Ayin hara

The evil eye: the harmful gaze of envy, against which Jewish folk tradition seeks protection.

Ayin hara, the evil eye, is in the Jewish tradition the idea that envy or a malicious gaze can do harm. The concept appears often in the Talmud and folk tradition, and is related to the evil eye in many cultures around the Mediterranean and the Middle East, including the Islamic world, where people speak of al-ayn.

In Pirkei Avot the evil eye stands among the things that drive a person out of the world, together with the evil inclination and hatred of others. There it is seen above all as a trait of oneself: a jealous, stingy look at what others have. The good eye, ayin tovah, is opposite it: the generous, benevolent look that grants others their happiness.

In folk tradition there are many customs to ward off the evil eye. On good news people say kein ayin hara, without the evil eye, or in Hebrew bli ayin hara. Red threads, the hamsa, a hand as amulet, and not flaunting happiness too much belong to it. Rabbis differ on this: some take the evil eye seriously, others warn against superstition and stress above all one's own character.

The concept sometimes plays a role in dreams. Whoever dreams that someone looks at them jealously, or that they lose something precious after being proud of it, can read it in the light of ayin hara. The most common Jewish reading then turns to one's own heart: do you grant others their happiness, and do you not make your own too big?

Dreamkin does not prescribe amulets and does not establish that anyone has been struck by the evil eye.