The thing about rings

Upon her arrival in Israel this week, a friend of mine picked up this pretty, functional necklace.

Sara Feld's Ring Saver Pendant features the outline of Israel inside a heart - but it's also got a secret use! The hooked side of the heart serves as a safe place to hang your rings, wedding and otherwise, for those times when you may need jewelry-free hands but don't want to risk leaving your most cherished jewelry behind. Says Feld's artist bio, "Sarah Feld is a Israeli artist and a practical woman at the same time. Like most good ideas, the Ring Saver came into being as a solution to a common problem. Savta Sarah, as she is referred to in her family, a highly creative woman was tired of misplacing her rings and developed the idea of Ring Saver."

As someone who's at one point or another misplaced just about every valuable item I own, I like the idea, and I'm always impressed by dual-purpose items that are more than they seem. But I have a bone to pick with whomever wrote the online description of Feld's pendant, which reads: "A great idea for any woman! This heart shaped Ring Saver pendant will hold your rings when you wash your hands or need to take your ring off in the kitchen."

Call me a sensitive/angry/picky feminist if you will, but to me, this description smacks of the old chauvinist adage "A woman's place is in the kitchen." Is the kitchen the only place where a woman could possibly need to remove her jewelry? What if you're doing pottery & need to remove your ring? Gardening? Fixing a car? Milking a cow? The list goes on and on, filled with things a woman could be doing that have nothing to do with baking kugels and washing casserole pans!

What do you think? Am I overreacting, or could this necklace description use a feminist-driven rewrite? I can see it now: "A great idea for any woman! This heart shaped Ring Saver pendant will hold your rings when you wash your hands or need to take your ring off to chop down lumber."

3 Comments
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Hi, Sarah Feld here. I actually wrote 'whenever you need to remove your rings, temporarily - to wash, apply lotion' or for any other reason.

The word kitchen does not appear in the insert that accompanies the RingSaver. And by the way, there are two other designs: A pomegranate, and a Magen David, both of which you can hang your rings on - for any reason!

As a doula, I often remove my rings, (and hang them on the RingSaver) when giving a massage, or when the birthing woman is squeezing my hand really hard.

Wear the pendant anytime. I'd love to hear more ideas for when you use it.

blessings for a sweet new year, Sarah

You know, it's funny because the times I need this necklace the most are when I'm putting on lotion. I suppose the people who created the ring knew that it would market best to those in the community, in Israel, who were observant and pumped out challah and big ole' Shabbos meals. Does that make it right? Nah. I see your point of view!

No, I'm with you - it's a beautiful piece of jewelry with a description that needs a re-write! I've taken off my wedding ring to go camping, to lay bricks, to dig in the garden, to paint the house, and other activities that I think might scratch the gold. I have yet to remove it in the kitchen.

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How to cite this page

Bigam, Kate. "The thing about rings." 14 July 2011. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on April 25, 2024) <http://jwa.org/blog/the-thing-about-rings>.