I believe the hands are man’s second face. Think about it: what do we use our hands for? Most things we do, our deeds, are brought to life with our hands, they express who we are in the sense that we are what we do.. It is not something I can logically explain, it is rather something intuitive. I first started noticing that there is something quite intimate and personal to the hands when I didn’t want people to see my hands in time of self-consciousness. I do not feel and never really felt that my hands are “ugly” or that any feelings toward them were caused by aesthetic reasons – it goes further than that, I feel like hands, just like the face, express a certain part of the core of a person that one may hide with behavior or deceitful words but the hands, they will always expose you. And, for me, I feel like my hands slightly change their appearance as I change. Not everyone is sensitive to what other peoples hands tell – and I am not talking about the creases. Next time you meet a person, take a look at their hands. I feel like the shape of the nails and fingers say a lot and I almost categorize people according to that aspect of their hands…… and the fingers, how long / thick are they? also in comparison to the rest of the hand and body! Is the skin very soft or rough and thick? Are these the hands of a feminine person despite their gender or of a person who uses their hands to create art and do physical work? There is so much to analyze !!
Also imagine for a second; what would our speech, the main form of expression, look like if we did not have our hands to underline what we say? I am now sitting in class and watching the rabbis hands. It takes on so many different forms, so many expressions to physically explain what’s the essence of what he is trying to say! Think about the people you know.. there are people that use their hands a lot when they speak and then people who use them less – and among them everyone uses them in different ways to create distinct shapes and impressions.
I really think that all of this shows us how mysterious and totally not shallow, totally not just a physical, practical tool our hands are – they hide layers and layers of meaning. I wish to one day fully understand what metaphor our hands serve as.
The middle crease of my fingers kind of look like eyes I drew it isn’t it trippy !!
Here is some cool stuff I researched about hands (chabad.org):
Since the hands are the tools by which we carry out most of our actions in life, the forces of darkness latch onto them in order to influence our deeds. We can infuse our hands with the positive energy that dwells in the Upper Worlds so that they bring blessing and good fortune to all endeavors.
The two hands have ten fingers for the Ten Sefirot and the ten sayings of the action of Creation.
The fingers have 14 joints each and together 28 as the number of letters in the first verse of the Torah and the numerical value of the for כח ‘force’.