Physical Description

Card, 315:240 mm., laminated.

Detailed Description   

Card containing text that serves as a kemai (amulet) the kabbalist Yeshaya Steiner (Yiddish: ישעיה שטיינער‎; known as Reb Shaya'la of Kerestir (Kerestirer); Yiddish: ר' ישעיה'לה קערעסטירער‏‎) (1851 – 27 April, 1925), was a Rebbe in the town of Kerestir (Bodrogkeresztúr) near Miskolc in Hungary. R. Yeshaya Steiner was born in 1851 to R. Moshe and Hentsha Miriam Steiner in the village of Zborov near Bardeyov (today in Slovakia). When he was 3 years old, his father died. At the age of 12, his mother sent him to study in Hungary with R. Tzvi Hirsh of Liska the author of Ach Pri Tevua, who later appointed him as his servant (Gabbai). When Tzvi Hirsh died and his son-in-law R. Chaim Friedlander author of Tal Chaim succeeded him, Steiner started travelling to R. Chaim Halberstam of Sanz. After the death of R. Chaim of Sanz, he became a disciple of R. Mordechai Leifer. Leifer suggested that he move to the town of Kerestir, in Hungary.

In Kerestir, Steiner became a Hasidic Rebbe and became known as a miracle worker, and tens of thousands of Hasidim came to his court. He was known as hospitable on an institutional scale. In recent years, hospitality projects have developed in his town of Kerestir. Steiner's image is used as an amulet by those Jews who believe that it wards away mice and offers protection against misfortune.

Amulets are frequently mentioned in talmudic literature. The term used is kame'a or kami'a (pl. kemi'ot or kemi'in), a word whose origin is obscure. It is possible that it derives from a root meaning "to bind" (cf. Rashi to Shab. 61a), but it might come from an Arabic root meaning "to hang." In either case, the reference is clearly something that is bound or hung on the person (cf. Kohut, Arukh, 7 (1926²), 123). The Talmud mentions two sorts of kemi'ot: a written one and the kame'a shel ikrin, a kame'a made from roots of a certain plant. The written kame'a was a parchment inscribed with one or more quotations from a variety of sources, including the Scriptures (cf. Shab. 61b). The question arose whether the amulets were invested with the holiness of the scriptural scrolls and whether they should, therefore, be saved from a conflagration occurring on the Sabbath. A baraita is quoted which specifically states that they are not holy and that they, together with other texts which contain scriptural quotations (lit. berakhot), should be left to burn (ibid.). In the original Tosefta text, however, no mention is made of kemi'ot (Tosef. Shab. 13:4).

Hebrew Description  

Reference

Wikipedia