Hamsa

The Hamsa is the symbol of an eye embedded in the palm of an open hand. It has had several names throughout the ages, like the eye of Fatima, the hand of Fatima, and the hand of Miriam.

It has been interpreted as a Jewish, Christian, or Islamic amulet, and as a pagan fertility symbol. Yet even as the magical form remains shrouded in mystery, it is recognized today as a kabbalistic amulet and as an important symbol in Jewish art.

One of the early appearances of the hamsa is the image of a large open hand on the Puerta Judiciaria (which means Gate of Judgment) of the Alhambra, a 14th-century Islamic fortress in Granada (Spain). Indeed, it seems to draw upon the Arabic word khamsa, which means "five," a number which itself is identified with fighting the Evil Eye.

According to Islamic folklore, the Fatima’s hand became a symbol of faith after her husband Ali came home with a new wife one day. Fatima, who at the time had been cooking, dropped the soup ladle she had been using. Yet she was so preoccupied with the new arrival that she continued stirring using her bare hand, hardly noticing that she was burning herself.

Therefore, it would not be unusual for an Islamic symbol to find its way into Sephardic Jewish culture, which flourished alongside Islam in the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. Though amulets are somewhat problematic in Judaism, the Talmud refers on several occasions to them - kamiyot, which might mean "to bind" in Hebrew. One law allows for carrying an approved amulet on the Sabbath, which suggests that amulets were common amongst Jews at some points in history.

In Egyptian art, the human spirit (called ka) is represented by two arms reaching upward (forming a horseshoe shape), albeit with only two fingers on each hand. The symbol of the Phoenician lunar goddess Tanit resembles a woman raising her hands, and hands also found their way into tomb decorations. Etruscans painted hands with horns on their tombs, and some Jewish burial practices featured images of hands (suggesting the priestly blessing) on stone markers of Levite graves.

All of these could be considered very early precursors to the hamsa.

Though it is clearly a symbol of Sephardic nature, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when hamsas emerged in Jewish culture. Jews might have used the hamsa to invoke the hand of God or to counteract the Evil Eye with the eye embedded in the palm of the hand.

Some hamsas contain images of fish, in accordance with Rabbi Yose son of Hanina’s statement in the Talmud that the descendants of Joseph, who received Jacob’s blessing of multiplying like fish, are protected from the evil eye like fish: “the water covers the fish of the sea, so the eye has no power over them.”

Other icons have also found their way into the hamsa, including the Star of David, prayers for the traveler, the Shema, the blessing over the house; and the colors of red and blue, both of which are said to thwart the Evil Eye.

Even as the hamsa is today affiliated with Kabbalah, Israel, and Judaism, it is perhaps the symbol’s mysterious origins and the superstitions surrounding it that attract the attention of celebrities and ordinary people alike.

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