Jewish Star Bracelet with black diamonds

There are many ways to wear jewelry.  Some days you can be classy, edgy, mis-matchy, sophisticated… You get my drift.  However, the one nice thing with style these days is that nothing really has to match.  Bracelets for sure need no rhyme or reason….pile those on and clink clank away!

Judaic Good Luck Bracelets

Too Many Bracelets?

Ok, so the style nowadays is bracelets. Bracelets stacked, piled on high, jingling and jangling on your wrist!

I have to admit I love the sound of the clanking and movement on my arm as my bracelets hit against one another making a soft melody of sorts. 

I call it jewelry music to my ears.

This image is of stainless steel cable bracelets set in sterling silver with diamonds.

The evil eye design has a large center sapphire, worn to bring you good luck.

The nice thing about the steel metal is that is doesn’t tarnish as silver does.

Clank, clank, clink, clink. How many can you wear at once?

Each design is available in four colors: rose, silver, black, gold

a) hamsa with two hearts

b) rondels

c) tri-color cuff

d) evil eye

e) triple hearts

f) circles

g-j) triple six pointed stars aka Jewish Stars

k) Chai – Hebrew for Life

 And if you wanted a matching ring with all luck symbols, well hey…. take a peek here!

So, way back when in 1970, the hippies were out in full force and they created Earth Day.  Come to think of it, it really wasn’t that long ago when practically every car spewed out black gas and we’d have to close our air conditioning vents for fear of breathing in the fumes.  Remember the days when you would toss a water bottle in the trash without a second thought.  Or, how about leaving the water on while washing your car, not a care in the world as it floated away down the driveway. 

blue recycle bins

American households actually have come a long way.  Now, no need to tell me that, “These little acts don’t make dent on the real problems with the environment,” but multiply each little act by a few million and now we’re talking!  I chuckle on thinking back to the memory of Los Angeles trash pick up when they gave each household a tiny little yellow bin for the week and said, “recycle!”  Now we have these gigantic blue bins at each house and lo-and-behold mine is full each week. 

Earth Day– it became a reality in the past 40 years.  Look how far we have come.

Passover begins at sundown, Friday April 6, by the secular calendar for 2012 CE. Long before Dr. Atkin’s carb-free regimen, observant Jews have abstained from eating leavened bread in order to keep the feast called Passover—only matzo, which contains no yeast.

At the Pesach Seder, three matzo have a place of honor on the table, regally, and somewhat cryptically, kept in a linen bag. The Seder climaxes with the eating of a broken piece of matzo, called the “afikomen”.

There is mystique, mystery, possibly misunderstanding, lots of discussion and scholarly argument about the meanings and origin of the afikomen tradition.

Some traditions encourage hiding and ransoming the broken piece, rewarding the children who find it. In some parts of the world, a bit of the afikomen is preserved, kept as a talisman against (you guessed it) the evil eye, even tossed into the sea to calm the waves before ocean-travel.

Let’s start with the obvious: the word itself. Like many other words in our vocabulary—let’s say, “Sephora”—it may “sound” like Hebrew. In context, we may think it’s Hebrew—sounds good, as in,  “Please allow me to introduce Miss Sephora Bindefeld of Great Neck, New York.” 

But unlike “Sephora”, which is a completely made-up word (kudos to those clever marketing people!), afikomen is a Greek word. Depending upon who you ask, this Greek word means literally “nothing”, or “what comes after”, or something else entirely. For the record, Christian scholars who study Greek give the word a specifically Messianic interpretation.

Most people would translate “afikomen” as “dessert”, because this is how it’s used at the Seder table: “Bring out the (flourless) dessert!”.  (For all the moms and other Passover bakers out there, check out these flour-free, Passover-perfect dessert recipes from smittenkitchen.com: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/17-passover-dessert-ideas/)

A more complete reference is the law of Passover: “Ein maftirin ahar he-pesah afikomen”, usually translated as “One may not eat dessert after the Passover offering.”

Another reading is more to the effect of “Do not go out after eating the Paschal lamb.” Okay, wait a minute. You may be thinking to yourself, Hey, I’ve been to a lot of Seders, and we’ve never eaten lamb, although Moses makes reference to the traditional sacrificial lamb whose blood was used to mark the doorways, protecting the families within. You know the story by now.

But lamb was edited out of the Seder menu after the destruction of the Temple. Now matzo stands in its place, since without the Temple, proper sacrifice could not be offered.

Some scholars draw on the interpretation of Rav, who wrote that the phrase means that after the Passover meal, one should not wander from group to group. Rashi interpreted this to mean that we are commanded not to take our utensils from the table and go off for a nosh, elsewhere.

Oy, the opinions. There are more esoteric interpretations, too. Shemuel and R. Yochanan, for instance, describe the word as meaning “mushrooms for me and pigeons for Abba” (?), dates, “parched ears” (which we’re thinking is like toasted wheat and barley…), and nuts. Finger-foods? Snacks? You decide.

In modern times, this familiar Talmudic passage has also been interpreted as a reference to a slightly different Greek word, “epikomazein”, transposed into Hebrew as “epikoman”. This may refer to the fact that the Hellenic Greeks were terrific partiers, and frequently stopped by the homes of friends after dinner for a few goblets of the grape, maybe some ouzo, some dancing, a few laughs.

