Israeli folk belief reflects the many communities whose customs now meet within the country. Jewish traditions brought from North Africa, Yemen, Central Asia and other parts of the diaspora exist alongside older local Arab and Negev Bedouin beliefs. One of the most clearly documented themes is the ayin hara, or evil eye: the fear that admiration, envy or an exposed moment of good fortune may invite harm. This collection documents approximately 22 distinct beliefs, protective customs and folk practices recorded in Israel or among communities that became part of Israeli society. They are not beliefs held by every Israeli, and several belong to particular families, ethnic traditions or religious communities.
Protective hands, red threads, written amulets and customs surrounding pregnancy appear repeatedly in museum collections and ethnographic research. Some practices overlap with formal religion, but their use as charms, omens or forms of folk protection is treated separately here from ordinary Jewish or Muslim worship.
Ayin Hara, Hamsas, and Protection From Envy
Praise and Good Fortune Can Attract the Evil Eye
In Jewish evil-eye folklore found in Israel, moments likely to attract envy can make a person seem especially vulnerable. A new baby, attractive jewellery, new clothes, a new home or conspicuous success may therefore be treated cautiously rather than celebrated too boastfully.
A Hamsa Over the Entrance Guards the Household
Historical accounts from the Land of Israel describe Sephardi Jews painting the five-fingered hamsa above home entrances, sometimes in red. The hand was understood as a counter-symbol to the evil eye, protecting the people living inside from an envious or harmful gaze.
A Silver Hand Protects a Child
Another recorded Sephardi practice used a small hand-shaped object made from cast silver on or near a child. The five-finger form served the same protective purpose as the hamsa at a doorway, directing the symbol specifically toward a child thought vulnerable to the evil eye.
Five Outspread Fingers Can Counter a Hostile Look
A nineteenth-century account of Sephardi custom in the Land of Israel describes people spreading five fingers toward another person during a quarrel. The gesture drew on the same protective symbolism as the hamsa and could function as a folk response to hostility or the threat of the evil eye.
Blue on the House Can Deflect the Evil Eye
The Hebrew University’s Center for Jewish Art records blue-painted house exteriors among practices associated with protection from ayin hara. Blue also appears frequently in regional evil-eye objects, although interpretations and use vary between Jewish, Muslim and other Mediterranean communities.
The Red String at Rachel’s Tomb
Ethnographic research at Rachel’s Tomb records a practice in which a red string is wrapped around the tomb seven times and then worn. Participants have described it as a fertility charm, a source of good fortune and protection against the evil eye of jealousy. The custom is a folk practice rather than a requirement of Jewish law.
Segulot, Sacred Texts, and Written Protection
A Key Under the Pillow for an Easier Birth
Women interviewed at Rachel’s Tomb described borrowing a key associated with the shrine and placing it beneath the pillow as a segula connected with smooth childbirth. Researchers note that the key custom predates some of the newer objects and rituals now associated with the shrine.
The Shema Appears in Protective Amulets
The Shema is a central Jewish liturgical text, but historical Jewish folk magic also placed its words in amulets intended for protection, health or success. The Israel Museum distinguishes these amuletic uses from ordinary prayer and from the prescribed religious functions of objects such as mezuzot and tefillin.
Magical Squares Could Guard a Business
A Moroccan Jewish amulet preserved by the Hebrew University’s Center for Jewish Art combines a hamsa, angel names, biblical formulas and letter grids arranged by numerical value. Its inscriptions state that it was intended to oppose the evil eye and spirits while also bringing success in commercial dealings.
Chen Ve-Chesed as a Matchmaking Charm
The same North African Jewish amuletic tradition includes the phrase chen ve-chesed, associated in the documented object with finding a partner. Such charms were part of community folk practice brought into Israeli society by immigrants; they should not be mistaken for a universal Israeli courtship custom.
Pregnancy, Birth, and the Protection of Children
Baby Purchases May Wait Until After Birth
Ethnographic research on pregnancy in Israel found reluctance among some expectant mothers to prepare extensively for the baby before delivery. Researchers connect the pattern partly with fears of tempting fate and older Mediterranean ideas about the evil eye. Practice varies widely between Israeli families.
Three Angel Names Guard Mother and Newborn
Jewish birth amulets have long featured the names Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof. In the associated folklore, the three angels protect mothers and infants from Lilith, a threatening supernatural figure in Jewish legend. The National Library of Israel preserves examples and records the story behind them.
