The story from the other day that knocked a lot of people for a loop is certainly upsetting. The story was about a premature stillborn baby. In this instance, the father insisted on burying the baby rather than leaving it to the responsibility of the hospital and chevra kadisha. The father was upset that the chevra kadisha was going to be following its tradition (while claiming it as actual halacha) and not allow the parents to participate or know where the grave would be. Somehow, it is unclear who did this, the baby was placed in a cardboard box and given to the father with a sense of leave us alone, go deal with it yourself. Obviously this was very upsetting, and was turned into a big story.

I am not upset that the chevra kadisha wanted to follow its protocol and tradition. Tradition is very strong, especially in Jerusalem and especially with regards to matters of mourning and death. They make exceptions to their rules, but they are not that common and only in unique cases.

This could have been such a unique case warranting an exception, but I am not going to judge that.

The main thing they did wrong was act with lack of sensitivity to a grieving parent. Whether they were going to make an exception or insist on keeping tradition, they need to do whatever they do in a way that is more sensitive to the families they deal with. I am sure being a part of a chevra kadisha is very difficult - dealing with death and mourning all the time cannot be easy - and brings about delicate situations. The chevra kadishas should be highly sensitive to these situations and families, and whatever they decide to do in regards to the various traditions involved, the decisions should be made and conveyed with respect and dignity.
.

According to this article in Yisrael HaYom, Machon Puah is going to be announcing tomorrow at their conference that in certain situations it will be allowed for a person to select the gender of their baby. Unfortunately it does not say which rav, and I assume they would only publicize such a psak if it came from a gadol, authorized it.

Rav Menachem Burshtein, head of Puah Institute, explains that there are three possibilities for selecting the gender of a baby:

1. the more natural way of working around the ovulation schedule and scheduling sexual relations accordingly, in order to have a better chance at whichever gender you prefer.
2. putting the sperm into a machine that separates the female sperm and the male sperm and only using the male sperm to fertilize the egg.
3. IVF - in vitro fertilization

With the new always filled with controversy, argument, fear, and violence, a story like this is a breath of fresh air - a welcome respite and an uplifting item.

A couple from Maaleh Adumim just had triplets. That alone is not newsworthy. What is newsworthy about this miracle is that the triplets were naturally conceived, itself unusual, and all three shared the same placenta making all three identical - a point which makes their successful birth an even rarer occurrence.

When the pregnancy was first discovered and it was realized that the mother was bearing triplets connected to one placenta, the doctors encouraged her to abort or at least do some pruning - trim the baby count and get rid of one or two. They said that the chances are very high that none will survive, and if they do there could be very serious birth defects.

The parents decided not to heed the doctors' advice and decided to go ahead with the pregnancy as usual.  "As usual" is an understatement. With such a high risk pregnancy she was constantly monitored and examined. Last Thursday, in week 34 of her pregnancy, after the doctors saw one of the fetuss (feti?) in distress, she gave birth via Cesarean Section to all three healthy, albeit small, babies. Each kid weighs 1.5kg. The boys are going by the names a, b and c until they reach an appropriate weight to get their circumcisions. The parents, married just under two years, now have 4 children younger than the age of 1. (source: Ynet)

I wish the parents mazal tov and much luck and success. they are going to have a tough year, let alone 18 years, ahead of them...

How much would you pay to have someone use your preferred name when naming their baby? How much would you charge to sell the rights to name your baby?

When someone was recently selling the rights to name a baby in the Yated, the price was not advertised. it seemed to have been sold to the highest bidder.

As the trend continues, this time the price is pre-determined. An organization advertised in the Yom L'Yom newspaper that they are looking for someone willing to name their baby Shabsai in exchange for 10,000 NIS. They are even ok with the person adding their own selected name as a second name.

According to the Bechadrei reporter who checked into the ad, a fellow died and left over this money for people who would agree to name their baby after him, and they, the middlemen, are looking for "avreichim bnei torah" who would do so.

