HAKOL - Planning Your Simcha 2016

planning your TEVET/SH’VAT 5776 7th Annual Feature Section SPECIAL EVENTS

All dogs go to … synagogue?

Some Jewish pet owners throw a “bark mitzvah” to celebrate their canine’s coming of age.

By Jacob Kamaras JNS.org “Fluffy” Shindler barks when he sees Friday night candles and understands that on Shabbat, it’s quieter than usual around the house. It was only natural, then, for the Shindlers to throw Fluffy a “bark mitzvah.”

About eight years ago in Monsey, N.Y., the perceptive Bichon Frise donned a yarmulke and placed his paw on a Chumash (Bible) before 10 kids and a few neighbors at the Shindler household. The menu included cake for the crowd, and for Fluffy, a cookie decorated like a Torah scroll.

“We didn’t do a big spiel, but it was cute,” Wendy Shindler told JointMedia News Service.

While Fluffy’s bark mitzvah was low-key affair, some bark mitzvahs have rivaled the extravagance of their human-focused counterparts. That was the case in December 2004, when New York cabaret singer Mark Nadler treated his dog, Admiral Rufus K. Boom (“Boomie”), to a party that included a chopped liver sculpture, bartenders and a lavish buffet in his Riverdale, N.Y., home.

According to the New York Times, Boomie’s bark mitzvah featured yarmulkes for guests with the dog’s name and the date printed inside, as well as “many checks” written for $50 or more as gifts—though some attendees gave Boomie rawhide chews. The party invitations, sent to dozens of friends, said the bark mitzvah’s purpose was “to share a special day in our lives when my dog, Admiral Rufus K. Boom, will celebrate his bark mitzvah in the tradition of our ancestors.”

In response to one guest who claimed Boomie “doesn’t look” Jewish, Nadler responded “he chanted his arf-tara this afternoon,” a play on the haftara portion read at traditional bar mitzvahs, according to the New York Times.

In August 2008, David Best, CEO of The Doctor’s

Channel, organized a $10,000 bark mitzvah for “Elvis” and 100 guests—including celebrity sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, according to Fox News.

Footage of Elvis’s bark mitzvah on YouTube shows the canine motioning on the bimah in a synagogue sanctuary, flanked by two men serving as the gabbaim and stuffed dogs “watching” in front as a human reads the “arf-tara” in sync with Elvis’s movements.

“He has a great personality and everyone loves him,” David Best said of Elvis, according to Fox News.

The bark mitzvah routine, however, isn’t always jovially received. Responding to a New York Times article in 1997—the year when the term “bark mitzvah” was first used—Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff of Temple Emanu-El in Westfield, N.J., wrote a letter to the editor expressing that the practice is “nothing less than a desecration of a cherished Jewish tradition and degrades some of the central principles of Jewish life.”

“I enjoy a good time as much as the next person,” Kroloff wrote. “But not at the expense of religious traditions that need strengthening, not desecrating.”

California-based author Shari Cohen said that she was “exceptionally aware” of the concerns surrounding bark mitzvahs when writing “Alfie’s Bark Mitzvah,” a children’s book on the subject. She consulted with Conservative rabbis on the project, asking them if bark mitzvahs were too much of a “boundary pusher.”

Most of the rabbis were enthusiastic about the idea of the book or at least open to it, Cohen said, but a select few “told me what I already knew—‘maybe you should not go in this direction.’” Therefore, Cohen said she was extra careful before finalizing the book, reworking it several times with publisher Linda Radke.

Cohen, a longtime dog owner herself, said the goal of “Alfie’s Bark Mitzvah” is to teach kids about traditional bar mitzvah themes in a fun and different way. The book comes with a CD of songs by Cantor Marcelo Gindlin, who along with Cohen continues to promote the book at fairs and synagogues five years after it hit shelves.

“I wanted to do [the book] not only with warmth and humor and teaching, but also with song,” Cohen said, explaining that she gave Alfie human-like senses such as the nerves a bar mitzvah boy feels before

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reading his Torah portion.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) slogan says animals “are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment,” but PETA does not condemn the bark mitzvah practice. On a webpage titled “Let’s Have a Dog Party!” PETA asks “Did Bingo get a bark mitzvah?” and encourages users to “show everyone how to throw a bash to bark about” by uploading their party photos.”

