Beautiful Song

Yesterday was Melody’s baby naming ceremony (also known as a Brit Bat or Simchat Bat), which was held as part of a triple-ceremony along with her cousins Jared and Brett. We’d like to thank everyone who attended and would especially like to extend our deepest gratitude to Uncle Shelly for taking time out of his already incredibly busy schedule to officiate the ceremony (a triple-naming no less) and to Marcie’s parents for hosting the event (VERY yummy bagels!).

And now, we can officially announce Melody’s Hebrew name:

Shira Chana
Like Melody, the name “Shira” means “song.” Besides the obvious reasons for choosing this name, we also chose it because music is perhaps humankind’s most basic form of creative expression. Anyone can make music with nothing more than their own voice. Also, in Judaism, most of our prayers are sung — thus elevating prayer above mere human speech. So this all makes the name Shira all that more meaningful.

As for Melody’s Hebrew middle name, Chana, this was Marcie’s maternal grandmother’s Hebrew name. This alone makes the name very special. But also, the name has several different meaning such as “grace,” “gracious,” or “beautiful.” So the combined name Shira Chana means “beautiful song.” I can’t think of anything more appropriate for our daughter than that!