalists,or the kloyzdid not fit Hillel's immediateinterests.56At any rate,
Hillel spent two or three days in a special room of the local bet midrash.Indeed,
he learnedthattherewas an incidentin the community-a womanhad an evil spir-
it (dybbuk)who refused to leave her body-and he waited until the elders of the
city commissionedhim to performthe exorcism.Apparently,therewas some con-
sternationamong the elders, who were eitherreluctantto rely on the powers of an
itinerantba'al shem or mistrustedHillel personally,or both.This is how Hillel de-
scribes the episode:
From this episode one may learn, first, that Hillel was not a famous bacal shem.
Second,he did his best to provehe was well known-if not among local Jews, than
at least among the otherworldlyinhabitants.Hillel used the dybbuk,a representa-
tive of the evil powers,to establishhis reputation.Third,local dwellerstreatedHil-
lel harshly despite his desire to help them.59They mistrustedHillel and in all
likelihood mocked him in public-hence the reluctanceof the beadle to resortto
Hillel's help.
The case Hillel encounteredin Ostrahwas not an easy one.60The confes-
227
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern
228
The Masterof an Evil Name
the Jews in Russia and Poland (Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1916-1920), 1:173; Israel
Halpern,ed., Pinkas va'ad 'arb'a 'arazot(Jerusalem:Mosad Bialik, 1948) p. 265 par. 549; Hundert,
Jews in Poland-Lithuania,75 and 141; Rosman,Lords'Jews, 206-207.
64. Hillel resortedto the dybbuk' assistanceto explain the reason for his own weakness:"You
arethe Rabbiwho has been acting for alreadysix days.Youhavepronouncedoaths againstme andhave
tried to exorcise me using holy names. However,althoughyou did not manage to do anything(shum
pe'ulah) againstme, you have somewhatweakenedthe wicked forces which surroundmy soul, and you
have harmedmy members,sinews, and bones. However,this is not the rightplace thatallows applying
the holy names, because the strongholdof evil stands next to-distinguish!-the holy synagogue. If
you like to accomplishyour work, you should bettertry a differentplace"SH, f. 125a.
65. The woman/dybbukwarnedHillel aboutthe possible impactof local priests:"Thesearethe
priestswho give theirbad advice thatthey derivefromthe powersof theirtradition.Theiradvice comes
from theirmouths [in the form of] fire and flames, and theirwordsare not true.They will surrenderto
you, if God wants it" SH, 125b. Like ba'alei shem, both Easternand WesternChristianChurchesre-
sorted to exorcism as to an effective ecclesiastical ritual aimed at obtaining confession. See Stuart
Clark, Thinkingwith Demons: The Idea of Witchcraftin Early Modern Europe (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1997), 428-434; Worobec,Possessed, 23-25, 45-48.
66. Hillel discoveredoutrageousand by no means flatteringfacts about the community:"And
he [the evil spirit]revealedpubliclyhorribleand nasty things which had happenedin thattown among
the Jews.And the Jews understoodthatthe birdfromheavenraisedits voice, the time hadcome, and the
end of all ends. All the secretsbecame knowndue to the powers of heavenlyand earthlyoaths.All the
secrets impossibleto convey here thathappenedin thattown were finally disclosed"SH, f. 127a.
67. In addition,Hillel a priori relinquishedany responsibilityfor the operationandburdensthe
dybbukwith it: "Theonly thing which I do not know is whetherI will leave her body without her soul
or with it,"confesses the dybbuk.SH, f. 127a.
68. SH, f. 125b.
69. On the dichotomydybbuk-maggid,see the groundbreakingarticlebyYoramBilu, "Dybbuk
229
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
230
The Master of an Evil Name
74. "Theonly thing I would tell you-through my stories and the deeds of my wicked hands-
is thatpeople should learn from me and throughme how to serve the blessed Name,"SH, f. 125b.
