CHAPTER TWO - Birth Ceremonies and Life Beginnings
A: BACKGROUND
5. THE ZIONIST APPROACH TO NAMES
An interesting variation on this theme was adopted by early Zionists
and the Israelis who came after them. Ideologically, names that
were associated with the Diaspora - the "Galut" (exile)
as it was called - were rejected. In their place came a whole
new approach to naming.
(i) Some names were taken from the Bible, reflecting back to
the times that the People lived on their own land. These names,
needless to say, would be taken in their original Hebrew form.
(ii) Other names were new: they were taken from nature, indicating
the newly revived connection with the ancient land and the
roots that Zionism wished to put down in the land. Names such
as Oren (pine tree), Shaked (almond tree), Haddas (myrtle)
or Tal (dew), became very popular.
(iii) A third kind of name represented particular values important
to the parents as they thought about the life of their child.
Adin (gentle) or Tamir (tall, statuesque) were examples of
this.
(iv) A fourth kind of name were those which commemorated particular
events that occured around the time of a child's birth. Sinai
and Golan are examples of this trend. It is worth mentioning
here in parentheses that this is a variation on an old Jewish
tradition of naming children born on certain chagim (Festivals)
after figures central in the chag. Children born at Purim,
for example, have often been called Esther or Mordechai.
In this way, symbolically, names became transmitters of the new
cultural and political mesSages associated with Zionism. The old
was rejected and the new embraced. A particularly interesting
example of the tension between the generations, symbolised by
a struggle over the naming of a child, can be found in the wonderful
story by Aharon Megged, called, in English, simply "The Name."
In this story (see bibliography) a grandfather who wishes to use
the name of his soon-to-be-born great-grandchild to commemorate
a grandson who died in the Holocaust, encounters fierce opposition
from his granddaughter and her husband. The story provides a fascinating
study of generational and ideological conflict through the use
of a name.
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