Review
Author(s): David R. Blumenthal
Review by: David R. Blumenthal
Source: Jewish Social Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Spring, 1983), p. 187
Published by: Indiana University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4467222
Accessed: 10-01-2016 15:29 UTC
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Book Reviews 187
dic community. One such leader, Moise maticalvalue) and slightlyupdatedis a wel-
Gadol, emerges from obscurity through come addition to this brand of esoterica.
Angel's sympathetic yet objective study. Schrire studied silver amulets, parchment
Gadol arrivedon businessfrom Bulgariato amulets,and manuscriptsto writethis book.
New Yorkin 1910.Shockedat the plight of The chaptersare short and readable.They
the immigrantSephardim,Gadol decidedto are followed by a very useful appendixwith
remainin New Yorkand help the Sephardic plates, texts, and translations(pp. 139-72).
immigrantsthrough the publication of a The book closes with a glossaryand index.
Judeo-Spanishweeklynewspaper,La Ameri- The book shouldreallybeginwithChapter
ca. Gadol's activitieswere wide-ranging:he four on the structureof the typicalHebrew
organizeda specialdivisionwithinHIAS (the amulet:an invocation,the use of the Names,
OrientalBureau)and servedas its first secre- invoking the angels, the actual text of the
tary;he actedas the Sephardicspokesmanto spell for which the amulet was written, the
the Ashkenazic and non-Jewishworld; he identificationof the recipient, and Amens
exhortedhis readersto resist fragmentation and Selahs.Otherchaptersanalyzethesevar-
and establishone TalmudTorah;and he con- ious components: Chapter eleven analyzes
stantlyurgedhis fellowSephardimto Ameri- magicaltriangles,squares,and circles.Chap-
canize and yet retaintheir culturaland reli- ter seventeen analyzes the many names of
gious traditions.Gadol'scommunitydid not God, whileChaptereighteensets forthexam-
recognizehim as theirspokesman,refusedto ples of Schrire'smost interestinghypothesis:
underwritehis paper,and scarcelyheededhis that most of the unknown"words"are actu-
criesfor unityand self-pride.He died a desti- ally anagramsor other symbolicrepresenta-
tute and neglected person. La America, tions of versesin the Bible. Sincethe number
moveover,never attainedthe influence and of versesis very largeand sincethe methods
importance in the Sephardic community for reducingthem to short anagramsare di-
which the lively Yiddish press assumed verse,the thesisholdsgreatpromise.Chapter
among the Ashkenazim. nineteensets forth some such interpretations
Angel'sbook recapturesthe complexityof and Chapter twenty-two develops a long
the era of mass migrationto New Yorkwhile checklistof such commonlyfound represen-
focusing exclusively on its little known tations.
Sephardicdimension.He is appropriately cri- Unfortunately,the book is marredby the
tical of some of the failures of the com- author'sinadequategraspof the complexity
munityhe portrays,yet deeplyempatheticto of Jewishmysticism.One cannotreferto all
its plight. While he is particularlyapprecia- of Jewishmysticismas "Hasidic."One also
tive of the vision of Gadol,he presentsa sen- should not oversimplifythe history of the
sitiveand humanprotraitof a complexman. field (Chapterseven). Schrire'sexcursusinto
Angel has culledmuch from the pages of La William James (Chaptersix) is regrettable.
America and conveyshis informationwell. Scholarlyerrorscreepin: for instance,the list
Perhaps the newer histories of American of angel names(p. 104), althoughappearing
Jewishmigrationwill now be able to include in the Zohar, originates in Maimonides.
not only the critical relationshipbetween Schrire's speculation, however, that there
Germansand East Europeans,but also the must be a connection between the primal
less well-knownchapterof AmericanSephar- woman, Adam's first wife, and the first
dimin the sagaof the moldingof the contem- versesin Genesis(p. 120)maybe in error,but
poraryAmericanJewishcommunity. it certainlybearscloserexamination.
Hebrew Magic Amulets is a good tool,
JANE S. GERBER even a windowinto that strangeworldwhich
is far from the readeryet near, if used with
appropriatescholarlycaution.
T. SCHRIRE, Hebrew Magic Amulets. 2nd
edition. New York: Behrman House, 1982.
Pp. xii, 180.
The reissue of Schrire's Hebrew Amulets
under an expanded title (of dubious gram- DAVID R. BLUMENTHAL
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