TIA HANNI’s BRACELET

This is the story as I remember it.
No doubt if any of my older cousins read this, they will correct me (they usually do !). But the story stands on its own merits and so I will share it here with you.

Apparently, there was this precocious young lady, sometime in the late 1800s, whose name was Hannah Benoliel. It seems that her sisters and her girl-cousins too, had all managed to get married, but Hannah was not. She was not ugly, on the contrary, but somehow or other suitors did not survive with her for long. In those days this was considered something of a tragedy that a young girl from a good family could not get married.

"Hannah!"

"Si, Papa..."

"Why do you turn down all suitors? Are you waiting for Prince Charming on his white horse?"

"No Papa...."

"Entonces????"

"Papa, they are rather shallow. They talk sweet nothings and more nothings than sweet!"

"Pero tu no eres Einstien, are you?"

"No Papa, nor am I a twittering, simpering, silly, little girl either!"

"Well, you need to get married. You need to raise your own family and take care of your husband and your own children!"

"Yes ...."

"and you're getting rather old too, you're already 23!"

Hannah was not fazed. She knew her father had her best interests at heart but like all men he did not realise that women had more to them than a pretty face, enticing body (hopefully, under all those clothes), and good, cooking qualities. Definitely Hannah was born before her time. Had she been born in these times she would probably have been the first woman Chief Minister of Gibraltar.
She was neither "antipatica", nor displeasing other than she did not suffer fools gladly. Young men in those days (and perhaps 1 or 2 left nowadays) wanted a wife who was also a cook, a housekeeper, a lover and a mother to the children of their marriage. It never entered any male mind that a woman could want anything else in her life!

But Hannah did.

Another year passed and the exasperated father called Hannah again to the study.

"Hanni” (pronnouced Hann - knee) he called her by the endearing nickname he had given her. "Time is passing, mi Reina, and I want to see you married so I have thought of a solution”

Hannah steeled herself. She expected her father to arrange a marriage for her. After all he was an old man in his 60s and wanted to have all his children married before he died.

I can imagine what he would have looked like. I have no photos of my ancestors from those days. They would all pose so seriously, self -importantly, but then having a portrait taken by a camera obscura no less, was serious business, something for posterity. He was probably almost bald, wearing pince-nez spectacles, dressed in black (or brown), and a heavy smoker no doubt. Fingers slightly stained with nicotine as well as his moustache, and with a hat. All gentlemen wore hats, which in Gib to this day, we call "mascota" rather than “sombrero”, even though “mascota” in Spanish translates to a “pet” as in a pet dog or a pet cat. Maybe my penchant for hats is a throwback to those old days?

"And what is your solution Papa?"

"Here is a special gift for you." he offered her a silk-decorated box. "I bought it in Sevilla when I was there on business last month and I think it will appeal to your..... intellect."
He said this last with a bit of sarcasm but with a smile as well.

Hannah opened the box and inside was a most magnificent gold bracelet. Not an ordinary gold bracelet by any means. This one was made up of 12 slim rings, each of different colour gold; of yellow and white and rose gold. They all fitted together in line and were held together only by a kink in each of them.  
Hannah was astounded.
Gifts were given for birthdays and Purim, the Jewish feast where merrymaking and drinking is most allowed. But it was neither her birthday nor Purim nor any other feasts.

"Try it on Hanni"

As she picked it up to place it on a wrist, the 12 rings came apart like 12 hoops interlinked but separate at the same time.

"Papa!"

Her father laughed

"I told you it was special."

Hanni stared at the de-fraggled bracelet.
Those readers who remember Chinese metal puzzles will understand what was going on. These Chinese brain teasers were very popular in our youth. An assortment of metal pieces which linked together and came apart, but only if you could figure out the secret position in which to place them so that they could open or close.  
Like the Rubik Cube of today … or perhaps, yesterday?

Looking at the rings closely Hanni started gathering one ring at a time and fitting each on the kink, one on top of the other, till the bracelet was whole again.
She beamed. She loved these challenges.

