Today was Raksha Bandhan, a Northern Indian festival celebrating the ties of siblinghood...literally. On this festival, women tie rakhi (bracelets or decorative strings) around the wrists of their brothers, to signify the enduring bond between them. Apparently in some communities it transcends familial bonds; friends and neighbors tie rakhi and bless one another, as a way of affirming communal connections.

Though some sites indicate that sequined bracelets are de rigeur, most say that ordinary red threads suffice. In my own tradition, there's been some brouhaha about red threads lately: the red string bracelets some "kabbalah devotees" wear to ward off the evil eye. Last week the internet was abuzz with the news that Target was selling red string as a "hot buy" -- in 72-inch increments, because Target always offers a good deal, right? -- but alas, the page no longer exists, probably because Target stopped selling the strings when they were lambasted by Orthodox leaders. Whoops.

I'm not a fan of the current kabbalah craze; I find the Kabbalah Centre cultish and divorced from the rest of Judaism, and I think they essentialize, minimize, and uproot kabbalah from its context. Kabbalah's tricky stuff. Even if one doesn't hold to the traditional belief that students of kabbalah must be at least forty, married, and well-versed in Torah (not to mention male), the subject deserves more respect and more intensive study than red-string-wearing celebrities generally accord it. (Robert Eisen has some interesting thoughts on that, expressed very articulately.) If you want a taste of kabbalah, read Daniel Matt's new Zohar translation, or some Gerschom Scholem, or some Moshe Idel. Take kabbalah seriously enough to learn it in context. Leave the red string bracelets to the folks celebrating Raksha Bandhan.

Speaking of which: if I knew the appropriate greeting, I'd wish my Hindi readers a good holiday. Can any of you tell me the Hindi equivalent of "good yontif"...?