I would imagine the best way to know if you are getting an evil
eye is to walk around with a big mirror and flash it before everyone you meet.
If people start dropping dead like flies around you, there’s a good chance they’d
wished you bad. Ah, but if only it was so easy to ward of all those
ill-intentioned people who seem to be stealing our good luck away. And so,
instead, we walk around with red strings, hamsas,
little plastic eyeballs and all sorts of amulets meant to keep the devil from
our door.
But is it all just superstitious hocus-pocus? The
Talmud teaches that one can cause damage just by looking at someone's property.
It also says that 99 out of 100 people die prematurely from the evil eye.
But what did the ancient rabbis know? Right? Weren’t they just as susceptible
as everyone else to myth, folklore and wives’ tales? But then quantum physics
came along with a very interesting theory that may be relevant. Quantum Theory demonstrates
that observation affects reality. The mere act of looking at and sizing up a
particle changes it. That certainly offers
something to think about.
Today it’s easier than ever to be jealous and to give evil eyes. All
we have to do is spend an hour on Facebook to eat our hearts out reading
people’s status updates. But those who cast evil eyes are not immune from
backlash themselves; for the sages also teaches that the act of giving an evil eye takes a person out of this world early. And
forgive me for having the temerity to offer up my opinion in the shadow of the great
Talmudic rabbis, but I say giving an evil an eye also makes one so darn ugly.
Mean-spiritedness hangs on one’s face like a dreadful accessory that just
doesn’t match any outfit. Remember that
the filter of poison is not immune to the poison it dishes out. No person is
impervious to a daily diet of dioxin.
Yes, we live today in a show-offy society with the ever expanding
technological means to brag about everything we accomplish. And then, we drape
ourselves in antidote-bling and string to counter the envious slings and arrows
we readily invite. I truly wonder if
that is a healthy way to live.
So what’s the remedy? I have a few:
First you can avoid looking like the Grinch who stole Christmas,
if you exercise being the bigger person and try being happy for people when
things go well for them. Instead of being lowly, mean, venomous and back-stabbing
like the people of Sodom, a society which begrudged each other the very air they
breathed—be magnanimous. The Sodomites were consumed by their burning envy and
it is no wonder that they were destroyed by sulfuric fire.
Secondly, be like a fish. In the Talmud it says that fish are
resistant of the evil eye because they are under the water—what is hidden is
impervious to ill-wishers. What is hidden has a chance to be blessed like a
seed that grows beneath the earth. The philosophy of “when you got it, flaunt
it” may not be so cost efficient when it all adds up. Perhaps showing off is
more a sign of weakness than of strength.
And finally, the best counter to all evil is keeping the
commandments, doing good deeds and being good people.
In this week’s Bible reading we see how King Balak sought out
Bilaam to curse the Jewish people. And boy oh boy, if looks could kill. But
Bilaam was unable to curse them. Why? Because the Jewish nation was behaving
properly. The Israelites left no void or
crevice for curses to sneak in. As such, those who cursed them would be cursed,
and the haters would drown in the deep end of their own hate.
Kabbalists teach that each act we do creates an angel--either one
that serves as our advocate or our prosecutor, depending on our deed or
misdeed. And so, the question is: What
kind of army of angels are you building for yourself, good ones or bad ones?
When the evil eye comes your way, will your own army deservingly stab you in
the back or will it stand as a loyal protector and bless those who bless you,
curse those who curse you, and escort you safely from strength to strength?
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