And the name is....

We are naming our son Yonatan Shmuel. The first letter of Yonatan’s name – yud – is after David’s father whose Hebrew name was Yaakov. The s for Shmuel is after David’s maternal grandmother, Sylvia. Shmuel was also David’s father’s Hebrew middle name. It is our hope that Yonatan Shmuel will grow to embody the traits of both these individuals and the biblical heroes Yonatan and Shmuel.

As most of you know, David’s father was a union leader and had a strong sense that all people should be treated fairly and equally. He fought for justice throughout his entire life and taught David that he should do the same. We hope to instill these same values in Yonatan so that he can carry forth David’s father’s namesake.

David remembers his grandmother Sylvia taking great care of his grandfather and taking joy in their family visits to Florida when he was younger. We hope that Yonatan too will one day become a caring spouse – and visit us in Florida some day!

We’d also like to say a word about the biblical heroes whose names our son will bear. Jewish texts teach us that Yonatan is the ideal friend. He shared a special friendship with David (before David was King of Israel). Yonatan, son of King Saul, was in line for the throne of Israel. But Yonatan knew of G-d's decree that the kingship be transferred to David. Yonatan also knew that Saul (his father) wanted to harm David to prevent him from taking over his throne.

Despite the fact that it meant Yonatan himself would not become king, Yonatan warned David of Saul’s plan so that David could flee to safety. Yonatan's devotion to his friend David is unparalleled as is his honesty and humility. He was a true friend whose pride did not get in the way of doing what was right. It is our hope that our son will embody these qualities of honesty, humility and a strong moral compass.

Shmuel was a prophet of great esteem and was considered the father of all prophets. He was known for his righteousness. A story is told that a Heavenly Voice rang throughout the world, saying, "A righteous man named Shmuel is about to be born.” Thereafter, every woman who gave birth to a son called him Shmuel, but when the people saw these children’s deeds, they would say, “This is not Shmuel.” After this, Shmuel the prophet was born and the people saw his deeds. They said, "It seems he is the one." It is our hope that Yonatan Shmuel will live his life with such morality and justice and others will always be able to recognize these traits in him.

We are excited to welcome our second son into this world and to expand our family. We hope that together we can provide Yonatan and Ilan with a meaningful life informed by Jewish values and tradition.