There are times when one is forced to address the deliciously ludicrous. When "kabbalistic" red strings, once wound around Rachel's Tomb and then worn to ward off the evil eye, become the latest Hollywood fad -- selling for a staggering $26 a piece! - and dragging Judaism's ancient and holy mystical works onto New York Post's Page Six column, we have most certainly reached one of those times.
A group of Hollywood glitterati have turned contritely to look for the meaning of life in the great tradition of Kabbalah. An astute salesman turned "kabbalist" has taken note of their needs and filtered out the less marketable demands of Kabbalah, and presented a Kabbalah that demands little more than cash from its adherents. The reams of exhortation found in the Zohar and Arizal -- the two most fundamental Kabbalah texts -- against hedonism and lust have somehow been hidden from sight.
Firstly, there is absolutely no genuine kabbalistic source for wearing a red thread around one's wrist to ward off the "evil eye." While there exists such a practice amongst some devout Jews, it is not mentioned in any kabbalistic work.
Tosefta Shabbos 07:01) The following are practices constituting "the ways of the Amorites": one who styles his hair in the komi fashion, one who fashions a forelock, one who leaves a tuft of hair at the nape of the neck, one who drags her child among the dead, one who ties an object to his thigh or a red thread around his finger, one who counts and casts pebbles into the sea or a river—all these are "ways of the Amorites." Likewise, one who claps his hands, slaps his thighs, or dances before a flame—these, too, are "ways of the Amorites."
The Aish article is from a year ago.
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