Shalom Bayit Pendant

November 2009
Sterling Silver

Shalom bayit is the Jewish concept of peace in the home. I wanted to strip the concept down to its simplest representation, so I started with the most basic geometric shape that I could think of that would universally represent a house—a square with the top edge bent out into a triangular shape. To represent shalom, I used the first letter of the Hebrew spelling, shin (ש). By itself, shin can also represent God, which is appropriate for the design—the Jewish ideal holds that a family that keeps God at the center of the home will be a peaceful one.