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Hadassah Rose Cohen

הֲדַסָּה Hadassah Rose Cohen

March 8, 2008

Today Myriam and I announce the name of our first child, our daughter, Hadassah Rose Cohen,  her hebrew name is Hadassah Shoshana bat Michael v Myriam ha Cohen.  When Myriam was a few months pregnant, we realized we should really start thinking about possible names for our potential boy or girl.  We were told that an angel would whisper the right name into Myriam's ear just as she was giving birth.  Luckily for us,  this turned out to be true, and Hadassah it was.  We decided to do our own investigation and research, just to make sure this angel was not pulling our legs, and that was when we began to understand what a perfect name this is.

We are naming her Hadassah Rose Cohen in memory of her ancestors, Great grandmother Thea Hodge, great grandmother Victoria Cohen, great grandmother Rose Stone, great great grandmother Rose Drell, and great great grandmother Rose Naccache.

Hadassah means "sweetness" in Hebrew.  It is also the name for Myrtle tree, in latin Myrtus communis.

The myrtle tree, or Hadas, is known for certain characteristics, and has been a tree of symbolism to many cultures.  It is an evergreen that grows to a height of 18 feet.  It has fragrant leaves, and produces white flowers with a stamen that resembles a star. 

The leaves can be used as a substitute for bay leaves, or as a spice on their own.  Both the leaves and berries have been known to be used in love potions, much like the one Myriam claims I seduced her with when we first met.

We use the hadas branch on Sukkot in our lulavim.  One of the reasons we use it is to remind us of the dense forests where the Israelites settled in the hills when they entered Israel.

Because of the star shape of the flower, hadas was associated with  Venus, or the morning and evening star, in Greek and Roman times.  This correlation, combined with the fragrance of the flowers, made the myrtle tree sacred to Aphrodite/Venus – the goddess of love.

Queen Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah, shows the star association to be true for Jews too.  The name Esther is most likely related to the Median word for myrtle, astra, and the Persian word setareh meaning star . The Targum, which is the Aramaic translation of the Torah, explains that Esther was as beautiful as the Evening/Morning star, which is astara in Greek.

Esther can also be understood to mean "hidden" in Hebrew, and her name is interpreted thus in Midrash, where it is said that Esther hid her nationality. Because the methods and aims of God are believed to be similarly hidden, "The Book of Esther" in Hebrew can be understood as "The Book of Hiddenness," representing God's hiddenness in the story.

A few years ago, it came to light that Hadassah's great grandmother on Myriam's side, Thea Hodge, had a different legal middle name than the one she went by for most of her life.  While she had told people for many years that her middle name was Elaine, her mother and father had really named her Esther.  She kept that as secret as she had her Jewish roots, until she revealed it a few years ago.

In naming our daughter Hadassah we are honoring – and now  memorializing  Hadassah's Great Grandmother, Thea Esther Hodge.  Hadassah was very fortunate to have been able to meet her last living great grandmother and to hold her finger,  and for Thea to have had the joy of being with her great granddaughter – just days before Thea passed away.

Eight years ago, Thea wrote that she  was lucky, and defined luck as

being in the right place at the right time and being ready and adventurous enough to take advantage of

that juxtaposition, even when it was not easy or comfortable to do so.

Our hope, in passing on Thea's name, is that Hadassah will make the kinds of decisions for herself that she is happy with, and have this same kind of luck throughout her life.

While investigating how the hadas tree has been viewed throughout history, we found that it has been a symbol of many things, from Jewish sources, Victorian times, as well as Greek, Roman and other ancient history.  It has been a symbol of victory particularly a peaceful one, the continuity of life, immortality, prosperity, success in life, divine grace, joy, and peace, as well as fertility, marital bliss, and everlasting love. 

Legend has it that myrtle is a good luck charm, and if it shows up in your dreams, your business will be blessed.

As myrtle is a symbol for victory, we would like to honor the memory of Hadassah's Great Grandmother, Victoria Cohen, and remember her family's journey from persecution in Tunisia and Egypt to success in a new world.

We chose another notable fragrant flower, Rose, as Hadassah's middle name. The rose is also associated with the ancient Greek and Roman goddess Aphrodite and Venus. We are giving our daughter the middle name of Rose in memory of her Great Grandmother Rose Stone, on my side of the family, as well as her Great Great Grandmother Rose Drell, one of Myriam's ancestors.

Apparently, we are not the only ones who think that Hadassah and Rose go well together.  In ancient times brides decorated themselves with wreaths of hadass and roses.

As we do not know where life's journey will take Hadassah, and as many people have asked us for suggested nicknames, we offer her some select names for Hadassah in various languages: Hodel in Yiddish, Hadass in Arabic, Vilayatimehndi in Hindi, Matoru in Japanese, Arrayán in Spanish, Xiang tao mu in Mandarin,  Sazak in Turkish.

We hope that Hadassah Rose Cohen is guided by the wit, charm, intelligence, creativity, and other great qualities of her aforementioned ancestors, and the sweetness, love, success, luck, prosperity, and essence that her name symbolizes.

Hadassah this week

As you can probably tell, Hadassah is getting cuter and more human every day. Here are some pictures of Hadassah's weekly activities: taking baths, admiring art and flowers, enjoying her sheepskin rug, and hanging out being cute.