(Hand of Miriam)
A stylized handprint with an eye at the center, generally associated with warding off evil.
The “hamsa” is typical in Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean communities.
The origins and meaning of Hamsa.
Bahrouzi Nitza, editor. The Hand of Fortune: Khamsas from the Gross Family Collection and the Eretz Israel Museum Collection. Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 2002.
Gonen, Rivka. “The Open Hand: On the North African ‘Hamsa’ and its Sources”. Israel Museum Journal XII, 1994, pp. 47–56.
Holthuis, Gabriele, ed. Living Khamsa: Die Hand zum Glück – The Hand of Fortune, Schwäbisch Gmünd: Museum und Galerie im Prediger, 2004.
Sabar, Shalom. “From Sacred Symbol to Key Ring: The Hamsa in Jewish and Israeli Societies.” Jews at Home: The Domestication of Identity, edited by Simon J. Bronner, vol. 2, Liverpool: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization and Liverpool University Pres, 2010, pp. 140-162.
Shamir, Shirat-Miriam and Ido Noy, editors. Khamsa Khamsa Khamsa: The Evolution of a Motif in Contemporary Israeli Art, Jerusalem: L.A. Mayer Museum of Islamic Art, 2018.
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