About Jewish Gift Place

Welcome to Jewish Gift Place! This site launched in May 2007 and we are always excited to be adding new products, new artists, and new articles all the time.

There is nothing like a handmade gift to make a home feel special and warm. In our Jewish gift collection, everything is handmade. Whether you are looking for a wedding gift, a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah gift, a gift for a new home, or a gift for yourself, we are sure that you will find the perfect handcrafted Judaica gift at Jewish Gift Place. We have handmade jewelry, menorahs, and mezuzahs by Michal Golan, handmade jewelry by Michael Bromberg, hand painted silk tallit by Nicole Curl and Jan Marie Lanier, handcrafted metals by Gary Rosenthal, and handmade glass items by K4 Glassart. Each item is unique and beautiful. If you know of a Judaica artist whose work should be included in our collection, let us know.

About Risa Borsykowsky

I have always loved the arts, crafts, and design. I have taken dozens of classes through the years in all kinds of crafts such as basket making, jewelry making, watercolor, oil, & acrylic painting, photography, calligraphy, and pottery. My shelves are filled with the beautiful pottery plates, bowls, mugs, and vases that I've made. My watercolor paintings hang from the walls. I love photography. There is always a crafts project going on in my house - collages, stepping stones, handmade soap, jewelry. I love color, shapes, textures, symmetry, and asymmetry. In high school, I was the Arts Editor for New Youth Communications, and I was an Arts & Crafts counselor during the summers. In 1988, I graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook in New York.

A lot has happened to me since my oldest son, Joshua, was born in 1999. When Joshua was 6 months old, I took my first web design class. It wasn't easy juggling my full-time job, a newborn, and classes on the weekend, but by June 2000, I was able to make web design my career and work from home and be with my baby more (and add two more boys along the way - Daniel and Benjamin).

I've had the best web design clients over the years, but my biggest thrill is running this e-commerce site - www.jewishgiftplace.com. It encompasses everything there is to learn about web design, SEO, internet marketing, traditional marketing, and running a business. It is about my favorite topic - handmade items. It is incredibly exciting and rewarding.

In addition to running Jewish Gift Place, I am also a moderator at Cre8asite Forums, a Web Design, SEO, and Internet Marketing forum.

I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Michael, since 1990 and we dated for seven years before that. One of our first dates was Billy Joel's 1982-83 New Year's Eve concert. I have been blessed with three incredible boys and we love to go bike riding and camping. We have a 21' trailer and we go on about five camping trips a year. It is my great joy to work on this website. One of my great thrills is getting to meet the artists at the trade shows I attend twice a year. To learn more about the artists, visit our Interview With the Artist page. I hope you enjoy viewing all of the beautiful handcrafted Judaica items carefully selected to be in our collection as much as I enjoy bringing them to you.

About Ulana Illiano

When I began working for Risa at Jewish Gift Place in 2008, I could not have imagined what a wonderful experience it would be -- both personally and professionally. Specifically, I assist Risa with all aspects of e-commerce management, internet marketing, and social media. An average day can encompass anything from adding new products, to creating a beautiful landing page graphic, to writing a blog post, to tweeting with our customers! Risa encourages a very creative atmosphere and I enjoy the daily give and take of ideas and inspiration. I love learning about our artists and their craft, as well as brainstorming new goals for the site!

I grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and attended New York University where I studied Political Science. Probably a mistake for me, since my true love has always been technology. I am a definitely a 'tech geek' at heart!

Personally, as a wife and mother, to be able to work from home has been very rewarding. It is really wonderful to be able to make being a stay-at-home mom a priority, while still following my professional aspirations. I have learned so much from Risa, and it is her vision and eye for beauty that has made Jewish Gift Place the success that it is!