metro
What's In A Name?
Hebrew names have distinct meanings; most English names are opaque.
I
n English, nothing about the name of
the new star in Israeli politics, Finance
Minister Yair Lapid, attracts atten-
tion. It is a name. It is a name in Hebrew,
too, but it is also a sentence that announces
proudly: "He lights a torch:' or maybe accu-
rately observes, "A torch gives light"
In English, most names are just names.
You can call them opaque names because
you cannot see a word through the name.
William Shakespeare wrote the most
famous comment about names in the
English language when he gave Juliet
Capulet an observation about Romeo
Montague, "What's in a name? That which
we call a rose by any other name would
smell so sweet"
William, Juliet, Romeo, Capulet
and Montague just sound like people's
names. They do not mean anything else.
Shakespeare is the only transparent name
in the bunch because it means "wave a
weapon" Once upon a time, all those other
names might have meant something, but in
some other language, or in a long-forgotten
old kind of English.
In English, it seems like a joke when we
find a name that means something. The
television journalist named Krystal Ball gets
a chuckle as we wonder whether she can
make better predictions than other jour-
nalists. The baseball pitcher named Early
Wynn Jr. did win games, both early and
late. During a 23-year-long career in the
American League, he won 300 games and
earned a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
If we did not recognize Taylor Swift's
name from the world of music, we might
guess she did sewing repairs
and alternations while you wait.
When a student at Oxford
University, Cara Danielle Singer,
met another Oxford student,
Aaron White Rock, she joked
with her friends that if she ever
married her new boyfriend,
they could take the hyphenated
last name Rock-Singer.
A writer, John Train, had the
hobby of collecting remarkable
names of real people, which he
published in a series of books,
Remarkable Names of Real People, Most
Remarkable Names and so on. Informants
sent him these names, and he verified that
there really existed people named Sarah
Struggles Nicely, Marmalade P. Vestibule
and the sisters Comfort and Satisfy
Bottom, to pick just a few examples. Many
of the names that Train found remarkable
work as words, and so belong in the cat-
egory of transparent names.
Full Of Meaning
Hebrew names are different. Most Hebrew
names mean something in ordinary
Hebrew. Many people in Israel, like Yair
Lapid, have first and last names
that turn into words. Even more
confusing, Hebrew does not use
capital letters, so readers have to
decide whether to understand the
words as a name or as words.
A few examples:
• The prophet Micah foresees
the day of peace when "each
man will sit under his grapevine
and under his fig tree, and none
shall make them afraid" (4:4),
when the world will enjoy a kind
of orchard or vineyard peace;
in Hebrew, Shalom Carmy. The scholar
Shalom Carmy serves as professor of Bible
and of philosophy at Yeshiva University.
• Yitzhak Shamir served as seventh prime
minister of Israel; "Yitzhak Shamir" means
"the dill weed will laugh"
• If the multitalented Jerusalem-based
educator and author Noam Zion ever
decides to publish a book of photographs of
his hometown, he could title it with his own
name, which means "pleasantness of Zion"
• The name of Nitzan Hen, a well-known
Israeli journalist, taken as words means
"cute sprout"
• The name of a respected scholar
of Judaica of the previous generation,
Menahem Alon, means "he consoles an
oak tree I do not know what made the
oak tree sad in the first place, but I know
who could offer it therapy.
You can tell that Yeshayahu is a name
because it is three words stuck together,
but the meaning is transparent: "It is God
who saves." Add the last name, Gafni, and
you get, besides the name of a historian,
the sentence "It is God who saves my
grapevine
By the way, last August, Aaron Rock
did marry Cara Singer, and her prediction
came true: They did agree to use their
hyphenated name. Mazel tov to the Rock-
Singers.
❑
Louis Finkelman is a freelance writer living in
Southfield.
Do It For A Smile
Jazzalot concert brings funds and
music to cancer patients.
Shell Liebman Dorfman
Contributing Writer
T
o raise funds for an organization
that brings music and comfort
to those affected by cancer, its
founders knew their best bet was to do it
with music.
Living For Music will co-sponsor
the Jazzalot Music For The Soul cancer
benefit concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May
28, along with Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield, where the event will take
place.
The seventh annual concert features
Detroit's George "Saxman" Benson, the
Cliff Monear Trio and the DSO Civic
Jazz Ensemble, led by percussionist Sean
Dobbins.
A retired piano and voice teacher, can-
torial soloist and 13-year ovarian cancer
survivor, Elaine Greenberg of Farmington
Hills created Living For Music with her
husband, Shelly.
About a year after she was diagnosed,
she began doing prayer services and pro-
gramming for a group of cancer patients
and survivors, later visiting individual
patients.
"I talk to them to give them hope and
24 May 23 • 2013
sing for them and with them:' Greenberg
said. "I do this because it is something I
wish someone had done for me."
Proceeds from her concerts — and
those raised through the sale of her CDs
of uplifting music and inspirational talks
— go to purchase items for gift bags she
gives patients during visits.
"The bags' items have included socks,
scarves, my CD, hand sanitizers, hand-
made bracelets as well as hand-painted
notes designed by a Michigan artist who
is an ovarian cancer survivor:' she said.
"We have included fleece blankets
the past few years at the suggestion of
someone who was going through chemo,"
Greenberg added.
Soon, hand-knit blankets will go in the
bags; they will be created by participants
of the Cancer Thrivers Network for Jewish
Women, of which Greenberg is a member.
Greenberg speaks to students in medi-
cal fields to increase awareness about
ovarian cancer symptoms and risk
factors through her position as Great
Lakes Regional Coordinator of Survivors
Teaching Students: Saving Women's
Lives, sponsored by the Ovarian Cancer
National Alliance.
According to the National Ovarian
Elaine Greenberg, with George Benson, the Cliff Monear Trio and members of the
DSO Civic Jazz Ensemble
Cancer Coalition, there is no early detec-
tion test for ovarian cancer. Symptoms may
include bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain,
trouble eating or feeling full quickly, need
to urinate urgently or often, fatigue, upset
stomach or heartburn, back pain, pain dur-
ing sex, constipation or menstrual changes.
If diagnosed and treated early, the five-year
survival rate is more than 90 percent.
This year's Jazzalot is dedicated to the
memory of concert committee members
Jackie Grekin, along with Carole Gonzales
and Terrie Prokopious, both of whom
died of ovarian cancer.
Resource brochures on the disease
will be distributed at the concert, where
Greenberg will sing.
She will continue to visit patients and
sing for them, too.
"I sing for patients because it makes
them feel good and smile while their bod-
ies are going through a horrid experience
she said. "At the concert, there will be a
beautiful poster board on display, designed
by Cancer Thriver Susan Yesenko, that has
pictures of me giving the bags to patients,
and you can see their smiling faces."
❑
Jazzalot Music For The Soul will
be at 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 28, at
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
Tickets are $30 at the door, or send
a check to Living For Music Inc.,
34056 W.13 Mile Road, Farmington
Hills, MI 48331. Include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or
pick up prepaid tickets at the door.
For information, go to jazzalot.org
or Facebook.com/jazzalot, email
jazzconcert.lfm@gmail.com or call
(248) 661-6344. CDs are available at
LivingForMusic.com .