Perfume Could Drive Spirits From a Birth Room
Accounts of Yemenite Jewish childbirth preserved by the National Library of Israel describe a special perfume placed near a woman giving birth. Within the tradition, its scent was believed to repel demons and harmful spirits during a period when the mother and newborn were considered particularly vulnerable.
Yemenite Bridal Amulets Ward Off the Evil Eye
The Israel Museum documents bridal dress from the Jewish community of Sana’a in which amuletic ornaments hung beside the bride’s temples. They were understood to guard her from the evil eye during marriage celebrations, when elaborate clothing and jewellery could draw unusual attention.
Fish and Hamsas on Djerban Bridal Jewellery
Jewish bridal jewellery from Djerba, a North African tradition later represented among Jewish communities in Israel, includes barley seeds, fish, birds, hamsas and crescents. Museum documentation records these motifs as symbols associated with fertility, renewal and protection from the evil eye.
Fivefold Symbols Bring Luck at Mimouna
Among Moroccan Jewish families, Mimouna tables may feature groups of five objects associated with luck and fertility. Examples include pieces of jewellery or beans. The number echoes the five fingers of the hamsa. Mimouna became a familiar celebration in Israel through the country’s Moroccan Jewish community.
“Joseph Is a Fruitful Bough” Protects Against Envy
An Israel Museum wedding shawl from the Bukharan Jewish tradition carries the biblical phrase commonly translated as “Joseph is a fruitful bough.” Museum documentation notes that the phrase also appeared on amulets and was regarded as protection against the evil eye while carrying an association with fertility.
Bedouin and Arab Folk Protection in the Negev and Galilee
Kushshash Beads Protect Bedouin Boys
Among Negev Bedouin families documented by anthropologist Aref Abu-Rabia, blue beads called kushshash could be attached to a boy’s bonnet or worn on the head. Their form was interpreted as striking or “kicking out” the evil eye, especially during infancy.
A Boy May Be Disguised to Confuse the Evil Eye
Negev Bedouin ethnography records protective strategies in which a young boy might wear clothing or a head covering normally associated with girls, grow his hair longer, or occasionally receive a feminine name. The folk reasoning was that disguising the child could divert an envious gaze believed to threaten boys.
A Horseshoe Above a Tent or House
Horseshoes are globally familiar luck symbols, but the practice is also specifically recorded among Negev Bedouin methods of protection from the evil eye. A horseshoe could be hung above a tent or house as a barrier against harmful envy rather than simply as decoration.
A Folded Hijab Amulet Must Remain Closed
Traditional Negev Bedouin amulets called hijab could contain Qur’anic verses, letters, numbers and protective formulas written on paper, then folded and wrapped in cloth or leather. One recorded belief says that opening the amulet or allowing it to become wet causes it to lose its protective effectiveness.
Nails in a Sacred Tree to Break the Evil Eye
Ethnobotanical research in Israel records an older Arab folk ritual in which women seeking to break an evil-eye spell drove nails into a revered tree at a carefully chosen time. Related nail customs were documented around Acre and sacred trees in the Galilee. The account is historical ethnography, not a recommendation to damage living trees.
Why the Evil Eye Appears in So Many Israeli Traditions
The recurring evil-eye motif does not point to a single Israeli origin. Ayin hara belongs to a much wider Mediterranean and Middle Eastern family of beliefs, and communities that settled in Israel brought their own versions with them. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish traditions preserved hamsas, amuletic texts and red-thread customs, while North African Jewish communities brought related bridal and festival symbolism. Negev Bedouin traditions developed their own vocabulary, protective objects and methods for dealing with an envious gaze.
The meanings also change over time. The hamsa is a useful example: an object once treated primarily as an apotropaic charm can now appear as jewellery, wall decoration, souvenirs or contemporary Israeli art. A person may display one for family tradition or aesthetics without believing that it has supernatural force. The same distinction applies to red strings and other familiar symbols.
Where Religion Ends and Folk Magic Begins
Several practices in this collection use sacred texts or religious figures, but that does not make the underlying folk interpretation an obligatory religious practice. The Shema, for example, belongs to Jewish prayer independently of its historical use in amulets. Qur’anic verses likewise have ordinary devotional roles apart from their inclusion in Bedouin protective charms.
