When I was teaching, I took great pains to wear jewellery.  Indian jewellery I bought in the Judean hills near Jericho, Yemenite jewellery inherited from my mother, Palestinian jewellery that were gifts from my students, even a bit of gold jewellery left over from my divorce of 40 odd years ago.  The jewellery helped keep the students eyes on me, even though their ears often went elsewhere.  But since the outbreak of Corona I’ve even stopped wearing earrings.  But an old friend, Heather Ferguson, woke me up to the question.  Don’t I wear jewellery for myself?  Why don’t I even wear necklaces on zoom meeting?  She has the most interesting necklaces with amazing personalities of their own.  You can look her up here. 

The big question is a sense of self.  When I go on zoom I always spray perfume (even though it is not something I think about in my usual existence (Even my husband lost his sense of smell from chemo 13 years ago).  It centers me – reminds me that I am me and I am home, no matter how far away the others are…

So now I will add necklaces to my zooms.  The next zoom I’m on is poetry and I’ll wear the piece I bought in a spa in Hevis in Hungary.  It is very flashy and tasteless and has a life of it’s own, but it gives a different proportion to the Mishnah lesson my brother teaches  – especially since this week I think we’re discussing something about modesty…