Zeh ha-sefer toledot Adam (This Is the Book of the Generations of Adam)

Moses ben Elijah Gallena

1715

Facing-page printed text with Hebrew on right side and image of hand with Hebrew letters in side on left side.
The art of chiromancy (palmistry), which divines a person’s nature and often his or her future by examining the palm and fingers (and sometimes forehead), dates back to the ancient Near East and entered Arabic, Byzantine, and Latin cultures. It first appeared in Jewish tradition during the talmudic and geonic periods, and various texts indicate that medieval kabbalists employed the art. References to examining the lines of a person’s hand and forehead can be found in the Zohar, for example. In the sixteenth century, several Hebrew chiromantic texts were printed. They were based mainly on Arabic, Latin, and German works. One of these, which was particularly influential, was written by the kabbalist, teacher, and translator Moses ben Elijah Gallena, who lived in Crete. His work, which concerns both palmistry and examining the lines of the forehead, was abridged and printed together with a Yiddish translation in the eighteenth century. It was reprinted several times over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Gallena also translated Arabic works on astronomy, astrology, and geomancy into Hebrew.

Credits

Courtesy GFC Trust / William L. Gross.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Moses ben Elijah Gallena

15th Century

Moses ben Elijah Gallena was a kabbalist, teacher, and translator who lived in Crete in the fifteenth century. Gallena translated Arabic works on astronomy, astrology, and geomancy into Hebrew. He is best known for his book on chiromancy (palmistry) and phrenology, Toledot Adam (This Is the Book of the Generations of Adam), first printed in Constantinople in 1515.

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