by Sivan Gottlieb (University of Granada)

In the Middle Ages, diagrams were used for a variety of purposes. They were intended, for example, to prove theories in fields such as mathematics, to present information more clearly, and to promote the comprehension of concepts, both simple and complex.[1] They also served as mnemonic aids for memorizing and recalling information. These diagrams took on various geometric shapes, such as squares and circles, which were specialized for representing different types of content.[2] In addition to these basic forms, more unique shapes were also common, such as the hand figure. The hand was equated with knowledge,[3] and people of the time used it to document, organize, and memorize diverse types of information. Why were the hand figures so popular, and which types of knowledge were suitable for representation through such hands?
Before analyzing any image, the hand itself was an important part of manuscript production, as evidenced by the term “manuscript,” derived from the Latin manu scripti (meaning handwritten, and in Hebrew, כתבי יד). In addition, hands held special status as the primary organ of touch.[4] Medieval manuscripts feature various hand gestures that convey different meanings and messages. Despite the various gestures that merit further study, the following aims to provide an initial survey of hands as diagrams in different contexts within Hebrew manuscripts.
From the thirteenth to the twentieth century, diagrams of hands appear in Hebrew manuscripts. So far, 89 manuscripts have been found that include diagrams of hands,[5] with some containing more than one diagram. The hands appear mostly on separate pages, but also in the margins or alongside additional hands or text on the same page. These hand diagrams feature different subjects and can teach us about ways to transfer different types of knowledge using the same shape. It seems that the hand was recognized as a convenient tool for the transfer and representation of knowledge.
One of the popular uses of the hand diagram from the Middle Ages till the early modern period was for palm reading (palmistry), or chiromancy, a technique of divination and prognostication that emerged as a new practice in the mid-twelfth century.[6] This technique, perhaps the most well-known form of foretelling the future,[7] is based on the interpretation of the lines in the palm, i.e., reading natural signs. Many texts attempt to predict individual behavior and the outcomes of one’s desires using this method. In general, long signs mean good prognostication. While they are integral to divination techniques, hand diagrams were approved by great philosophers and ancient authorities in the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish worlds. The practice became widespread between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when it was connected with astrology; every finger and part of the palm was linked to the effects of the stars.[8]
Chiromancy also sometimes referred to medical conditions. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Rabbi Shem-Tov ibn Shaprut (born in the middle of the fourteenth century) wrote a short treatise on chiromancy, noting that its origins came from Christians. For example, he claimed that a clear and separated head line (the line on the thumb) indicated a healthy liver and stomach.[9]
Diagrams of hands representing chiromancy in Hebrew manuscripts developed over time. To date, 27 Hebrew manuscripts include hand-related chiromancy. Four manuscripts contain more than ten hand chiromancy diagrams. In the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, depictions of palms with written texts inside began to appear, usually showing the right hand. This is because the lines are clearer in the right hand, although the left hand is considered more reliable for insights into the individual.[10]
For example, in the manuscript New York, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, MS. 8114, from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, probably written in Italy using Ashkenazic script style, there are two hands with the labels “the man hand” (יד האיש) on fol. 24v and “the woman hand” (יד האשה) on fol. 25r. In the man’s hand, it is written, for example, “the water and heart line, when it comes without stopping, points to future wealth” (קו המים והלב כשתבוא בלא הפסק יורה שיבוא לו עושר). On the little finger, it says “points to lesions on the body” (יורה נגעים בגוף). In the woman’s hand, next to the drawing of certain lines, it is written “points to a male fetus” (יורה עיבור מזכר) and “points to a female fetus” (יורה עיבור מנקיבה). In these hands the words are punctuated. In another manuscript from Munich, Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, Cod.hebr. 228, also from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (unknown written place, Sephardic script style) both right and left hands appear.

On the right hand in fol. 118r, it is written, for example, “and these [lines] point to wealth during the middle of his life” (ואלו יורו על עושר בחצי ימיו). On the left hand on fol. 118v, it is written, for example, “this figure departing from the palm points to a short life” (זה הצלם שהוא יוצא מן הכף יורה חיים קצרים). In later stages and into the twentieth century, the diagrams evolved to include hands used as maps, with only the names of the lines and other letters or symbols.
