Notes: The manuscript was discovered by Dr. Yohanan Petrovsky. For a detailed analysis, see his article, "The Master of an Evil Name: Hillel Ba'al Shem and His Sefer Ha-Heshek," AJS Review 28:2 (2004), 217-248

Hillel Ba'al Shem was an itinerant ba'al shem (Jewish shaman) who was active in the first half of the eighteenth century. He traveled extensively through Red Russia, Podolia, Volynia and Podlasie and even visited Bohemia, Bessarabia and Bukovina. He studied both with a rabbinic master, R. Zvi Hirsh of Miedzyrzec (Mezerich) Podliaski and several doctors, especially the university trained Abraham Isaac Fortis (Hazak), best known as a leader of the Council of Four Lands (va'ad arba aratzot), the chief institution of Jewish autonomy in Poland-Lithuania.

The 760 page manuscript Sefer Ha-Heshek is a sefer segulot, that is, a guide to practical Kabbala, specifying formulas to write in amulets or pronounce as part of magical ceremonies to achieve specific objectives, medicaments to prescribe for various ailments, techniques of exorcism, chiromancy, metoposcopy, and horoscopy, and more. The majority of problems presented for the ba'al shem to treat were associated with fertility and birth, although there also are prescriptions dealing with diseases and even social conflicts. Extensive use of Slavic words and Christian technical terms points to articulation between Jewish and non-Jewish cultures in the realm of popular mysticism.

Hillel apparently wrote his book in an effort to prove his bona fides as a healer, practical kabbalist and magician. He hints that some ministration of his had gone horribly wrong and this book was evidently part of his effort to regain his reputation and perhaps attain a lucrative position as the resident ba'al shem of some community.

The selected passages highlight Hillel's training, the problems caused by charlatans, the undesirable popularization of mystical techniques fostered by the publication of simplistic handbooks, and the tangled relationship between ba'al shem type practices and "proper" medicine.

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