This article appeared in the Aug. 29, 2003 Jewish Advocate.

Zohar Fine Jewelry and Gifts

Opens in Coolidge Corner

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

The art of fine jewelry has long been practiced in Josef Saeidian’s family. As a teenager in Isfahan, Iran, he worked at the jewelry and Judaica store his father Baruch Saeidian operated for forty years; the extended family’s dedication to the Judaic faith also included an appreciation of the Kabbalah. On July 16, Saeidian continued both disciplines when he opened Zohar Fine Jewelry and Gifts in the former Stone’s Throw Gallery location at 1389 Beacon St. in Coolidge Corner, Brookline. Zohar had been doing business since 1992 in a Faneuil Hall location, which was closed a week before the Brookline opening.

“We are a full-service jewelry and gift store with a Jewish flavor,” he said. Its gift art sculpture by Israeli artist Frank Meisler includes mezuzot, menorahs, Kiddush cups, bronze and silver figures of Judaic musicians; an assortment of candlesticks is expected in time for the High Holidays. Saeidian also carries a jewelry collection by Scottish architect Frank Lloyd, as well as handmade gold and silver jewelry, baby gifts, men’s accessories, picture frames, candle holders and other home décor items.

Saeidian named the store Zohar because of his dedication to the Kabbalah. “Zohar also means shining, and stars,” he explained, analogizing the brightness of his merchandise. Themes of the Zohar, the main book followed by students of the ancient mystical tradition, are depicted in much of his jewelry.

His father, Baruch, who died in 1998 in Tehran, raised his family in Isfahan, a town about six hours’ drive south. He had worked as an apprentice in a similar store at the age of 15, starting his own practice, which included a workshop, at 25. Josef Saeidian would work on weekends and after school. His grandfather, Rabbi Ezra Cohen, who eventually settled in Jerusalem, taught Torah and Jewish observance to the family; his mother, Saltanat Cohen, was also religiously influential.

“The Jewish community was very large,” Saeidian recalled. Isfahan had about ten synagogues, each observant without Reform, Conservative or Orthodox distinctions. Following the revolution of the late 1970’s, the Iranian government covered the ancient Hebrew writings on the walls of the oldest synagogues with fabric. As a tourist there 20 years ago, Saeidian heard the tour guide present the building as an old mosque, not a synagogue. “The other most ancient synagogue became a school of calligraphy,” he said. A small Isfahan Jewish community still exists today. Saeidian no longer has family there, as most went to Israel and elsewhere for job opportunities. A brother and a sister remain in Tehran.

During his years studying French in the French government’s Alliance school for Jewish youth, Saeidian became interested in the Kabbalah, but his uncle, Rabbi Reuven Saeidian, relating a parable that in order to learn Kabbalah, one must be old enough to think about more than himself, waited until the 1980s to teach it to him. Saeidian earned a degree in jewelry design from the Treasure of Arts and Crafts school of art and design in Tehran in 1987.

“One day I was cleaning the glass in my store and a passerby told me to make it very nice and clean,” said Saeidian. “In other words, he implied that he was going to take it over, and I knew I had no choice. After Khoemeni took power, we had none left.” Prior to the family’s emigrating to the US, Saeidian studied and worked as a dental technician, believing that both jewelry making and dental technician skills would help launch a jewelry making business.

His wife Giti, born in Israham, attended high school in Tehran, where she studied architecture and also obtained an art degree. In the US, she studied at the School at the Museum of Fine Arts. Presently a real estate broker at Chobee Hoy Associates in Brookline, she also helps at the store, where her artistic background is reflected in the store’s showcases and general design. “She has a magic touch,” said Saeidian.

The family, 17-year residents of Brookline, belongs to the Sephardic Congregation at the basement of Temple Beth Zion. Saeidian’s son, Soroush, 18, will study business at Dean College in Franklin in September. The couple have a younger son, Natan, 7.

“I’m working on new designs,” said Saeidian, mentioning a ring with inscribed Hebrew letters. “I’m making casts for each Hebrew letter to be used in this way,” he said. “Zohar Fine Jewelry and Gifts combines all of the aspects of my career and my life,” he added.

For information, please visit the store, or call 617-739-0222.

"Giti Saeidian" <gsaeidian@msn.com>