Said to Myself

People keep on asking me what we named our daughter. After they hear the name, Emunah, they ask what does that mean. I know the simple answer would be ‘faith’, but that does not exactly articulate our intention. While I am a Rabbi, faith is not something that comes easily to me and not a name that I would necessarily give our daughter. I found this quote by Martin Buber in his book Two Types of Faith that seems to get a little closer.

Buber writes, “This ‘existential’ characteristic of Emunah is not sufficiently expressed in the translation ‘faith’, although the verb often does mean to believe (to believe someone, to believe a thing). It must further be noticed that the conception includes the two aspects of a reciprocity of permanence: the active, ‘fidelity’, and the receptive, ’trust’. If we wish to do justice to the intention of the spirit of the language which is so expressed, then we ought not to understand ’trust’ merely in a psychical sense, as we do not with ’fidelity’. The soul is as fundamentally concerned in the one as in the other, but is decisive for both that the disposition of the soul should become an attitude of life. Both, fidelity and trust, exist in the actual realm of relationship between two persons. Only in the full actuality of such a relationship can one be both loyal and trusting.” (28-29)

While we hope that our daughter Emunah develop a deep relationship with God, we are more interested in her deeds then her creed. We strive to model for Emunah healthy and open relationships with each other, our community, and the world. I hope over time that my faith and our daughter Emunah prove “to both loyal and trusting”.

Faith is not always some things that I can beleive in ,  but I feel that Buber’s ‘faith’ is one that I can strive for and work on. Tell me what you think.

Emunah with Abuela

In Shemot Rabbah 51:1, Rabbi Tanhuma bar Abba opens by explaining Proverbs 28:20 “ Ish emunot Rav Berachot- A dependable person will abound with blessings…” You will find that God always brings blessings by the hand of a person who is dependable. Being steadfast and trustworthy are the means to bringing blessings to humanity.

Adina and I hope that our daughter Emunah should be a trustworthy, steadfast, reliable, committed, devoted, and dependable person and in so doing bring many blessings to her family, community, and the world. Our intension was that she should lift up the soul of her great- grandfather Baruch Boris Frydman.  Baruch desired to live an accomplished life filled with curiosity, culture, and the outdoors. He was ambitious and incredibly loyal to his family and as a new immigrant to Argentina he worked arduously to provide for the needs of his family.  A caring and dependable man, Baruch adored his children.

Tragically Baruch died in the prime of his life and his dreams, ambitions and potential were not fully realized.  Three generations later, we pray that Emunah will live a long and healthy life that is personally meaningful, is filled with the love of her family, and makes a difference in her community and to the world. Our blessing is that Emunah will fulfill her potential while elevating the spirit of her namesake.

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Rabbi Tanhuma bar Abba comienza Shemot Rabbah 51:1 explicando el versiculo “Ish emunot Rav Berachot de Proverbios 28:20 – Pleno de bendiciones esta quien es leal. A traves de quienes son constantes, resueltos y confiables es bendecida la humanidad.

Adina y yo esperamos que nuestra hija Emunah sea una persona confiable, constante, determinada, leal y dedicada a su familia, a su comunidad y a la humanidad. Nuestro deseo es que Emunah eleve el alma de su bisabuelo Baruch Boris Frydman. Baruch soño con una vida llena de sorpresas, descubrimientos, cultura y naturaleza. Era ambicioso y extremadamente leal a su familia, y como nuevo inmigrante en Argentina trabajo arduamente para lograr la estabilidad de los sus seres queridos. Era un ser leal y dedicado y amaba a sus hijos.

Baruj murio en la plenitud de su vida y sus sueños, ambiciones y potencial se vieron truncados e interrumpidos antes de tiempo. Tres generaciones mas tarde, rezamos por que Emunah viva una larga vida, llena de salud y de realizaciones personales, que este llena de amor familiar y que sus contribuciones a la comunidad ayuden a crear un mundo mejor. Bendecimos a Emunah para que logre alcanzar su maximo potencial y en el proceso honre el espiritu de su nombre.

Emunah

With much thought, that you will get to read about in this blog, Adina and I decided to name our daughter Emunah. This is most often translated as “faith”. But I will give myself some time to actually spell out a better explanation/translation.  I imagine it could take some time to explore why faith as we think about it popularly is not what we have in mind. It seems reasonable to give myself until her Bat Mitzvah. As for now, let us just say that she was born out of a deep foundation of trust and commitment between Adina and me and that we love Emunah very much. We hope that she grows into the depth and breadth of what inspired her name, but we are also happy that her brothers have taken to calling their sister Emi. We look forward to celebrating her arrival with a ceremony in the near future.

Her Second Day

We will share her name soon enough. I will be taking the boys with me on Shabbat to give her a name. Calling her FO #3 will just not work. We are looking forward to having a larger event to introduce the world to our daugher and our daughter to the world.  We look forward to sharing this Simcha with you soon.

Our Daughter's Birthday

September 2nd 2009, on her birthday. Here is a picture of our third child.  She is already giving her mother, big brothers, and me tremendous joy. Mother and daughter are both healthy and coming home for Shabbat. The boys are very excited.