When Pikesville native Alona Lisa Elkayam was a young adult, she thought frequently about the Holocaust and the specter of antisemitism. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors on her mother’s side and exiled Moroccan Jews on her father’s, she always wondered how she might have responded to antisemitism during the Nazi era.
“I’d think, ‘What would I have done if I was a Jew in 1933 or 1938?’” says Elkayam, who now lives in New York. “What kind of person would I have been? I’d like to think I would have been that person that would have hidden Jews if I were not Jewish, or I would have been in the Haganah [paramilitary] or part of keeping the spirit of Judaism alive.”
After the Oct. 7 massacre, Elkayam says her reflections were no longer hypothetical.
“I was actually in Israel on Oct. 7,” she says. “We were [hiding] in the stairwell and there were rockets. I managed to get out, but you know how people say that Oct. 7 was Israel’s 9/11? I can attest to that. People will have that same kind of PTSD.”
After returning to the United States, Elkayam, founder of the Far From Timid marketing firm and a former jewelry designer, was alarmed by the sharp rise in antisemitism. Likewise, she worried about family members in Israel.
At first, Elkayam volunteered to be a part of the 10/7 Network, a group of individuals, advertising agencies and marketers that formed an initiative to fight hate and antisemitism.
“I created the brand and campaign, and we launched it during Thanksgiving,” she says. “We had these commercials. We were going to do all this content. It was great, but it was hard to get funding.”
That was when Elkayam’s long-dormant skills as a jewelry designer re-surfaced.
“I was doing the 10/7 Network, and our thing was to combat hate with love,” she says. “I started sketching a Jewish star, and then I made a sketch where I took the Jewish star and it became two hearts. I sat with it for a while and then I showed it to a couple of people. They were really moved by it. I was really moved, too, but it wasn’t a piece of jewelry at that point.”
Elkayam then hired 3-D designers to help her to create a prototype for a pendant. She showed the prototype to friends and strangers to make sure her creation resonated with others.
“Some people cried when they looked at it. Even people who weren’t Jewish were moved by it,” says Elkayam, who sees the pendant as more than a piece of jewelry. “It’s a necklace, a mission and a movement.”
After conducting market research, Elkayam contacted her old Pikesville High School friends Todd and Nancy Brown.
“I went to high school with Todd and his wife Nancy. Nancy has been a cheerleader for all of my art and design pursuits in the past so when I came up with this design for Heart of David, I thought of them,” says Elkayam. “I wanted to connect to my hometown in Baltimore because when I think about my Jewish roots, I think about Baltimore and Beth El Congregation.”
A fourth-generation, Baltimore-based jeweler and certified gemologist, Todd Brown was more than willing to advise Elkayam and invest in her new venture, known now as the Heart of David.
After partnering with Brown, Elkayam found “the most respected craftspeople in the business” to make the necklaces “by hand and heart” in a studio in Manhattan.
Currently, Heart of David necklaces are available exclusively online. The necklaces are part of a limited-edition collection and only 1,800 will be produced. Elkayam says each necklace is designed with a sapphire representing Israel on the back. Prices start at $890 for an 11-millimeter gold necklace. A 24-millimeter white diamond necklace with 48 diamonds that sells for $3,190 is the collection’s bestselling item.
“People typically get it engraved,” says Elkayam. “One grandfather bought one for his granddaughter and engraved it, ‘Love, Saba.’ A woman got one for herself so she could hand it down to her daughter on her bat mitzvah [day] in a couple of years.”
Before she begins a major marketing blitz, Elkayam says she wants to perfect the brand’s customer experience.
“I want to make sure they understand this is an heirloom piece, part of a luxury collection,” says Elkayam. “I want them to feel the weight of it and the love they experienced the first time they saw it. Everyone who buys the necklace is not just a customer, but a member of our community.”
Elkayam plans to donate 20% of sales from the necklaces to organizations pursuing tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of repairing the world.
“We’re going to be investing in music and art and giving back to institutions, creators and influencers that align with our mission — spreading Jewish pride and Jewish culture,” she says. “I feel like a lot of people don’t know what they can do to help combat antisemitism. Wearing a [Heart of David] symbol around your neck is one small way of helping.”
For information, visit heartsofdavid.com.
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