Heavy Metal Mercy
"From Asher will come rich food, and he will yield regal delicacies [Beretshiite 49:20]. And of Asher he said: May Asher be blessed with sons. He will be pleasing to his brothers, and immerse his foot in oil. Your locks are iron and copper, and the days of your old age will be like the days of your youth. Yeshurun, there is none like G-d; He Who rides the heavens is at your assistance, and with His majesty, [He rides] the skies, which are the abode for the G-d Who precedes all, and below, are the mighty ones of the world. He expelled the enemy from before you, and said, 'Destroy!'" [Devarim 33:24-27].
"The second commenced and said: If a man on going into a town is afraid of the Evil Eye, let him take the thumb of his right hand in his left hand and the thumb of his left hand in his right hand, and say: I, so-and-so, am of the seed of Joseph over which the evil eye has no power, as it says: Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain. Do not read 'ale 'ayin [by a fountain] but 'ole 'ayin [overcoming the evil eye]. R. Jose b. R. Hanina derived it from here: And let them grow into a multitude [weyidgu] in the midst of the earth; just as the fishes [dagim] in the sea are covered by the waters and the evil eye has no power over them so the evil eye has no power over the seed of Joseph. If he is afraid of his own evil eye, he should look at the side of his left nostril" [Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth, Folio 55a].
Mercy's Pediatrian, Dr. Peter Simonson inquired about a name for him, then wrote "Phoenix Micah Khan" down.
"In some communities, a safety or straight pin is attached out of sight under a shirt collar or on a sleeve before taking a journey. Metal was thought to be a powerful protective substance. According to the renowned Eleazer of Worms (a leader of the pietistic Hasidei Ashkenaz of the medieval period), metals were the products of civilization and thus could successfully attack and repel the evil spirits of a less sophisticated society.
The protective power of metal also can be derived from the biblical discussion of the first plague, in which God states that all water stored "in vessels of wood and stone" (Exod. 7:19) will turn to blood. According to this, metal receptacles are not mentioned because they must have protected the water from changing. Another explanation is that metal means luck, since "barzel"(the Hebrew word for iron) is an acronym for the names of four of the mothers of the Children of Israel (Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah), who could ward off all dangers to their progeny" [MJL].
