Jewish Ephemera: Protection for Pregnant Women and Baby Girls against Lilith

.

[Women history] / [Judaica] / [JEWISH AMULET].

[Protection against Lilith].

[Mitteleuropa?], [early 18th century?]

Broadside, 22.5 x 18.5 cm. Text in ornamental border with a woodcut depicting Lilith in upper right corner. String affixed to the print through a hole on top of the print, affecting the printed border but not the text itself. Overall wear and soling due to use. All text legible and intact.

An exceedingly rare print in Hebrew with prayers rendering protection to pregnant women and newborn girls against Lilith, the first wife of Adam--according to some traditions, she was an evil spirit threatening the lives of children. Such prints included a silver pendant, which would have been worn around the necks of pregnant women or hung in the rooms, where babies slept, in the first days of their lives.

The development of Lilith's story as the first wife of Adam is traced back to Alphabet of Ben Sira, a collection of satirical stories, created between the 8th-10th century CE. Lilith was banished from the Garden of Eden for disobeying Adam, to whom she considered herself to be equal: "... Adam could not accept the demands of Lilith, and so she pronounced the Ineffable name and left him. Realizing he cannot live without a woman, Adam asks God to bring Lilith back. Three mysterious angels, Sanoi (or Sanvai), Sansanoi (or Sansanvai), and Semangalof, are sent to fetch her. They find her near the Red Sea, but Lilith does not agree to their plea. She tells them she is not coming back; the sole purpose of her creation is to harm newborn babies—males until the eighth day after birth, and females until the twelfth day. When their attempts to threaten Lilith fail, the angels succeed in convincing her that, wherever she sees their image illustrated or their names written on an amulet, she and the other demons who accompany her will not enter a house to harm a baby or its mother." (Sabar) The Alphabet of Ben Sira mentions an amulet that was inscribed with the names of the three angles meant to protect newborns, and the "legend was apparently created to justify the use of amulets, but it also contributed to the dissemination of the story of Lilith and the need for such amulets." (Sabar)

We have located a copy of the broadside in the Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv. Wellcome Collection and the Jewish Museum in Berlin own similar prints. There are also copies of printed amulets with protection against Lilith at New York Public Library and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

* https://wellcomecollection.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/object-of-the-month-protection-against-lilith/; https:/www.jmberlin.de/blog-en/2013/10/joyful-and-yet-threatening-why-lilith-fascinates-our-visitors/; Shalom Sabar, "Childbirth and Magic: Jewish Folklore and Material Culture," in Biale, Cultures of the Jews (2002).

Price: $4,850.00

Status: On Hold