How to Choose Jewish Rings for Women

Planning a wedding is such an exciting thing – you get engaged, start talking about dates, what time of year you've always wanted to get married in, venues, and before you know it - endless lists begin to pile up. And of course the bride's list is ever-so-long and seems everlasting. But don't fret, we're here to help simplify one really important task – choosing a wedding ring for the bride, in this particular case a Hebrew wedding band. 

Here are the general steps:

1. Choose a base metal for the ring.
2. Select a Hebrew inscription
3. Decide on a ring style
4. Order the correct size

Now let's drill down into them a little more:

      1. Choosing the metal used for your base ring

We start with the basics: the physical ring. According to Jewish tradition a bride's wedding ring has to be worth a Pruta, an ancient coin that was a measure of something of value. For example, making a ring out of a thread or a blade of grass may be romantic, but it's not worth a Pruta and therefore cannot be used as a valid Jewish wedding ring.

For this reason, in ancient times in was acceptable that a wedding ring be made of a precious metal, almost always gold. Now this is a metal worth quite a bit! Although, with the course of time, also silver became acceptable for Jewish rings for woman.

Ok, so now you have to consider your particular bride and ask yourself which metal would suit her better – gold or silver? If you pick silver your life just got a little easier, but if you're going to opt for gold, you'll also have to decide which color gold would be best for your wife's Hebrew wedding band: yellow gold, white gold, or rose gold? Or perhaps a combination of 2 or all 3 colors?

If you and your bride-to-be have discussed this before, you may already have your answer. Otherwise, if you're going to be choosing on your own, consider what kind of jewelry she wears now. Yellow gold is classic, white gold has shiny brilliance, and rose gold gives a tinge of vintage-feel to most rings. Think what your lady would like best.

    2. Select a beautiful Hebrew inscription

The next step in selecting Jewish rings for women is considering which inscription you want the ring to have on it. The most popular inscriptions for Hebrew wedding bands are either biblical, or they come from traditional old Hebrew texts.

The most famous and most popular is "Ani LedodiV'Dodi Li" – meaning "I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me". The quote is taken from the biblical Song of Songs, traditionally believed to have been written by King Solomon, son on King David, some nearly 3000 years ago. That's one for eternal love!

Another well-known quote used for wedding rings inscriptions is "This is my beloved, and this is my friend." Also eternal words from King Solomon, many feel that their spouses are their best friends as well as true loves. So this may be a perfect inscription for your bride's Hebrew wedding band.

A third popular choice of inscription is "When I go forth to seek you, I find you seeking me." This is a quote from a famous poem by Yehuda HaLevi dating back to the middle ages. Naturally the reason this is a popular inscription is because it shows mutuality in a relationship between spouses and their yearning for each other, wanting to help and do for one another. There are more options to consider, check in with your jeweler who you''ll be purchasing from.

   3. Deciding on a ring style

Well, you'd think "I know what metal, I know which inscription, how much more complicated can it get?" Just a little more – but we'll simplify it for you. You can have the inscription you've chosen for your fiancée's Hebrew wedding band appear on the ring in one of the following ways:

• Engraved or etched classically into the ring
• Cut-out of the metal, creating a "window" in the ring so that her finger can be seen through it
• Elevated above the band's surface, giving the ring another dimension

Ah, yes, and don't forget there are spinning rings available too – where your wife will be able to spin the ring to view the entire inscription without needed to take it off her finger.

Some women find that this is an important feature for Jewish rings for women, because they like to be able to look at the ring, reminisce about their wedding, or read words of love on their rings and be able to carry those words with them at all times. Another style element to consider is embellishments.

Today you can have a Hebrew wedding band studded with diamonds or other semi precious stones. Such bands are great for studding because there re spaces between each word that give you just enough space to add a stone. If you're bride likes diamonds you could add those in. How about studding the ring with stones o her favorite color? Now that's an idea!

4. Sizing the ring correctly

So this may be last on our list but it is super-super important. You're going to so much trouble with wedding preparations, and the ceremony is going to be so meaningful and special – why put a damper on things with the wrong size ring? A woman wants to wear her wedding ring from the ceremony onward, without having to go to a jeweler, part with the ring, have the ring resized, go pick it up again, and all that jazz. What a headache.

Do yourself a favor – make sure to order the right size ring and save a lot of heartache.

This is especially important with a Hebrew wedding band because you have word-spacing to consider. If the ring needs to be made smaller – there may be 2 words with not enough space between them; and if the ring needs to be enlarged – the words may be too far apart. So try to be as exact as possible with your size.

Also, make sure that if you're ordering a wide Jewish Ring for a woman, you need to allow a little extra space for the ring to go over her knuckle, so you may need a half size larger. It's best to have your fiancée's ring sized by a reputable jeweler to ensure you have the right size.

Now all you have to actually do is get married – Mazal Tov!