By Joel H. Cohen
NEW YORK — A distraught young child who’d wandered away from her grandmother in a department store is sobbing. A store employee comforts the child, saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll make an announcement over the loudspeaker, and your grandma will come and find you right away. What’s your name, little girl?”
“Shayne punim, pooh pooh pooh,” she answers through her tears.
The shayne punim (pretty face) anecdote is fictional, but the “pooh, pooh, pooh” is real and enduring. The phrase is a polite version of the age-old superstition of spitting three times to counter demons and avoid attracting the Evil Eye, which, often fueled by jealousy, is easily attracted by something exceptionally good or bad, with unhappy results.
Sneezing, too, is a virtue, as it’s believed to prove the veracity of what was just said. (Emmes genawsen)
We may not admit it, but most of us, regardless of ethnicity, have superstitions: so we avoid black cats, don’t walk under ladders, cross our fingers when we’ve said something we don’t mean or hope for a particular outcome. And, to ensure that a positive comment doesn’t bring a negative outcome, we “knock on wood,” (sometimes our heads), preserving a custom that began with pagan tree-worshippers rapping on trees to avoid bad luck.
All superstitions are unique, but Jewish ones seem more so.
In speech, we add “kenaineh horah” or its contraction, (kenahora), meaning in effect, “may the evil eye stay away,” after we’ve complimented someone, to prevent matters from taking a bad turn. (Some theorize the Evil Eye was created to explain evil in the world).
A tangible defense is the raiteh bendel, the piece of red ribbon attached to baby carriages or child’s clothing, say a waistband, lest a compliment attract the Evil Eye.
Another clothing-related belief: while someone is sewing something on an article of clothing another person is wearing at the time, the wearer needs to keep thread in her or his mouth while it’s happening, lest it be reminiscent of being sewn into a shroud. Chewing the thread indicates the person being sewn upon is very much alive.
Some negative beliefs: no shoes upside down or on the bed, no crossed knives. A hat on the bed could invoke a death; an umbrella on the bed will bring rain on your wedding. It’s taboo to have a baby shower or to buy a baby gift bfeore the child is born.
Numbers are very significant in Jewish practice. For instance, the revered number 18, iwhose value equals life.
But counting can be associated with a bad result, as when Golden Calf sinners were due to be victims of a fatal heavenly plague, and Moses was ordered to count the Israelites. So some consider counting for a minyan unlucky, and a current fellow congregant, when determining how many are present for a minyan, won’t count them by numbers, but by baseball positions. When we have just nine men, he’ll say.”We‘still need a designtated hitter.”
Not uncommon, in order to confuse the Evil Eye and avoid its impact, someone critically ill is either given an additional name or a name-change.. I’m a case in point; as a very sick infant, I was given a middle Hebrew name, Chaim (life).
[An aunt, who thought I should have an English equivalent name added , suggested “Hugh,” not particularly compatible with Cohen but no harm, no foul)
I used to scoff at superstitions, especially those relating to warding off the Evil Eye. But although, knock wood, I’m not superstitious, I’ve stopped scoffing since realizing my added middle name has thwarted the Evil Spirit and kept me alive for decades.
Pooh, pooh pooh!
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Cohen is a freelance writer based in New York. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)