"Mira, Papa ... it is whole once more!"

"Hanni, you always complain that the men who ask for your hand in marriage are shallow and brainless"

"No Papa ... not that bad ... but they have little conversation for their wives. They think that only men can talk about intellectual subjects, important subjects, politics, inventions and the like....as if women had breasts but no brains!"

"Well, Hanni, when the next suitor comes, show him your bracelets and ask him to put it back together in the first go. You did it just now, yet no one had taught you, right? If they can do so, they will have proved to you that they are clever enough to understand you and treat you as an intellectual equal."

Hanni dismantled the bracelet again ... and put it together easily. Slipping the bracelet on her left wrist she admired it, but admired more the patience and ingenuity of her father.

She hugged her father close.

"Thank you, Papa ... thank you for understanding me"

A few years or so later, Hannah was 29 at the time, well past …”best before” the preferred marriageable age, and a gentleman in his early 40s paid her a visit.

The usual niceties were spoken and during a lull in the conversation Hannah took off her bracelet.

" What do you think of this bracelet that Papa bought for me?"

As she extended her hand, she purposely let the bracelet slip and sure enough the rings cascaded randomly on the carpet.

The man, whose name was Isajar, (Spanish J for English hard H) an old-fashioned Jewish name even then, picked up the rings and quietly fitted them all back on their kinks. He looked at the bracelet, admired it and returned it to Hannah.

"It is a beautiful bracelet that is why it suits you so well"  he said quietly."and now I do not want to overstay my welcome. But if your parents would allow me to visit you again, I would be very honoured"

He rose elegantly from the velvet covered sofa, kissed Hannah's hand and said goodbye.

Yes, as you can imagine Hannah asked him to visit again… and again …and at the ripe old age of 30 Hannah married him and lived happily ever after. However, they had no children and years later when she was an elderly widow, she decided to start giving away her jewellery to her favourite relatives.

One of them was her niece, my maternal grandmother, Donna Benady (nee Levy de Balensi) and it was she who inherited the bracelet.
For those who are curious about names, the surname “Levy de Balensi” dates back to 12th century Spain. "Levy" denotes that the person was a Levite, a descendant from one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. And "de Balensi"... rather obviously means "From Valencia" in Spain. This differentiated them from Levys from other towns.

Back to the story.

When my grandmother passed away, she requested that all her jewellery be shared by her four daughters, by lots. Each piece was given a number and as each daughter picked a number, unknowing what item each number represented, each collected what Fortune had dictated.
My own mother, Esther (Tete), received Hannah's bracelet.

I remember that bracelet since I was a baby. It doubled as a rattle as well as a "shut him up" toy. Mum wore it often and despite the years, the gold strands sill had a beautiful sheen to it. It was indeed her favourite bracelet.
Many years passed and in 2006 and I started a whole new career in jewellery. Surprising even myself, I started designing pieces which were very good sellers. By then I had an excellent working relationship with a namesake of mine, David Moss of Shablool, one of Israel's leading silver jewellery producers. It would be a beautiful idea to have Hannah’s bracelet duplicated in silver. Those who know of my designs know that I like doing Concept Jewellery. Rather than designing any old piece, I like to seek out a concept, an idea, a philosophy, a story....and then give shape to the concept with a physical piece.

Hannah's bracelet was an ideal concept to do. It had such a lovely story of an age long passed.  I convinced Mum and she gave it to me. I packed it carefully and sent it Registered Air Mail to Israel.......

.... but it got lost in the post!

We tried to trace it in a million ways. My friend, the late Frank Bado was extremely helpful, but even his postal expertise could not recover Hannah's bracelet.

How was I ever going to explain this to Mum? She was well into her 90s by then and I remember feeling very queasy having to go to her and tell her what had happened to her favourite bracelet.

She looked at me, smiled sadly and said:

"I never cry for anything that cannot cry for me!"

The simplicity of this truism, the equanimity of her response, is one the greatest lessons I have ever learnt in my life.

“NEVER CRY FOR ANYTHING THAT CANNOT CRY FOR YOU”