Chiromancy hands were popular in non-Hebrew manuscripts from late medieval and early modern Europe.[12] In Jewish contexts, the most fundamental Kabbalistic work, the Zohar (הזוהר; The Book of Splendour), discusses hand and face reading at length. However, many other sources also mention these readings.[13] The diagrams in the Hebrew manuscripts appear with different treatises about this practice called ḥochmat ha-Yad/ha-Shirtut (חכמת היד/חכמת השרטוט; Wisdom of the Hand) or without additional text in the manuscript.[14] They appear in treatises written by Jews, based on practices seen at the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe, and are similar to Roman and Hellenistic traditions.[15] At earlier stages, it is hard to find similar treatises, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, palms began to appear in copies of the treatise called Shoshannat Ya’aḳob (שושנת יעקב; The Rose of Jacob), written by the German-Jewish scholar Jacob ben Mordechai of Fulda in the late seventeenth century, which covers chiromancy, physiognomy, and astrology.[16] This treatise is found in manuscripts with different script styles (Sephardic, Italian, Ashkenazic, Eastern), and in one from Morocco and Tunis. Most palms in this treatise appear only with the names of the lines, see for example one that appears in the manuscript with Ashkenazic script style, Jerusalem, The National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 28°9565, fol. NA, of unknown origin and dated to c. 1850-1899.

In the case of chiromancy, the intuitive connection between the content and the representative palm image is preserved. Creating the direct visual link between the information and the relevant body part enabled a clear and tangible representation of this knowledge.
However, the image of the hand was not only used to represent direct relationships but also to illustrate concepts whose connections were less obvious. In these cases, hands served as visual aids to help understand more abstract ideas.
A famous example of such use is found in the realm of music. The use of the fingers and joints of the hand as an aid to remember music dates back to antiquity.[17] However, one of the most famous representations is from the Middle Ages, known as the Guidonian Hand, which is associated with the eleventh-century music theoretician Guido of Arezzo. Guido of Arezzo did not mention the hand in his treatises, but many copies of his treatises included an image of the hand. The representation of the hand with music in non-Hebrew manuscripts can be found across different time periods and locations, in both manuscripts and printed books.[18] In three Hebrew manuscripts from the fifteenth century, there are depictions of hands representing melodic interval values as mnemonic aids, accompanying texts on the wisdom of music.
For example, in the fifteenth-century manuscript currently housed in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Ms. hebr. 1037, folios 22v–27v (of unknown written origin, but with Byzantine script style), there is a treatise on music translated by Judah ben Isaac.[19]
In his introduction, he mentions the hand drawings, stating (fol. 22v): “I copied the book of music […] I gave the letters of the Holy Scriptures for the keys instead of their letters, and I drew the figure of the right hand instead of the left to write in it the cantillation.” (והעתקתי ספר המוסיקא משפה לעוגה אל לשון הקודש ותחת אבני גיר מנופצות שמתי אבני חפץ מפו משובצות ונתתי אותיות כתב הקדש למפתחות במקום אותיותיהם וצורת יד ימין ציירתי במקום צורת יד שמאל להציב בה ציוני שכונת הנגינות כדי להשתמש בהם דרך קריאת כתבנו הפך קריאת כתבם וחפץ הש’ יצלח בידינו). After the introduction, in the first section of the treatise, he refers to the diagram with the phrase “and this is their form” (וזו צורתם). The hand diagram follows immediately thereafter and shows different musical notes, along with tables divided into various notes.[20]
Another representation of a hand related to music can be found in another fifteenth-century manuscript currently housed in London, The British Library, Or. 10878, fol. 5r (of unknown origin, but with Ashkenazic script style).

