I stumbled across something interesting, fascinating indeed, the other day. But I am not sure what to make of it. The Sefer Chasidim is a nearly thousand year old work written by a German rabbi. It is a compendium of Jewish law, custom, and lore. There is a whole cottage industry of debate as to how much we are meant to rely on its words. Be that as it may, I found something interesting referenced from the Sefer Chasidim the other day.
When I got home and looked it up, it wasn't there. I checked the source gain, it still wasn't there. Then I noticed a small asterisk. Apparently what I was looking for had been removed by an earlier publisher from the text. Possibly it was done at the insistence of Christian censors in Europe. Possibly a publisher feared this would lead to ridicule so he left it out. I did find it in an appendix from a more recent publisher in the back. I don't know where this idea comes from in Jewish tradition, other than this one source.
"Every person has a mazal in heaven. If you draw the picture of a thief on the wall and then bang the eye of the thief in the picture, the thief's eye will be in pain. This is because the mazal of a person protects him, as long as he is connected to his mazal. By drawing the picture the mazal is drawn away from the person and removes its protection."
I think that is what he means.
Perhaps this is why certain rabbis do not allow their photos to be taken....
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