75. Hillel complains:"I shouldnot say morein the time of my distressanddistressof my daugh-
ters, yet I failed and got up and not let my foes rejoice over me [Ps. 30]. I failed several times in sev-
eral nasty places involved with evil forces ." See SH, f. 74b.
...
76. SH, f. 319b.
77. ForHillel's repeatedcomplaintsof pseudo-ba'alei-shem,see SH, f. 95a, 172b, 276b-277a,
321b.
78. SH, f. 299b-300a.
79. Kahanaprovidesa numberof cases provingthatat the beginningof the eighteenthcentury
the itinerantba'alei shem or practicalkabbalistswere often identified with and treatedas crypto-sab-
bateans. See David Kahana, Toldotha-mekubalim,ha-shabta'imve-ha-hasidim (Odessa: Moriyah,
1914), 18- 19. Kahanaseems to follow Ya akov Emden'ssharpcriticismof ba'alei shem, most of whom
231
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
232
The Masterof an Evil Name
83. Carlebach,Pursuit of Heresy, 184-5; Zvi Mark,"Dybbukand Devekut in the Shivhe ha-
Besht:Towarda Phenomenologyof Madnessin EarlyHasidism,"in SpiritPosession in Judaism: Cas-
es and Contextfromthe MiddleAges to the Present, ed. MattGoldish (Detroit:WayneStateUniversity
Press, 2003), 274-280.
84. Cf. Scholem'sportrayalof SabbataiRafaelfromMistra(Misithra)the first to combineprac-
tical Kabbalahwith sabbateanpropaganda.Scholem, SabbataiSevi, 783-789.
85. Bilu, "DybbukandMaggid,"352, Scholem,SabbataiSevi, 606; cf. literaryreflectionof this
parallelin Isaac Bashevis Singer,Satan in Goray,Trans.Jacob Sloan (New York:Avon Books, 1955),
chap. 13. Forthe analysis of sabbateanunderpinningsin Singer'snovel, see Bezalel Naor,Post Sabba-
tian Sabbatianism:Study of an UndergroundMessianic Movement(Spring Valley,NY: Orot, 1999),
98-103; for more literaryvariationson this topic, see RobertAlter,After the Tradition(New York:E.
P. Dutton, 1969), 61-75.
86. In the sixteenthandseventeenthcenturies,ProtestantsandCatholicsalso identifiedheretics
as demons or possessed; see Clark, Thinkingwith Demons, 387-88, 534-37, and esp. 385-88. One
may see obliqueevidence of this parallelin the reversetakingplace in WesternEuropein the eighteenth
century,when, due to growing religious tolerance,the numberof witch-huntingcases radicallydimin-
ished. See MarijkeGijswijt-Hofstra,Brian Levack, and Roy Porter,Witchcraftand Magic in Europe:
233
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
234
The Masterof an Evil Name
and Heshel Ba'al Shem.95The conductof these ba'alei shem seems to correspond
to Hillel's high standardsof personalpurityand asceticism establishedin SH. Hil-
lel did not hesitate to copy from their books and reproducetheir amulets.To use
his own parlance,these wonder-workersand experts in practicalKabbalahwere
true hasidim-in contrast with the false hasidim, charlatans,and fake ba'alei
shem. However,even these righteousbaCaleishem troubledHillel. Theirimmacu-
late conductnotwithstanding,Hillel felt deeply hurtby the fact thatthey began to
publicize secret mystical knowledge and put theirbooks on practicalKabbalahto
press. There is nothing else in SH thattroubleshim as much as the publicationof
books of ba'alei shem.96
A number of prominent eighteenth-centuryrabbis, among them Yonatan
EybeschuetzandYa'akovEmden,did not welcome the disseminationof books on
practicalKabbalahand opposed the whole idea of their publication.97It does not
seem strangethat Hillel Ba'al Shem was also unhappy,even deeply depressed,be-
cause of theirpublication.Hillel's own reasons,however,were differentfromthose
ofYaCakovEmden. First,being published,esoteric secrets lost their secrecy; any-
one was able to copy an amulet from a newly publishedkabbalisticbook and use
it at his own discretion.Second,publishedbooks nullified the importanceof Hil-
lel's knowledge of the secret techniques he used to write and apply the amulets.