Fluffy Shindler, now 9 years old and living in Bergenfield, N.J., received his bark mitzvah at the age of 1 and a half, but most male dogs have been known to celebrate the occasion at either 13 months or 13 years (the equivalent of 91 in dog years) old.

Despite Fluffy’s usual perceptiveness when it comes to Jewish tradition, he merely barked and “didn’t understand anything” at the party, Wendy Shindler said. It was more about simple fun than anything else.

“We thought it would be very cute to do this for him,” Shindler said.

A new take on a pre-wedding ritual

By Cantor Ellen Sussman Special to HAKOL Wedding ceremonies are full of rituals, and while some are easy and enjoyable, others can seem anachronistic to the modern Jew. I had an experience this summer that may hold the key to how to approach our tradition.

This summer one of my students, who is also a dear friend of our family, got married. She is one of my daughter’s best friends. She spent countless hours at our house and would get a kiss good night at sleepovers. This young adult has been Jewishly connected and committed her whole life. Her parents are dedicated to Temple life. But here is the conundrum we faced: although her mother converted to Judaism, the ceremony was after she was born. The rabbi at the perspective groom’s synagogue suggested that our bride go to the mikvah, just in case. He wanted her to be “kosher.” Well, all of us who were trained in the Reform Movement were outraged. This girl is Jewish through and through, she is marrying a Jewish boy and is committed to a life steeped in Jewish tradition. She called me to discuss the matter and was in tears. I had learned about these turn of events before the phone call and had time to think this through.

I told her according to me and most Jews there was no question that she was Jewish, but to make everyone else happy we should go to the mikvah together. Let us reinvent our tradition. Let us not throw out the ways of our ancestors just because they are foreign to us or might seem misogynistic.

Let us capture the spirit of the mitzvah and put a modern spin on it and make the experience our own.

I have come to realize anything we do that might heighten our commitment to Judaism is wonderful and that traditional commandments can add much to our lives and fill us with wonder.

We went on our trip to the mikvah: one of the witnesses, our bride and myself. One of my colleagues was meeting us at a beautiful mikvah at a conservative shul on the Main Line in Philly.

The mikvah matron was the rabbi’s wife. She explained to us all about the mikvah and treated our bride like any of her brides that choose to immerse themselves before the ceremony of marriage. She told us women throughout the community go to the mikvah to demarcate this important moment in their lives. As all of us who are married understand, marriage is a monumental change in our lives; our “status” is profoundly different. She told

us that the mikveh is used for that exact reason.

When something is profoundly changed in our lives the mikvah helps us process the change. We are different upon our ascending from the living waters of the mikvah. When we convert to Judaism, recover from a terrible illness, get married or have a baby, all these events are life transforming and the mikvah can add to the experience. The mikvah was beautiful, calming and inextricably linked to our People.

All of us in attendance were moved by witnessing the immersion of our bride and she was moved the most. She told me she loved going to the mikvah and felt at that moment ready to enter into kidushim with her groom. She was now ready to begin their life together in a Jewish context.

That day, we went back to the “old time religion“of our ancestors, but put a modern spin on it. We engaged fully in the traditions of our mothers and fathers, reinventing ritual in a way that spoke to us today.

To learn more about the Lehigh Valley Community Mikvah, please visit www.lehighvalleymikvah.org.

PLANNING YOUR SIMCHA | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | JANUARY 2016 3

‘ReBar’ offers a rite of passage do-over for Jews who feel disconnected

By Sean Savage JNS.org

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For some Jewish youths, the bar/bat mitzvah experience, like that of their teenage years in general, can be an awkward one. In most cases, the rite of passage is a culmination of years of studying in order to enter Jewish adulthood, and is feted in a large party with friends and family. But for others, the bar/bat mitzvah process can have negative elements and may even be an unofficial “goodbye” to their religious observance.

“As emphasis goes to details such as invitation design, party themes and music choice, less attention is given to the ritual of study, Torah, good deeds, and the significance of the moment of formal entry and welcome into the Jewish community,” Robin Kramer, executive director of Jewish non-profit Reboot, said.

As a result, many Jews today, especially those in their 20s and 30s, feel disconnected from Judaism and have struggled to connect to their sense of Jewish identity and community as adults.