"She'yihiyeh b'mazal tov"

A few weeks ago there was an advertisement in the Yated for a family that wanted to sell the rights to name their upcoming baby. They were going to use the money to cover some debts that had piled up.

Now, the next stage is an advertisement in Hamodia (Hebrew) offering the sale of being the sandek at a bris.

I would suggest it might be the same people - selling the name, and now the sandekaus, but this is being sold by an organization as a fundraiser. They probably have a bunch of couples registered with them, they probably pay the couples a percentage and the bulk of the money goes to the organization. Plus, they would more likely have advertised again in the Yated. Unless maybe they did not get any good offers from that ad and decided to try it through Hamodia this time, and through the organization..

The organization is the "Committee For Purity of the Camp", and they say that their work consists mostly of improving tzniyus in Eretz Yisrael - separate roads to the Kotel, mehadrin bus lines, getting rid of immodest pictures in advertisements in bus stops, etc. Someone who would buy the sandekaus, they say, is not only being part of a great mitzva, but is also giving tzedaka to an important cause.

The cost of buying the sandekaus, specifically for a bris coming this Tuesday, is $35,000 and it includes being the sandek and holding the baby when the brachos are recited. The payment, by the way, can be divided into 70 payments - so no worries if you don't have the $35k ready and available by this Tuesday.
(source: Mynet)

One could look at this as an investment. It is well known that being a sandek at a bris is considered to be a segulah for wealth..

This too would have made a great eBay item. Maybe the haredi papers should be looked at as being frum alternatives to eBay...

I am starting to think of what other things can be sold and used as income generators... I am getting all sorts of crazy ideas in my head, but don't want to commit them to writing just yet. Feel free to add your own suggestions!

When someone pointed out to me the classified section of this week's free Yated Neeman, I got a real kick out of it, Who knew that Yated classifieds could be so funny!!?? When I read it I was not sure if I was reading Yated Neeman or eBay! They need to change the name of the newspaper, though I am not sure if eNeeman or Yated Bay is better..


If you can't make out the Hebrew, basically someone is trying to sell the rights to name his baby. It doesn't say  how much it costs, so I am assuming it up for bidding. It says "Respected family interested in giving a name to a baby after a good person for pay".

Nice of them to call themselves "respected", or a more accurate translation might be "important". Unfortunately they restrict to "named after a good person", which gives them a lot of leeway to veto any selection. They are the arbiter of who is considered a "good person".

This is something I expect to see on eBay, not in the Yated.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I cannot believe how people bother the gedolim with silly questions, wasting time that is obviously very valuable - valuable from the perspective of the gadol, and valuable form the tzibbur's perspective in the sense that the gadol could be learning or answering serious questions during that time..

Yesteday, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel died. It is very common for students and admirers to name their children after a gadol or rav after he has died. It is, or can be, both a sign of respect and a wish that the child be imbued with some of the character traits of the rav.

Yesterday, before the funeral was set to take place, a baby in Jerusalem was scheduled to undergo his circumcision. Before the bris, the father questioned whether it is really appropriate to name the baby after the rosh yeshiva considering he had not yet been buried.

Bechadrei reports that the question found its way to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. This means that none of the baby's family members, rosh yeshivas and talmidei chachomim, were able to answer this difficult question that has serious halachic ramifications, and a heavyweight like Rav Chaim Kanievsky needed to be called in to rule on the matter.

Anyway, the interesting psak issued by Rav Chaim Kanievsky on this question was that it is perfectly ok to name the baby "Nosson Tzvi" even though the burial had not yet taken place.

No report on whether or not Natalie Portman had her baby undergo a bris milah, but reports do say the baby was named "Alef".

trying to figure out how she came up with that name, I decided she was naming the baby after the accuser of Moshe Katzav who led the prosecution in the trial.

Funnily enough, in Israel HaYom's report, they compare the name to Alf, our friendly and furry alien from an old tv show...

I'd say this is something that could happen only in Israel, but it would not be true. Yet this specific craziness just happened in Israel.