Third,Hillel cites an authoritativewarningagainstpublishingbooks on Kabbalah:
Mystical books should not be published,and if published,should not be used for
the sacredwork of a ba'al shem.98Hence, Hillel's indignation:
In ourgeneration,manybookswithholynamesandamulets,all of themse-
cret,werepublished.Do not use them-not in this worldnor in the world
to come, for they helpthe wicked.Someonepurchasesa book for himself
95. It is tempting to identify Heshel Bacal Shem from SH with Heschel Zoref, a crypto-sab-
batean,whom Gershom Scholem identified with RabbiAdam, the mystical teacherof the Besht. See
In Praise of the BacalShem TowvTheEarliest Collection of Legends about the Founderof Hasidism,
trans.and ed. Dan Ben-Amos and JeromeMintz (Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress, 1970), 15-
18, 31-32; the discussion of RabbiAdam as Heschel Zoref in GershomScholem, "Ha-naviha-shab-
tayi r.heshel zoref-r. 'adambacalshem,"in his Mehkereishabtaut,ed. YehudaLiebes (Jerusalem:Am
Coved,1991), 579-599; for criticismof Scholem'sidentificationsee Moshe Hillel, Ba'alei shem, 305-
316. Rosmanrejects Scholem's identificationand stronglysupportsthe viewpoint of Chone Shmeruk,
who identified RabbiAdam as the legendarylate-sixteenth-centuryfigure from Prague,rejectingthus
any connectionbetween him and Heshel Zoref. See Rosman,FounderofHasidism, 144-145. Forbet-
ter understandingof Hillel Ba'al Shem it is importantthat despite his sabbateanreputation,Heschel
Zoref was toleratedby such kabbalistsas Zevi Hirsch Kaidanover,see Hundert,Jews in Poland-Lithu-
ania, 125.
96. Fora list of books on practicalKabbalahprintedin Z61kiew,see YeshayahuVinograd,'Ozar
ha-sefer ha-civri.2 vols. (Jerusalem:ha-makhonle-bibliografiamemuhshevet,1993), 2:306-308.
97. Moshe Idel, Hasidism:BetweenEcstasy and Magic (Albany:State Universityof New York
Press, 1995), 34, 36.
98. Hillel constantlyreiterateshis criticism:"I have found in severalbooks of great Kabbalists
of previousgenerationswho warnedagainst the usage of mystical books,"SH, f. 172a-b. And again,
"Ina couple of smallbooks publishedin Zholkvathey issued severalamulets(segulot) andlots of names
(shemot) yet everythingwas printedwithout any sense (bli ta am); one should not rely on them,"SH,
f. 188a.
235
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
99. Toldot'adam(Z6?kiew,1720).
100. Z61kiew,1722.
101. There was no such book published in Z61kiewor elsewhere. Most likely, Hillel refers to
Mif'alot 'elokim(i6lkiew, 1710 and 1724), but confuses the title.
102. SH, f. 172a.
103. books on practicalKabbalahwere printedin pocket-size format.Zevahpesah in-
SZ6kiew
dicates this characteristicon its title page. The publicationof small-size books allowed Z61kiew,first,
to producea cheapproductand reachout to a wider Jewishaudience,and,second, to put to press more
books thanthe maximum700 annualkuntrasim(in this case, book copies), permittedto Z6lkiewprint-
ing press by the Council of FourLandsas a result of the fierce competitionbetween Lublin,Z61kiew,
and Cracowprintingpresses at the very end of the seventeenthcentury.Forthe decisions of the Coun-
cil, see Shlomo Buber,Kiryahnisgavah:hi ha-cirZolkiv(Cracow:Bi-defuso shelY. Fisher,1903), 104-
105. For a brief history of the Z61kiewprintingpress, see Meir Balaban,"Batei defus yehudiim be-
zolkiv,"in Gelber and Ben-Shem, Sefer zolkiv, 215-224; Haim Dov Friedberg,Toldotha-defus be-
polanyah (Tel Aviv: Barukh Fridberg,1950), 62-68; Israel Halpern, Yehudimve-yahadutbe-mizrah
eropa: mehkarimbe-toldotehem(Jerusalem:Magness, 1968), 83-84.
