The more observant among you must have noticed that more and more people are wearing a red thread tied around the wrist of the left or right hand. Most often, the red thread is tied around the wrist of pregnant women, small children, the ill, etc.
The tradition of wearing a red thread on the wrist against negative energy and evil eyes is so old that no one can really say where it originated from. According to some, tying with a red thread derives from the thread, which the grave of Rachel, the second and beloved wife of the patriarch of the Jews, Jacob, was tied with.
Nowadays, Rachel's tomb in Netivot is visited annually by tens of thousands of women who suffer infertility and want to have the much-desired child. But the Christian church denies this tradition and other similar rituals, declaring them as pagan.
On the other hand, according to Kabbalah the red thread represents a powerful energy channel that has the ability to influence people's destiny and behavior. Kabbalah dictates that the red thread must be tied on the left hand, because it protects against negative energy, which as a rule attacks us from the left.
Traditionally, the red thread is tied on the wrist by a trusted person whom we love and trust completely. The thread must be tied using exactly seven knots, each of these knots symbolizing a particular god.
