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Magic Incantation Bowl—Gift to Hebrew University Library

A magic incantation bowl inscribed in Jewish Babylonian-Aramaic with an admonition to ghosts not to do harm was recently presented to the Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The gift came from Professor Gershom Scholem of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem. Scholem is the world’s leading authority on Jewish mysticism. Scholem had received the bowl as a gift from Dr. Vladimir Rosenbaum of Ascona, Switzerland.

The incantation on the bowl is written, as is typical with incantation bowls, in spiral concentric lines from the center of the bowl out to its edge. It begins with a story aimed at persuading ghosts not to do harm to a newborn baby, and ends with magic names and “shmira” verses from the Bible, verses meant to guard one from harm. Unseen in this view, a drawing of a ghost is in the center of the spiral on the inner bottom of the bowl.

A unique feature of the incantation on this bowl is the Greek proper names which appear in Aramaic transliteration. The names are actually attributes, such as “Iron” or “Sea,” designating demonic beings.