Bridging the Gaps: A New Jewish Aramaic Incantation Bowl and Its Parallels

Ohad Abudraham

doi:10.1093/jss/fgaf025

Bridging the Gaps: A New Jewish Aramaic Incantation Bowl and Its Parallels

Ohad Abudraham^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article presents the first edition of a previously unpublished Jewish Aramaic incantation bowl from the National Library of Israel (NLI Ms. Heb. 9467.163), which preserves the well-known formula ‘I go, I PN son of PN, with my own power’. Drawing on all available parallels, the study provides a full edition of B16041—left only partially edited by Montgomery due to its fragmentary state—and reexamines B2945 and B2923, demonstrating that they transmit the same formula in sequential fashion. Through close philological and literary analysis of the complete text, the article sheds new light on its structure and content, revealing a complex fusion of Jewish and Mandaic elements.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	105-134
Number of pages	30
Journal	Journal of Semitic Studies
Volume	71
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf025
State	Published - 1 Mar 2026
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025, © The author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected]

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10.1093/jss/fgaf025

Cite this

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abstract = "This article presents the first edition of a previously unpublished Jewish Aramaic incantation bowl from the National Library of Israel (NLI Ms. Heb. 9467.163), which preserves the well-known formula {\textquoteleft}I go, I PN son of PN, with my own power{\textquoteright}. Drawing on all available parallels, the study provides a full edition of B16041{\textemdash}left only partially edited by Montgomery due to its fragmentary state{\textemdash}and reexamines B2945 and B2923, demonstrating that they transmit the same formula in sequential fashion. Through close philological and literary analysis of the complete text, the article sheds new light on its structure and content, revealing a complex fusion of Jewish and Mandaic elements.",

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Bridging the Gaps: A New Jewish Aramaic Incantation Bowl and Its Parallels

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Bibliographical note

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