Gavriella Yona Sivan bat Daniel v-Me'irah

This afternoon, we welcomed our daughter into the covenant of the Jewish people and gave her her Hebrew name. Below, the words we shared about that name, and a video of the celebrations.

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Gavriella

Our sweet Gavi,

Leah: Your first name comes from my Grandma Gail. One of the very first things I knew to be true was that my grandma loved me and that I loved her.

When I was only a few years old, my grandmother began teaching me my colors by studying the large oil paintings that hung on her walls. She would point to a man’s overcoat and tell me what color it was: “Not purple, but aubergine.” A wisp-ing flower petal: “that’s blush.” A woman’s hat: “lemon chiffon.” It wasn’t that “purple” or “pink” or “yellow” weren’t accurate; it was that she saw beauty in vivid detail. Not just in the colors on a painting, but the beauty in people too. She saw those she loved with extraordinary clarity and loved us for every detail. Where others would have seen only “purple,” she saw “aubergine.” Her gift for seeing and appreciating us made us all more beautiful.

Daniel: I never met your Great-Grandma Gail, though she and I do share a birthday. And through family stories, I feel like I know her well. One thing I do know about her is that when she was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors told her she had a year to live. But she lived another eight—and in those years, she founded a community center for people whose lives had been touched by cancer. She was a fighter, fierce, strong. And so it seems appropriate that your name, Gavrielle—or Gavriella, as we are going to call you in Hebrew—means “God is my strength.”

In our Jewish tradition, Gavriel is the angel of fire, who sits at God’s left hand. And like a firebrand, Gavriel comes to represent strength, determination, a burning persistence in the face of all obstacles.

Leah: From your Great-Grandma Gail, we hope that you will inherit the ability to see and create beauty wherever you go.

Daniel: And like Gail, or the angel Gavriel, we hope that strength will burn deep within you.

Yona

Leah: Your second name, Yona, is after my dad, your Papa Jonny.

Your grandpa was a seriously silly man. Like a magnet, he attracted those around him, bring them together in laughter—whether it was by publically picking his friends’ noses, or asking my friends at sleepovers if they wanted to sleep in the toothpaste or the orange juice, or, when he left a restaurant, pretending to sign autographs as he walked out the door, as if he were a celebrity and his fellow diners were his adoring fans. He seemed to be perpetually trailed by laughter. Yet, the magnitude of his silly was matched only by the depth of his heart. His jokes and antics helped others let their guard down; his silly was a means of connection, a gateway to the seriousness of his heart. And this was where he really shined, in the quiet moments after the laugh.

Daniel: On the day that your Papa Jonny died, it felt as if our world had flooded. Your mom and I were living in Jerusalem, and as if the weather sympathized, that year was the rainiest winter on record. But as early as the week of Shiva, it brought your mom and me great comfort to imagine the child that we would someday, God willing, name after your Papa Jonny—whose Hebrew name was Yonatan.

Your second name, Yona, is Hebrew for “dove.” And like the dove on Noah’s ark, your arrival is at once a reminder of what we lost when our world flooded, and also a reminder that even after the greatest of floods, we once again walk on dry land.

Leah: From your Papa Jonny, we hope that you inherit a great joy in play and a serious depth of heart. And when your world floods, as it inevitably will, we wish for you the courage and strength to always find the dry land on the other side of despair.  

Sivan

Daniel: Your third and final Hebrew name, Sivan, is after my Grandma Sally and my Aunt Stella. When I was growing up in Tallahassee, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents were scattered all over the country. We would see each other a few times year—for a simcha or on a family vacation. But Grandma Sally and Aunt Stella both spent the last few years of their lives living in Tallahassee, and as a result, I grew especially close with them. You could always find them at our piano recitals, community theatre productions, or at our house for Shabbat dinner. On Sundays, I used to go with my mom over to Aunt Stella’s to deliver her a sandwich from Subway, or with my dad to Grandma Sally’s to play Scrabble. They were simple outings, and I loved them.

Leah: Your third Hebrew name, Sivan, is also the name of the Hebrew month in which your dad and I were married. It’s also the month in which the holiday of Shavuot occurs—when, according to our tradition, the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. As one legend has it, the Israelites stood beneath Mount Sinai, like a wedding couple standing beneath the chuppah.

Today, as you enter the covenant of the Jewish people, you—as your dad and I did on our wedding day, and as the Israelites did at Sinai—you are joining the Jewish family.

Daniel: As with my Grandma Sally and my Aunt Stella, may that family always be close.

Conclusion

Daniel: Gavriella Yona Sivan—we give you this Hebrew name in honor of your Great-Grandma Gail, your Papa Jonny, your Great-Grandma Sally, and your Great-Aunt Stella.

Leah: There are many gifts we hope you will inherit from them. But most of all, as you carry their legacy with you; we hope that you will make for yourself your own name in the world.