It is ironic that when celebrities pick out cheap stuff to accessorize their wardrobe, these inexpensive accessories have the potential to render the more expensive baubles obsolete and maybe even tacky. Case in point - the simple Kabbalah bracelets that pop star Madonna now wears around her wrist to show her faith in the Kabbalah body of thought.



The Kabbalah bracelet is just a red woolen string that Kabbalah believers use to symbolize the red string that was supposed to have been wrapped around Jewish matriarch Rachel's tomb. There are some who say that the Kabbalah bracelet can prevent evil or the 'evil eye' from harming the person wearing the red string.

But since Madonna started her studies of the ancient Jewish philosophy of Kabbalah, many celebrities have seen the kitsch value of wearing Kabbalah bracelets - maybe to show they are 'in' and can follow any trend Madonna sees fit to start. Ironically, Madonna once made a song called 'Material Girl' where she parodied Marilyn Monroe and where Madonna was seen in the music video wearing expensive jewelry. But that was back in her pre-Kabbalah days, when diamond bracelets probably meant more to her than the simple Kabbalah bracelets.

So does this bode good or evil for those who make diamond bracelets and sell them? Well, at this moment, the answer to that is up in the air. It may depend on how many people follow Madonna's example and foreswear diamond bracelets in favor of the red string bracelets instead. It may also depend on how much people still want to wear diamond bracelets. It seems hard to believe that the practice of wearing diamond bracelets (which has been around for centuries) will suddenly be thrown out the window because of one pop star's inclinations though.

There is an interesting aspect to this debate. The so-called 'evil eye' is actually a reference to how our eyes look when we are feeling envious or jealous of another person - hence we have 'evil eyes' when we have those feelings. That is why Kabbalah believers simply wear a red woolen string around their wrist to show those who are feeling envious and jealous of us that we are not wearing expensive jewelry so they should not feel envious or jealous of us. On the other hand, if you go around sporting diamond bracelets (especially those that look really, really nice) then it is almost certain at some point someone will start to feel envious or jealous of you - hence, you bring on the 'evil eye' on yourself.

So if you are one of those who do not want other people to feel angry at you for being more affluent than them, you might want to choose to wear Kabbalah bracelets instead to appease their anger. But if the feelings of other people doesn't really bother you that much, or not at all, then maybe diamond bracelets are acceptable for you to wear instead.

There is another ironic aspect to the issue - often, the very people who can afford diamond bracelets (like Hollywood celebrities) are the very ones opting to just wear the Kabbalah bracelets. That may mean retailers of diamond bracelets will have to market their wares to more common folk if they are to stay in the black, at least until the craze for Kabbalah bracelets dies down and people start craving diamond bracelets once again.