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Maybe I'm a strange one, but I tend to pay attention to the Hebrew names of people called up for aliyot (Torah readings) in my synagogue. In fact, last week, I was able to figure out a brother and sister who were called up...based on their Hebrew names (they are in their 60s....different last names....).
I started thinking about what the Hebrew name of someone with a non-Jewish father would be? My own, uninformed opinion was that it would switch over to the mother, if she were Jewish. So Moshe, who has a non-Jewish father named William, but a Jewish mother named Sarah, would be called up as "Moshe ben Sarah". However I wasn't too sure about this reasoning.
I found a really cool website where questions like this are presented, and rabbis from the major Jewish denominations (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform) weigh in. I was surprised to see that the Orthodox take was ambivalent....saying that the mother's name could be used, or that the person can be called "ben Avraham" (like converts are). The Conservative rabbi basically makes the same conclusion, where the Reform rabbi suggests that the person utilize their mother's name in their Hebrew name.
Very interesting to say the least! Next, I wonder what percentage of Jews have only a Hebrew name (like myself...sort of), and which percentage have a Hebrew name that they only use in ritual, and have an English given name that they go by? My guess is in the past, many more Jews had two names.!
I attend a Conservative synagogue, and in that situation we tend to use the mother's name.
We also recently had a visitor who had just moved to the area attend a Shabbat service. He is a young adult with a Jewish mother, but wasn't raised in a religious home. He hesitated when called to the Torah because he didn't know his mother's Hebrew name. Our rabbi called him up as ben Yisrael.
In all Orthodox shuls I have attended, they use "Ben or Bas Avraham." And they use "Ben or Bas Soroh" when needing Hashem's rachmanos (mercy), like when praying for somebody's health.
My sister is married to a non-Jew. So at my nephew's bris/brith mila/circumcision ceremony, the mohel used my sister's name when announcing my nephew's Hebrew name saying he was the son of his mother using her Hebrew name (as his father is not Jewish).
In all Orthodox shuls I have attended, they use "Ben or Bas Avraham." And they use "Ben or Bas Soroh" when needing Hashem's rachmanos (mercy), like when praying for somebody's health.
the difference is that in most conservative shuls you are called to the torah in the names of both parents "david ben shlomo ve ruchel" , though at least at my shul, when we ask for refuah shlema, its in the name of the mother "david ben ruchel"
the difference is that in most conservative shuls you are called to the torah in the names of both parents "david ben shlomo ve ruchel" , though at least at my shul, when we ask for refuah shlema, its in the name of the mother "david ben ruchel"
I think we all ask for refuah shlema in the name of the mother, because women tend to have a greater level of the midda of "mercy." Sounds like this is a consistent thought among most Jews. I remember in the reform shul growing up, we would sing the Debbie Friedman version of her misheberach song. Not exactly what we do in my shul today, but hey, at least they're doing it.
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