Here’s a sharp division between the Hellenic world and the Hebrew world. Passover is not the time, the Talmud tells us, for getting rowdy.  Although Passover is absolutely a time of joy, the holiday keeps its solemnity. It is a time to connect with the Almighty—a different sort of celebration.

 Okay, right now I happen to be swooning over the recipe for Chocolate Caramel Crackers made with matzo on www.smittenkitchen.com. It’s frum-yum, but indeed, the last taste in our grateful mouths at the end of the Seder is the taste of matzo—an “olive-sized” bite, as the Talmud tells us. Not dessert in the conventional sense. It indeed is sweet, not literally but symbolically, and, it’s a mitzvah—a commandment.

I’m still thinking about those mushrooms for me…. and pigeons for Abba.

L’chaim ! Next year in Jerusalem!

No seriously, who doesn’t wear green for St. Patrick’s Day?  I remember as a kid saying, “hey, don’t pinch me even my underwear are green!”

My mom always thought this green day was just the best, and trust me, we don’t have a single Irish relative.  Green food dominated the day– green bagels, green drinks, green plates and silverware, green pasta, and salad of course.  Us kids now ask if we are having green dinner once again this St. Patrick’s Day.

This week in school my little one in kindergarten had to make a lepruchaun trap for her homework.  We had a blast decorating our oatmel box and cutting out shamrocks.  All the while explaining how  lepruchauns are tricky little guys as big as your thumb and like gold. 

Lepruchaun trap

I guess the point of this blog is that sometimes celebrations are just that– celebrations.  It really doesn’t matter what ethnicity you are– sometimes holidays are about being silly and giggling– regardless of the background or meaning of it.  I wish life was that simple……..  In the meantime I have to think about what is green to eat this March 17th!

Wouldn't Drake look good in a Jewish Star Necklace?

Men

Men Men Men Men Men and jewelry!  I can’t tell you how many times we get asked for Bar Mitzvah jewelry for boys or just, “what do you have for men?!”  My response is always the same, “they are so hard!”  Why?  I mean really, can’t they all just wear a huge chai design?  It means “life”, it represents longevity, has the Jewish/Hebrew factor in it, what else do they need?

Alas, I know as well as you that all men are different and want style.  Ok, I get it.  I just have such a hard time designing for men!  Then I thought of the singer Drake (click here if you don’t know who I mean), the one who is always known first as an artist, then as a Jew.  I guess that it isn’t everyday you see one of the hottest musician out there being Jewish, but hey, we live in a modern age, but that is a different blog for a different day.

There is a large, or rather extra large Star of David necklace that was Drake-inspired.  Thinking of which handsome, tall, popular singer would wear this necklace that oooozed style….and this design was created.  Wouldn’t this Jewish Star look fabulous on Drake?

Jewish Star for Men

Well, on any guy that is over 6ft and likes to wear jewelry.  Are you that man?  Do you know that man?  I have yet to meet him, but if you know how to contact Drake, I would love him to send him this necklace.  Dreams……..

We think that it’s no coincidence that Purim falls in March, which is National Women’s Month. Purim always calls for the reading of the Book of Esther, the woman who embodies Jewish resistance to annihilation. That’s what we call girl-power, Kosher-style!

Rabbinic tradition tells us that Esther was one of the four most beautiful Jewish women of all time (Sarah, Rahab and Abigail were the others). What you may not know about Esther is that her Hebrew name was Hadassah (meaning “myrtle tree”), now familiar to us as the benevolent organization of women who work in support of the Jewish community, and the larger world-community, too.

She was a Jewish orphan who became the most powerful woman on earth, by marrying King Ahasueras , King of Persia. Was it looks alone? Was it that year-long makeover that Esther experienced, with all of those aromatic baths, oils, myrrh and perfumes? Not likely – King Ahasueras had lots of options. He was, after all, the world’s most eligible bachelor! Yes, he had a harem. And of all the babes in the realm, he chose Esther as his queen. And the rest is history.

Our advice for Purim: enjoy a lovely bath, a nice massage with aromatherapy oils, and put on your favorite jewelry in celebration of Esther, and women everywhere.

Relaxing at the Lady Spa

Tu B’Shevat is a pretty cool holiday when you think about it.

Come on, we celebrate the earth, the trees, new fruit, give thanks to the land… How often do we really sit back and say, “Earth– Thanks!”  We can even say it is a time to stop and smell the roses, literally.  Seeing the beauty around us, from the new blossoms on tree branches to the spring rains and longer days.

Many homes have a Tu B’shvat seder, which literally means “order.”  Much like the Pesach seder, there is an order to this event of blessing new fruits.  For example, you should have fruits or nuts with an inedible outer shell and an edible inner core.  This would be an orange, pineapple, pomegranate or an almond.  The other would be a fruit with edible outer flesh and pithy, inedible cores such as an olive, apricot or cherry.  And finally, a fruit which is totally edible like a grape, strawberry or raspberry.

When I taught religious school, we would teach the students that the seder of the fruit is much like the personalities of a person.  Now, bear with me on this one please and follow along.

1.  Some people have a tough outer shell but a soft heart, a generous soul.

2. Some have a soft outer persona, but on the inside are strong.

3.  Some are “you get what you see” and there is no hiding.

I can place myself into one of these categories in a heartbeat, how about you?

And hey, if you want to wear a tough outer shell with an edible inner core I can always offer you a pomegranate necklace to wear!

Pomegranate Necklace