Red is on the spectrum of my favorite colors. You will invariably see me in pink, red, and purple, especially on my toes. I had tried a muted blue-gray last pedicure and it just didn’t sit right, so this last time it was back to a wonderful fall inspired purple.
But this got me thinking about what the color red actually means throughout my life. It has been quite prominent in fact.
I honestly think it’s something I inherited from my mother. No she was not partial to red. She really liked brown. She enjoyed more earth tones. However, red held a special place in our family because it was the way to ward off the “evil eye.”
Oh yes. As we say in yiddish, “k'nayin horeh,” or in hebrew, “bli ayin harah.” And of course there was the obligatory red ribbon that went on my crib as a child and went on my sons’ cribs as well.
You may have heard about the little red strings that the vapid rather ignorant, now mostly antisemitic, hollywood elite decided to wear decades ago when some watered down version of Kabbalah became all the rage. Of course, then jewelers got into the mix and there were any number of lovely little bracelets with an evil eye charm attached. In fact, you can still find “evil eye” jewelry all over. Heck, I have an evil eye coin purse.
For anyone who wants to study true kabbalah though, it is said that a person isn’t ready to even begin studying kabbalah until 40. And of course, with everything that happens in Judaism, there is disagreement about that, too. It’s not really a hard and fast rule. It’s more like a pushy suggestion. Where the rabbis decided it was at this age that after enough basic learning, a person would be mature enough to put in the work it takes to understand what kabbalah is trying to teach. Of course, someone may be ready at 25 and others never…it depends on the person as well.
Now humans have always had superstitions. In fact, the evil eye isn’t unique to Jewish culture either. From the Italian horn, to the blue doors of an Arab home, to sage rituals, to a Hamsa (this can be found in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim homes), to any variety of amulets worn throughout history.
Being able to fend off something that had no rhyme nor reason to it, was humanity’s way of wresting back control from an otherwise random situation. As the saying goes, “life is not fair,” and it is not fair because so many arbitrary things can happen to anyone at any given time. And it’s truly not like anyone is immune. They may think they are, but the fates always have a way of deciding otherwise.
It is also human nature to lament why me, when something bad happens. It is why the book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” was such a hit. But I think people forget that nothing is guaranteed in life. More likely, you should ask, why not me? Why do I think I am so special that life’s trials and tribulations would pass me by?
I have to tell you, it’s why I always felt that believing in hell was so unfair. Isn’t it hell enough on earth for some people? To say that suffering entitles you to enter the kingdom of heaven, doesn’t actually denote a kind and loving God. I think it denotes a vindictive, angry person who likes nothing better than to see others suffer.
Ok, we can get into the entire question of “free will” and being responsible for our actions, vis-a-vis heaven versus hell. But it just seems to me that for some people, God really needs to cut some of his children some slack. Do people really need to suffer more than they do here on earth?
Alright, some people actually do. I remember decades ago, it was reported that an imprisoned nazi who had participated in the Auschwitz death camp had just died in prison of lung cancer. Thinking back, my first reaction was, someone got their just deserts. Then I thought, it still wasn’t enough and I was hoping at that moment that christians were right about hell. (We can put any number of heinous criminals in this category as well.)
(Yes, “ayin tachat ayin,” an eye for an eye, is real and sometimes it can assuage pain. And yes I know, if we followed that for every day, everyone in the world would probably walk around blind and deaf. [It really means the punishment should fit the crime] Honestly, I actually think the majority of the world does walk around blind and deaf to the pain of others, or to the selective pain of others, most of the time.)
Meanwhile, there’s another Jewish saying,"der mentsh trakht un got lakht,” man plans and God laughs. For we always have desires, hopes and dreams, that we would like to accomplish, or have our loved ones accomplish. But for some reason, reality tends to get in the way. Sometimes it gives you a real kick in the ass in fact. So we need to prepare and brace ourselves for adversity. Hence amulets. Specifically little red strings.
I have to be honest. I am superstitious. Not in the Fiddler on the Roof way, where my husband can tell me a fable about a dream and I would believe my dead grandmother is speaking to me through him. Truly, even if my bube did, I would not listen.
Now throughout my home I have a mezuzah on every doorpost. A little bit of Torah can’t hurt. It’s also why I have my sons say Shema every friday night when we light sabbath candles and we have added the Ve’ahavta. This is the part taken from Deuteronomy where we are commanded to place the mezuzah on the doorpost extolling the existence of God and our love of him.
And of course, there are hamsas all over my home. In the front hallway. In my kitchen. In my curio cabinet. Around my neck (along with my Star of David). And yes, they all come from Israel. Except for the one hamsa that a friend brought me back from Turkey.
Then of course there is the red leather bracelet around my wrist, complete with etchings of a Star of David, a hamsa, and the first 2 lines of the Shema. Hey, if I am going to be protected I am going to go all out.
So we return to red. A vibrant color supposed to symbolize love in that ancient greco-roman way. Most notably seen all over on Valentine’s Day. A special meaning associated with hearth, home, and a rather rapacious libido.
But red has another meaning in Kabbalah. Red is the color of passion. Crimson red represents the soul’s passionate yearning to cleave to Hashem. Like the flame surging upward, our soul is in a constant dance of passionately yearning to reconnect to its source and reunite with Hashem.
It is this red that we use to protect ourselves from evil.