The Surprising History of Ayin Hara

What is the “Evil Eye,” known in Hebrew as ayin hara? Does it affect the person giving it (the person looking) or the person receiving it (the person being scrutinized)? Can it be given to inanimate objects, or only to people? Can you bring an ayin hara upon yourself? Does it require seeing something? Does the damage result from the eye, or from the mind? How exactly does it work? And is there a way to protect against it?

Over the past few years I have been engaging in extensive study of this topic, and I discovered several things that were surprising, even astonishing. One of the most important rabbinic figures in history stated that you can block an ayin hara with a window, and based on that, a certain Chief Rabbi suggested that you can avoid giving an ayin hara by wearing glasses! The medieval rationalist and non-rationalist views turned out to be completely the opposite of what one would expect. Rambam's denial of ayin hara turned out to be very difficult to explain. And I found that the key to this topic lies in the ostrich eggs that are found hanging in several ancient synagogues!

I have finally written up my research in a 7000-word monograph. This will eventually be published in my planned book, Rationalism vs. Mysticism: Schisms in Traditional Jewish Thought. But it will also be e-mailed to contributors to my most important project, The Biblical Museum Of Natural History. We are inspiring and educating tens of thousands of people, from across the full spectrum of society, about the relationship between Torah and the natural world. And we are working on taking the museum to the next level, such that we can reach hundreds of thousands of people. We are planning to move to a much larger facility, and become a premiere national attraction! You can make a tax-deductible donation at this link (please add a note stating that it is for the Ayin Hara monograph). While the monograph will be sent for contributions of any amount, we are really hoping for substantial donations with this end-of-year giving campaign. Thank you for your support of our mission, and we look forward to the museum rising to even greater levels of success - bli ayin hara!