Considering modernity’s fascination with "fortune telling," and the concomitant proliferation of diagrams, charts, and other graphic displays of "palm readings" et alii, it is appropriate to consider Judaism’s view of chiromancy. Chiromancy is the art of determining a person’s character and his destiny from lines and other marks on the palm and fingers. Chiromancy first appeared in Judaism in the circle of Merkabah mysticism. These early Jewish mystics employed chiromancy and Hellenistic physiognomy in order to judge whether one was fit to receive esoteric teaching. The scriptural support for this practice came from Genesis 5:1-2: "This is the book of the generations of Adam." The Hebrew word toledot ("generations") was interpreted to mean "man’s character and fate." The passage "male and female He created them..." implies that chiromantic predictions varied according to the sex, the right hand being the determining factor for the male, and the left hand for the female.

Evidence of this practice among the early kabbalists was given by Asher ben Saul (c.1215), who wrote: "At the conclusion of the Sabbbath they used to examine the lines of the palms of the hands, because through the lines on the hands the sages would know a man’s fate and the good things in store for him."

In parts of the Zohar there are passages discussing the lines of both the hand and the forehead. In the Middle Ages, the study of metoposcopy focused on the lines of the forehead. The Zohar brought out the parallel between the movement of the heavenly bodies and the direction of the lines on the hand. Using five letters of the Hebrew alphabet (the zayin, heh, samech, peh, resh), the early mystics were able to tell what types of character a person possessed. Later, the Zohar established a relationship between the lines on a man’s hand and forehead and the transmigrations of his soul. As the knowledge of the Zohar spread, several kabbalists tried to relate chiromancy back to the mysteries of the Kabbalah, especially the sixteenth-century mystic Joseph ibn Sayyah.

From the sixteenth century various Hebrew books reviewed the practice of chiromancy. It was part of the lore surrounding Isaac Luria that he was a master in chiromancy, and many traditions point to the fact that several kabbalists were skilled in its practice. In Hebrew books on astrological chiromancy, the main lines of the hand are given the following names: 1) the life-line; 2) the line of wisdom; 3) the table line; 4) the line of fate or the line of health.