Term 2, Week 5: What’s in a Name?
In case you’re losing track, we’re now in early February, and I decided to tackle Hebrew names. Jewish children from even slightly religious families are given a Hebrew name at birth which is used for religious purposes – being called up to read from the Torah, for the marriage contract, and so on.
A ‘Hebrew’ name can actually be Hebrew or Yiddish (or presumably Ladino or any of the other Jewish languages/dialects). It can be a biblical name, or a more modern Israeli one. It can sound like the English name, have the same meaning, be the name of a relative or of a characteristic the parents hope their child will develop…the world is pretty much your [kosher] oyster when it comes to choosing a Hebrew name.
I get the bonus of being able to choose my own Hebrew name when I eventually finish my conversion. I’ve decided on Shifra Esther bat Sarah – Shifra was one of the midwives in Egypt who lied to Pharoah when ordered to kill the Israelite baby boys, and she is the absolute definition of chutzpah (not to mention bravery). Esther was the Queen of Persia whose story is celebrated on Purim. The bat Sarah bit would have been my mother’s Hebrew name if she were Jewish (‘bat’ means ‘daughter of’; boys have ‘ben’ and their father’s Hebrew name). If you convert, you take Sarah or Abraham, since they are the ancestors of the Jewish people.
The problem we had with the cheder kids is that they don’t have any contact with the Jewish community in a religious setting (i.e. they don’t come to services), so until the beginning of term they had never encountered the concept of Hebrew names. Come to that, some of their parents were a little fuzzy about their children’s Hebrew names, since they hadn’t been used since the baby naming shortly after birth.
The most traditional family had no idea what their kids’ Hebrew names were, so had a family conference the night before to choose some. If their son had a bris (brit milah = circumcision), he must have been given one then, but there are some things you just don’t ask, so if he was given a name, he’s now got a new one! I did a quick bit of research on the web, and it doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem from a halakhic point of view (halakhah = Jewish religious law).
The kids were fascinated by their new names, and I got them to decorate slips of card with their names in Hebrew. Since then, I’ve greeted each one by Hebrew name every week, and now they’re getting used to it, I’ll teach them how to say “my name is…” in Hebrew. The cards are up on our new huge notice board in the meeting room of the synagogue, and new kids joining the cheder get to do their names at the first available opportunity. One family with a slightly older girl got her involved in choosing her own Hebrew name, which she got a kick out of. As we’ve learned more Hebrew letters since, I’ve used some of the kids’ Hebrew names for reading practice.
The only thing I feel slightly uncomfortable with is that I don’t use my own [future] Hebrew name in cheder. When the kids have asked, I’ve told them it’s Shifra, but discussing it further would mean explaining the whole conversion thing, and I’m wimping out on that. The parents all know, so I’m sure some of them have explained it to their kids, but for the time being I’m avoiding the subject. There will be time enough to go into it when the conversion is done. Yes, I am a wuss.
A ‘Hebrew’ name can actually be Hebrew or Yiddish (or presumably Ladino or any of the other Jewish languages/dialects). It can be a biblical name, or a more modern Israeli one. It can sound like the English name, have the same meaning, be the name of a relative or of a characteristic the parents hope their child will develop…the world is pretty much your [kosher] oyster when it comes to choosing a Hebrew name.
I get the bonus of being able to choose my own Hebrew name when I eventually finish my conversion. I’ve decided on Shifra Esther bat Sarah – Shifra was one of the midwives in Egypt who lied to Pharoah when ordered to kill the Israelite baby boys, and she is the absolute definition of chutzpah (not to mention bravery). Esther was the Queen of Persia whose story is celebrated on Purim. The bat Sarah bit would have been my mother’s Hebrew name if she were Jewish (‘bat’ means ‘daughter of’; boys have ‘ben’ and their father’s Hebrew name). If you convert, you take Sarah or Abraham, since they are the ancestors of the Jewish people.
The problem we had with the cheder kids is that they don’t have any contact with the Jewish community in a religious setting (i.e. they don’t come to services), so until the beginning of term they had never encountered the concept of Hebrew names. Come to that, some of their parents were a little fuzzy about their children’s Hebrew names, since they hadn’t been used since the baby naming shortly after birth.
The most traditional family had no idea what their kids’ Hebrew names were, so had a family conference the night before to choose some. If their son had a bris (brit milah = circumcision), he must have been given one then, but there are some things you just don’t ask, so if he was given a name, he’s now got a new one! I did a quick bit of research on the web, and it doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem from a halakhic point of view (halakhah = Jewish religious law).
The kids were fascinated by their new names, and I got them to decorate slips of card with their names in Hebrew. Since then, I’ve greeted each one by Hebrew name every week, and now they’re getting used to it, I’ll teach them how to say “my name is…” in Hebrew. The cards are up on our new huge notice board in the meeting room of the synagogue, and new kids joining the cheder get to do their names at the first available opportunity. One family with a slightly older girl got her involved in choosing her own Hebrew name, which she got a kick out of. As we’ve learned more Hebrew letters since, I’ve used some of the kids’ Hebrew names for reading practice.
The only thing I feel slightly uncomfortable with is that I don’t use my own [future] Hebrew name in cheder. When the kids have asked, I’ve told them it’s Shifra, but discussing it further would mean explaining the whole conversion thing, and I’m wimping out on that. The parents all know, so I’m sure some of them have explained it to their kids, but for the time being I’m avoiding the subject. There will be time enough to go into it when the conversion is done. Yes, I am a wuss.
posted by Gonetomars at 12:57 am
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