Evil Eyed
The A-list celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz designed the ayin hara tennis bracelet with perfectly matched diamonds and blue sapphires to display in the windows of The Palace Hotel in St. Moritz and Bergdorf Goodman in New York. Her pieces can be seen on the wrists of Blake Lively, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Heidi Klum, and Madonna. Outside of the Middle Eastern countries, evil-eye jewelry has been quite fashionable for at least 20 years. The Kabbalah Centers sell these types of spiritual adornments, including the famous “red string,” to their thousands of followers. One can’t go to the Kotel (Western Wall) without being approached by numerous merchants who want to entice your spiritual awareness with special red strings. I googled “evil eye jewelry” and explored the hundreds of sites selling everything from amulets to ankle bracelets, toe rings to diamond rings, all boasting a metaphysical meaning to their making. The evil eye crosses over every religion and offers an overall protection against negative energy. The red string is a personal boundary that keeps the positive forces in and the opposite out! Personally, I do remember the delightful store on Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills called PEREG. Tucked away between the scented spice barrels, assorted dried couscous mixes, and etrog jelly there was a mysterious shelf of evil remedies such as preserved fish eyes and other “Shakespearian” ingredients. This reminded me of the witch’s potion from childhood fables.