Sefer ha-Heshek by Hillel Baal-Shem: Kabbalah and Medicine

Sefer ha-Heshek is a manuscript situated in Vernadsky National Libraby of Ukraine, the Manuscript Institute, Jewish manuscripts, OR 178. It was composed by Hillel Baal Shem in the first half of the 18th century. Sefer ha-Heshek is written in Hebrew with some passages in Yiddish, in a Slavic language (supposedly, Polish), and possibly a passage in broken Latin. The genre of the text is typical for baale-shemot, sefer segulot u-refuot, charm and remedy book. The book is mainly concerned with healing and consists of remedies copied from various sources, as well as several accounts of the author’s own practice and opinions.

As a baal-shem, Hillel is supposed to communicate with angels and demons and operate names (holy and impure). Indeed, he predominantly uses Jewish remedies (Practical Kabbalah, Talmudic healing), but his methods include Slavic magic and learned medicine of the time, namely Galenic and Paracelsian medicine. Hillel does not draw a clear distinction between the approaches. To the contrary, he combines approaches within the same remedy and even interprets the herb ruta, popular in Slavic magic, as a holy name. Hillel claims he would rather be a pharmacist, yet the craft of a baal-shem is holy and necessary.

There are several possibilities of how the different approaches to healing related in Hillel’s mind. One is that he distinguished between natural and demonic diseases and treated them respectively. Another is that he preferred spiritually safer, medical methods but used Kabbalah as the last resort. Yet another possibility is that Hillel understood medicine in mystical and magical terms. Lastly, there is a possibility the only criterion was effectiveness, and Sefer ha-Heshek is a collection of all remedies Hillel approved of. My research looks into the approaches to healing in Sefer ha-Heshek and their relations.