Battling The Evil Eye The Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries) diminished belief in super- stition in the mainstream Jewish world. Today, we think of demonolo- gy, and superstition in general, as something quaint; we're almost embar- rassed by it, even if it comes up in practice. "We dismiss things as super- stition if we don't believe in them," Frieden says. For example, we have replaced some demons with scientific theories of bacteria and viruses." Still, there's no harm in being careful! Now women have entered the tra- ditionally male realms that denigrated folk belief, which may put a different spin on superstition. "The missing piece has been that women were kept out of the academy and prevented from learning law, so what was left for them was folklore, Frankel says. "It was a Catch-22, since then the women were conde- scended to for their beliefs and pre- vented from entering the academy on those grounds. Its no surprise," says community educator Ruth Bergman of West Bloomfield. "You breed ignorance by not allowing women to study and then ))) saying, You are too ignorant to study )) A gray area Jewish belief stretches from main- stream liturgy to the mystical studies of kabbala and gematria (the search for meaning in the numerical values assigned to Hebrew letters), with superstition forming a kind of gray area related to the two. For Rabbi Aharon Feldman, a guest lecturer at Congregation Beth Jacob in Toco Hills, an Atlanta suburb, it's all of a piece. "What is your definition of super- stition?" he asks. "We have our preju- dices. We decided science tells us what the five senses perceive, but there are some areas that defy our experience." Historically, Jews have been attuned to this gray area. The power of lan- guage remains particularly prominent today. An utterance by a Jew is consid- ered as strong as an action; the crime of loshon hora, slander, was considered worse than murder. Therefore, you're tempting the demons by expressing anger or bad news aloud. In medieval times, this concept even extended to the reading of the Torah. Because there are stories in the Torah that express curses, some con- gregations were afraid to read them in public because they thought spirits would believe the curses were directed 10/8 1999 32 Detroit Jewish News against the community, Trachtenberg writes. To counteract this worry, they would have the passages read by a much-beloved member, one who had no enemies. Written words also could bring tragedy. If a house had been visited by misfortune, the cause could be a damaged or miswritten prayer inside a mezuza. To ward against such hap- penings, one old custom was to check the mezuzot regularly. Jews also take names very seriously. One longtime Ashkenazi Jewish tradi- tion is to name children after beloved — and dead — relatives; you rarely find a Jewish "Junior." One reason for this is simply to honor the dead. But another was that a child with the same name as a parent was considered a challenge to the demons, or even the Angel of Death, who, upon enter- ing the home, could confuse father for son and take the wrong person. If someone was close to death, that person's name might be changed so when the Angel of Death came, he would be confused and go away. For the same reason, the name Chaim or Chaya, which mean "life," could be added to a dying person's name, Rabbi Yedwab says. Ari Kresch of Oak Park, interviewed while taking his child to toddler gym class at the Jimmy Prentis Morris Building of the Jewish Community Center, recalls that, in his home, the furniture in a bedroom could not be arranged so the bed was closest to the door — "because that's the way they carry out corpses, feet first." Incantations against evil The evil eye — in Hebrew, ayin hara — figures in countless supersti- tions. For some talmudic rabbis, it was a literal thing: Certain people, with just a glance, could turn men into "a heap of bones." The concept of the evil eye in some Jewish cultures is an outside force," says U-M's Tsoffar. "But frequently it repre- sents supernatural power in other peo- ple. A lot of times, these were people who were seen as different — non-Jews, Arabs, women, old people, ugly people, hairy people. Or it could be a jealous neighbor. Once words are emitted, it invites the appearance of supernatural power from that person." Throughout different Jewish com- munities, the phrase kenna hora — the JEWISH SUPERSTITION on page 14 What Is Your Superstitio Do you have any family superstitions or traditions? The Jewish News uncovered many by talking to people at the Jimmy Prentis Morris Building of the Jewish Community Center in Oak Park and at the Stage and Co. Restaurant & Delicatessen in West Bloomfield. Here's what they had to say. Maybe a few will sound familiar. Pauline Schreiber, Oak Park, JCC volunteer: "If my mother and her friends thought someone gave them the evil eye, they would put a knife under a mattress." . . . . . Ari Kresch, Oak Park, at the JCC toddler gym (with wife, Lynn, and daughter Julie, 22 months): "My mother believes you can't walk over a person, for instance, if they're lying on the floor, because they'll stop growing. if you do, you have to walk back over the other way. . Helen Hauer, Oak Park, JCC volunteer: "If some- body said you had a nice-looking child, you had to say kenna hora, or else a bad thing would happen." Manny Hauer, Oak Park, JCC volunteer: "Sometimes they would ask dead people for forgiveness. I asked my son-in-law — he's a doctor — why, and he said, "Because dead people don't talk." . ,40.--A00000,06va' -- Florence Ashin, Oak Park, home- maker: "Tie a red ribbon on a baby's crib or carriage to keep the spirits away Also, don't name the baby after someone who is alive." :;:RR:IMKVZrPrMTAMV,:i'NSRfWag:'MSMsltl:WM::W**P;Q.M :. Lisa Binder, right, Farmington Hills, preschool teacher: "Don't ever talk about the good stuff. If you say, "My husband is doing well," then you say kenna hora, so you don't break the spell. Carolyn Mauler, left, Farmington Hills, owns Viva Cappuccino: In poker, the same thing — you don't talk when you're winning." ESIWIESNMEMERTNOMEMOMESMAW.IMUCKC: Eleanor Minkoff, Farmington Hills, homemaker: "My mother was so superstitious. She died in room 413 on the 13th. of March. If she had known she was in that room, she would have gotten right up and walked out."