Bidspirit auction | “And the Lord shall turn

“And the Lord shall turn the curse into a blessing for you” — a segullistic kabbalistic manuscript in the sacred autograph hand of Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (Ben Ish Chai), containing the famed blessing twice! - An exceptionally rare and highly important leaf, in the sacred autograph handwriting of the greatest of the Kabbalists of Babylonia, Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (Ben Ish Chai). Baghdad, second half of the 19th century. A relatively long manuscript, comprising two continuously written pages, containing approximately 400 words, all entirely in the autograph hand of the Ben Ish Chai (in contrast to many of his extant manuscripts, which often contain only a few lines per page). The great uniqueness of the manuscript before us lies in the fact that it contains two complete sermons, from beginning to end. Generally, because of the segullistic power attributed to the Ben Ish Chai’s handwriting, his manuscripts were sold as individual leaves, and at times even a single sermon was spread across dozens of pages, so that each page contained only a small fragment. Here, by contrast, we have two full sermons, each occupying a complete page of its own. One of the reasons the sacred manuscripts of the Ben Ish Chai were regarded as expert amulets was his custom of concluding his sermons with a special segullistic blessing: “El Shaddai shall be our help; may He guard us and assist us always, amen, may it be His will.” In the present manuscript, in which each page contains a separate sermon, this blessing appears twice—and accordingly, this item may be viewed as two amulets in autograph form combined into a single manuscript. At the head of the first page appear the rare and segullistic initials: “בהנ״ו ליקב״ה” — In the name of God we shall act and succeed, for the sake of the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shekhinah, a kabbalistic formula that appears at the opening of books and amulets, adding an additional layer of segullistic significance. At the end of the second page appears the verse: “And the Lord shall turn the curse into a blessing for you” (Deuteronomy 23:6), a verse recited in the rite of Hatavat Ḥalom (the rectification of a troubling dream) and on Saturday nights as part of the Ve-yiten Lekha service, and regarded as a well-known segullah for good fortune, success, and the reversal of harsh decrees. Despite the immense literary output of the Ben Ish Chai—more than fifty books printed from his writings—these sermons have not been found, to the best of our examination, in any of his published works. It is possible that this is a personal preparatory leaf, on which the Ben Ish Chai recorded for himself the central ideas of sermons that he later delivered in the Great Synagogue of Baghdad. According to tradition, his powerful voice could be heard from afar, and every Sabbath the authorities would close the entire street in order to allow thousands of Jews to come and listen to his sermon. Beyond the Torah and historical value of the novellae contained in the manuscript, the sermons are interwoven with distinctly segullistic themes, reinforcing the perception of the manuscript as an amulet. Thus, for example, the Ben Ish Chai presents a kabbalistic idea of letter permutation and gematria as a means of changing one’s fortune, similar to the Hasidic tradition of transforming negaʿ (“affliction”) into oneg (“delight”). These are his sacred words: “Behold, the letters י-ש-ר will not remain upright, but will be overturned for them… and when they return in repentance, everything will be transformed for the good, for the number will return to be the gematria of י-ש-ר; and this is ‘From your wounds I will heal you’ and ‘And the Lord shall turn the curse into a blessing for you.’” All manuscripts of the Ben Ish Chai were used among Eastern Jewish communities, and particularly among Jews of Babylonian origin, as tested and proven amulets for healing, livelihood, and protection. This is especially true of the present kabbalistic manuscript, in which teachings explicitly addressing the reversal of fate and decrees appear. Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (1833–1909) was among the greatest sages of the Eastern Jewish world and the foremost Kabbalist of his generation. He was born to Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim, son of Rabbi Moshe Chaim, rabbi of Baghdad, and was the foremost disciple of Rabbi Abdallah Somekh. At the age of 26 he began preaching in the Great Synagogue, and thereafter delivered sermons every Sabbath and festival for nearly fifty years. He was renowned as a singular genius (ḥad be-dara) in both the revealed and the esoteric Torah, and for his great sanctity. In 1869 he traveled to the Land of Israel, where it was revealed to him that his soul derived from the root of Benaiah ben Jehoiada—hence the titles of many of his works: Ben Ish Chai, Ben Ish Ḥayil, Ben Yehoyada, Rav Pe‘alim, Od Yosef Ḥai, and others. One paper leaf, written on both sides. 13.5 × 10.5 cm. Bluish paper.