By Herbert Munshine (Great Neck, NY)
My father never called me by what I call
my American name.
I was never Herbert, Herbie, Herb or even,
as a Scottish fellow teacher used to call me
during my time in West Africa for the Peace Corps,
Bertie. To my dad, I was always a very guttural “Chaim.”
I never questioned his choice.
(A Herb by any other name….)
To my teachers, my friends, my sisters,
I was Herb or Herbie but to my dad, I was consistently
Chaim. It was good and even comforting to be addressed
that way by him. In mature retrospection, I realize that
his use of the Hebrew name gave me my Jewish identity.
It’s as if he used the name to remind me of who I am:
a Jewish male, a descendant of a proud people,
a member of a not-so-massive group who love peace,
education, community, ambition;
a never-ending congregation whose members
represent the sacred holiness of life —
even in the face of constant enmity.
All this emanated from a name that has always
carried with it a truly deep meaning in the simple
yet complex translation: “Life!” In my final maturity,
as I reflect, even against my will,
I occasionally stumble onto wisdom
and realize the gentle options which
he offered up to me: Temple Emanuel visits
for major holidays, after-school Hebrew culture classes,
public school Hebrew language classes
(I won the Golden Ayin and was President
of the Hebrew Culture Club), two agonizing visits to
Jewish cemeteries. Even in the presence of death, I —
Chaim (my soul hears echoes of my father’s voice
together with a whisper of assurance from my mother) —
even in the midst of humbly resting Jewish souls
gone from one kind of community to
a much more peaceful one —
I am my father’s Chaim.
I am my lifetime definition
of a Jewish life!
Herbert Munshine grew up in the Bronx and graduated from C.C.N.Y. with both a B.S. in Education and a Master’s Degree in English. You can find his baseball poetry on Baseball Bard where he has had more than 100 poems published, and where he was recently inducted into that site’s Hall of Fame. He lives with his wife in Great Neck, NY.
The Jewish Writing Project 