Yonatan Tzvi

Our beautiful child. Our miracle. Our son. Yonatan means Gift of G-d. His name was chosen for both its meaning and its initial letter. The Hebrew letter Yud, pronounced like Y in English, is translated in English as the letter J.

Yonatan is named for several family members whose names begin with either a J or a Y.

Yonatan was conceived just two days before my beloved Aunt Judy passed away. Aunt Judy was my second mom – the funny mom, the spoil-me mom, the listen-to-me-and-not-judge mom. She was the one who shared the personal heartache with me over our inability to get pregnant quickly and easily like so many of our peers. Although I was unable to tell her that we were pregnant, I know that she knew and that she passed away knowing that we had finally achieved our miracle. She was able to peacefully leave our world to watch over us from another place. It is in her memory that Yonatan receives part of his name and meaning. The Y comes from her name Judy and her Hebrew name Yehudit. Yehudit means “praised” and Aunt Judy was a woman who lived that meaning by always being interested in others despite her own pain and illnesses. She was the first one to offer words of comfort, wisdom, and love. Her praise of our individuality was a source of support that is greatly missed. Our hope is that Yonatan will carry on her love through caring for others more than himself like she did.

Our miracle would never have been possible without the love and support of our friends and family. Sharing our struggles and heartache and our joy with those closest to us helped us cope. We will never be able to adequately thank our cousins Janis and Jim for their generosity, love, and support. In honoring them, we wish for Yonatan to embrace their giving spirit and fill his life with acts of lovingkindness.

Jenn's maternal grandfather – Yonatan’s great grandfather – Irving (Yitzchak in Hebrew) was 12 years old when he arrived in this country. As an immigrant he worked very hard to build a successful butcher business and provide for his 3 children. Grandpa Irving was a kind and loving man who I was fortunate to have known. In his memory, we wish for Yonatan to inherit his sense of hard work and determination no matter what obstacles he might face.

My (Yiftach's) paternal grandfather – another of Yonatan’s great grandfathers – was Yaacov Levy, a prolific writer and influential educator who left his boyhood home in rural Ukraine and ended up contributing a great deal to Jewish and secular thought in Western Europe and Israel. While I never got the chance to know him, my dad’s figurative and literal journeys through his father’s life and work over the last several years have made me ever more confident of his place of honor in Yonatan’s heritage.

Several generations back on my (Yiftach's) maternal family tree is Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, a renowned 19th century rabbi from Lithuania whose influence on Jewish life is still felt today in Israel and around the world. Over the last decade or so, as I’ve become more knowledgeable – and, of course, more curious – about Jewish traditions, texts, customs, and history, I’ve felt an increasing spiritual kinship with Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan that has enhanced my bloodline relationship with him, and I enthusiastically pass these gifts on to Yonatan.

Your Ima and Aba’s names begin with J and Y, thus completing the circle of life from your great-grandfathers, your great aunt and your cousins with J and Y names throughout our family. You are the next link in our lives binding our families together and strengthening the millennia-long chain of Jewish generations.

Your middle name – Tzvi – is another link in connecting your life with your big sister Hadarya’s. In anticipation of having a family, we decided to give all of our children middle names that began with a T to honor Jennifer’s maiden name TABAK. It was also a way to link all of our children together no matter how they came to be part of our family. Tzvi means a deer or gazelle. These animals are very graceful and gentle. We hope that your will embody that characteristic and be a gentle person.

Welcome to our family!