Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/349

Rh TRANSLATION OF THE REMAINDER. PROTECTION (OR AMULET) FOR AN INFANT, AND A WOMAN IN CHILD-BED. And in good luck. Be reviled, O Satan! Psalm cxxi., “A Psalm of degrees,” from beginning to end. Charm against Lilith vouched for as efficacious by several famous Rabbis :—

“In the Name of YHVH the God of Israel Whose Name is great and to be feared.”

“Elijah, may his memory be blessed, was walking out one day when he came upon Lilith. He said to her, ‘Unclean one! where art thou going?’ She said to him, ‘I am going to the house of So and So, who is in child-bed; in order to cause her death and to snatch and devour her child.’ He said unto her, ‘Be thou smitten with the itch, and imprisoned by the Name of the Most Holy One, and become a silent stone.’ She answered and said unto him, ‘O my lord, let me off, and I swear, in the Name of YHVH to forsake this my way, and that whenever I shall see or hear any of my names I shall straightway flee. And now I will make known to thee my names. And whenever my names shall be mentioned I shall have no power to do evil or to injure. I swear to thee to reveal my names, and if they be written and suspended in the dwelling of the child or the confined woman I shall at once flee. “‘These are my names :— Satrinah, Lilith, Avitu, Amiz Raphi, Amizi, Kakash, Odem, ’ik, Pods, ’ils, Petrota, Abro, Kema, Kalee, Bituah, Thiltho, Partashah.

“‘And whoever fixes up these my names I shall at once flee from the placard hung up in the house of the confined woman or the child. This is a charm, and the child as well as his mother shall never be hurt by me.’”

Cabbalistic Direction.—Rabbi Eleazar of Garmiza, the author of the Josephta, may his memory be blessed, says:—

“As a charm against pestilence and fire, from which may YHVH protect us, let this be hung against the window or against (opposite to) the door and at once they will flee.” Thus