Stones to Reduce Anxiety: Idolatrous?
Question
To relieve my anxiety, my doctor, who is an Orthodox Jew, wants me to play with a set of commercially marketed stones called ‘worry stones.’ They are sold in catalogs that sell a variety of small objects based on various cultures around the world. The idea behind them is you spend time rubbing them together and it supposedly makes you feel less anxious.
I am not orthodox myself, but I am well connected with orthodoxy and I know enough to think it sounds to me like what is termed avoda zara.
What do you think?