PURELY COMMENTARY
Non-Ceremonial President Of Israel Adds Skills
preferences and the "courage" factor
has an immediate explanation when he
asserts in his prefatory declaration:
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
I
srael's presidency has been judged
as "merely ceremonial." From the
very beginning, with Dr. Chaim
Weizmann, this position was treated
with great honor. Visiting heads of state
and dignitaries in Jewry and worldwide
diplomacy attended impressive
ceremonial receptions at the homes of
the presidents. They all spoke
fascinatingly in behalf of Israel.
Diplomacy was left to the prime
ministers, commencing with David
Ben-Gurion.
Chaim Herzog registered a marked
difference. In parliamentary circles,
when addressing parliaments and con-
gressional assemblies, his comments
were treated as authoritative expres-
sions for his government.
Chaim Herzog is the presidential
spokesman who now feels free to assert
Israel's rights and the determination of
the people he represents not to be
trampled upon.
This is the Chaim Herzog who is
orator and pleader for his people,
scholar who expresses appeals to reason
in his published writings.
'Ib these he has now added another
achievement. He has turned biographer
and the selection of people of eminence
is cause for deep admiration.
Heroes of Israel — Profiles of Jewish
Courage (Little, Brown and Co.) is a ti-
tle that immediately ensures apprecia-
tion of the statesman-scholar's ap-
proach to his preferred biographical
selections. He starts with Joshua and
leads up to Ben-Gurion who is his ma-
jor hero. He makes no apologies for his
Bravery, rather than success,
has been the criterion for inclu-
sion. Those who died
courageously, like Samson, Bar-
Kokhba and Hanna Szenes, are
included together with such vic-
tors as Deborah, King David
and David Ben-Gurion. There
are many other figures who
might have been included, and
possibly the reader will be
disappointed to find his own
special hero omitted. Only those
who actually fought on behalf of
the Jewish people, or led them
in a military or paramilitary
campaign, have been chosen.
While the entire assembly of the
courageous in Herzog's selections
merits acclaim, his preferred hero gains
immediate attention. He asserts about
the first Israel prime minister:
David Ben-Gurion was the
man with the ultimate respon-
sibility for the modern Jewish
revival, who took the crucial
military and political decisions
and led Israel to statehood. Like
Joshua, King David or Bar-
Kokhba, he resolutely ensured
the unity of the nation.
Although not an army man,
he made himself a military ex-
pert, prepared the nation for
war and took all the major
strategic decisions in the War of
Independence, Israel's most dif-
ficult conflict. Subsequently he
consolidated the nation he had
Chaim Herzog
created from a military,
political, social and economic
point of view.
It is at this point that Herzog
declares it his belief that "apart from
showing courage and resolution, each of
the personalities and groups described
has played a vital role in ensuring the
survival and security of the Jewish
people."
The collective effort of the eminent
scholar gives emphasis to this view.
The eminence of the personalities
treated is apparent and the totality of
the chosen is fascinating.
The excellent judgement evinced by
President Herzog in making his
biographical selections a historical con-
tinuity is shown in the the two con-
cluding chapters — "The Yom Kippur
Defenders: Courage in the Face of
Disaster" and "The Entebbe Rescue:
Wherever Jews Are in Danger."
Women heroines listed in Heroes of
Israel include "Deborah: Woman of
Valor" and "Hanna Szenes: Hidden
Strength." Another is included in a
family group and collective action. She
is Sarah Aaronson of the famous Aaron-
son family described in "The Nili Spies:
Going It Alone." It is about the group
of Jewish spies who were gathering in-
formation against the Turks on behalf
of the British during World War I. The
name Nili is the acronym of the Hebrew
Nezah Yisrael Lo Yeshaker — the
strength of Israel will not lie, from
Samuel 1:15-29. It means as Herzog
translates it, "God will not let us down."
Rather than being caputred and tor-
tured by the Turks, Sarah shot herself.
The Nili chapter revives interest in
the discovery by Sarah's brother of what
has been termed "The Mother of
Wheat." The U.S. Department of
Agriculture became an advocate and
supporter of the Aaronson discovery.
Herzog's account of it is:
Aaronson, brought to Pales-
tien by his parents at the age of
6, had a love of nature, which
prompted him to explore the
hills around his home. As his
knowledge of botany and
zoology developed, he had
become a brilliant scientist.
Sent by Baron de Roths-
Continued on Page 40
Nomenclature As A Science Of First Names
N
omenclature is virtually a
sociological science. For parents
confronted with choosing first
names for their children, with the ap-
propriate Hebraic appelation,
nomenclature is an intellectual
excietment.
The deep interest that has
developed in guiding the selective pro-
cess keeps increasing interest in the
choosing of names, in their application,
in proper translations and in the aim
of making the Hebrew choice applicable
to the Anglicized.
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Vol. XCV No. 23
2
August 4, 1989
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1989
Among the best known books
listing thousands of Jewish names is
The Names Dictionary — Modern
English-Hebrew by Alfred J. Kolatch,
published by Jonathan David.
This is one of several books on the
subject and Kolatch, who is the
organizer and publisher of Jonathan
David Publishing House, is the
recognized authority.
Rabbi Kolatch has genuine competi-
tion from Smadar Shir Sidi, who has
assembled more than 5,000 Hebrew
names in her paperback, The Complete
Book of Hebrew Baby Names, Harper
and Row.
Smadar Shir Sidi emerges as an ac-
complished nomenclator. She is an
Israeli author who has to her credit
more than 50 books for young children
and for the teenaged.
In her assembled lists are included
the traditional Bible names, those
related to Jewish holidays and to
flowers and products that could be judg-
ed as typically Israeli.
Naming ceremonies provide
guidance for the parents and Sidi's im-
pressive selections enable the selectors
to give emphasis to their traditional
adherence.
The suggestions for names for
multiple births are among the helpful
provisions in her book.
A superstition against using a liv-
ing parent's name for the newborn is a
continuity especially existent among
Ashkenazis. Sidi's explanation is
especially valuable with reference to
the Sephardic Jew who rejects such
negations. In her introductory chapter
defining a proper adherence to the
selective process she states:
Different customs exist in
different Jewish communities.
Jews from Central or Eastern
Europe, known as Ashkenazim,
name newborns only after
deceased relatives. They believe
that naming a newborn after a
living relative might shorten the
life of the older person. On the
other hand, Jews from Spain,
Portugal, Italy, North Africa, or
the Middle East — known as
Sephardim — believe that
naming a newborn after a living
relative will lengthen the life of
the older person. They do not
hesitate to name a newborn
after a living grandparent or
even parent.
If you wish to name your
baby after a deceased relative
and you don't insist on giving
the baby the exact Hebrew or
Yiddish name of the relative,
you have three choices:
1. You can look for a modern
Hebrew name that has the same
initial sound as the name of the
relative. For example, the
masculine name Zalman was
common in the past, but it is not
popular in Israel nowadays, and
even carries an unfavorable
stereotype. Instead of giving the
baby an out-of-date name with
bad connotations, you can look
for modern Hebrew names
beginning with the letter Z, such
as Ze'ev (meaning "wolf"), or
Zohan (meaning "light,
brilliant"), and so on. You can
even look for a modern Hebrew
name that consists of a few let-
ters from the name Zalman,
such as Zemer (meaning "song")
or Zivan (meaning "shining").
2. You can look for a modern
Hebrew name that has the same
meaning as the name of the
relative. For example, the girl's
Continued on Page 40