Looking for info about a gold pendant from Israel

January 10, 2014 7:09 PM

My friend has inherited a gold pendant from a recently passed mother-in-law and she was hoping to learn some more about it. Do any MeFite's know what the story might be behind this pendant? Where it's from, what it might say or represent? [more info and link to photo inside]

Here’s the link to the photo.

The gold-colored pendant would've been acquired about 17 years ago (so in the mid-1990’s) on a trip to Israel that the woman took to a grandson’s bar-mitzvah.

It is possible that the pendant doesn’t mean anything, doesn’t come from any club or organization, and doesn’t say anything at all...

...but just in case, I told my friend I would run it by you guys.

Any ideas? Ever seen something like it?

posted by blueberry to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

Best answer: It says Shalom, which is Peace.
posted by dbiedny at 7:15 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's a dove with an olive branch, it looks like it says "shalom" (peace), where the dove is the shin (the first letter).
posted by jeather at 7:15 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]

Best answer: The dove with the olive branch is from the flood story -- the dove brought the olive branch back to Noah to show that the flood was over.
posted by jeather at 7:17 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The dove brought the olive branch to show the flood was over; thus the dove and the olive branch as symbols of peace (i.e. of a world starting over free of the evil that had been washed away in the flood.) Four letters spell out the word "shalom" and the dove's body is also the first letter of the word.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:51 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I showed my friend this thread and she said

"You are amazing!!
Thank you so much!"

so I'm pasting it here since the thanks really go to you guys. Thanks for helping my friend! :)
posted by blueberry at 10:24 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]