Reyna Hamsa

March 2022
Sterling silver, pearl

I make my wife a lot of jewelry, but it's mostly unsolicited—she doesn't actually wear that much of the stuff. So when she asked me to make her a talisman, I took note. She'd been wearing one of my own hamsot for a few weeks, and decided she wanted one that was more personalized. We came up with this delicate, almost gossamer-fine design.

She chose a pearl for the gem in the hamsa which is a perfect choice on multiple levels: her Hebrew name is Reyna which means "clean" or "pure," and pearls are frequently used to represent purity. They also represent the moon, whose light allows us to find our way even in the darkness. We depicted this light with thirty-six luminous, satin-polished silver rays emanating from the pearl, casting their light into every corner of the hamsa. Thirty-six is a lucky number in Judaism, representing double chai (חי), or "long life"—a word that numerologically adds up to eighteen. For the final touch, being left-handed she wanted a hamsa with a single thumb on her left side as she wears it.

May she wear it in health and may it invite in the light even in times of darkness!