Seeking to bridge that gap, a new program launched by Reboot is seeking to help Jewish adults reconnect to their teenage years. The “reBar Mitzvah,” as Reboot call its, asking a deceptively simple question, according to Kramer: “If you could have done one thing differently at your bar/bat mitzvah, what would it be, and why?”

Founded in 2002, Reboot seeks to “affirm the value of Jewish traditions and creates new ways for people to make them their own,” according to its mission statement.

Through a network of 480 members and 700 community partners, Reboot focuses on helping Jews to “re-kindle connections and reimagine Jewish lives full of meaning, creativity, and joy.”

In particular, Reboot focuses on the younger generation of Jewish Americans who feel disconnected from their faith either due to bad past experiences or a lack of knowledge or skepticism about traditional practices, but are seeking to reconnect with Judaism.

“Through conversations amongst our Reboot network (individuals in their 20s and 30s who see themselves on the periphery of Jewish life), it became apparent that many described their b’nei mitzvah experiences as alienating, short on meaning or off-putting, and they have since struggled to connect to their sense of Jewish identity and community as adults,” Kramer told JNS.org.

Indeed, the Millennial generation (those born after 1980) have trended away from traditional religious observance. According to Reboot, the reBar program is designed to draw in younger Jews by appealing to their diversity in both interests and makeup.

“ReBar events can take the format of a salon, community story-telling gathering, ex-

tended educational workshops, and ongoing engagement through the reBar online portal to upload stories and share experiences,” Kramer said.

The reBar program creates a simple and flexible platform to help its participants reflect upon their own bar/bat mitzvah experience as an adult, and to think about what they might have done differently. From there, it enables the participants to connect to the present by learning and reaffirming their core Jewish values, and determining how they would like to engage with the broader Jewish community.

There have been two reBar events so far, one in Los Angeles and another in San Francisco.

Heather Klein, a classically trained singer who specializes in Yiddish, said that if she were to have a do-over on her bat mitzvah, she would focus more on community service than on her musical performance.

“I definitely wouldn’t have performed operatic arias at my bat mitzvah party,” she told JNS.org. “It seemed like a good idea at the time when my teacher proposed it, but now, I realize it watered down the significance of this life milestone. Also, now that I work with b’nei mitzvah students and watch their progress and struggles, I would have focused more on Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) by doing some sort of good deed in the community.”

Reflecting on her participation at the reBar event at San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum, Klein said, “It was a wonderful thing to go through Reboot’s steps and really rewind back to being a Hebrew school student. I have never asked myself these kinds of questions about my experience and feelings at the time. Also, this will help me when I become a parent, so I can get my kids to focus on having a meaningful bar or bat mitzvah.”

“Our programs and materials are malleable and adaptable, appealing to a wide variety of individuals and community organization partners—from Moishe Houses to Hillels, museums and cultural centers, synagogues, DIY communities, and Shabbat dinner tables,” Kramer said.

While there are a number of Jewish organizations attempting to appeal to the younger generation in order to preserve their identity in an increasingly multicultural America, Kramer believes that reBar has the potential to become a popular trend.

“It seems to us that reBar has the potential to become an accessible new ritual in Jewish life,” said Kramer. “It prompts introspection about the bar/bat mitzvah experience as an evolving part of one’s life, taking into account the past, present, and future. Reboot meets individuals where they are along their Jewish journey. From large-scale public events to intimate gatherings, Reboot offers new pathways into Jewish life throughout the Jewish year.”

GIVE A MITZVAH, DO A MITZVAH

MITZVAH PROJECT UPDATE Madeleine Rosenthal

Eliza Wiener

Raphael Ettinger Editor’s note: Each month in HAKOL, we feature the mitzvah projects of community members as part of our Give a Mitzvah, Do a Mitzvah column. We hear from their families about their plans and what they are doing to be of service to the community. This month, we checked in with a few of the people we featured this past year to find out how their mitzvah projects progressed.

Raphael Ettinger

Rafi Ettinger loves music. He started playing violin at the age of four with the Valley Suzuki Strings and now also plays in the Springhouse Middle School 7th/8th grade Orchestra and Honors Orchestra, as well as competing in fiddling, Celtic and classical music settings. Because music has been such a big part of his life, Rafi chose to support El Sistema Lehigh Valley as his mitzvah project. El Sistema provides free string instruments and lessons to disadvantaged children in Allentown. Rafi raised money by playing his violin and requesting donations using a sign placed in his case.