Hands were also used in the context of calculating periods in calendric and computus treatises, and for remembering important dates in Christianity. The basis for this practice is a figure-reckoning method written by Bede (c. 673–735). Where for example the middle, ring, and little fingers of the left hand denote the digits and on the right hand the thousands.[21] Bede also wrote about the computistic use of the hand. Although he did not include or call for drawings of hands himself, such illustrations soon came to accompany his work or were created independently.[22]
In Hebrew manuscripts, calculations of years, hours, days, and holidays, known as Evronot, frequently feature hand representations. In these representations, fingers and joints were used to denote different numerical values of time units such as years, months, and days, facilitating the display and calculation of various dates and time periods.
Hands appear alongside time calculations in 43 manuscripts from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.[23] For example, in a manuscript dated around 1658, written in Ashkenazic script style but of unknown origin, currently housed in New York, Columbia University Libraries, Ms. X 893 Se 36, fol. 22v, there is a highly ornamented hand.

On the folios before and after, there are paragraphs that begin, for instance, on fol. 22r with “the meaning of the hand,” followed by instructions such as “if you want to know on which day and at which hour the period will be, you need to determine the number of years” and “you need to see which month is represented by the figure on the four fingers,” (פירוש על היד, אם תרצה לידע באיזה יום ובאיזה שעה נופלת התקופ’ צריך אתה לידע כמה שנים אנחנו עומדים במ”ק ואח”כ תראה בד’ אצבעות באיזה אצבע רשום חודש התקופה שתרצה לידע) with an explanation of how to perform the calculations, including counting all the letters. In the hand diagram, different Hebrew letters appear on the thumb, which should be referred to as numbers, and the four periods Tishrei, Tevet, Nissan, and Tammuz are represented. Meanwhile, the palm holds an interpretation of the different elements.[24]
The hand appears in various time-related treatises, but one of the most notable examples is the treatise attributed to the lesser-known Eliezer ben Jacob Belin.[25] Unlike the examples shown so far, these hands are predominantly in Ashkenazi script style and are highly ornamented, sometimes even featuring colors. For example, see the hand diagram found in a manuscript now held at The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, Ms. Heb. 8°3247, fol. 14r, dated 1619–1624 and written in Ashkenazic script style.

Additional features of these evronot hands include the occasional appearance of either the left or the right hand. The letters on the fingers appear similar across the hand’s diagrams but with two notable differences: it seems that while the letters are positioned similarly, they are placed on different fingers (for example, the letters on the little finger of the left hand are the same as those on the index finger of the right hand), suggesting that only the thumb has shifted. Additionally, in some examples, the order of the letters on the same finger is reversed, either from top to bottom or from bottom to top.
Although each hand seems to be adapted and translated from non-Hebrew manuscript into Hebrew, with the uniqueness of Hebrew letters, the adaptations in the computus category signify a “Jewish hand” specific to the Jewish calendar.
The image of the hand provided a convenient and understandable visual means for these calculations and contributed to the ability to remember and understand complex chronological structures. The techniques of music and computus using the hand share similarities.[26]
When thinking of the hand image, the ḥamsa (as known in Arabic and Hebrew) and its use as protection against evil forces surely come to mind.[27] In Hebrew manuscripts starting from the seventeenth century, images of hands also appear in the context of amulets within manuscripts with the use of holy names. The visual image of the hand, rooted in earlier representations, took on new meanings in these magical contexts. In fact, the actual hand, whether left or right, was frequently used as part of magical practices.[28]
In an eighteenth-century manuscript, written in Ashkenazic script style, now housed in Jerusalem (Jerusalem, The National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 8°1070), there are depictions of hands used both for chiromancy and as amulets. On fol. 24v, there is an image of a hand with different names inscribed on it. Next to this image is a text stating that this amulet is to ward off thieves and instructs that it should be tied to the right hand.[29]

In addition to the specific uses described, hand drawings are common in many medieval manuscripts, both Hebrew and non-Hebrew, across various genres such as medical, fictional, and poetical texts. These drawings often feature elongated fingers pointing to the text as a means of drawing attention to important passages.[30] In addition, there are images of hands with the names of the fingers, which also appear in some of the hands used for the various practices.[31]
Hand diagrams, as illustrated by the few examples presented, can be found in a wide variety of styles, ranging from ornate and elaborate to simpler and more schematic drawings. Who created these diagrams? It is important to remember that the writer’s own hand could have been used as the drawing tool, making them the creator. However, more elaborate diagrams may have been produced by professional illustrators. The frequent appearance of hand diagrams in both Hebrew and non-Hebrew manuscripts highlights the intuitive and effective nature of this form for presenting visually accessible information.
