Jewish Museum Munich – Do you believe in the evil eye?

Do you believe in the evil eye?
Jewish protective amulets

An exhibition in the study room of the Jewish Museum Munich

In the mystical tradition, Lilith is not only the mother of numerous demons and ruler over the forces of darkness, she is also said to seek the souls of newborn children. In addition to blessings and prayers, people in Jewish popular belief also tried to protect themselves from Lilith and the evil forces through the power of amulets. Epidemics, disease, poverty and deprivation, but above all a high child mortality, favored the wearing of amulets.

Protective amulets can be made of …

Do you believe in the evil eye?
Jewish protective amulets

An exhibition in the study room of the Jewish Museum Munich

In the mystical tradition, Lilith is not only the mother of numerous demons and ruler over the forces of darkness, she is also said to seek the souls of newborn children. In addition to blessings and prayers, people in Jewish popular belief also tried to protect themselves from Lilith and the evil forces through the power of amulets. Epidemics, disease, poverty and deprivation, but above all a high child mortality, favored the wearing of amulets.

Protective amulets can be made of different materials and have a wide variety of shapes. Like the inscriptions and the motifs used, these also allow conclusions to be drawn about the origin of the amulets.

In addition to southern German paper amulets from the 18th century and current amulets from Israel, the exhibition shows a rare circumcision amulet from the 19th century that was given to the Munich judiciary Dr. Hermann Raff (1868–1943) belonged and is in our collection as a gift from his grandson.

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