שלוש סגולות להרוג את אדולף היטלר: פרק בתולדות הקבלה המעשית במאה העשרים

This article deals with the ritual activity carried out in Jerusalem by kabbalists and Admorim in the context of the struggle against the Nazis in general and against Adolf Hitler in particular. The setting was the years of the Third Reich and especially during the 'two-hundred days of dread' — as the period of deep anxiety in the Yishuv following the advance of Rommel's army toward the Suez Canal and Eretz Israel in 1942 came to be known. In the tradition of practical Kabbalah (Kabbalah Ma'asit) and the role of aggressive magic within it, a two-pronged struggle of Jerusalem kabbalists and Admorim ensued against the Nazi foe. On the one hand, there was prayer, supplication, and other rituals for gaining heavenly mercy and protection; and on the other, harmful Kavanot, bans and curses aimed at the elimination of Hitler and his helpers, and even at a confrontation with Satan, in whose service they were believed to be acting. A page written for Eliyahu Abraham Mizrahi Dehuki, apparently in the years of the war, includes three magical recipes for killing Adolf Hitler. Eliyahu Mizrahi, was a marginal figure in this community who was deeply involved in the study, writing, dissemination, and implementation of the practice of practical Kabbalah. Within the context of other insider sources attesting to the nature and symbolic language of Jewish aggressive magic, this article examines the page sent to him with three segulot (charms) for killing Hitler written on it, and the ritual acts they offer.