These hand diagrams appear in different manuscripts covering various topics, sometimes within a single manuscript that addresses multiple subjects. They serve as a tangible method for representing both simple and abstract concepts. The use of hand diagrams from the Middle Ages into the twentieth century, including in printed books,[32] across various locations in Europe and beyond, and within different Jewish communities, indicates that they were a practical and meaningful tool for memorizing and presenting knowledge. It is worth noting that, as with music and computus treatises, the original authors did not always use hand diagrams initially. Instead, they were later incorporated into the text due to their perceived utility in facilitating knowledge. This brief overview of hand diagrams demonstrates yet another realm of the borrowing and adaptation of visual elements for Jewish audiences.
Sivan Gottlieb is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-2025) in the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Granada, Spain, under the guidance of Prof. Carmen Caballero-Navas. She previously served as a Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies (2022-2023) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Halpern Center for the Study of Jewish Self-Perception at Bar Ilan University, Israel (2021-2022). Sivan earned her PhD in Art History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2021, under Prof. Sarit Shalev-Eyni. Her research centers on illuminated Hebrew manuscripts from the late Middle Ages, focusing on the visual language of scientific and medical texts and their connections to non-Jewish cultures. She employs an interdisciplinary approach that integrates art history, the history of science, and manuscript studies. Currently, she is investigating the role of diagrams in medieval Jewish scientific and philosophical manuscripts to uncover new insights into the intellectual and cultural life of Jewish communities.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
[1] Claire Richter Sherman, “Introduction,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 13–21, at 19.
[2] For additional reading on Medieval diagrams, see, for example, John Murdoch, Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1984).
[3] Martina Bagnoli, “Making Sense,” in A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe, ed. Martina Bagnoli (Baltimore: The Walters Art Museum, 2016), 17–30, at 20.
[4] “Touching the Past: The Hand in the Medieval Book,” published online 2015, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, online via https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/exhibition/103PXE (22 July 2024).
[5] This number does not include manuscripts with hands that point to the text. In addition, I am sure that although I tried to be as thorough as possible, there are more examples yet to be found.
[6] Stefano Rapisarda, “Traditions and Practices in the Medieval Western Christian World,” in Prognostication in the Medieval World, eds. M. H. Heiduk, K. Herbers and H. C. Lehner (Berlin, 2021), 429–445 at 435.
[7] Zsofi Buda, “Written in Your Palm, Just Read It!,” published online 2020, The British Library, online via https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/06/written-in-your-palm.html (22 July 2024).
[8] Brain P. Copenhaver, “A Show of Hands,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 46–59, at 49; Stefano Rapisarda, “Traditions and Practices in the Medieval Western Christian World,” in Prognostication in the Medieval World, eds. M. H. Heiduk, K. Herbers and H. C. Lehner (Berlin, 2021), 429–445, at 435–437, 441. In Hebrew hand diagrams, several palms also mention the stars in the fingers. For example: Budapest, the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Ms. Kaufmann A 520, fols. 199, 200.
[9] Dov Schwartz, “Jewish Traditions and Practices in the Medieval World,” in Prognostication in the Medieval World, eds. M. H. Heiduk, K. Herbers and H. C. Lehner (Berlin, 2021), 585–587, at 586.
[10] Claire Richter Sherman, “Introduction,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 13–21, at 20.
Using the right hand is associated in many cultures with positive values and, in Christian contexts, with divine power. However, this preference was not universal. We will also see that the left hand, especially in evronot, was used as well.
[11] The folio number corresponds to what is written in the manuscript. The library has identified this as folio number 114v.
[12] Brain P. Copenhaver, “A Show of Hands,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 46–59, at 46.
See for example: Oxford, Bodliean Library, MS Ashmole, 399, fol. 17; Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. Lat. 1264, fol. 244r.
