Invitations 4Stationery 4Accessories
Party Favors
Gifts 4, Cailigraphy

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SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES from page 63

Terri Trepeck

Phone: 248-258-1657
Email: invitations %invitesink.com
www.invitesink.com

surprise, it took off. The site soon

Providing personalized" service ftom start to finish

923910

Accelerated

rehabilitation centers

Physical Therapy • Sports Medicine \

Alon Rabin
DPT, MS

23800 Orchard Lake Road
Suite 101
Farmington Hills, MI 48336
Phone: 248-474-5516
Fax: 248-474-5519

Physical Therapist
Facility Manager

Other Metro-Detroit Locations to Serve You: Clarkston 248-620-8980
Commerce Township 248-363-8267 • Royal Oak 248-541-9121

•

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Specializing in?
•Party Planning of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs,
Weddings and Corporate Events
•Room Decor and Centerpieces
•Discounted Invitations & Napkins

Lori Abel
Vera Eastin

248-738-7626
cell 248-892-9999
loriabel@triton.net
Owe Sas* Sigeftfteg 1st "Iti 'foot Amoy

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Over 14
Years
Experience

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Why ovenray with the rest, when you can have the best?

lie Stole my heart Should I call

the police or

Andrea Solomon

Wedding Coordinator
g Party Planner
248-626-3421

3/24
2005

64

first saw it on the shores of
California's Tomales Bay. We
were kayaking, stopped on a
secluded beach for lunch and, sudden-
ly, when I wasn't looking, it jumped
out at me. The words I screamed
aren't fit for print.
Now I see the diamond each time I
look down at my hands.
"So? Tell me about the ring," my
best friend shrieked over the phone
when I told her I was engaged.
"Well, it belonged to his grand-
mother, Adele Hoffman, apparently a
tough old broad who lived in
Newport, Rhode Island," I answered.
"No, no," she laughed. "What's it
look like? The cut?"
I told her it was beautiful, simple. I
may have even said sparkly. As for the
cut, what did I know? I asked her
what my options were before we set-
tled on "round."
At a baby naming in San Mateo,
Calif, women encircled me to take a
peek. Some yenta I barely know
grabbed my hand at a party, telling
me she hadn't even realized I was dat-
ing. In an airport bathroom, a woman
leaned over and asked, "Tiffany's?" I
was grateful to say it was Adele's.
Some reach out, anxious to try it
on. My mother zoomed in to take a
picture.

j

leo"'

• Now That's Something to Ta

V Invitation8 r Calligraphy
Yarmulkas r balloons r Napkins
and much, much more!

941900

Publishing, (183 pages, $16.95), the
book features women's personal
accounts, up-to-date genetic testing
information, poetry and prayers, and
suggestions for making the delivery a
Jewish experience.
Falk and Judson have two children,
ages 3'/2 and 7 months. In a tele-
phone interview from their home in
the Boston suburbs, the baby wailed
in the background as Falk described
how the book came to be.
From a medical standpoint, Falk
said, "Women are educating them-
selves more and more about pregnan-
cy. They are reading about it, they
are pro-active and they are enjoying

Ndingc'ienisa
With' tie M. ock

JESSICA RAVITZ
Special to the Jewish News

Formerly
Bouquet
Balloons

948100

received 25,000 hits a month and
now has racked up more than 1 mil-
lion hits.
"Because of the Web site, people
knew the book was coming out. I'd
get letters asking, 'When is it hap-
pening?"' said Weisberg.
Expecting Miracles is not the only
such book that has been published
recently. Also new on the scene is
The Jewish Pregnancy Book by the
wife-and-husband combination of
Dr. Sandy Falk, an obstetrician/gyne-
cologist, and Rabbi Daniel Judson,
along with Steven A. Rapp.
Published by Jewish Lights

My sister, who knows me too well,
said that I "look funny in it." She's
right.
Don't be fooled by the rock. I'm still
Jessie in flip-flops. And I'm more
comfortable in them than I am in
bling-bling. The day diamonds
become my best friend, slap me.
I fantasize about flashing a gumball-
machine ring when women ask to see
it. "Isn't it beautiful," I'd say, flaunting
a plastic black spider.
This attention to the ring baffles
me, but maybe it shouldn't. Jews and
diamonds, we go way back.
Up until the early part of the 18th
century, when diamonds came almost
exclusively from India, we were the
traders in Aden, Cairo and across the
Ottoman Empire who greeted the
ships and caravans. We gave gold and
silver in exchange for the gems, which
we then resold to Jewish merchants in
Europe and Lithuania. So writes
Edward Jay Epstein in The Diamond
Invention.
We were moneylenders and gem
polishers. If we wanted to work, we
had no choice. So we cared about the
value of diamonds, Epstein writes. We
appraised, repaired, cut, polished and
sold them.
And in the face of centuries of
expulsions, diamonds became an
important asset. Easy to transport and
redeemable for cash throughout
Europe, they gave us a way to safe-