Image Not Available

Amulet

Not on view

Mediumred paper, printed

Dimensionswhole: 2 5/8 x 2 in.; 6.6675 x 5.08 cm

ClassificationsJudaica

Credit LineGift of Cantor Max and Naomi Fuchs

Object number2003.A.70

Object DescriptionRed paper amulet with Hebrew printed inscriptions, Shaddai shmirah l'ayin hara; eliyahu hanavi, Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov [protection against the evil eye, Elijah the prophet, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob]. Sent to Max Fuchs by his father, Shaya Fuchs, when Max was in basic training at Fort Bragg, NC in 1942. He carried it with him throughout his Army service, "to keep me safe and not to get hurt, God forbid." Amulet may have been used at the Nacht Wache, a custom among Polish Jews, particularly of Hasidic leanings. Men gather at the home of the infant on the night before circumcision to learn Torah, thus keeping evil spirits from the home and protecting the infant. Jews often invoke the protection of the prophets and the forefathers, whose merit is supposed to protect Jews in later generations. On each of three sides, at the edge of the amulet, are names of three miracle working rabbis: right side: Rabbi Meir Baal ha-Nes [Rabbi Meir the miracle worker], left side Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai, and at bottom center, Rabbi Amram ben Diwan.

Collections

Judaica

Keywords

Hebrew
Armies-US
Cantors
Birth
Jews-Allied Armies
Circumcision
Ritual
New York

NotesMax Fuchs was born in 1922 in Rzeszow, Poland. He came to the USA in 1934 and lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family were Orthodox Jews. He had a good voice and often served as a hazzan in synagogue. He attended Teshiva Torah V'Daath till 1941, age 17, and was drafted to the US Army Oct. 16, 1942. He received basic training at Ft. Bragg, NC, trained as a BAR [Browning Automatic Rifle] gunner. He was immediately sent overseas and fought with the First Infantry Division in North Africa. He fought there for about 4 months, when the North African campaign ended, then was shipped to Sicily, 1943. He conducted Kol Nidre services for the Jewish soldiers at the Palermo opera house. At the end of 1943 the First Division was sent to England to train for an amphibious landing in the D-Day invasion. Max landed on Omaha Beach with the first wave of landings on June 6, 1944. He fought with his Division through France and Belgium, and was on the German border near Aachen during the Battle of the Bulge, end of 1944. Just before the Battle of the Bulge he was made a medic, but he was assigned to work as a Chaplains Assistant. There was no chaplain with the division, and he conducted Friday night services for the men. Since he was not an officer he couldn't be a chaplain.The Jewish service he conducted at the Siegfried Line, Nov. 2, 1944, was the first to be broadcast on German radio since the Nazis came to power. It was broadcast to the US by James Cassidy and David Anderson of NBC Radio. He remained with the First Division throughout Germany, serving with the Army of Occupation until he was sent home. He was discharged as a PFC from the Army October, 1945 and returned to his family in New York. He studied cantorial music privately and also studied music at the American Theater Wing, on the GI Bill. He was a hazzan at the Eldridge Street synagogue, then at the Bayside Jewish Center in Queens. He married and had 2 daughters, Ester and Hana.

Discover More

Aleph illuminated birth amulet of Elia Moshe Avraham Negrin

1868

Object number: 1999.A.43

Chava Rosenstein [Fuchs]

postwar

Object number: 5108.83

Photo, Henrik and Irena Fuchs

Object number: 2000.P.158