times, as they do in Germany, for a cure.^58 The principle of transference was
also employed in treatment. For a severe headache a thread was wound
three times around the patient’s head and hung in a tree. When a bird flew
through the loop it took the headache with it.^59 The placing of the patient’s
excrement on a growing plant to which the illness will be transferred is
recorded by Tobias Hacohen, who indicates that its value is greatly exagger-
ated.^60 The principle could even be used to gauge the progress of the illness.
The patient’s belt was stretched over the length and width of his body and
then hung on a nail with the appropriate incantation and measured: any
change in length was interpreted as being prognostic of the course of the
illness. Circling round the patient, initially seen as preventing the action of
demons, could also be used as a remedy against various diseases.^61
The mere repetition of a magic name may affect a cure, or the magic
name may be written on the person or inscribed on an amulet. Having the
name written on the forehead was said to be very effective in stopping
bleeding. A magic name written on an apple and consumed on three sepa-
rate occasions was used to heal fevers.^62 To ease a confinement Psalm 20
was to be recited nine times. This might be repeated or combined with a call
on the angel Armisael, who governs the womb, to help the woman and baby
to life and peace.^63 The variety of spells available for treatment was infinite
and in many cases did not need to be accompanied by medication or blood-
letting. Many German magical cures, which would otherwise have been lost,
have been preserved in Hebrew manuscripts.
A person’s name is considered to play a role in deciding his fate; it is
given to him when he enters the Jewish world and has been described as
serving as a social and cosmological identity card.^64 The Talmud records
that a change of name can cause a change of fortune.^65 To confuse the Angel
of Death it may be necessary, in extremis, to change the name and thus the
fate of the patient. In the Middle Ages the name might be chosen by lot or
by randomly finding a name in the Bible whereas in more modern times the
change of name was usually to one associated with life, health or old age,
such as Chaim or Alter.^66 Change of name was also used for childless
couples wishing to have children and for those parents whose previous chil-
dren had died. The ritual for such a name change can be found in many
contemporary Jewish prayer books. The angelic name Rafael, shares the
same Hebrew root as refuah, medicine, and is thus an auspicious name for
health or for inscription on an amulet. Many of these amulets carry the
numerical equivalents of holy words because of what is seen as the intrinsic
holiness of the Hebrew letters.
There are passages in the Torah the recitation or inscription of which can
be efficacious in treating illness. Particularly popular are talismans from the
Book of Psalms. The entire Book of Psalmswas considered as a potent protec-
tion against danger whereas Psalm 121 is used especially for protecting
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