[13] Zsofi Buda, “Written in Your Palm, Just Read It!,” published online 2020, The British Library, online via https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/06/written-in-your-palm.html (22 July 2024).
[14] One example appears in a manuscript containing the liturgical text of Siddur Ashkenaz. London, The British Library, Add. 11639, fol. 115r. France, thirteenth century.
[15] Ron Margolin, “Physiognomy and Chiromancy: From Prediction and Diagnosis to Healing and Human Correction (Zohar 2, 70a–78a; Tiqqunei Zohar, Tiqqun 70),” in Prognostication in the Medieval World, eds. M. H. Heiduk, K. Herbers and H. C. Lehner (Berlin, 2021), 915–924, at 916.
[16] “Jacob ben Mordecha,” see online via https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8406-jacob-of-fulda (22 July 2024). This treatise was found till now with 12 hand diagrams. In the nineteenth century, there are two hands that appear next to a treatise with the same introduction about ḥochmat ha-Shirtut, but one is in Hebrew and the other is in Arabic written in Hebrew letters: Tel Aviv, Gross collection, Ms. MO.011.027, fol. 6r; Jerusalem, The National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 28°9558, fol. 2v.
[17] Susan Forscher Weiss, “The Singing Hand,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 35–45, at 35.
[18] Susan Forscher Weiss, “The Singing Hand,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 35–45, at 35, 37, 39.
[19] His name appears at the beginning of another fifteenth-century manuscript in Byzantine script style with the same music treatise and hand diagram (St. Petersburg, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ms. B 103, fols. 38r–38v), but I lack any additional information.
[20] For further reading on the Guidonian Hand, refer for example to: Carol Berger, “The Hand and the Art of Memory,” Musica Disciplina 35 (1981): 87–120.
[21] Sachiko Kusukawa, “A Manual Computer for Reckoning Time,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 28–35, at 28, 34.
[22] John Murdoch, Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1984), 80.
[23] One hand is from the fourteenth century: Oxford, Bodleian libraries, ms. Opp. 643, fol. 207v; Two hands appear together in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, Cod. Parm. 2646, fol. 19v.
For additional reading of Evronot, see, for example, Elisheva Carlebach, Palaces of Time: Jewish Calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe (Harvard University Press, 2011).
[24] Here, I want to note that these time calculations also appear in other visual representations.
[25] Since the 1615 edition of Sefer Evronot from Lublin, his name has appeared as the “author” on the title pages of sifre evronot, online via https://cja.huji.ac.il/gross/browser.php?mode=set&id=35596 (22 July 2024). His name sometimes appears also with the word “Ashkenazi.”
[26] Sachiko Kusukawa, “A Manual Computer for Reckoning Time,” in Writing on Hands: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, ed. Claire Richter Sherman (University of Washington Press, 2000), 28–35, at 31.
[27] For the ḥamsa, see, for example: Shalom Sabar, “From Sacred Symbol to Key Ring: The Ḥamsa in Jewish and Israeli Societies,” in Jews at Home: The Domestication of Identity, ed. Simon J. Bronner (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010), 140–162, at 140.
[28] For magic, see Lynn Thorndike, A history of Magic and Experimental Sciences, Vol. I-IV; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
[29] The practice also includes throwing sand and reciting incantations.
[30] Jack Hartnell, Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages (Profile Books, 2018).
[31] For example, in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Ms. hebr. 1179, fols. 32v, 89v, and 104, there are hands depicted with only the names of the fingers. In the chiromancy hand in Jerusalem, Menachem Feldman, Ms. 83, fol. 501, the names of the fingers are also included.
[32] See the manuscript Jerusalem, The National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 8°1977, which was bound with evronot from the printing house ריווא דטרינטו in 1560; In another manuscript, Jerusalem, The National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 8°3906, there are sections of an Italian printed book with hand diagrams and symbols accompanying a short Latin text.
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Sivan Gottlieb (August 18, 2024). The Hand of Knowledge: Representing Knowledge in Hebrew Manuscripts. medievalJewishStudiesNow! Retrieved April 17, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/126e6