Birth amulets, fertility segulot and traditions concerning Lilith occupy a similar borderland. They developed within religious communities, yet their promised protective effects come from folklore, customary practice or magical interpretation rather than a prediction that can be verified. Israeli families differ greatly in whether they treat such customs as literal protection, inherited tradition, symbolism or simply part of family memory.
📚 Roots of Belief
- Center for Jewish Art — Against the Evil Eye (Neged Ayin Hara) — Documents the association of the evil eye with envy, celebrations, babies and success, along with red wrist bands, blue house exteriors and indoor hamsas in an Israeli cultural context. (The Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem maintains an academic index of Jewish art and material culture.)
- Shalom Sabar — From Sacred Symbol to Key Ring: The Ḥamsa in Jewish and Israeli Societies — Records hamsas over home entrances, silver hand forms associated with children, five-finger gestures and the changing place of the hamsa in Israeli society. (An academic book chapter by a Hebrew University scholar, published by Liverpool University Press and hosted by Cambridge Core.)
- Nurit Stadler — Appropriating Jerusalem through Sacred Places — Ethnographically documents the sevenfold red-string ritual at Rachel’s Tomb, its connections with fertility and evil-eye protection, and the key-under-the-pillow childbirth segula. (A peer-reviewed anthropological study hosted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.)
- The Israel Museum — Hear, O Israel: The Magic of the Shema — Explains the historical incorporation of the Shema into Jewish amulets intended for protection, health and success while distinguishing magical uses from ordinary liturgical practice. (Israel’s national-level museum institution with specialised archaeological and Jewish cultural collections.)
- Center for Jewish Art — Moroccan Jewish Protective Amulet — Describes an amulet containing a hamsa, angel names, numerical letter grids and formulas associated with protection from the evil eye, commercial success and finding a partner. (An academic material-culture record maintained by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.)
- Pregnant Metaphors and Surrogate Meanings: Bringing the Ethnography of Pregnancy and Surrogacy into Conversation in Israel and Beyond — Discusses Israeli reluctance in some families to buy baby goods before delivery and connects the pattern partly with fear of tempting fate and Mediterranean evil-eye traditions. (A peer-reviewed medical anthropology article preserved by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.)
- National Library of Israel — Who Are You, Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof? — Documents the three angel names used on Jewish amulets intended to protect women in childbirth and newborn babies from Lilith. (The National Library of Israel preserves Hebrew manuscripts, archival material and Jewish cultural collections.)
- National Library of Israel — Birthing Songs of Yemen’s Jewish Women — Records Yemenite Jewish childbirth customs, including perfume believed to expel demons or harmful spirits and protective traditions surrounding mothers and newborns. (A cultural-history publication based on the National Library of Israel’s collections.)
- The Israel Museum — Jewish Bride from Sana’a, Yemen — Documents amuletic elements of Sana’a Jewish bridal jewellery, including ornaments placed beside the temples to ward off the evil eye. (A curated collection record from the Israel Museum’s Jewish Art and Life holdings.)
- The Israel Museum — The Jewelry of Jewish Brides in Djerba — Records fish, birds, barley, hamsas and crescent motifs interpreted as promoting fertility, renewal and protection against the evil eye. (A museum collection record prepared by specialists in Jewish material culture.)
- André Levy — Happy Mimouna: On a Mechanism for Marginalizing Moroccan Israelis — Examines Mimouna in the Israeli Moroccan community and the cultural setting in which symbols of blessing, prosperity and North African identity are preserved. (A peer-reviewed article in the academic journal Israel Studies, archived by JSTOR.)
- The Israel Museum — Sequined Wedding Shawl from Bukhara — Documents the phrase “Joseph is a fruitful bough” and notes its use on amulets for protection from the evil eye and its association with fecundity. (A curated Israel Museum collection record concerning Bukharan Jewish material culture.)
- Aref Abu-Rabia — The Evil Eye and Cultural Beliefs among the Bedouin Tribes of the Negev, Middle East — Provides ethnographic evidence for Negev Bedouin evil-eye beliefs, including kushshash beads, child-protection customs, horseshoes, hamsa forms and written amulets. (A peer-reviewed folklore study by a scholar of Negev Bedouin society, archived by JSTOR.)
- The Ethnobotany of Christ’s Thorn Jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi) in Israel — Records folk beliefs surrounding sacred trees in Israel, including a documented ritual in which nails were driven into a tree in an attempt to break an evil-eye spell. (A peer-reviewed ethnobotanical study by Israeli researchers, preserved by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.)