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I need help translating what is written on a charm. Here is what is written in it, along with my understanding of what it means.

לשמירה, הצלחה, זיווג הגון, שלום בית, זרע בר קיימא, שמירה למעוברת, ונגד עין הרע

For protection, success, soulmate (decent partner/pairing), peace in the household, --- (I have no idea), protection while crossing (I assume it means traveling), and negation of the evil eye (ayin hora)

סגולה זו צריכה 2 כיסויים. אנא הקפד לשמור על קדושתה בשמירתך עליה ה' יגן עליך אמן

This charm must --- 2 sides (I can't get the proper understanding of it). Please assure to keep it's holiness. With your possession (keeping, is it possession or the keeping it sanctified?) of it, God will protect you, Amen.

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  • While I think this is a weak question (no offense), I believe that it is still on-topic here, because the question is looking for the meaning of a holy object.
    – MTL
    Nov 12, 2014 at 5:29

1 Answer 1

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While I can't claim to know exactly what these things mean, I can translate the Hebrew for you1:

  • שמירה means protection
  • הצלחה means success
  • זווג הגון means [finding] a good spouse
  • שלום בית means "peace in the house," usually specific to husband and wife
  • זרע בר קיימא means "living children," specifically children who will survive childhood [common now, but wasn't always....]
  • שמירה למעוברת נגד עין הרע means protection for a pregnant woman against עין הרע (the "evil eye") [because people become jealous of healthy, pregnant women]

What follows appears to be instructions for use:

  • שמירה זו צריכה 2 כיסויים means that this protection [this amulet] needs "two coverings," which means that it needs to be carried in a container inside another container
  • אנא הקפד לשמור על קדושתה בשמירתך עליה means please be careful to watch over the holiness (of this amulet) while you are watching over it

And a final prayer at the end:

  • ה' יגן עליך אמן means Hashem will protect you, Amen

1 This does not mean that I think this is a translation question. I'm just giving the question the best answer that I can give.

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  • Interesting! Thanks for your translation. However, it does say ונגד עין הרע, after the שמירה למעוברת, which I would think splits them. Secondly, what specifically is meant by the two coverings being one in the other, and what should the material be made of? Thanks for your edit.
    – Nail
    Nov 12, 2014 at 5:40
  • @Nail Regarding two coverings, I think it's something similar to judaism.stackexchange.com/q/8735/5323 and theyeshivaworld.com/weekly_torah.php?id=250, but I'm not sure because I don't know exactly how holy this amulet is. .....
    – MTL
    Nov 12, 2014 at 5:49
  • ......Regarding the מעוברת phrase -- I originally read it as you did, but changed my mind for two reasons: 1] נגד עין הרע doesn't really make sense, because it just means "against the עין הרע" and 2] it makes sense to ask for extra protection against עין הרע for a מעוברת, as I explained in the brackets following that phrase.
    – MTL
    Nov 12, 2014 at 5:51
  • @Nail Also, I don't know how you got the text onto MY ....there was one typo/OCR mistake (however the text got here) in the phrase about "זרע קיימא," where it said "ורע קיימא," which I almost translated as "long-time friend," which AFAIK is not a well-used phrase like the others are, and also wouldn't fit in the sequence of the other phrases (life-cycle). I bring that up because I think the "ו" in the עין הרע clause might also be a mistake.
    – MTL
    Nov 12, 2014 at 6:45
  • @Shokhet This segulah gives an example of what I meant. I apologize for not giving an example breslev.co.il/FilesUpload/Books/1022.jpg, as you can see, the bottom has the same thing written (segulah zo...), but the top has just segulah neged ayin hora. I can't find the specific segulah I was talking about. And you're right, I did use an OCR scanner, but I think it came out right.
    – Nail
    Nov 12, 2014 at 6:50

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