Brit "fashlas"

In honor of West Bank Mama’s “coming out” and Bec’s son’s brit, I’ll tell what happened at the brit of WBM’s oldest son back in the old country. Well, my husband thinks it happened at a different brit, but anyway. . . After the rabbi had named the baby and continued the passage that reads “zeh hakatan, ploni ben ploni, gadol yihyeh” meaning: “This small one, so and so son of so and so, may he grow big,” he read straight from the book and referred to the baby as “ploni.” Afterward, my husband and I always called WBM’s baby Ploni. Or maybe that’s what we called the other family’s baby?

There is a similar story in my husband’s extended family. The baby-namer read the above phrase, including the correct name, but forgot to add the honorific “hakohen” indicating the baby’s priestly lineage. When the father called it out, it came out “hacohen gadol yihyeh,” meaning “he will be the High Priest.” That branch of the family was always particular about its “kohen” status. The kid is a father himself now, and who knows what will be in the future?

To prevent this kind of error we would write the baby’s name on a piece of paper in advance. When we planned a Shabbat brit (unfortunately postponed) we joked about what we would do if we changed our minds at the last minute. . .

Comments

  1. Rafi Goldmeier says

    that’s a funny story.. will he ever outgrow “ploni”?

  2. mother in israel says

    Well, we haven’t been in touch with either family much, so who knows?

  3. westbankmama says

    Uh, Mom, it happened at a different brit! My first-born was never named ploni!

  4. mother in israel says

    It figures–my husband has a better memory than I do for these things. But we were at your son’s brit. I was pregnant with my oldest.

  5. Rafi Goldmeier said…
    that’s a funny story.. will he ever outgrow “ploni”?
    January 23, 2007 1:52 PM
    Delete
    mother in israel said…
    Well, we haven’t been in touch with either family much, so who knows?
    January 23, 2007 4:27 PM
    Delete
    westbankmama said…
    Uh, Mom, it happened at a different brit! My first-born was never named ploni!
    January 24, 2007 7:22 AM
    Delete
    mother in israel said…
    It figures–my husband has a better memory than I do for these things. But we were at your son’s brit. I was pregnant with my oldest.
    January 24, 2007 11:57 AM

  6. that’s hysterical.
    thank goodness we didn’t have a shabbos brit, we were still deciding the name on the way over….

  7. mominisrael says

    Hi Bec!
    Jameel, I don’t doubt it for a minute!!

  8. Just heard this story from my wife, so I doubt its an urban legend.
    A father named his son at his brit, “Chofesh”.
    So the mohel said, “Zeh hakatan, Chofesh Gadol Yihiyeh…”