The Henna Ceremony or Mehindi in India is carried out by the Bene Israel Jews just before the Wedding.
“The
Henna ceremony" may look like non-Jewish, but it has a connection to
the topic of Ayin Hara. Let's keep an open mind and try to see it this
way. In Judaism, Protection from Evil eye (Ayin Hara) has been given
much importance. We have several prayers, psalms (one of them is Psalm
31) and even the Kabbalah red string to protect us from the evil eye.
Henna
or Mehindi is an extremely potent enemy of the Evil Eye. It is said
that even carrying the henna powder in a small bag in your pocket repels
the evil eye. However its power gets magnified when it is combined with
certain anti- evil eye symbols, which they draw on the bride’s palms. I
don’t know exactly these symbols, but they are said to be - downward
facing triangle, the diagram of an Eye itself or an eye inside a
triangle, etc.
The word "Henna" is found in King Solomon's Shir
Hashirim (Song of Songs) at two places: Chapter 1 Verse 14 and Chapter 4
Verse 13. Though King Solomon sang it for G-d, it expresses the
profound and undying love which always exists between a bride and a
groom. It is possible that from here, Henna got its important place in a
Jewish Wedding.
The second connection we can make to the Henna
Ceremony is the custom of groom’s family giving gifts to the bride
before marriage. An example is found in Isaac and Rivkah’s story from
the Book of Genesis, where Eliezer (the representative of Abraham) gives
Rivkah gifts when he chooses her for Isaac. The Bene Israel Jews in
India follow this same custom during the Henna Ceremony, where the
groom's family takes gifts for the bride.
Also in olden times,
they never used to pin point a bride and a groom in a congregation. So
to easily identify them in a group setting, whosoever index finger has
the dark coloration from henna, the congregation assumed that they were
the ‘to be bride and groom’ or a ‘newly wedded couple.’
In Israel
many other Jewish communities also have Henna Ceremony before the
wedding, like the Morocian Jews, the Tunisian Jews, the Irakie Jews, the
Lebian Jews and more. The word Henna in Hebrew is "חינה" The sound of
the word when you say is חנה - so the alphabet ח stands for Challa.(חלה)
the Shabbat Bread. The alphabet נ stands for word Niddha (נידה), the
woman’s spiritual Bath at the Mikva. The alphabet ה stands for (הדלקת
נרות), the lighting of the Shabbat Candles. For the Jewish women these
are the three most important mitzvots. One of the mitzvah “Niddha” women
start just before the marriage. So the Henna Ceremony is actually done
to celebrate the woman(bride) who is blessed with these three mitzvots.
The Henna is also applied to the groom for because of him the bride is
blessed with one of the mitzvah.
