Rusty Neon said:
Is there truly a tradition behind it, as suggested in that excerpt and in the link I give above in this post?
Is there an 'authentic' tradition.
There is a tradition behind it though there are sleight variations among 'authorities' about the details of ritual/practice. The need to wrap the string round the wrist seven times is something I have only seen from the kabbalah centre. Usually you are sent enough string to wrap a piece around your wrist seven times, meaning seven consecutive times, enough to
replace the string upto seven times as each piece wears out. The kabbalah centre also seems very expensive, I believe if you contact the keepers of Racheal's tomb direct they will send you some for a small donation, you can also be more certain that the string has been prepared according to traditional ritual presciptions. As to the age of the tradition I suspect it originated not before the safed period, although it may be a far older 'folk' tradition which the kabbalists of Safed through their exegesis provided meaning and thus 'legitimised' the practice within a more orthodox Judauc context.
In "Jewish Magic and Superstition' Joshua Trachtenburg states:
"The material objects that were employed as amulets because of their
fancied occult power, were no doubt many more in number and variety
than the literature discloses. The Talmud mentions several, and
references to these are frequent in our sources, but it is difficult
to determine whether these remarks reflect a contemporaneous use of
the same charms. In this category were the fox's tail, and the
crimson thread which was hung on the forehead of a horse to protect
him from the evil eye......As to the thread, red is a colour regarded
everywhere as anti-demonic and anti-evil eye, and in the Middle Ages
we find Jewish children wearing coral necklaces, just as Christian
children did, to protect them against the evil jettatura." [p.133]
"In the case of the colour red....it has been suggested that its
magical power derives from its association with the blood of
sacrifice, for which it is a substitute, and therefore appeases the
power of evil......Despite the paucity of evidence in our sources,
medieval Jewry must have drawn extensively upon Jewish tradition and
its non-Jewish neighbours for a multitude of such charms." [p.135]
We may also add to the last remark the visa-versa, that non-Jews also
drew heavily upon Jewish tradition and sources for their charms. The
Baal Shem, who began to arrive in Europe from Persia in the 10th
century, sold their charms among the Gentiles as well as the Jews;
Scholem remarks the opinion that it was largely due to the activities
of the Baal Shem that the Jews obtained a reputation for sorcery and
witchcraft among Gentiles.
As for the number 7, that along with the number 3, also appears
a 'universal' number used in spells, ritual and charms among various
cultures, Jewish being no exception [For example, if you want to
perform "petihat lev" [opening of the heart - a memory/wisdom
spell] "purify yourself and take a cup of wine and say the psalm over
it seven times and drink it. Thus one should do three times in the
morning and drink, and ones heart will be opened to Torah."]. When
used in connection with the body in Jewish ritual it is often as a
seal of protection [before, behind, right, left, beneath, above and
centre]. Thread is also used in some Jewish spells in Heckalot
literature against 'forgetfullness', an aid to memory for the study
of the Torah, for exampe tie seven knots saying:
"I seal myself with seven seals.
Let me be safe in all my limbs,
and may I discourse in the gates of wisdom,
and may I examine the ways of understanding,
and may I gaze into the chambers of Torah,
and may I discourse in the storehouse of blessing,
and may they be stored for me.
For wisdom is before you."
In old Hekalot literature the seven seals of protection are divine
names written on seven parchments which are then tied to different
parts of the body [feet, arms, genitals, stomach, heart, neck, top of
the head]. It is possible with appropriate visualisation/incantation
to substite a more simple ritual of a winded and knotted thread
around a convenient part of the body, or to simply use a
visualised 'seal' such as in the pentagram rituals.
Other thread spells involve getting rid of illness, for example [from
Trachtenberg "Jewish Magic and Superstition"]:
"To get rid of a headache, wrap a thread three times round your head,
take its lengh and loop it through the branches of a tree, when a
bird flies though it your headache will go with it."
Rachel as symbol of Shekinah
"Thus said the Lord:
A cry is heard in Ramah
Wailing, bitter weeping
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
For her children, who are gone."