Rafi played his violin at locations across the Lehigh Valley, from Temple Beth El to the Allentown Farmer’s Market. Rafi’s parents were pleased by the response to their son’s project. “People were really impressed that he was a kid and he was the one initiating it,” said Audrey Ettinger, Rafi’s mother. “Even the vendors at the Allentown Farmers Market were giving to his mitzvah project. People were extremely generous.”

The support for Rafi’s project continued both during and after Rafi’s bar

mitzvah. “Rafi was really touched by how many guests at his bar mitzvah gave donations. I know it was a pleasant surprise for El Sistema, and I think they were moved by the littler donations,” Ettinger said. In fact, El Sistema was so impressed by Rafi’s generosity that they invited him to attend the Allentown Symphony’s opening concert as their guest. Rafi went on stage and handed Emanuel Ax and conductor Diane Wittry some flowers, and he was invited to the reception after the concert.

As for what advice she would give other parents, Ettinger had one big one: start early. “I think we all underestimated how totally absorbing the process would be,” she said. She also advised others to continue their projects. “It doesn’t have to end with the bar mitzvah,” she said. “You can continue to make a difference.”

Madeleine Rosenthal

For her bat mitzvah, Madeleine Rosenthal learned the book of Ruth, and reflective of her learning, she chose to raise awareness and money for the Ethiopian National Project (ENP) in Israel. The ENP is an organization that works to advance the integration of Ethiopian-Israelis into Israeli society. The foremost strategy is improving scholastic assistance and social outreach to young Ethiopian-Israelis.

Currently, ENP is reaching over 4,300 Ethiopian Israeli youth and has built 19 youth centers.

At first, Madeleine had difficulty finding a mitzvah project that she truly con-

nected to. But when she learned about the ENP, she instantly knew that she had found the cause she wanted to support.

She says that it appealed to her because "the book of Ruth is about acceptance. If you accept someone as they are, something good can come of it. When Ruth was accepted, the Jewish people got King David.”

She was fortunate to be able to meet privately with David Mashasha, an Ethiopian-Israeli medical student who has benefited from the program, and to learn more about it from him first-hand.

Madeleine and her family were touched by the response her mitzvah project garnered. “She had a great response,” said Nicole Rosenthal, Madeleine’s mother. “It truly was heartwarming.” But for Madeleine’s parents, the best part of the bat mitzvah was listening to their daughter explain the connection she had found between her reading and her mitzvah project. “Listening to her speak was really a treat,” Rosenthal said. “Hearing her convey what she had learned was the most special part of the evening.”

In choosing a mitzvah project, Rosenthal advised that families give themselves plenty of time to decide. “Have real discussions about what speaks to them,” she said. “Find something that is meaningful for them in their lives of what they would like to work for and what they would like to see in this world. Working on something she cared about really made the whole experience.”

Eliza Wiener

Eliza Wiener chose to highlight the work of No Kid Hungry for her mitzvah project. The No Kid Hungry campaign connects kids in need with nutritious food and teaches their families how to cook healthy, affordable meals. The campaign also engages the public to make ending child hunger a national priority.

Eliza sold 100 bookmarks she handmade herself and gave the money to the No Kid Hungry campaign. Through her efforts, she raised enough money for 15,000 meals. In order to highlight the problem of child hunger at her bat mitzvah party, she featured baskets filled with food that was later donated to the Community Food Pantry at Jewish Family Service. Eliza shopped for the food herself. “Seeing the baskets on the table she felt special about it,” said her mother Lynn Wiener.

Wiener was proud of the way her daughter connected to her mitzvah project. Her biggest advice to other parents about to go through the process was to help the child find something they really care about. “Try to help them find something they can do with their own skills that they can enjoy accomplishing,” she said. “It can be an educational program, giving of your time, or even creating something for someone else to put a smile on their face.”

For help developing your mitzvah project, contact Abby Trachtman, program coordinator, at abbyt@jflv.org or call her at the Federation office at 610-821-5500.

Feeding the hungry, one simcha at a time

By Rebecca Axelrod-Cooper JFS Community Impact Coordinator Consider making a great impression at your next simcha with a Centerpiece for Tzedkakah from Jewish Family Service. This unique program is a way to make special occasions more decorative while supporting a worthy cause in our community.

