(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יי אֱלֹקֵ֖ינוּ יי ׀ אֶחָֽד׃ (ה) וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יי אֱלֹקֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ (ו) וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃ (ז) וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃ (ח) וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃ (ט) וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ {ס}
(4) Hear, O Israel! יי is our God, יי alone. (5) You shall love your God יי with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(דברים ז, טו) והסיר יי ממך כל חולי אמר רב זו עין רב לטעמיה דרב סליק לבי קברי עבד מאי דעבד אמר תשעין ותשעה בעין רעה ואחד בדרך ארץ
§ The Torah states: “And the Lord will take away from you all sickness” (Deuteronomy 7:15). Rav says: This verse is speaking about the evil eye. The Gemara comments: Rav conforms to his line of reasoning, as Rav went to a graveyard, and did what he did, i.e., he used an incantation to find out how those buried there died, and he said: Ninety-nine of these died by the evil eye, and only one died by entirely natural means.
(ה) חובר חבר זהו שעל ידי לחש מקבץ חיות או נחשים ועקרבים יתושים ופרעושים:
(ו) מי שנשכו עקרב מותר ללחוש עליו ואפילו בשבת ואע"פ שאין הדבר מועיל כלום הואיל ומסוכן הוא התירו כדי שלא תטרף דעתו עליו:
(ז) מי שרודפים אחריו נחש ועקרב מותר לחבר כדי שלא יזיקוהו:
(ח) הלוחש על המכה או על החולה ורוקק ואחר כך קורא פסוק מן התורה אין לו חלק לעוה"ב ואם אינו רוקק איסורא מיהא איכא ואם יש בו סכנת נפשות הכל מותר: הגה וי"א דכל זה אינו אסור אלא כשקורא הפסוק בלשון הקדש אבל בלשון לעז לא (רש"י בשם רבו) ומיהו ברוקק טוב ליזהר בכל ענין בפרט אם מזכירין השם שאין לו חלק לעוה"ב (כן משמע מהטור לדעת ר"י):
(ט) תינוק שנפגע אין קורין עליו פסוק ואין מניחין עליו ס"ת:
(י) הבריא מותר לקרות פסוקים להגן עליו מהמזיקין:
(יא) למדוד האזור וללחוש עליו מותר ואפי' בשבת: הגה ועיין בא"ח סימן ש"ו וה"ה שאר לחשים ועיין בא"ח סי' ש"א איזה לחש וקמיע אסור:
(יב) מותר להתרפאות בקמיע אפי' יש בהם שמות וכן מותר לישא קמיעין שיש בהם פסוקי' ודוקא להגן שלא יחלה אבל לא להתרפאות בהם מי שיש לו מכה או חולי אבל לכתוב פסוקים בקמיעים אסור:
(5) "A spell-caster" (Deuteronomy 18:11) is someone who gathers animals or snakes or scorpions or mosquitoes or flies with whispers.
(6) Someone who has been bitten by a scorpion: it is permitted to whisper spells for them, even on Shabbat, and even though this thing is completely ineffective, because the person is in danger, they permitted it in order that their mind should not be torn apart (made insane).
(7) Someone who is being chased by a snake or scorpion: it is permitted to whisper spells in order to prevent them from harming one.
(8) Someone who whispers spells over a wound, or over someone ill, and then spits, and then reads a verse from the Torah: this person has no portion in the World to Come. But even if they do not spit, however, it is still prohibited. But if there is danger to life, then anything is permitted. [Comment of Rema: And some say that all this is only forbidden when one reads the verse in Hebrew but not in a foreign language (Rashi citing his teacher). However, it is best to be careful about spitting, as much as possible, especially if one is reciting the Divine name, as this person has no portion in the World to Come (as is indicated by the Tur in the R"I's opinion).]
(9) A child who has been wounded: we may not recite verses over them, or place a Sefer Torah upon them.
(10) A healthy person: it is permitted to recite verses over them, in order to protect them from the damaging forces [aka demons or evil spirits].
(11) To measure a belt (of a person who is ill) and to whisper spells over it is permitted, even on Shabbat. [Comment of Rema: And see OC 306, and the rule is the same for other whispered spells. And see OC 301 for which whispered spells and which amulets are forbidden.]
(12) It is permitted to by healed by an amulet, even if it has Divine Names inside. And it is similarly permitted to carry amulets that have verses inside. This is specifically for protection, not to become ill, but does not permit someone who has a wound or an illness to be healed by them. But it is forbidden to write verses in the amulets.
