The story of the ring

Many people ask me what is says on my ring. Not because they are illiterate but because it's in Hebrew; the language spoken in Israel and by this 26-year-old Jewish girl who learned it at Herzlia for 10 years.

Looks dirtier in the picture

The story starts back in 2005 when we were sitting on a very dodgy bus on a very high mountain travelling to the Dead Sea for a painful swim in salt water. One of the girls that was on tour had a different ring on with the inscription of "גם זה יעבור" (Gam Zeh Ya'avor)  translated to "This too shall pass". Quite a popular saying but a reminder that whatever you may going through, it will soon bugger off. The interest was peaked when the girl mentioned you could get the rings made at this little shop in the Kotel aka the Western Wall in Jerusalem. What was even way cooler is that all 170 of us were staying at the Jerusalem Gate Hotel. Convenience? Fate.


My best friend of now 23 years circa the time we were running around Vered Pre-Primary and Nursery School in the Glen in Camps Bay or making a lot of noise on the beachfront decided she was to get one too. The night before the early wake up call aka 6:30am, many had decided to go out on the jol and even though I retired early due to being horribly ill with pneumonia and bronchitus, my friend rolled in and literally said "get dressed, we're going."


6 of us in a cab later, we arrived in the wee hours of the morning to a beautiful sunrise over the Kotel and just for that peace, quiet and beauty was worth it all. Morning prayers could be seen and heard from 3 of the world's biggest religions in the holy city. At that moment, it was a city at peace. 


I don't follow the leaders

The name of the shop is Hadaya and the owner always gives discounts to his first customers so we were lucky to get an amount off those dollars we spent. I decided to go with a different inscription and decided to take an excerpt out of the Traveller's Prayer (Tefilat HaDerech). Now if you know me, then you'll know I was in that bus that careened down Ou Kaapse Weg in 1998 and was saved by a small barrier from a 60ft drop and most probably a worser outcome. So I lost a spleen, had a bit of plastic surgery to the left side of my face and a lot of rehab on the left shoulder but I'm alive and that's all that matters. And with all the NSRI activity that I do, it probably added to my different decision. 


The inscription reads:

שֶתּוֹלִיכֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם וְתַצְעִידֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם. וְתִסְמְכֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם. וְתַדְרִיכֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם. וְתַגִיעֵנוּ לִמְחוֹז חֶפְצֵנוּ           לְחַיִּים וּלְשִמְחָה וּלְשָלוֹם

"...Guide our footsteps toward peace, and make us reach our desired destination for life, gladness, and peace."

The inside inscription says Rivkah - my Hebrew name

Basically, it means "May you get to your destination/path in life with happiness" Not too much to ask for right? 


And that folks, is the story of the ring.


P.S. Maybe my next installment should be the story of the Tiffany & Co ring