[Jeremiah xxx.15]
Of this verse the study notes to the Tanakh says:
"The portrayal of Rachel weeping draws upon the tragic tradition of
Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife, who died while giving birth to
Benjamin. Although Gen.35.16-21 places her tomb on the road to
Bethlehem, where the current structure stands, 1 Sam. 10.2 suggests
that her tomb was on the road to Ramah, near modern Ramallah. The
present text portrays her as weeping not for herself, but for her
lost children who have gone into exile. According to 40.1,4, the
Babylonians assembled Judeans destined for exile to Babylon at Ramah.
The portrayal of Rachel weeping and bereft of children is reversed in
Isa. 54, which employs the metaphore of a mother whose children are
restored. According to Rab.Gen. 82.10, Jacob deliberately buried
Rachel by the road because he knew that his descendants would pass by
as they went into exile. She would then weep and intercede for their
return. The oracle in 16-22 answers Rachels weeping with a promise of
the return of her children." end quote
This association with exile was a further means of identifying Rachel
with the Shekinah in kabbalistic exegesis. As the beloved bride whose
lips are like a scarlet thread, again identifies her with the seventh
palace Malkuth, to which the mouth is attributed, and from where the
shekinah raises up the prayers of Man, as Rachel intercedes for her
children.
Though of course Rachel in Kabbala is also the 'beloved bride' and
represents the shekinah particularly as final hei/malkuth, as Leah
represents the divine mother binah/hei aspect of shekinah [as mother
of six sons, zeir anpin chesed to yesod and one daughter, malkuth].
Just making a connection between red string and the number 7, which
in this case is referenced twice, one in that the scarlet thread is
associated with one of the seven palaces of prayer, and two through
the fact that the connecting verse from Song of Songs describes 7
characteristic of the bride [count the number of 'your' or 'like' if
you want to check]:
"Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil
Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
that have come up from the washing all of which bear twins
and not one among them is bereaved
Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your words are delightful
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal
whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors
Your two nipples are like two fawns
twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies
Until the day breathes and the shadows flee
I will go quickly to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of
frankincense.
You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you"
[Song of Solomon 4:1-7]
In Christian theology these seven attributes of the bride are attributed to the seven churches; also the 'bride' in Song of Songs is seen as an allusion to the Bride Racheal as symbol of the second remnant according to some Christian sources. There is a further connection re Racheal and the number 7
of course in that Jacob vowed to work for his uncle Laban 7 years for
the promise of her marriage, but was cheated with Leah, and had to
wait a further week [ie 7 days] for the marriage with Rachel, on the
promise he worked a further 7 years.
According to a Talmudic Midrash, Jacob suspecting that he might be
cheated gave Racheal a sign by which he might recognise her, but to
spare her unloved sister humiliation Racheal handed the sign of
recognition to her. I don't know what the sign was but according to
the online Jewish encylopedia a scarlet thread was commonly used in
early times as a sign to aid recognition (Gen. xxxviii. 28, 30; Josh.
ii. 21).
Another connection between scarlet thread and seven is that it was
connected with rites of purification, which typically lasted seven
days [for example the cured leper].
According to the first epistle of clement the red thread is a symbol
or reward for faith and hospitality:
"On account of her faith and hospitality, Rahab the harlot was saved.
For when spies were sent by Joshua, the son of Nun, to Jericho, the
king of the country ascertained that they were come to spy out their
land, and sent men to seize them, in order that, when taken, they
might be put to death. But the hospitable Rahab receiving them,
concealed them on the roof of her house under some stalks of flax.
And when the men sent by the king arrived and said "There came men
unto thee who are to spy out our land; bring them forth, for so the
king commands," she answered them, "The two men whom ye seek came
unto me, but quickly departed again and are gone," thus not
discovering the spies to them. Then she said to the men, "I know
assuredly that the Lord your God hath given you this city, for the
fear and dread of you have fallen on its inhabitants. When therefore
ye shall have taken it, keep ye me and the house of my father in
safety." And they said to her, "It shall be as thou hast spoken to
us. As soon, therefore, as thou knowest that we are at hand, thou
shall gather all thy family under thy roof, and they shall be
preserved, but all that. are found outside of thy dwelling shall
perish." Moreover, they gave her a sign to this effect, that she
should hang forth from her house a scarlet thread. And thus they made
it manifest that redemption should flow through the blood of the Lord
to all them that believe and hope in God. Ye see, beloved, that there
was not only faith, but prophecy, in this woman."
