Amulet for Wealth and Governance! Rare Derashah with a Double Blessing Handwritten by the Ben Ish Chai.

Amulet for Wealth and Governance! Rare Derashah with a Double Blessing Handwritten by the Ben Ish Chai.

"May those like yourselves be added to you a thousand times ... a person is a gift from His hand, Hashem's blessing. This is the thousandfold blessing"!!

[2]-page manuscript with a complete derashah from beginning to end, handwritten by the leading Kabbalist of Bavel, the Living Lion, Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim of Baghdad. [Baghdad, late 19th century]. It is rare to find one leaf with a complete derashah from beginning to end (sometimes a single derashah even spans dozens of leaves). 

This is certainly one of the derashahs written by the Ben Ish Chai derashahs with the most potential segulah effect ever seen at auction. From the perspective of the segulah topics discussed in the manuscript's content, it connects the rich blessings at the end of parashat Re'eh and blessings for governance and victory at court at the beginning of the next parashah - Shoftim. Not only that, but the Ben Ish Chai would conclude his derashahs with the famous blessing “May Hashem [א-ל ש-די] assist us, protect us and help us always, amen, may it be His will." There are those who say that this blessing was unique to the Ben Ish Chai's manuscripts, making them segulahs beyond the typical manuscripts of his contemporaries. Astonishingly, at the end of this rare derashah, the Ben Ish Chai wrote his famous blessing twice - doubling its effect! Between the first and second time, he added another blessing, unique to this derashah, as follows: "May E-l Sh-dai assist us and help us always, amen, may it be His will. May Hashem send us the redeemer quickly, in our days - May E-l Sh-dai help us, protect us and assist us always, amen, may it be His will."

Who can presume to approach the secrets of the sacred to comprehend why the Ben Ish Chai wrote his famous blessing twice? Perhaps one can suggest that it is because the Ben Ish Chai connects two parashahs of the Torah together,  Parashat Re'eh and Parashat Shoftim, hence doubling his blessing by granting one blessing for each parashah. Incidentally, this particular phenomenon is also a special segulah, as there are conjoined parashahs in the Torah such as Tazria-Metzora or Achrei Mot-Kedoshim, and there is a famous segulah to be called up for the aliyah that includes the connection of the parashahs in the Torah, [the fourth aliyah] is a segulah to find one's spouse and connection. In this manuscript, the Ben Ish Chai indeed connects and joins the two Torah portions.

The pesukim with the blessings in the manuscript:

• Children: - "May those like yourselves be added to you a thousand times" (this passuk is traditionally written in amulets for fertility).
• Wealth - "Each according to what he can give, according to the blessing that Hashem gives him" - this is the thousandfold blessing.
• Rulership and governance - "The appointment of judges -  this refers to ministers of thousands, hundreds and tens - no less and no more."
• Rescue from persecution - "I practiced justice and righteousness - do not abandon me to those who exploit me."
• Victory in court: "Don't think that the reality of the law depends on you ... if you don't carry it out below, they will carry it out from above ... and in this you shall be saved." And much, much more.

All the Ben Ish Chai's manuscripts are used by Oriental Jewry in general and those of Iraqi descent in particular, as expert amulets, tried-and-true, for healing, livelihood and protection. This manuscript especially, as the Ben Ish Chai writes the many segulah verses himself for wealth, governance, victory in court and the segulah passuk traditionally used in amulets for fertility: "May those like yourselves be added to you a thousand times"!!

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad.

[2] pp. 14.5x10 cm. Characteristic autograph script.

Fine condition. Tiny tears in the margins. Magnificent new binding, as befits this sacred manuscript.