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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Yoram, more wine please…

September 10, 2009 - 5:01 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Religion 

Karen Berg, and her husband Rabbi Philip Berg

Karen Berg, and her husband Rabbi Philip Berg

I don’t often get to spend work afternoons sitting at a poolside table laden with freshly grilled meats and vintage Yarden wine. But I can thank Madonna for making it happen – at least her connection to Kabbalah.

On the day after the superstar’s second sold out show in Tel Aviv last week, I was offered a chance to interview Karen Berg, the Los Angeles-based co-founder of the Kabbalah Center, and the person most identified hooking Madonna up with the ancient Jewish mysticsm.

At first, the meeting was supposed to take place at the Kabbalah Center in downtown Tel Aviv, but the night before, one of Berg’s assistants called and asked if I would be willing to drive a little farther north to a private villa in a small, exclusive community north of Netanya, where Berg would be spending the afternoon. Sure, I answered, with visions of entering the home and finding Madonna reclining on a chaise lounge poolside, chatting with Justin Timberlake.

Well, it wasn’t quite that heady. But the house was magnificent, there was a beautiful pool, and there were people lounging around outside. It turns out the home belonged to a young couple who were students at the Tel Aviv center, and had invited a few people to lunch, with Berg as the guest of honor.

As I was sitting in the gigantic living room interviewing Berg, a hired chef in a white apron and chef’s hat was stoking the grill and flipping thick steaks and skewered chicken (all kosher of course). Guests began arriving including Madonna’s longtime Kabbalah teacher Eitan Yardeni, Berg’s son Michael, and a young couple who greeted Berg – and then she whispered to me ‘That’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s sister.’

As I was getting ready to leave and the guests were sitting down for lunch, the husband host came up to me and said, ‘won’t you join us?’

It would have been rude to refuse, so for an hour, I ate, drank, and talked about Israeli politics, the differences between raising children in Israel and the US, Madonna’s after-party the night before (attended by Natalie Portman, Sasha Baron Cohen and Bar Refaeli), and, it turned out, very little Kabbalah. One of the Kabbalah Center people whispered in my ear that the rule was that everything said was off the record, and I nodded affirmatively, because I was too busy eating to think about taking notes or remembering anything for later,

I could have stayed for hours, but I remembered I had a job, profusely thanked my hosts, and started the long drive back to Jerusalem. Thanks Madonna, I owe you one.

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