The Denver Jewish news., 1925-07-30
The Euil Eye In
Palestine
Jvwish rrlcrruphir AguucyJ
by j. GOLDSMITH


all the desirable thing in life were in
constant danger from cnvious people
and cnvious gods, and that they must
be constantly disguised or deprecated
TO draw off the unvious malignant
/ glanccs which it was believed were
potent TO do harm, to destroy the
charm Of youth, to blast joy and beau
ty and to bring sickness and death to
the strong. Among primitive and
backward peoples these beliefs still
obtain In Palestine even today the
natives, MosIem, Christian and jew,
believe in the power of the evil eye,
and by charms and spells and emu
lets strive to avert the working Of the
curse.
OF recent years there has been II
considerable change in the big towns,
where improved education and contact
with newcomers from more modern
countries have tended to destroy
these primitive beliefs; but in the
country districts, in the villages, and
even in Jerusalem itself we still find
incredible instances of superstition.
DR.. Canaan, an Arab doctor of med
icne in Palestine, who studied for
many years in Germany and is mar
ried to a German wife, is an authority
on the subject Of folk lore and he has
written a great deal concerning it both
in books and an periodicals. He is ex-
tremely popular with his patients
Moslems, Jews and Christians, and is
thus able to pursue with special ld-
vantage, his Investigations among
them on his pet subject. He has re-
markably rich collection Of amulets
and other charms. and lie can talk
with amazing knowledge Of the varie-
ties Of magic which they are supposed
to be able to work.
1t is to Dr. Canaan that | am in
debted for what | know of these mat
/ ters.
The belief in the evil eye obtains in
Palestine among Jews, Moslems and
Christians, but chiefly among the
| MOslems-the fellaheen and the Bed
ouins.
OF the Christian population, the
/ Greek Orthodox are more superstl-
tious than the Protestants and the
/ Roman Catholics.
The belief among the people is that
everyone is liable to exercise the
power of the evil eye, some several
times, and old women and men more SO
than young. The eye Of childless
woman and Of bcardless man (un-
able to grow a beard) are believed to
be particularly malignant. Also blue
eyes and irregular teeth (set wide
apart) are to be specially guarded
against. The evil eye is held to be at
times hereditary in a whole family.
The people distinguish between two
kinds Of evil eye: the conscious and
the unconscious. An innocent person
pay unwillingly work great harm by
I the unconscious exercise of the evil
eye. For example, a mother praising
her child, or a ruler boasting of his
power without invoking the protection
Of God. The belief that a prince must
not boast of his power without invok-
ing the name of God, is probably
based upon the following tradition at
tributed to King David:
The Judge Hussein relates: A
prophet, who was also king, said one
day with pride: See how many is the
number of my people! As punish
mcnt, God destroyed, in the night,
100000 men of his people. In the
morning the prophet mourned be-
cause of this great evil which had
come upon him. And God said to
him: You have done this because of
your boasting of the large number
Of your subjects. Why did you not
protect them with the name of God ?
Other persons, too. not only the
mother, may not say of a child that
it is beautiful or healthy. l came
across q case of this kind recently:
4 young married couple | know,
have a charming and chubby little
child. the apple Of her mothers eye.
There is a woman who comes to the
house with vegetables, poultry, etc.
As often as the woman saw the child
in its cradle she muttcred to herself
as if in disgust and spit. The mother
was much worried because Of the
woman's strange behaviour. One day
she asked the woman why she did
this. as not my child beautiful and
strong" She asked. NO" answered
the woman, your child is dwarfcd,
yellow and ugly"
Hurt and angcrcd the mother cried:
a do not understand you, Ny child
is beautiful, healthy and strong. You
are the only person who has ever
suggested that # is weakly and ugly