All in the Name

During my son's brit milah today, the lil one finally got his name ... Nissim* David** Piha.

*The first born males on my dad's paternal side were named either Nissim or Avram after the child's grandfather. The line was always Nissim, followed by Avram, followed by Nissim etc ... It changed in 1953 when my dad was born. Just before his birth, my late Nonnou Nissim had a dream that his father requested he call his son Isaac after Nonnou's little brother, who 8 years earlier had died during the holocaust and had never had a marked grave. My father would be given Isaac's name and with my birth in 1980, the tradition would return as I'd get the name he would have had were it not for Nonnou's dream. Since high school, I've known that my first son's name would be Nissim. In fact, I mentioned it to Talya on our first date that it was something that was extremely important to me. I'm very honored to have the privilege of continuing this tradition - and hope and pray that my boy is blessed with the same loving kindness and dedication to his family and faith as my late Nonnou had.

Nissim means "miracles."

**Talya & I chose David to honor three special great grand parents - David Lieberman, David Capelouto & David Rosen.

David means "beloved." David was the second king of Israel, and is the ancestor of all future kings. (see Samuel 17:12).

For pictures of the event, please click here (Picasa Web Album) or here (Facebook Users)