Bris for Owen Ross

This should explain why I have not been posting very much, as we welcomed our little bundle of joy on June 23, that coupled with a new job has kept me busy and very tired. Stay posted, and hopefully I will get around to ranting again. I guess I am just too happy right now.

Here is the meaning of his name, which Nancy and I read at his bris this weekend:

When people ask us why and who we named Owen for, we have two answers. For starters, we really just liked the name. However, Owen means young warrior and after arriving 3 weeks early we know that he is on the right path.

Our other answer is that in Hebrew he is named for two VERY special people in our lives, my maternal grandfather, Allan Resler, and Jeff’s Great Uncle Erich.

Avraham was my grandfather’s Hebrew name. We decided to name Owen after him because of all of the wonderful attributes and memories that made Poppa Al who he was.

He was very caring and thought highly of his family and friends. He had a beautiful singing voice and taught us some fun songs that we will never forget and will definitely share them with Owen, Mollie and Jacob as they get older. As Poppa Al grew older, Jewish life became a larger part of his existence. We will work to instill the same Jewish values and traditions that Poppa held dear into Owens every day life.

Some of my memories of him are the fun I had with my sister on our travels to Buffalo, going to his second bar mitzvah on his 73rd birthday and our last trip to Buffalo a few years back for 90th birthday party. I will never forget his pompadour haircut, which always kept him occupied for hours in the bathroom getting ready. And looking at Owen and his full head of hair, he might be on the same path.

A strange coincidence happened by having Owen arrive 3 weeks early. It was exactly one year ago this week, per the Jewish calendar, that Poppa Al passed away, and Owen must have known since he made his presence known the same week, a year later.

Owen gets his second Hebrew name, Shimon, from for my great Uncle Erich, who was my paternal grandfather’s brother. Coincidently, Jacob is named after my grandfather so now Y’akov and Shimon are brothers again.

Although I never got to spend as much time with my Uncle Erich, I do have some very fond memories of him. One is that he always reminded me that before Jacob and Owen were born, that I was the last in the Herz line. He even came up to me at our wedding and asked when he would have a little Herz boy to carry on the line. I could tell when we arrived at his 90th birthday party a few months after Jacob was born, that Erich was very happy knowing that line would live for another generation. Unfortunately Erich passed away soon after that, and now we have another bundle of joy to carry on the family name, at least for another generation.