Nostalgia Sunday – Hamsa Hamsa Hamsa

May 8, 2010 - 11:30 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, Religion, Travel 

A new exhibition, Angels & Demons, Jewish Magic Through The Ages, opened at the end of last week at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem (BLMJ). The exhibition examines the origins and development of magical practices in Judaism from the First Temple period to the present day by focusing on beliefs, customs and particularly, the use of magic objects in daily Jewish life. For although Judaism forbids the invocation of black magic there are no proscriptions, (at least according to the exhibition guide), against white magic, “i.e. defense against the dark arts, the forces of evil and the damage they cause.”

This is good news — tfoo, tfoo, tfoo — given the Jewish genetic predisposition to obsessive compulsiveness in which spitting on the ground three times isn’t OCD, it’s a necessary reaction to any bad news, (or good news if you’re trying to fool the evil eye into looking the other way).

In Israel, this sort of white magic is part of daily life. Having a spate of bad luck? Everyone knows where you can find a local reader of coffee grounds, tea leaves or an amulet-writing guy who, for a price, will take the hex off. And of course, for everyday evil eye warding off, the hamsa five fingered amulet has you covered.

The hamsa (the name means “five” in Arabic) is a regional symbol that is as old as… well… as old as the region. According to Wikipedia, “it is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The hamsa is often incorporated in jewelery and wall hangings, as a defense against the evil eye. It is believed to originate in ancient practices associated with the Phoenicians of Carthage.” These practices include protecting the home and there are doorways, ancient and modern, throughout the Middle East, that are decorated with blue-paint handprints.

The Phoenicians associated the hand with the goddess Tanit and there is a continued link between the hand and powerful females. In Islam, the hamsa is sometimes called “the hand of Fatima” (for Fatima Zahra, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and in the Jews of North Africa, who adopted the symbol, would “sometimes call it the hand of Miriam, referencing the sister of the biblical Moses and Aaron.”

The Israeli immigrant society crucible that melds together folk beliefs from all every part of the Diaspora, coupled with modern manufacturing methods, has brought the hamsa’s popularity to new heights.

Go to Tel Aviv’s Nahalat Binyamin crafts fair on a Tuesday or Friday morning and you’ll find hamsas fashioned from every medium: silver, gold, brass, stained glass, wood, decoupaged pressboard, paper mache, plastic, clay, plastic clay (Fimo), fabric… an endless wellspring of good luck charms at the ready to protect you and your home. Speaking of which, Home Center’s been selling a tablecloth with hamsas woven into the fabric. There are hamsa-shaped cookie cutters. Israel’s queen of retro, Michal Negrin, has produced a line in her own unique style. And of course, hamsa keychains abound. I especially like the ones that decorate a 5 shekel-sized disk for your supermarket shopping cart.

It’s a bit strange that this symbol — which has little to do with Judasim but everything to do with the Middle East — has become so ubiquitous. But, on the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with a little extra help in the luck department. It’s worth checking out the rest of the talismans, amulets and charms at the Angels & Demons exhibition. And if you can’t get to Jerusalem in time to see the exhibit first-hand, BLMJ has launched the first Israeli museum iPhone app – look up Jewish Magic through the Ages at the iTunes store.

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Belly dancing on the Red Sea

January 30, 2009 - 2:35 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: coexistence, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture 

An Israeli belly dancerIn a trend that runs parallel to the exploding popularity of pole dancing lessons among North American soccer moms, Israeli women – even Baby Boom-generation Ashkenaziot (Jews of Eastern European descent) – have been flocking to belly dancing activities and workshops in recent years.

The art form’s renaissance in Israeli culture, which always seems to be searching for ways to marry Middle Eastern folk arts with contemporary lifestyles, was on display in full force this past weekend in Eilat, where the fifth annual International Belly Dance Festival took place with much fanfare at the Golden Tulip hotel, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Workshops with over 20 instructors from around the world introduced participants to a variety of schools of thought on the subject of abdominal writhing. A wares fair offered goods like Turkish outfits, Indian jewelry and Egyptian recordings. A belly dance-off allowed participants from Russia, France, Germany Belgium and Israel to compete for a slot in an upcoming Berlin competition as part of that city’s Bazar Oriental festival.

And recital performances kept those in attendance entertained, thanks to shimmying from the likes of Egyptian-bred Magdy El-Leisy and Moroccan-raised Mayodi.

Image of an Israeli belly dancer courtesy YanivG from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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