1985.52.132

Collection type

Object

Description

Amulet, white metal pendant frame, with a glass front, containing a printed Hebrew inscription. [RB 03/02/2012]

Long description

Amulet, white metal pendant frame, with a glass front, containing a printed Hebrew inscription. The Hebrew inscription refers to Rabbi Meir Ba’al ha-Nes [the miracle maker] and Tiberias [one of the four Holy Cities in Judaism], which is where the Rabbi's tomb is supposed to be located. The inscription also includes the acronym Z(ayin).Y(ud).A(yin).A(lef), which stands for 'May his merits protect us (Amen)'. [RB 01/06/2012]

Geographical reference

Algeria

Africa > Northern Africa > Algeria

Oran

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Wellcome Institute

PRM source Wellcome Historical Medical Museum

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1931

Date collected

By 1931

Acquisition information

Transferred: 1985

Materials and processes

Material White Metal, Material Paper Plant, Material Glass, Process Printed

Dimensions

Length x Width: max 62 x 48 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1985.52.132 Other numbers: 248 1291/ 1937 R 1291/ 1937 P2663

Research and responses

A translation of the Hebrew inscription was provided by Dr. César Merchán-Hamann, Director of the Leopold Muller Memorial Library at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He provided the following information about this object and 1985.52.305: "They are both amulets and have to do with Rabbi Meir Ba’al ha-Nes [the miracle maker], whose name stands on both. They both mention Tiberias, where his tomb is supposed to be located (and 1985.52.305 prefixes it with the acronym ‘Ih”K (‘Ir ha-Kodesh, i.e. the holy city). They both have the acronym Z(ayin).Y(ud).A(yin) or Z(ayin).Y(ud).A(yin).A(lef), which stands for May his merits protect us (Amen). If you want to know more about who this rabbi may have been (he has not been identified with certainty), look up the article on the Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971 ed.) Vol. 11, 1245-1247. The translation is pretty much what I have told you: Rabbi Meir Ba’al ha-Nes (lit. the master of the miracle). Except 1985.52.305 also adds Shadai, which is the name of God that refers to his omnipotence, i.e. the Omnipotent." [RB 01/06/2012]

Search terms: Religion, Ornament, Writing, Amulet, Pendant, Inscription, Neck Ornament