YK- White gold jewelry? gold costume jewelry??

TranquilityAndPeace

Tue, Sep 25 2012, 9:08 am

Does the idea of not wearing gold on YK only apply to real gold? ie - not wearing white gold?

Or even the color gold, ie - not wearing gold costume jewelry?

TIA!

OOTBubby

Tue, Sep 25 2012, 9:18 am

I don't wear real gold. I wear my stainless steel watch with gold colored accents. I wear pearl earrings. Don't wear wedding band or engagement ring. If I wear a necklace I wear pearls.

Chana Miriam S

Tue, Sep 25 2012, 9:29 am

I am wearing gold earrings but the holes will close up if I take them out and these are the only earrings that I can wear that don't torture me. How big of a problem is it? I never heard the gold thing before....

zaq

Tue, Sep 25 2012, 11:07 am

Relax, ladies. It's a MINHAG, not an halachick issur. We avoid wearing gold on YK because gold is a reminder of the Golden Calf which was ...duh...made of gold. If you slip up and wear something made of gold or goldtone metal, you haven't sinned and don;'t have to bring a korban chatat, kwim?

Personally I'd skip anything gold-colored, since the impression is that it's gold and nobody is looking for the goldsmith's 14K stamp on the back. As white gold looks like silver, it wouldn't bother me to wear anything in white metal, though in general I think obviously expensive-looking or attention-getting jewelry is in poor taste on YK. If we wear white because we're supposed to resemble angels, and we fast because we're supposed to be like spiritual beings transcending the desires of the flesh, then wearing something as gashmiyusdik and arrogant as valuable jewelry is inappropriate. Not a sin, just not in keeping with the overall tenor of the day.

But that's just me. YMMV.

Rubber Ducky

Tue, Sep 25 2012, 11:32 am

OOTBubby wrote:

Happy18 wrote:

Do you not wear your rings bc they are made of gold?

That's right.

I do wear my wedding band. Really the not wearing gold minhag is because of the cheit ha'egel -- in which women (and Levi'im) did not participate! But we don't wear gold because the entire kehilla is doing teshuvah, and the Yom Kippur service is for all of us.

Happy 2B

Tue, Sep 25 2012, 3:01 pm

Im confused Cuz its yom Tov so should I wear my pearls or not? Im fine with not wearing them. Just not sure what's the right thing. I believe some people wear no jewelry.

So which is the better thing to do?

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Sep 26 2012, 10:22 pm

A rebbe thin I asked about it said that people who wear the same jewelry all the time don't have to remove it. I was worried because my holes are pretty fresh for my earrings but since I don't ever take them off for more than a few minutes...)

Ruchel

Fri, Sep 28 2012, 10:12 am

My dh has the MINHAG we don't wear jewelry, gold or not. I took off the rings I could take off and didn't worry about the others. Toras CHAIM, ladies!