104. "In our generationeveryone buys a book Toldot'adam for himself. The book, which is a
waste of ink andpaper,everyonebuys very cheap and becomes ba'al shemot.Yet,those who buy it, do
not know anythingaboutthis world and about the world to come. They even do not behave according
to the good behaviordescribedin that small book Toldot'adam."SH, f. 155a-b.
105. Mention should be made of the similaritybetween Hillel's, JonathanEybeschuetz's,and
Jacob Emden'scriticismof the publicizingof the Kabbalahbooks, see Idel, Hasidism, 35-36. On the
dichotomy"booksvs. manuscripts"in the context of a demonopolizationof the elitist knowledge and
democratizationprocess in East EuropeanJewish culture, see ElchananReiner,"TheAshkenaziel1ite
at the Beginningof the ModernEra:Manuscriptversus PrintedBook,"Polin 10 (1997): 85-94; Moshe
Rosman,"Le-toldotavshel makorhistori,"Zion 58 (1993): 175-214. Forthe more generaldiscussion
of "manuscriptvs. printedbook dichotomy,"see Ze'ev Gries, Ha-Sefer ke-sokhentarbut:ba-shanim
460-660 (1700-1900) (TelAviv:ha-kibbutsha-meuhad,2002), 12-13 and bibliographyhe assembles
in notes 5 and 6.
236
The Master of an Evil Name
106. "People bought [printedbooks on practicalKabbalah- YPS] so that they came into the
hands of riff raff who don't know or understandany book or wisdom; only whateveris in these little
books. They don't know how things occur, and they don't even performa properpracticeas it is pre-
scribed. Obviously,they don't know the origins or functions of the names, for they do not have the
slightest knowledge even of the exoteric partof the holy Torah."SH, f. 119b.
107. SH, f. 277a.
108. Perhapsthe origin of this amulet is to be found among the popularmedievaltales of Ben
Sira that connect the destructivefunctions of Lilith to the circumstancesof the creation of the first
woman and thatrequirefrom a healer responsiblefor writingthe amuletspecial spiritualand physical
qualities.See EliYassif,Sipureiben sira be-yemeiha-beynayim(Jerusalem:MagnesPress, 1985), 231-
234.
109. SH, f. 34b, 54b-55a. This episode happenedafter the 1725 incidentwhen an amulet on a
womanwas discoveredcontainingsabbateansymbols purportedlywrittenby R. Eybeschuetz.The sim-
ilarityof these episodes suggests thatthe Jewish communitymistrustedthe productionof baCaleishem
on the groundsof their alleged involvementin heresy. See Perlmuter,Ha-ravyehonatan eybeschuez,
37-42; Scholem, Mehkereyshabta'ut,228-230, 707-733.
110. SH, f. 74b.
111. "Theonly thing I am seeking is a nice place to which I could come and regainmy profes-
sion."See SH, f. 74b.
237
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
V. HILLEL'S VADEMECUM
238
The Master of an Evil Name
this source. See B. Gittin68a-b. It appearsonly in Sefer which lists fourbooks thatSolomon
ha-zohar,
received from Ashmodai, namely: the book containingmagical material,the book of the wisdom of
Solomon, the book on physiognomy,and the book on the knowledge of precious stones. See Sefer ha-
zohar 3:194b, 3:193b, 2:70a, 1:225b.Formore detail, see Louis Ginzberg,TheLegendsof the Jews, 6
vols. (Philadelphia:The Jewish PublicationSociety of America, 1968), 6:301-302 n. 93.
118. SH, f. 90a.
119. Forexample, he says "ThusI heardfrom the greatrabbiand he showedto me in his book
Sefer ha-heshekand I copied severalpages."SH, f. 173b.