Volunteers create festive centerpieces for rental. These lovely baskets will enhance organization programs, bar or bat mitzvahs, parties, and other celebrations. The baskets are decorated with empty boxes of food items. They are wrapped in cellophane and topped with colorful ribbons. You will also be provided table

cards acknowledging your celebratory gift.

Proceeds from the program go to the JFS Community Food Pantry, which helps feed the most vulnerable in our community from the elderly to those who cannot afford to feed their children otherwise. Our food pantry depends on donations from people like you in the Jewish community.

The baskets can be personalized to fit your simcha. When Eliza Wiener began planning her bat mitzvah, she wanted to tie the theme into her mitzvah project of selling handmade bookmarks with the proceeds going to No Kid Hungry, nonprofit that works to end child poverty. Instead

of just renting the centerpieces from JFS, she opted to buy the foodstuffs for the baskets herself. “She really enjoyed shopping for the food,” said Lynn Wiener, Eliza’s mother. “When she saw the baskets on the tables, she felt really special knowing she had helped someone.”

You can support Centerpieces for Tzedakah by renting our festive table displays to use at your next event or by helping to assemble centerpieces.

You can also volunteer to deliver the centerpieces to celebrants and back to JFS. If you would like to learn more, please contact Jewish Family Service at 610821-8722 or visit www.jfslv.org.

PLANNING YOUR SIMCHA | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | JANUARY 2016 5

Planning a bris in Amsterdam

By Cnaan Liphshiz Jewish Telegraphic Agency They warn you that parenting means doing a bunch of stuff you never imagined yourself doing.

I had always assumed this applied to saying to children things like, “You watch your tone of voice, young lady,” or "Let's not eat things we find in our underwear."

But in my case, the moment came before my son was even born, when I found myself begging a Belgian kosher slaughterer, or shochet, to come to the Netherlands and circumcise him.

In my native Israel or the United States, securing the services of a ritual circumciser, or mohel, is as easy as picking up the phone. But in the Netherlands, where Jews have lived since the 12th century, it can be an ordeal involving international travel, community politics, Holocaust-era trauma and unexpected objections by close family members.

Negotiating these hurdles helped me to fully understand the fears, long expressed by community leaders, that the

dearth of religious services pose a long-term threat to communal survival. Indeed, the Conference of European Rabbis set up a think tank charged with bettering circumcision and kosher food services to small communities, calling the lack thereof “a major concern.”

On paper, I shouldn't have had any problems. Circumcision, which was last outlawed here by the Nazis, is perfectly legal in the Netherlands, which has about 40,000 Jews. The country’s Orthodox Jewish communities keep a list of about five mohels, plus a number of Reform physicians who perform circumcisions for their congregants.

But in a country where 50 percent of Jews don’t circumcise their sons, the Reform physicians have much less practical experience with the body part in question. Unimpressed by fancy titles, my wife and I preferred a humble mohel with thousands of foreskins under his belt to a celebrated professor with many diplomas but far fewer penile notches on his.

That proved difficult to find.

The Dutch one recommended to

us had about 1,500 on his meter but had to be flown in at our expense from Israel, where he moved some years ago. So we widened the search to Belgium, where about half the country’s 40,000 Jews are Orthodox.

There we finally found our guy.

“He really knows his meat,” said one of the many people who recommended the shochet to us.

Widely considered one of the best mohels in the region, the shochet accepted in principle.

But he needed special permission from the Dutch Jewish community for poaching on their turf -- the result of recent “administrative problems” that arose just a few months ago.

“I need it because I don’t want to get in trouble with your people,” the shochet said.

Which is when I started begging.

Ultimately, the shochet agreed to circumcise our son if we cut through the red tape for him. I got on the phone, hoping train traffic would not be interrupted because of the current terrorist threat in Belgium.

The shochet, a hulking and

Cnaan Liphshiz and Iris Tzur preparing for the bris of their son in Amsterdam. patient rabbi from Antwerp, arrived on our doorstep a few days after the baby's eighth day, when the ritual is traditionally performed. The bris went off without a hitch, but for a brief moment when the shochet held up the boy briskly to test his strength.

“He’s handling him like a chicken!” an aunt from Brussels exclaimed.