Of course the Christian interpretation of the sign is perhaps not
relevant to Jewish usage, for our purposes however Rahabs tale is an
example of the usage of the scarlet thread as a means of recognition,
in this case so that the men of Joshua's army would leave her
unharmed when they entered Jericho, [again there is the connection,
though a bit stretched, with seven - the walls falling down after the
blowing of the horns over 7 days [seven times on the seventh day].
According to the Babylonian Talmud a scarlet thread was hung on the
door of the tabernacle at Rosh Hoshanna as a sign of atonement, if it
turned white it supposedly meant that God had forgiven the Sins of
Israel. A scarlet thread was also tied round the head of the he goat
that was to be sent away in the rite of atonement.
A scarlet thread is mentioned in the Zohar in connection with the
seven palaces of prayer:
"There are also seven palaces of prayer, provided with doors by which
the prayers of man ascend to the Great Master. The first corresponds
to the "paved work of a sapphire stone" -Ex.xxiv 10. It leads to the
heaven of heavens. The second is like "the body of heaven in its
clearness" (ib,), The third is a palace of pure untinctured light,
having a point of golden splendour. The fourth is a palace of 70
lights, while the fifth is like that of the lightening and
thunderbolt, combining purple with many colours. The sixth is the
Palace of Will, and it diffuses 12 lights; its mystery is expressed
by the words: "Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet" (Song of Songs
iv,3). It is also the Palace of Love. But the seventh Palace is
devoid of all form; it constitutes the mystery of mysteries; and it
is seperated from the other habitations by a veil." {Zohar part 1,
fol. 41b-45b; I, 248-265, quoted by A.E. Waite in "The Holy
Kabbalah", note at bottom of 248 - Dover edition 2003).
Thus though there is no
direct reference to the red thread being used to
ward off the evil eye in the bible we do know from biblical references that it held some cultural and religious significance in biblical times, as a sign
of recognition, as an ingredient of rituals of cleansing and
purification, as part of temple decoration; as such I have no problem
speculating that it took on talismanic, magically protective
[apotropaic] significance among the folk of popular religion. And in
the example I have already given, as a sign of recognition upon the
doorways of Rahabs house, we can see that it was used as a protective
device. I would suggest that the choice of a red thread to identify
and give protection to an Israelite household was a symbolic token of
the sacrificial blood placed on the doorways of Israelite houses at
passover which protected the Israelites from the destroyer. It says
in the notes of the Tanack in connection with passover:
"The Israelites must apply the blood of the sacrifice to their
doorways to prevent plague from touching them, although no such
measures were needed to protect them from the earlier plagues. In
v.22 God warns all Israelites to remain indoors; in v23 he 'protects'
their houses from the destroyer; and again in v27 He 'protects' and
saves them. From these details scholars have conjectured that the
sacrifice was not an original part of the narrative about the plagues
but was based on an older shepherds rite observed on a spring night
(perhaps the night before they set out for summer pasture) when
shepherds believed they were endangered by demons who could be warded
off by remaining indoors and applying blood to their entrances. This
view of the sacrifice and its blood as apotropaic [magically
protective] is consistent with its Hebrew name Pesach [protection].
According to this theory the Israelites inherited this rite from
their pastoral ancestors but, because of its proximity in the
calendar to the exodus, they reinterpreted it as a memorial of the
exodus and introduced it into the narrative of the tenth plague."
The same notes further on also connect the blood offering with the
red thread as a sign of Israelite identity. I would suggest this
correspondence between the red thread and the blood of Pesach, which
can mean 'protection' or 'protective offering', would lend itself to
usage as an apotropaic device arising from associations within the
culture itself.
Kwaw