120. Forexample, Hillel recollects seeing an amulet in the book "Seferha-heshek[written]by
the great rabbi,renownedhasid and kabbalistEfraim,maggid mesharimfrom Vissa."
121. Shivhei ha-besht, no. 187. See Ben-Amos and Mintz, In Praise of the Ba'al Shem Tov,
196-97.
122. It is interestingto compareHillel's manipulationswith the holy names and the interpreta-
tion of magic/mysticalin Yosef Karo:"Thedifferencebetween legitimateand illegitimateuse of Holy
Names is thereforenot of pure (spiritual)versus selfish (magical) intentions..,. but between formulae
of ascent and formulaeof descent."See Werblowsky,Joseph Karo, 73.
123. SH, f. Ib.
239
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern
240
The Master of an Evil Name
129. Hillel appliesthe "namesof abomination"extensively (9a, 33b, 58b-59a, 60b-62a, 11la,
354a, 380b-381b). He interactswith the dybbuks(125a-127b, 135b-138b, 235a, 238a, 239b). In his
interactionswith evil powers, Hillel was not particularlyinnovative:evil names appearedin the kab-
balistic literaturelong before the spreadof LurianicKabbalah.Writtenca. 1488 and 1504 in Moroc-
co, Sefer ha-meshivcontaineddescriptionsof evil names (shemotha-tumah),demonologicreferences,
as well as descriptionof methodsto neutralizeevil power.See GershomScholem, "Le-ma'aser yosef
della reina,"Meassefziyon 5 (1933): 126-127; idem., "Le-ma'asehr' yosefdella reina,"in Studies in
Jewish Religious and IntellectualHistory,PresentedtoAlexanderAltmannon the Occasion of His Sev-
entiethBirthday,ed. Siegfried Stein, RaphaelLoewe (University:Universityof AlabamaPress; Lon-
don: Instituteof Jewish Studies, 1979), 101-109.
130. Tentative translationof two consecutive abbreviations:RF'EL [rashutpituah 'emz'ey
lahimah]YHN"H [Yeshuaha-Notsri(ha-mekulal?)].
131. SH, f. 68a.
132. Idel discusses differencesandsimilaritybetweenmysticalandmagic elementsin Hasidism
and arguesthatmystical-magicmodel is prevalentin the entirecorpusof the hasidic literature.See Idel,
Hasidism, 82-112. ForHillel, however,magical and mystical are two poles of the dichotomythatcan-
not be synthesized: Mysticism is a privilege of a kabbalist,whereas magic is for the popular con-
sumption.
241
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
ID
VI. HILLEL'S
Who was Hillel Bacal Shem? Obviously,he was not a charlatanwho cyni-
cally exploitedandpreyedon the most paganprejudicesof simple folk, like ba'alei
shem depictedby JoshuaTrachtenberg.134 Suffice to mentionthat the ba'al shem
and large segmentsof the communitysharedthe same values and beliefs. Nor was
Hillel a halakhic authority,a rabbinicscholar, or a rabbi, as those ba aley shem
portrayedby ImmanuelEtkes.135 Rather,Hillel's worldviewand his tragic fate re-
semble those itinerantbacalei shem, vagabond shamans, members of the com-
munal "secondaryintelligentsia"and practicalkabbalists,thirsty for some social
leadershipand a permanentposition in the community,as describedby Gedalyah
Nigal,136Michal Oron,'37 and Moshe Rosman.138Hillel could do nothing but
dream of the status of Rabbi JonathanEybeschuetzor Joel Heilperin-junior.The
former practiced the art of ba'al shem and occupied the lucrativeposition of a
town rabbiin Prague,and the latterwas a community-sponsoredpracticalkabbal-
ist in Zamos~. Hillel could not claim, like the charismaticand very authoritative
Naftali Kaz from Pozna, that he personally had met the Angel of Death; he
did not have the necessary positive charismato counterbalancethis encounter.
