Enlarged with AI from a smaller original
Hamsa hand with Hebrew lettering on upper back
Back · Black and grey · Photo
A large hamsa hand fills most of the frame, outlined in black with ornate floral and knotted patterns filling the palm and fingers. A Hebrew word sits inside a circle at the top, and an eye is set at the centre of the hand. The ink is black and grey on bare skin, photographed straight on across the upper back.
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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction
Dear Samuel,
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The wind has backed into the north again, so the kettle keeps sliding about the range while I write this, and I have to hold the pen down with my elbow. Your mother says I should stop fussing, but I cannot stop thinking about the brass hand you left on the hook by the scullery door. You took the jeweller's hamsa off its nail and forgot it, and I have been polishing it every Friday, the way you do with anything you mean to give back.
I turned it over last night and read the word on the top ring again, chai, the two letters your grandfather said meant life. I thought how strange it is that a hand meant to keep off harm should carry a word for living. The eye in the middle watches the door. The little flowers and knots around the fingers go round and round, and you cannot find where they begin, which is the point, your grandfather said, so that bad luck gets tired looking for the way in.
Keep it on the ship. Hang it where the cook can see it, and when the weather turns, touch the eye and say the names of the men on your watch. I am told the sea does not care for paper charms, but it has never yet argued with a grandmother.
Write when you make Cape Town. Tell me the water there is a different colour, and tell me you ate something green.
Your loving Nan, Rivka
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