(1) לכל (2) ל (3) ליליתא בישתא
(4) דפורא רמינא ושקילנא (5) {ועב} ועבדי עבדנא במתיבי (6) יהושע בר פרחיה
כתבית (7) גיטא דיכרי וניקבתא משמתא מלויתא דלויא ושריא ודירא בביתיה דארדוי בר (8) כירכשידוך וכל שום דאית לה דמית(חזיא) להון בחילמא דליליה ובשינתא דיממא ואנה כתיבנא עליכון גיטא (9) גיט פיטורין ושבוקין
בשום אות מיתוך אות אותיות מיתוך אותיות ושום {מ} מיתוך השימ<ו>ת וינקבי מיתוך האל הגולי דיבהון יתכ<נ>עו (10) שמיה וארעה וטורא בהון ויתעקרון ורמיתא בהון ויתמסרון שידי וחרשי בהון עברי מן עלמא
בכין סליקית עליכון למירומא מיחבלא (11) לאפוקי ולאנדויאהון שידין ושיבטין ודיוין וסטנין וחילמי סניתי שגישי
ותיזחון ותיפקון מן ביתיה ואיסקופתיה דארדוי בר כירכשידוך (12) ולא תתחזון להון לא בחילמא דליליה ולא בשינתא ┐ד┌<יממה> מיטול דפטרנא יתיכון מיניכון בסיפר תירוכי<ן> וגיטא גיט פיטורין ואיגרת שבוקין כדת משה ו<י>שראל
(13) לשמך אני עשיתי גבריאל (14) verso גבריאל ו(מיכ)אל ורפיאל ואור<יאל> …..יאל בשום (סו)ריאל סוריאל …… יהוק יהיק רבה סלה
ויאמר יי אל שטן יגער יי בך (15) השטן יגער יי בך הבוחיר בירושלים הלא זה אוד (מוצל) מיאש
Jewish Aramaic Incantation Bowl, M59; Text transcribed and translated by Prof. Dan Levene (Jewish Aramaic Incantation Bowls – Jewish/non-Jewish Relations (ed.ac.uk)
(1) For all, (2) for (3) evil Liliths (4) that I am casting and drawing a lot (5) and I made a (magical) act in the dwelling of (6) R. Joshua bar Perahia.
I wrote (7) a get (to) the male and female ones, to the ban, the accompanying demon who accompanies and dwells and lives in the house of Ardoi son of (8) Khwarkhshidukh; and any name that it has that appears to them in a dream of the night and in the sleep of the day. And I have written you a divorce writ, (9) a get of releasing and sending away.
In the name of a letter from within a letter and letters from within letters and a name from within the names and gaps from within the revealed. By which were subjugated heaven and earth, and mountains were uprooted by them, and heights were melted by them. Demons and sorceries die (lit. – pass from the world) by them.
Therefore, I ascended against you to on high (11) to take out and ban them demons and plagues and dews and satans and evil confused dreams, that you may flee and go out from the house and threshold of Ardoi son of Khwarkhshidukh, (12) and not appear to them in the dream of the night and not in the sleep of the day. For I have released you from you from you by a document of divorce, and a get of discharge/dismissal, and letters of separation according to the law of Moses and Israel.
(13) For Thy namesake I have done (this magic act), Gabriel (verso) (14) Gabriel and Michael and Raphael and Uriel … in the name of Suriel Suriel … YHWQ YHYQ the great selah.
“And the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?'”
Arthur Green, Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from around the Maggid's Table
Yisrael ben Eliezer was known as a ba'al shem (lit. "master of the name"), which meant that he was skilled in the art of healing by means of oral formulae or written amulets containing the name of God. The great focus of "practical Kabbalah" on the name or names of God, though often employed in semi-magical ways, bears some interesting resemblance to Christian Hesychasm...Typically a ba'al shem would combine this spiritual legacy of divine names with a knowledge of herbal medicine and other folk traditions of healing, so that the patients who came to them would not know whether it was the herbs, the potions, the holy names, or the sometimes strange behavioral counsels that brought about their healing. There were ba'aley shem who were actually shamans who had experiences of transformed consciousness, including visual and auditory experiences of a supernatural sort. The Ba'al Shem Tov belonged to this group. On this level of society there was a great deal of contact and sharing of information across ethno-religious lines. Surely the Ba'al Shem Tov spoke the language(s) of the mountain people and learned from them, perhaps in the spiritual and magical as well as the medicinal skills, in an age and place where the lines between these were anything but clearly drawn. (p. 39-40)
Susan Starr Sered, Women as Ritual Experts
Women in Kurdistan wore many amulets, especially during pregnancy and childbirth. Many of these amulets were written by rabbis, but others were geometric shapes embroidered on clothing. Since women did the embroidery, it is reasonable to assume that there were some women who were especially knowledgeable about amulet embroidery and who aided and instructed other women in this ritual....
Women in the Old Country were also responsible for a variety of ceremonies designed to protect their families and communities from evil spirits. For example, after a new house was built, the women would pour a bit of water and wave a cloth over each hand and say [in Kurdish], "Get out, go from here devils. Enter good spirits. You should have sons and daughters, grooms and brides."