Rather,Hillel must be comparedto BinyaminBeinish from Krotoszyn:both Hil-
lel and BinyaminBeinish complainedof the vicissitudes of an itinerantlife; they
both were self-taught kabbalistswho knew Lurianicsources and the Zohar,but
both failed to establishthemselves in the community.Indeed,strikingstylistic and
133. This commonalityis manifestedin the significance for both the Slavic znakhar'and the
Jewish ba'al shem alike of the phenomenaof "popularreligion,"that is, magical manuscriptscombin-
ing prayersandhealingremedies(Rus.: "Travnik " and "Trebnik"), blackmagic, andthe unityof prayer
and incantation.See Lavrov,Koldovstvoi religiia v Rossii, 75 ff., 92-93, 127. I use here the Slavic no-
tion znakharonly to give an additionalEast Europeanflavorto Moshe Rosman'sshrewddefinition of
the ba'al shem as shaman. See Rosman,Founderof Hasidism, 13-19.
134. Trachtenberg,Jewish Magic and Superstition,79, 144, 196, 200.
135. ImmanuelEtkes, "Mekomamshel ha-magiyahu-va'alei ha-shembe-hevrahha-ashkenaz-
it be-mifneh ha-me'otha-yud-zayin-ha-yud-het," Zion LX (1995): 87-89.
136. Nigal, Magic, Mysticism,and Hasidism, 10-12. Nigal highlightsthe dualisticfunctionof
a ba'al shem: "twopersonalitiesare capableof dwelling within the same person:the personalityof the
Rav-Philosopher-Leader(and even posek) and the personalityof a wonder-workingba'al-shem.Ap-
parently,no one in that period thoughtthat these two personalitieswere in any way contradictory;to
the contrary,all believed that they could exist harmoniouslywithin the same person,"ibid., 20-21.
137. In her article on RabbiSamuel Falkknown as BacalShem from London,Oronaccurately
highlights the ba'al shem's constant strive for social leadershipand his desire to use his magic prac-
tices with the aim of establishing himself socially. See Michal Oron, "Dr. Samuel Falk and the
Eibeschuetz-EmdenControversy,"242-245. Also see Oron, Mi- "ba'alshed " le- "ba'alshem."
138. Rosmandefines the commondenominatorofbaalei shem as their"abilityto employ mag-
ical techniquesfor manipulatingthe nameor namesof God to achievepracticaleffects in everydaylife"
and of their practiceof "whatwas termed practicalkabbalah."Rosman demonstratesthe presence of
ba'alei shem at various levels of society. See Rosman,FounderofHasidism, 13-15, 17-19.
242
The Master of an Evil Name
243
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
VII. CONCLUSIONS
Hillel was both a typical and an atypical ba'al shem. He was deeply im-
mersed in a Manicheanuniverseinhabitedby powerfuldemons, evil spirits,dyb-
buks, and devils.'49 In his mind, these powers were ubiquitous, as in the
Weltanschauungof the famous kabbalist Shimshon of Ostropolie (d. 1648), to
whom Hillel refers,and in his nephewYaCakov ben Pesah'sZevah (26lkiew,
pesah.
ness of the Carpathianwoods. See Shivhei ha-besht, stories nos. 8 and 9; Ben-Amos and Mintz, In
Praise of the Ba'al Shem Tov,18-23.
145. SH, f. 154a, 226b-227a, 331b. Hillel interpretsliterallythe famous statement"inthe place
of the ba'alei teshuvah the righteouszaddikimare not able to stand."His interpretationfollows R.
