Jewish pet names: Orthodox vs. Conservative/Reform
Jonathan Singer
I recently saw an article about a Conservative synagogue that held a
Blessing of the Pets day. The rabbi's dog was named Yofi (the same name as
my cousins' old dog) and many of the other pets mentioned also had Hebrew
names. It occurred to me that while such names are common in Conservative
and active Reform households, I don't believe I've ever encountered an
Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
Do other people share this observation?
If it is true, what might the explanation be?
Micha Berger
: I don't believe I've ever encountered an
: Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
: Do other people share this observation?
My dogs have been Dudley, Sandy and Misty, and our hamster is Chucky. So,
we're 4 for 4. The only O-owned dog I can think of with a Jewish name is
a neighbor's dog named Kelev ("dog").
OTOH, I know of an R cantor with a Bouvier (sp? huge dog, makes a dane look
ratty) named Farfel.
: If it is true, what might the explanation be?
I think because liberal Jews see Hebrew names as a cultural identity issue,
while Orthodoxy teaches that it's sacred. Kelev's name is not really an
exception to the rule.
-mi
--
Micha Berger When you come to a place of darkness,
mi...@aishdas.org you do not chase out the darkness with a broom.
http://www.aishdas.org You light a candle.
(973) 916-0287 - R' Yekusiel Halberstam of Klausenberg zt"l
Ravchaz
>: I don't believe I've ever encountered an
>: Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
>
>: Do other people share this observation?
>
>My dogs have been Dudley, Sandy and Misty, and our hamster is Chucky. So,
>we're 4 for 4. The only O-owned dog I can think of with a Jewish name is
>a neighbor's dog named Kelev ("dog").
>
>OTOH, I know of an R cantor with a Bouvier (sp? huge dog, makes a dane look
>ratty) named Farfel.
>
>: If it is true, what might the explanation be?
>
>I think because liberal Jews see Hebrew names as a cultural identity issue,
>while Orthodoxy teaches that it's sacred. Kelev's name is not really an
>exception to the rule.
>
>-mi
>
>--
>Micha Berger
My cat is Kathilde Schechter.
(Rabbi) Charles Arian (C)
York, PA
Art Werschulz
rav...@aol.com (Ravchaz) writes:
> My cat is Kathilde Schechter.
Cute! We have had four cats. Our first two were named "Functor" (a
functor is a morphism on Cat, the category of all small categories)
and "Tensor". I think I was inspired by Johnny von Neumann's naming his
dog "Inverse". They are no longer with us.
Our two current cats are Tuli (diminuitive of "chatul", which is
Hebrew for "cat") and Rocco (a/k/a "Rocky"). Rocky was named by his
previous owner.
Rocky's not all that bright. (In the words of Foghorn Leghorn, "that
boy's about as sharp as a sack of wet mice".) He's a walking example
of the adage "curiosity maimed the cat". As a kitten (before he came
to live with us), he was poking around in a closet, and his tail got
slammed in the door. They had to amputate his tail, poor li'l thing.
But he's very sweet and affectionate. We refer to him as our "puppy cat".
--
Art Werschulz (8-{)} "Metaphors be with you." -- bumper sticker
GCS/M (GAT): d? -p+ c++ l u+(-) e--- m* s n+ h f g+ w+ t++ r- y?
Internet: a...@cs.columbia.edu<a href="http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~agw/">WWW</a>
ATTnet: Columbia U. (212) 939-7061, Fordham U. (212) 636-6325
Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879
by Art Werschulz <a...@cs.columbia.edu>:
> Our two current cats are Tuli (diminuitive of "chatul", which is
> Hebrew for "cat") and Rocco (a/k/a "Rocky"). Rocky was named by his
> previous owner.
The trouble with letting kids name pets is that you sometimes get stuck
with really dull names. Our cat is Friskey. Our dog was named by her
breeder, Crystal, and we didn't mind that so we kept it. My dad was
pushing for us to name the cat Amorphous, which would have been an
appropriate contrast with the dog.
But, I have a friend, the local Hillel director, who's dog is Malki,
a diminuitive monarch of the household. He's Conservative, to contribute
a data point to the survey.
Doug Jones
jo...@cs.uiowa.edu
Simcha Streltsov
: names. It occurred to me that while such names are common in Conservative
: and active Reform households, I don't believe I've ever encountered an
: Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
a non-PC explanation is - we don't use human names for pets -
just call it "Ivan". (and, of course, there is a reverse Russian
joke that ends with "Abram". Noone seems to know which version
is the original one).
