Comments for Our Tribe & Joy

Comment on A generous present by Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:27:21 +0000

I loved this! Can’t believe I just read it 5/23/2012!)! Yes, I admit, I gave you a very zealous hug… but you earned it! Alia, you will always have the HEART OF A LION and always did, no matter what!
xoxox

Comment on How did you choose your child’s name? by Denise Rekem

Denise Rekem — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:25:48 +0000

We had a similar approach to you. All 3 of our boys have an Israeli name – same in English and Hebrew and their first names are original to them, while their middle names are given exactly the same as the family member (deceased) of whom they are named. We also tried to chose Hebrew names that would not be difficult to pronounce here in NJ. The only difference is that our oldest has the Americanized version of his name on all of his American papers and the Hebrew version on his Israeli documents. DH is Israeli. When he was born, we thought he might want the American version one day. Funny thing- yesterday in the car he asked if he could change his name on his American passport to the Israeli version.

Comment on How did you choose your child’s name? by Marcia Naomi Berger

Marcia Naomi Berger — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:59:34 +0000

Avi’s full Hebrew name is Avraham Israel Yehuda Berger. The two middle names are after my grandfather and my husband’s grandfather respectively, may they rest in peace. Avi’s full English name is Avraham Joseph Berger. We were wanting to keep the biblical references in his English name.

BTW, your question about names brings up memories and thoughts from a precious time way back when. Thank you for asking!

Comment on How did you choose your child’s name? by Marcia Naomi Berger

Marcia Naomi Berger — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:52:33 +0000

Long after we had named our son, our rabbi told me that that parents are inspired prophetically to choose the names we give our children, which I find interesting.

I wanted to name our baby Avi because I just really liked the name and had never heard of anyone with that name. Officially he is Avraham (or Abraham), which is very nice too, as Avraham is the father of the Jewish people. Almost everyone calls our son Avi.

Later I learned that the name Avi is about as popular a name in Israel as John is in the USA. Avi is now 19 and the name still suits him well.

Comment on United Synagogue survey by Morty

Morty — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:55:47 +0000

Wow, commenter #1. My takeaway from the survey was totally different. I didn’t feel as though I were being judged as I took the survey. I thought the survey was simply trying to determine the extent to which any of the Conservative Jewish institutions mentioned therein had any impact on the Jewish life of our children or of ourselves.

The Movement seems to be seeking guidance from its constituents. We should try to be constructive.

Comment on How did you choose your child’s name? by Adinah

Adinah — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:33:20 +0000

In our family we are all about using the Hebrew names of deceased loved ones. I carry two middle names of my great aunts who perished during the Holocaust. My eldest, Yitzchak Eliezer (after a grandpa and great grandpa) became Jordan Ezer in English. the J for the “yud” because Yitzchak didn’t seem like a name to use in the secular world and we weren’t into Isaac at the time. Yosef Zachariah, in Eng, Zachary Joseph is after my grandfather. My little girl was named Gayle Fay by her birth mother. We intend on calling her Galit Mindel In Hebrew (Galit because it seems like a good match to Gayle and Mindel after my husband’s grandmother). We plan to change her English middle name to an M name but we will keep Gayle. We are thinking of Mia.

Though others in the family have made Yiddish names into Hebrew or used the first initials, my husband and I are very traditional and prefer to keep the names as they were.

Comment on How did you choose your child’s name? by Alia

Alia — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:05:46 +0000

The site also shows the most common twin name pairings. One was a pairing of boy/girl twins I know, but they are eight and the list is from 2011.

Comment on How did you choose your child’s name? by Joshua Pines

Joshua Pines — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:27:06 +0000

I am glad to see Isabella no longer number 1. People may be more creative with girls’ names with boys–debatable–but at least Jews rarely name their kids Ferdinand/Fernando. I wish they did the same with Isabella, an abhorrent character and by far the most well known Isabella.

We did not look at these lists for naming our daughters. I used common sense. A name that is too common would be good go avoid but not vital to avoid. Same for something that is too rare. Another rule I feel strongly about is that a girl’s name should not end in -son. We wanted the names to be (roughly) the same in English, Hebrew and Hungarian. We wanted to honor our grand and great grandparents who have passed away. This was tricky since we were having girls and the only recently passed relatives who were women shared their names with living relatives on the other side of the family. For example, my grandmother (zt”l) and my wife’s sister shared the same name. Also, some of the other candidates had names that couldn’t fit the other qualities (language similarity, etc.). So we decided to use initials for the most part. We also really valued what their names meant, particularly in Hebrew.

Comment on Award winning Jews by Mariela

Mariela — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:06:29 +0000

Last night was truly wonderful…I feel so lucky to have gotten to know Robin through our work for UJC. She is an inspiration to me, and her passion for our community comes through in her words and actions.

Comment on Why is Time trying to milk their cover for the Mommy Wars? by Laura Rafferty

Laura Rafferty — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:05:01 +0000

I too agree with you all. I understand if you choose to breast feed until whatever age you and your child decide on but the cover is a bit creepy even for my far reaching ideas. I feel so bad for the poor boy on the cover because his Mom has set him up for a lifetime of some form of grief!