Yohananand not R. Avahu,see Berakhot34b and Rashi ad loc. Interestinglyenough, as in a numberof
othercases, here, too, Hillel seems to be arguingagainstcrypto-sabbateanreadingof classical sources,
in this case, of the gemara. See, for instance, the sabbateaninterpretationof Berakhot34b that em-
phasizes the superiorityof a ba'al teshuvahover zaddikgamur,in Naor,Post SabbatianSabbatianism,
22-25. However,in othercases Hillel inclines towardsabbateanideas. Thus, for instance,he resortsto
a sabbateaninterpretationof the planet Saturn,which for the sixteenth-centurykabbalistsymbolized
six profanedays of the week and not Shabbatbut for ShabbetaiTsevi and his followers came to sym-
bolize Shabbatand JubileeYear.See Elliot K. Ginsburg,TheShabbatin the Classical Kabbalah(State
University of New YorkPress, 1989), 198 and 240-241; Moshe Idel, Messianic Mystics (Yale:Yale
University,1998), 192-196; Scholem, SabbataiSevi, 430. At this point I thinkthe questionof Hillel's
inconsistentcrypto-Sabbateanismhas to be left open.
146. The Besht was also stringentaboutrules of writingamulets.Cf. Shivheiha-besht,no. 187;
Ben-Amos and Mintz,In Praise of the Ba'al Shem Tov,196-197.
147. On the importanceof devekutin Hasidism, see GershomScholem, "Devekutas Commu-
nion with God,"in TheMessianicIdea in Judaism(New York:SchockenBooks, 1971), 186-191, 206-
211.
148. On the importanceof contemplativeandecstaticpracticesin Hasidism,see Idel,Hasidism,
45 and 75.
149. It will be fruitfulto compare(and differentiate)the worldviewof Hillel and that of Abra-
hamYagel(1552-ca. 1623), an Italian-Jewishdoctor,magician,andkabbalistwho resortedto the work
of Aristotle to prove the physical reality of demons. See David B. Ruderman,Kabbalah,Magic, and
Science (Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversityPress, 1988), 43-58.
244
The Masterof an Evil Name
150. On Shimshon and his worldview,see YehudaLiebes, "Halom u-mezi'ut: le-demuto shel
ha-kadoshha-mekubalr. shimshonmi-ostropolye,"Tarbiz52 (1982): 83-109. See SH, f. 42b.
151. SH, f. 229a. A particularpredispositionof demons to the smell of incense is mentionedin
variousJewish sources. For instance, in a Yiddish text on Yosef de la Reyna writtenin Amsterdamby
crypto-SabbatianLeib ben Ozer Rosenkrantz(d. 1727), the incense is depictedas a powerfulremedy
thathelps demonsto acquireadditionalpower,breakthe chainsthatbindthem,andliberatethemselves.
See Zalman Rubashov(Shazar), "Ma'asehr. yosef de la reyna be-masoretha-shabtait,"in Eder ha-
yekar:divreisifrutu-mehkarmukdashimle-shmuelaba gorodetsky,ed. EmanuelBin-Gorion(TelAviv:
Devir, 1947), 110-114. An episode in Sefer ha-zohar, ParashatTerumahdepicts burntofferings, the
smell of which helps demons to cause nocturnalpollutionto men. Althoughthe Zoharicmotif does not
emphasize the direct impact of the incense on demons, it is functionallyclose to the incense/demon
motif since it demonstratesthe ability of evil angels to nurturethemselves from the smell of the offer-
ings (korbanot).See Zohar 2:130a.
152. Forthe Beshtianconcept of the spiritualmeaningand theurgicalpowerof burntofferings,
see the discussion in Rosman,FounderofHasidism, I11. Sabbatiansconsideredsmoking tobacco one
of the ways to neutralizeevil powers.This behavioralpatternwas later inheritedby the Hasidim,who
consideredsmoking the way to substituteincense offerings in the Temple.Mitnagdim,authorsof anti-
hasidic writings such as Zamirarizim and Sheverposhim, were quick to depict and mock this hasidic
custom. For a comprehensivelist of sources on tobacco smoking among sabbatiansand hasidim, see
Gries, Sifrutha-hanhagot,205 n. 109. Louis Jacobs, however,considers smoking tobacco "peripher-
al" for the hasidim, see his "Tobaccoand the Hasidim,"Polin 11 (1998): 25-30.
