Couldn't the Chaim ben Chaim be Sfardi?
I believe my wife's family had Avraham Shmuel ben Avraham Shmuel all the way up (to A.S. Abu Lafia, which is great).
It could be, but I doubt it because the name Hart is really just a translation of Tzvi or Hirsch and is thus almost certainly an Ashkenazi surname, at least among British Jews. However, I did give a nod to the possibility that the boy was named for his living father, by acknowledging that the name is "suggestive" of tragey. (That said, Shabbethai Tzvi was descended from Ashkenazim; hence the surname. But in all other ways was assimilated to Sephardic culture, so in theory I guess you could have a Sephardi with a name like Hart.)
Fun trivia: the British Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazim known as Hart Lyon was actually named Hirsch Leib, but in England that became Hart Lyon. Likewise, his son, a later Chief Rabbi named Solomon Hirschell was sometimes referred to as Solomon Hart in the British press. And "Solomon Hirschell" is, of course, "Zalman Hirsh," or Shelomo Tzvi.
Incidentally, looks like young Chaim ben Chaim filed for divorce in 1931: link.
Also . . . I did not read my own sources carefully, and I see that the Chaim ben Chaim aka Edward Cecil Melbourne Hart was the son of Hyam Melbourne Hart, and the very next note I show reveals that he died in 1907, when the boy was 15. So much for the tragedy suggested by the name. But I still think they were probably Ashkenazim.
Don't Sepharadim name for living grandfathers, not fathers?
It may simply be indicative of Jews adopting the "Senior-Junior" practice of the English, as assimilated Jews in the US have. I think I've seen other examples of this in Anglo-Jewish history, even among some religious Ashkenazim, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.
Interesting, by the way, that they had to pay for a sandak.
>It may simply be indicative of Jews adopting the "Senior-Junior" practice of the English, as assimilated Jews in the US have.
Definitely true. I know a mohel who did many brisses for Jews of every conceivable kind of Jewish background, identity and knowledge, and although they all ultimately give a name, many of the "rules" as we think of them do not apply. If a guy named Chaim wants to name his son Chaim, there is really no reason for the mohel (or whoever is doing krias ha-shem) to refuse or try to dissuade him. Maybe that's what happened here.
Perhaps the examples you are thinking of are pairs like Nathan Marcus Adler and his son Marcus Nathan? But that was the Germanic custom of adding the father's name ala Samson (ben) Refoel Hirsch.
No, I think the people I was thinking of were prominent Jews of the Board of Deputies (or United Synagogue, or Jews' College, lay leader) type. Perhaps not personally observant, but certainly associated with Orthodox bodies, and including "Jr."s.
Of course, their religious name may have been different.
interesting table. i can't recall ever having seen one for ending times in america. is there also one in the volume for starting times?
i love the translit for עומר
I remembered hearing once that there was a British organization called "The Initiation Society" that gave assistance with britot. When I looked it up, sure enough it was founded in 1745 and is obviously the same entity as the "Hachnasat Brit" here. The goals of the Initiation Society are listed as, "To train Mohalim (circumcisers) to the highest degree of medical competence and understanding of the Jewish law of circumcision; to provide adequate insurance for Mohalim; to provide the services of Mohalim without charge; to make grants to needy parents following birth of a child."
You could not do better or ask for more from a milah society founded 250 years later.
(Where did you look it up, Dan?)
Cool Reminds me of my own Salo Baron's book story. I picked up a copy of Iyunei Mikra Uparshanut online and it turns out to have been Baron's. His name is inscribed in the front, and as a bookmark, he had used an old letter from Menachem Elon (09/64)sending him a copy of a book Elon had just published.
Where did I look it up? Couldn't have been simpler; I Googled "Initiation Society." Their "mission statement" comes from http://www.thebiggive.org.uk/cha...?
charity_id=878, while their own website is www.initiationsociety.org.uk. They say they are THE oldest Anglo-Jewish organization.
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