--
Simcha Streltsov disclaimer, as requested by Mo-he S-rr
sim...@bu.edu all punctuation marks in this article
are equivalent to (-:
bac...@vms.huji.ac.il
>
> I recently saw an article about a Conservative synagogue that held a
> Blessing of the Pets day. The rabbi's dog was named Yofi (the same name as
> my cousins' old dog) and many of the other pets mentioned also had Hebrew
> names. It occurred to me that while such names are common in Conservative
> and active Reform households, I don't believe I've ever encountered an
> Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
We have 3 telemetric instrumented streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats
in my lab at the medical school: Irving, Murray and Sammy :-) When the
experiment is over next week, they all go to a nice "heimishe" old
age home where they'll brag about their grandchildren: Herbie the doctor,
Izzy the lawyer .... :-)
Josh
meirm...@erols.com
jsi...@leeta.net (Jonathan Singer) posted:
The way in which each person has answered your question in his own
stereotypic way is intriguing. It reminds me of the question Why did
the chicken cross the road, and all the stereotypic answers
hypothesized for various famous Jews and others.
To continue the chain of stereotypes, I have no dog, but can only tell
you about 3 dogs I've known. Amber and Cinnebar to an O family.
One without a Jewish name tended to by a
very Jewish C young woman.
mei...@QQQerols.com If you email me only, please say, so I won't
e-mail by removing QQQ wait forever for a post and then forget to
answer the email at all. If you post &
mail, please say, so I will wait for the post.
Eliyahu
"Ravchaz" <rav...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20001214153149...@ng-cg1.aol.com...
> >On 14 Dec 2000 18:13:03 GMT, Jonathan Singer <jsi...@leeta.net> wrote:
> >: I don't believe I've ever encountered an
> >: Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
>
>
> (Rabbi) Charles Arian (C)
> York, PA
Our recently-departed Cocker Spaniel was named Shaytel. Between haircuts, he
generally had the appearance of wearing a badly-fitted wig. The cats are
named Wolfie (AKA Velvel), and Twinkletoes. Twink has seven toes on each
foot, one of which is a fully-functioning thumb. Uses it to grasp and hold
things. I figure that it's the next step in the evolution of the cat.
--
Eliyahu Rooff
www.geocities.com/Area51/Underworld/8096/HomePage.htm
RSG Rollcall http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/rooffe.htm
Naomi Gayle Rivkis
lamented--was named Ahev. ]
On 14 Dec 2000 21:16:08 GMT, jo...@cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H
MLH,3193350740,3193382879) wrote:
>But, I have a friend, the local Hillel director, who's dog is Malki,
>a diminuitive monarch of the household. He's Conservative, to contribute
>a data point to the survey.
I'm somewhere between Reform and Conservative (or I was when I named
my pets, anyway). My dog's named Juliet and all my cats' names are
puns on obscure Irish revolutionaries. Not a Jewish name among them.
I do know a lot of people who name their dogs in Hebrew and some of
them are Orthodox, but they are breeders or serious competition owners
of Canaan Dogs. Since the breed is Israeli, it's customary to name
them in Hebrew. The only other person I know who named her dogs in
Hebrew is a terrific lady who owns Dobermans; two of them were Chaver
and Shomer. I have no idea of her religious affiliation.
-Naomi
wba...@panix.com
: "Ravchaz" <rav...@aol.com> wrote in message
We have had two dogs in our past. The first was named Sam, as that was
the first thing I thought of when we found him and decided to take him in.
Our second was Victoria Velvette, named first for the lady who brought her
to us from a Connecticut dog shelter, and second for the texture of her
fur as well as her wolf-like looks. She was probably a purebred Siberian
husky.
Wendy Baker
hsc
A FOAF moved from Israel to NYC a few years ago with her dog. One summer day
she was putting the dog through its paces in the park, calling out commands
in Hebrew. A little boy watched for a while, awestruck, finally coming over
to her and asking, "Where did you learn how to speak Dog?"
My parents brought their best friend to our house once, and she had the
opportunity to see how the family treats our mutt. Later she remarked to my
parents, "When I die, I want to come back as a dog in a Jewish home."
Susan Cohen
Ravchaz wrote:
Ours were Scottie and Samantha. Mom insisted on "S"
names for cats - she thought it sounded appropriate.
Susan
toi...@my-deja.com
jsi...@leeta.net (Jonathan Singer) wrote:
>
> I recently saw an article about a Conservative synagogue that held a
> Blessing of the Pets day.