153. See, e.g., the story about the Besht uplifting the soul of a man turnedinto a frog for dis-
obeying Jewish legal practicesand trappedby Satan,see Ben-Amos and Mintz, In Praise of the Bacal
ShemTov,par. 12, p. 24-26; also see a story aboutthe Besht neutralizingevil and upliftingthe soul of
a divorcedand "loose" woman ready to convertout of Judaism,ibid., 245-247 par.238. It is signifi-
cant thatthe Besht made an attempt(thoughunsuccessful)to make a tikkun(correction)and uplift the
sparkof ShabbetaiTsevi, see ibid., par.66, p. 86-87.
154. As far as the furtherdevelopmentof Hillel's healing methods and the usage of the "holy
and impurenames"(shemotha-kedushahandshemot ha-tum'ah),the eighteenth-centuryhasidic liter-
aturemoved far away from "magic"to "mysticism,"insisting on the predominanceof spiritualrather
245
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
Hillel's life story and his book furnisha numberof tricky questions. If one
takes into considerationthe crypto-sabbateanovertonesof the notion "modest"in
eighteenth-centuryEast Europe, one might ask whether Hillel was only a pre-
BeshtianHasid,zanuac,or also a repentantcrypto-sabbatean.155 Hillel mentionsa
numberof times thathe is "repenting."His repentance,teshuvah,could have been
the confession not only of a ba'al shem who has had some spectacularfailuresbut
also of a crypto-sabbateantrying to come to grips with the Jewish community.156
Indeed, for the purpose of exorcising dybbuks,that is to say, schismatics, there
was nobody betterthan a formercrypto-sabbatean:he knew the disease and was
able to take care of it. Fromthis vantagepoint it wouldbe temptingto reassess the
early-eighteenth-centurydybbuksas schismatics and to reconsiderexorcisms in
the Polish-Jewishcommunityin the context of the communalstruggle againstthe
crypto-sabbateanheresy and its ramifications.Forexample, before he left for the
Landof Israel,R. Naftali Kaz from Posen, namedin SH amongprominentba'alei
shem, was reportedto have met the Angel of Death in the disguise of a beggar.157
But it is well-known that the "Angel of Death,"Mal'akh ha-mavet, was the eu-
phemism for the notorioussabbateanHayyim Malakhused in all the bans of ex-
communicationspronounced,repeated,and enforced in Centraland East Europe
againsthim and his followers.158 Was R. Naftali Kaz using the languagethat was
transparentfor his contemporariesbutobscureonly for us? WhenZ61kiew,this un-
crowned capital of the crypto-sabbateans,startedan unparalleledpublicationof
books by ba'alei shem, was thatan attemptto combatthe heresy or to disseminate
it? At any rate, these speculationsare particularlypivotal in view of the dramatic
246
The Master of an Evil Name
159. See EdwardKossoy and AbrahamOhry, The Feldshers: Medical, Sociological and His-
toricalAspects of Practitionersof Medicine with Below UniversityLevel Education(Jerusalem:Mag-
ness Press, 1992), 68-71, 135-36, 144-45; JohnM. Efron,Medicineand the GermanJews: a History
(New Haven, CT:Yale UniversityPress, 2001), 60-61.
160. In his review of Rosman'sbook on the Baal Shem Tov,Gries mentionedthatthe statusof
talmidhakhamwas pivotal for a practicingba'al shem eager to sell his amulets and healing remedies
to his clientele. See his "Demutoha-historitshel-ha-besht:bein sakinha-minatehimshel ha-historiyon
le-makheloshel hokerha-sifrut,"Kabbalah5 (2000): 423.
247
YohananPetrovsky-Shtern
161. Rosman,Founderof Hasidism, 181. Rosman is right arguingthat "[t]his was apparently
one of the featuresof his activity that singled him out as a ba'al shem par excellence."Also see idem,
"InnovativeTradition:Jewish Culturein the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth,"in Culturesof the
Jews: A New History, ed. David Biale (New York:Schocken Books, 2002), 551.
248