Explanation of Our Choice of the name "David", as included in a handout at his Brit Milah:

 

The custom of naming a boy at his circumcision is based on the fact that G-d gave Avram the name Avraham in conjunction with the Mitzvah (commandment) of Milah, and that the parents of Moshe (Moses) gave him the Hebrew name Yekusiel at the time of his Milah. At the time of the Brit, the infant enters the covenant of Yisra'el, and it is then appropriate to give him the name that expresses his sanctity because the spiritual destiny of a person is contained in his name.

  Among Ashkenazic Jews, it is customary to name a child after a deceased forebear or spiritual leader to whom the family has had ties. Thereby it is hoped that the infant will benefit from the merit of the deceased and also carry on his good works.

  Our boy is being named after Howard's father's father, whose soul left this world on May 7, 1988.

  Only after observing his infant personality, which seems to be extremely sensitive and musical, did we realize what his name was meant to be. After our baby stopped nursing for almost a whole day, due, as we later found out, to his being cold, we considered it perhaps a confirmation from G-d when we stumbled on the following:

  In the Haftarah of Chayei Sarah, the Parasha of the Shabbat of the day before Simcha Layah went into labor, at the very beginning of the first Book of Kings, it says,

 "Hamelech David (King David) was old, advanced in years; they covered him with garments, but he did not become warm."

Since this handout, we also understand that Chayim's mother's grandfather's name was also David, and no one had been named for him, either. Both Chayim's grandfather on his father's side and his great grandfather on his mother's side were named "David," and neither had a middle name. Our David also has no middle name.

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This Page Last Revised:

January 25, 1998