The search left me with many unanswered questions. How could Judaism’s initiation rite be such an ordeal in a country with a Jewish community that dates back more than 800 years? Are these difficulties the cause or the effect of the fact that only half of Dutch Jews circumcise their children, according to a 2009 survey?

Part of the complication, according to Bart Wallet, a historian from the University of Amsterdam who specializes in Dutch Jewry, is the system in which Jews pay annual membership fees (it can reach more than $1,000 per year) in exchange for religious services. Only 20 percent of Dutch Jews are paying members of a Dutch Jewish community, according to Wallet.

With Dutch congregations straining to finance Jewish communal life here, there's little reason to make it easy for people like me, who eschew membership and consume religious services a la carte.

But as with many things in Dutch Jewish life, ultimately it all goes back to the Holocaust.

Prior to the war, the Netherlands had 140,000 Jews spread across the country and several traveling mohels servicing far-flung congregations, according to Wallet. After the war, in which

75 percent of Dutch Jews were murdered, the practice fell off.

“Jewish life, including circumcision, never fully restored here,” Wallet said. “Many Dutch Jews skipped the circumcision as a lesson from the past, when their relatives could be identified by taking off their underwear.”

For my Amsterdam-born wife, the Holocaust consideration is a distant second to her main issue with circumcision, namely that it involves causing pain for symbolic reasons. She regards it as a “necessary evil” -- necessary only because of my insistence on it.

Some of our relatives here are less resigned. One called me to appeal our decision, citing the main argument used by the European liberals -- that it supposedly violates children's rights.

This was the grounds on which a German court enacted a temporary ban on circumcision in 2012, which inspired similar moves in nearby countries. Since circumcision has no real medical benefits, my relative argued, it was not my decision to make.

At our son's bris, Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs made a short speech in which he raised this argument in acknowledging what he called the “attack on circumcision” in Europe.

“You don’t ask the baby whether they want to be born, either, but we have them to continue our legacy,” Jacobs countered.

As for me, I told the relative (who himself was circumcised) that circumcision “comes down to tribalism.”

“I respect that,” he replied, “but can’t you just give him a Tshirt or something instead?”

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Israel releases most popular baby names of the year

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Kveller.com If you’re pregnant and looking for some baby name inspiration, or simply love crafting names for imaginary babies that live inside your head (not that we would know about that), take some tips from the Holy Land. The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics’s recently released their list of the most popular Israeli baby names of the year.

TOP 15 ISRAELI GIRL NAMES:

1. Noa (meaning “pleasantness”) 2. Shira (meaning “song”) 3. Tamar (meaning “date”) 4. Talia (meaning “dew from God”) 5. Maya (meaning “water”) 6. Yael (meaning “mountain goat”) 7. Sarah (meaning “noble, princess”) 8. Adele (meaning “God is eternal”) 9. Ayalah (meaning “deer”) 10. Michal (meaning “who is like God”) 11. Avigail (Hebrew form of “Abigail” meaning “gracious”) 12. Chana (Hebrew variant of “Hannah”) 13. Ella (meaning “goddess”) 14. Noya (meaning “divine beauty”) 15, Roni (meaning “my song/joy”)

TOP 15 ISRAELI BOY NAMES:

4. Yoseph (Hebrew for of “Joseph”) 5. David (Biblical king) 6. Yohonatan (Hebrew for “Jonathan”) 7. Daniel (Biblical, also means “God is my judge”) 8. Ariel (means “lion of god”) 9. Moshe (means “drawn out [of the water]”) 10. Eitan (meaning “strong”) 11. Ido (Biblical) 12. Itamar (Biblical, meaning “palm island”) 13. Avraham (Biblical, meaning “father of many”) 14. Yehuda (Biblical, meaning “praised”) 15. Yair (meaning “to reveal, enlighten”) The data in the United States is more limited, but the top five Hebrew names for

boys and girls in the United States have a lot in common with their Israeli counterparts.

BOYS 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Jacob Noah Michael Daniel Elijah

GIRLS 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Abigail Elizabeth Ella Hannah Leah

Regardless of whether you live in the United States or Israel, naming your baby is a huge responsibility, but you can’t go wrong with any of these names!

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1. Noam (Biblical, meaning “pleasantness”) 2. Uri (meaning “my light”) 3. Itai (Biblical, also meaning “with me”) PLANNING YOUR SIMCHA | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | JANUARY 2016 7

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