An Israeli couple named their newborn baby "Like". Like, as in, or should I say like, the ability to click the "Like" button in Facebook.

Yahoo News has the story:

Stumped for an original name for their newborn daughter, an Israeli couple took inspiration from social networking site Facebook and named her "Like," Israeli daily Maariv reported on Monday.
The parents lifted the name from the popular feature on the site, which allows Facebook users to click on the word "like" and give the thumbs-up to comments, links and pictures posted by other users.
"We named her Like because it's modern and innovative," father Lior Adler told the mass-circulation paper. "I checked that the name does not exist elsewhere in the country, that was the main condition for me," he said.
"In our opinion it's the modern equivalent of the name Ahava (Love) he added. "It's just my way of saying to my fantastic daughter, 'love.'"
Adler and his wife Vardit have in the past strayed into unusual territory in naming their offspring.
The pair share a love of cooking and so decided to name their other daughters "Pie," using the English word for the name, and "Vash," Hebrew for "Honey," Maariv reported.
As might be expected, the couple's newest arrival was quickly announced to their friends and family on Facebook, where she was an instant hit, her father told the paper.
"When I posted her picture and name on Facebook I got 40 'likes,'" he told Maariv. "Considering that I have only a little more than 100 friends on the network that's a lot."

Like, Vash and Pie. Talk about crazy. What is going to happen with this girl in 20 years, when Facebook is a thing of the past and she tries to explain her unusual name. They might think it is cool now, but later they will think of it as pretty stupid. I mean, what would you think if you ran into someone named a term from MySpace?

Though if they were so inspired by Facebook, "Like" seems like a better choice than naming the kid "Mark Zuckerberg"...

This is taking the title "the Facebook Generation" just a little too literally!

In the continued "hassidification" of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, he has performed yet another miracle. The miracles are coming from this litvishe rav fast and furious.

This one has Rav Kanievsky being the cause of how many babies a woman gave birth to.

Bechadrei reports that an avreich who did not have children despite many years of marriage went to Rav Kanievsky for a bracha. While he was waiting in line for his turn to get into Rav Chaim's room, Rabbanit Kanievsky noticed him, and that he seemed upset. . She asked him what he came for, to which he responded that he came for a bracha for children.

Rabbanit Kanievsky gave him a bracha that they would give birth to twins in the coming year. He answered amen, and took his turn to get a bracha from the rav as well.

The avreich told Rav Chaim about the meany years they did not have children and what they went through, and asked that Rav Chaim daven on their behalf. He also mentioned that the rebbetzin had just given them a bracha for twins.

Rav Chaim said "Why only twins? IYH, you should have triplets!"

This week the fellow came back to Rav Chaim Kanievsky reporting that his wife had just given birth to triplets!

We will be making a kiddush this shabbos in our home after davening. The kiddush is in honor of the birth of our baby 2 months ago (or whenever it was). If you will be within walking distance (in Ramat Bet Shemesh), consider yourself invited. email me for our address if you need it... israeli.jew at gmail dot com

The baby now has a name.

It is (drumroll please..)

Chaviva Chaya (or of you are pedantic about the transliteration spellings from Hebrew to English that might be spelled Khavivaw Khayauo - correct me in the comments... :-)

explanation:
Chaviva means beloved.
The Midrash says that all 7's are beloved (to God I guess). It goes through a whole list of 7's such as the 7th day being shabbos, the 7th month being tishrei (containing rosh hashana, yom kippur, sukkos..), the 7th land being Tevel (Eretz Yisrael) the 7th year being shmitta, etc..

This baby is our 7th child and she was born in a shmitta year, so Chaviva is appropriate.

Chaya was (one of) my Bubbys name(s).

The only question remaining is how to actually spell the name on the birth certificate and id card.. should it be Haviva Haya (as I prefer) or Chaviva Chaya (as my wife prefers)...

opinions?

My cousin Shmuel and his wife Chava have just given birth to their first child, a girl. Mazel tov!

This is hot off the press!