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 SaeidianÕs 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 familyÕs 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 StoneÕs 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.
ÒWe are a
full-service jewelry and gift store with a Jewish flavor,Ó 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, menÕs accessories, picture frames, candle
holders and other home dŽcor items.
Saeidian named
the store Zohar because of his dedication to the Kabbalah. ÒZohar also means
shining, and stars,Ó 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 hoursÕ 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.
ÒThe Jewish
community was very large,Ó Saeidian recalled. Isfahan had about ten synagogues,
each observant without Reform, Conservative or Orthodox distinctions. Following
the revolution of the late 1970Õs, 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. ÒThe other most ancient synagogue became a school
of calligraphy,Ó 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 governmentÕs 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.
ÒOne day I was
cleaning the glass in my store and a passerby told me to make it very nice and
clean,Ó said Saeidian. ÒIn 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.Ó
Prior to the familyÕs 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 storeÕs showcases and general design. ÒShe has a magic touch,Ó
said Saeidian.
The family,
17-year residents of Brookline, belongs to the Sephardic Congregation at the
basement of Temple Beth Zion. SaeidianÕs son, Soroush, 18, will study business
at Dean College in Franklin in September. The couple have a younger son, Natan,
7.
ÒIÕm working on
new designs,Ó said Saeidian, mentioning a ring with inscribed Hebrew letters.
ÒIÕm making casts for each Hebrew letter to be used in this way,Ó he said.
ÒZohar Fine Jewelry and Gifts combines all of the aspects of my career and my
life,Ó he added.
For information,
please visit the store, or call 617-739-0222.
"Giti
Saeidian" <gsaeidian@msn.com>