And the Reconstructionists dance around trees, and the Reform adopt
whales. And then they wonder why Orthodoxy doesn't take them seriously.
toichen
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Naomi Gayle Rivkis
>In article <jsinger-ya0240800...@news.mit.edu>,
> jsi...@leeta.net (Jonathan Singer) wrote:
>>
>> I recently saw an article about a Conservative synagogue that held a
>> Blessing of the Pets day.
>
>And the Reconstructionists dance around trees, and the Reform adopt
>whales. And then they wonder why Orthodoxy doesn't take them seriously.
>toichen
Nope. We don't care. We just wonder why, if they *don't* take us
seriously, the Orthodox don't simply leave us alone.
-Naomi
toi...@my-deja.com
And what exactly has Orthodoxy done to the Liberals, in terms of not
leaving them alone?
Michael Shimshoni
jsi...@leeta.net (Jonathan Singer) writes:
%
%
%I recently saw an article about a Conservative synagogue that held a
%Blessing of the Pets day. The rabbi's dog was named Yofi (the same name as
%my cousins' old dog) and many of the other pets mentioned also had Hebrew
%names. It occurred to me that while such names are common in Conservative
%and active Reform households, I don't believe I've ever encountered an
%Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
%
%Do other people share this observation?
Are really O Jews allowed to keep as a pet an unclean animal like
a dog or a cat?
Michael Shimshoni
%If it is true, what might the explanation be?
wba...@panix.com
: This brings two things to mind.
This reminds me of a cute story involving my Israeli Granddaughter. She
was visiting us hee in NYC when she was 2+ and just learning to talk. As
Ima spoke to her in English and Abba in Hebrew she was learning
bothlanguages, but Hebrew was clearly the default. We were dog sitting a
Brittany Spaniel for a friend and Verly, my Granddaughter, was trying to
talk to him. As he didn't understand English, which we were all speaking,
in her mind he understood Hebrew and she talked Hebrew to his for her
entire stay.
Incidently, the dog ws not from a Jewish family, but had the same name,
Mitch, as my younger son. Interestingly, he (the dog) was not quiet and
well behaved when I bentched licht, but our dog, Vicky Velvette, would
stand quietly during the ceremony. Now what does that come to teach us?
Wendy Baker
Jonathan J. Baker
>On 14 Dec 2000 18:13:03 GMT, Jonathan Singer <jsi...@leeta.net> wrote:
>: I don't believe I've ever encountered an
>: Orthodox pet with a Jewish-y name.
>: Do other people share this observation?
>My dogs have been Dudley, Sandy and Misty, and our hamster is Chucky. So,
>we're 4 for 4. The only O-owned dog I can think of with a Jewish name is
>a neighbor's dog named Kelev ("dog").
My in-laws (non-religious but O for lifecycle events) had dogs named Pom-Pom
(a miniature (mid-sized) poodle) and Stupid (a mutt). Apparently Stupid
was quite smart. My f-i-l had trained him to eat food only when he
proclaimed "Kosher!" He wouldn't eat if someone proclaimed it "Treif!"
Of course, that meant that he would eat pork chop leftovers if my f-i-l
called it "Kosher!" - hence the name "Stupid" - he didn't really under-
stand what "kosher" meant. The dog's real name was Rocky.
--
Jonathan Baker | Happy [H|'Ch']an[u|'oo'][c[c]|k[k]]a[h]
jjb...@panix.com |
Web page <http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/>
Jonathan J. Baker
>This brings two things to mind.
>A FOAF moved from Israel to NYC a few years ago with her dog. One summer day
>she was putting the dog through its paces in the park, calling out commands
>in Hebrew. A little boy watched for a while, awestruck, finally coming over
>to her and asking, "Where did you learn how to speak Dog?"
Cute. My niece, when she was about 18 months old, came to visit from
Israel. She would try talking to people in one language, and then, if
they didn't understand, she would try the other language. She tried
English first on the dog. When the dog didn't understand her, she
switched to Hebrew, and from then on spoke to the dog in Hebrew.
hsc
news:91t7ht$gsj$1...@panix6.panix.com...
[sd]
> Of course, that meant that he would eat pork chop leftovers if my f-i-l
> called it "Kosher!" - hence the name "Stupid" - he didn't really under-
> stand what "kosher" meant. The dog's real name was Rocky.
Hey, *he* slurped raw eggs and *punched* meat. I'll take the dog any day.
:-)