Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

With profound gratitude to Hashem, Alisa and I are very pleased to announce our grandson’s name, Shalev Tzvi. He is named after my father z”l, whose first name was Tzvi. When my father came to America in 1949, his relatives told him that he would need an English name. One cousin called him Hersh Mendel, and another cousin called him Tzvi, and while these names worked in the Yiddish-speaking world in which my father had lived, he would need a new name in his new world. Another cousin pointed out that there was a very popular comedian at the time and that my father should adopt his name. That’s how my father came to be Mr. Milton Schwartz after Milton Berle.  

When Yoni spoke about his son’s name, he stressed a theme that appears again and again in my father’s memoir (a book that I hope will be ready for his yahrzeit on Yom Kippur), that he had nothing but gratitude for everything that God had given him, and no malice towards Heaven whatsoever for all that was taken from him. The theme of gratitude is very high on our own list of attributes. Within a period of 2 months, Alisa and I have seen two grandchildren on two continents named after my father. God has been very good to us and we hope to continue to deserve His gracious kindness. The name is especially meaningful to us because our daughter Mindy, Shalev Tzvi’s mother, bears the name of my father’s mother.

My father was born just a few months short of a century before his newest namesake. Tzvi’s first name, Shalev, bespeaks calm serenity and the benefits of peace and harmony. May Shalev Tzvi grow in a world that abounds in peace and tranquility, and may he bear his namesake’s mantra with pride and glory, tempered always with gratitude to Hashem.

Thank you to the community for being so gracious in celebrating our Simcha with us. There is a Pidyon Haben down the line as well, and a Bar Mitzva on Aug. 4^th 2035, God willing.

Be well and healthy.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz    

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95^th Street | New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org