Imani/Emunah StarAugust 2007 Sterling silver, 18 karat yellow gold For the occasion of the bat mitzvah of my friend Laura's daughter Imani, I thought I'd design something special. Imani and I are pretty good friends as well, by which I mean that we tease each other mercilessly. Her Hebrew name is (Emunah) which means "faith" exactly the same thing that her given name means in Swahili. I decided that I'd combine the two cultures of her names into one piece of jewelry.

as a nod to the milestone

Tell your beloved how you feel about her with these petite but dynamic earrings with a cursive form of the Chinese character for "love

Lest you think the motivation was less than romantic

Fifth night--the light of Holiness

encompassing line suggests a the walls of a garden that you and your love can continue to find each other in

and while the groom's family crest has been obscured by history

and the high-set diamond kept hitting the keys when she played

the six sets of cymbals align to form the points of an implied Star of David when the piece is viewed from the front

But while there are certainly Scandinavian Jews in the world

Tahitian pearl

and the ribbon shape encompassing the piece echoes the ribbon that ran through her bouquet

Carrying a traditional jeweler's loupe around at all times can be cumbersome—their thick lenses are bulky