The Hamsa is a kabbalistic amulet and as an important symbol in Jewish art. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when Hamsa emerged in Jewish culture, though it is clearly a symbol of Sephardic nature. 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 in Genesis 48:16, are protected from the Evil Eye like fish. He explains: “the water covers the fish of the sea so the eye has no power over them (Berakhot 55b).”Other icons besides eyes and fish 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.The symbol of the hand, and often of priestly hands, appears in kabbalistic manuscripts and amulets, doubling as the letter shin, the first letter of the divine name Shaddai. This mapping of the human hand over the divine name and hand might have had the effect of creating a bridge between the worshipper and God.
