Mehndi Handprints of the Bene Israel

Now that we have explored some of the history of the Bene Israel (both documented and speculated), it's time to explore some aspects of their culture. We've already learned that they are unique in the roles women played, both at home and in the religious life of the community. Women had the final say in anything happening in the home, and were allowed to read from the Torah (their synagogues even had two bima's - one for the men and one for the women Torah readers!). We learned that all celebrations - holiday or life cycle - always included the entire community and were thus often lavish affairs, the costs being shared by everyone. And we learned that the Prophet Elijah was venerated in a "Malida" ceremony during every Jewish celebration

We began to explore the Bene Israel's wedding ceremony customs and rituals during our past two weekday sessions. In these, they are similar to other eastern Jewish communities around the world, like those of Yemen and Morocco, in that the weddings often involve many parties and ritual ceremonies which occur over a two-week period. There are parties for the bride and parties for the groom. Three days before the actual marriage ceremony (the final day of the two week celebrations), the Bene Israel bride-to-be and groom-to-be invite the community to their future home and perform the "Mehndi" ceremony. "Mehndi" is the Judeo-Marathi word for "protection."

During this ceremony, the right hands of both bride-to-be and groom-to-be were smeared with henna or saffron dye, considered by many cultures to have "anti-demonic" properties, then the hands were pressed against a wall inside the home. Once the prints had dried, the "Evil Eye" was painted in black in the center of the palm, and good luck symbols were painted around the prints. As with all other edot (Jewish Diaspora communities), the Bene Israel borrowed from the surrounding culture, which in this case was Hindi and Buddhist. Peacocks, elephants, and lotus flowers were often painted onto amulets (representing beauty, strength and purity of heart and mind, respectively). In the "Mehndi" ceremony, one or more of these images would be painted onto the wall around the hand prints. Then Jewish symbols of holiness and good luck would be added to the Indian symbols - the Hebrew letters "chet" and "yud" (spelling the Hebrew word for life - Chai), the Hebrew letter "shin" (representing the first letter of one of God's names - Shaddai) and the ancient menorah were the three most commonly used symbols. Beginning in the late 15th century, with the arrival of Sephardi Jews from Spain and Portugal (known in India as the Paradesi Jews or White Jews), the Chamsa (the five-fingered amulet borrowed from the Muslim cultures of Arabia and North Africa) began to appear, and in the early 19th century, the Magen David (Jewish Star) was often painted on the wall as well. The hand prints thus became permanent home amulets, ensuring a happy marriage for the couple and protection for the woman and baby during childbirth.

When the Bene Israel and other Jewish communities in India began to move to Israel in the early 1950's, they sold their homes to non-Jews. To this day, the handprints and the Jewish as well as Indian good luck symbols remain on the walls of many of these homes.

We made our own hand print "amulets" in class on Tuesday and Wednesday. Below are photos taken during the process and some of the final results hanging on the bulletin board in Room 202 - a very "protected" room to which all are welcome!

First, trace the right hand onto the paper (to be sure the final print doesn't cover any good luck symbols drawn around it)

 Then draw one or more Indian and Jewish good luck symbols around it

Colors (especially bright ones) are just as important as the symbols themselves - most cultures believed that certain colors could ward off evil

Add lots and lots of colors!

Some students practiced drawing the symbols on scrap paper

Isabella, my very capable TA, prepares the table with fingerpaints (and lots of paper towels!!!) (Notice the bucket of water under the table for the students to wash their hands in after making the print)

Students could choose between orange and green fingerpaint. Once they smeared their hand in the paint, they made a quick print onto a paper towel to take off the excess paint...

...then made the final print on the 9"x12" drawing paper, using the tracing of their hand as a guide

Once they had pressed down on the fingers and thumb of the hand, they quickly lifted the hand off the paper to prevent smudging

After washing the hand and drying it very carefully, they drew the "Evil Eye" in the center of the palm, and then the drawing was quickly hung up to dry. By the end of Wednesday's session, we had 44 amulets hanging on the wall. As I said - Room 202 is now amply protected from demons!

Before introducing the Mehndi ceremony, I shared a wedding ritual the Bene Israel have in common with other Jewish communities in the world - the signing of the ketuba - the marriage contract - just prior to the wedding. Here is a ketuba written in 1913 from Cochin. Notice the peacocks and the crown of the Torah at the top - again, the mingling of Indian and Jewish symbols

I also shared this copy of a page from a Judeo-Marathi language Haggadah printed in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1846.