lots of 5s - Only in Israel

Most people have some sort of favorite number. Mine is 23 because of all the great sportsmen who played on Chicago teams who wore jersey #23, specifically Ryne Sandberg (and of course Michael Jordan and others, but Ryno was the sports idol I really grew up with).

In Israel, many people consider the number 5 to be their lucky number. 5 is represented by the symbol of the "hamsa". The hamsa, very popular in sephardic culture (any sephardim out there reading this should feel free to correct me if I explain something incorrectly), is an ancient talisman protect from "ayin hara" - the evil eye. It is symbolic of the open hand of God. Hamsa in Hebrew/Arabic/Aramaic means 5 and is sometimes associated with the 5 books of the Torah.
Somebody just showed me their babies identity card number. The Israeli identity card consists of an id number that is 9 digits long and one is assigned it either at birth or upon making aliya. So this person, who recently had a baby, showed me her child's identity card number. The child's number had five of its digits being the number 5.

How did she get that number? She went to have the baby and she has a relative who is a midwife in the hospital. Every hospital is alloted a certain number of identity numbers every day for babies that will be born that day. When she went in to have her baby, her relative said here is the list of id numbers we can give out today - is there any specific one that catches your eye?

She looked through the pile of papers and saw the one with 5 number 5s. She right away took it.

Protexia can even get you a better id number!