The Minor Prophecy for Eliyahu Reuven

A decade after my serving as the religious officiant at a major life event, I led my second. This time around, I had the honor of researching, writing and leading a Jewish baby-naming  ceremony.

This modest career arc began on December 31, 2014. I was the ordained minister (online s’micha, if you will, from the Universal Life Church) for the marriage of my nephew Travis and his bride Amanda. They deeply honored me by asking me to perform the ceremony, held under a tent (a sort of Texas sukkah, come to think of it) on their 10-acre ranch in Katy, Texas, with the muddy pasture covered in hay so attendees’ boots and high heels wouldn’t sink into the soggy ground. They wrote the nondenominational ceremony, where I started,

On behalf of Travis and Amanda, welcome!!

We are here to celebrate the marriage of two special friends, more than a ceremony; this is a significant moment of celebration and personal commitment. The essence of this commitment is the taking of another person in their entirety, as a companion and a friend.

At the end of the ceremony, I took great pleasure in declaring,

By the power vested in me by the laws of the State of Texas, I now pronounce you husband and wife!

A couple of BBQ-and-bourbon hours later, we blasted fireworks to ring in 2015. Over the next decade, Travis and Amanda brought forth four kids. I’m expecting their brood to carry the Wallach name and DNA into the 22^nd century with more generations of critter-lovin’ Texans.

Meanwhile, my partner Naomi’s daughter Emma and son-in-law Mike welcomed a son this summer. Knowing my record as an officiant at religious ceremonies—and my ease at public speaking— they tapped me to MC the baby naming at their home in Massachusetts. I readily agreed to this Jewish milestone introducing a new soul to the world.

I thought back to my son Reuven Yisroel’s bris in the 1990s and found a tiny knit kippah he wore at the ceremony. Everybody agreed that item would be a wonderful generational bridge, so I placed it my officiant’s kit with as many kippot as I could find. Next, Naomi and I began researching the basics of baby naming ceremonies. I wanted the ceremony to involve family members, touch on traditional sources and be relatively short.

The kippah that passed from one Reuven to another Reuven.

The pieces came together quickly, along with the speaker assignments. We printed out copies, arranged chairs in the living room and got this show on the road.

The Friday afternoon ceremony began with a welcome from the new parents. They took turns reading Psalms 64 from my Koren Siddur:

The boy that has been born to us. To revere You and serve You in truth, and to walk in the path of righteousness. Protect our tender child in all his ways. Favor him with knowledge, understanding and discernment, and let his portion be in Your Torah, so that he may sanctify Your great name, and become a comfort to us as we grow old. As for us, may our prayer come to You, Lord, at a time of favor. O God, in Your great love, answer us with Your faithful salvation.

Naomi, kvelling in her new status at “Omi Naomi” (Omi honoring her German heritage, since her father Eric was from Dresden) read the prayer for non-Jews, taken from materials at JewBelong:

May everyone who shares in a Jewish life feel welcome and integrated. We lovingly acknowledge the diversity of our community and are deeply grateful for the love and support you provide by opening your heart to Judaism, no matter how big or small a part it is in your day. Your presence at this Jewish experience is valued. It is not taken for granted because not everyone in this broken world will sit at a Shabbat dinner or attend a Passover Seder. We are a very small people and history has made us smaller. As we once again see a rise in hatred and hear fear in the voices of our community, we are grateful for your presence. We pray with all our hearts that all you give to the Jewish people will come back to you and fill your life with joy. Amen.

Up next was Cye, Eliyahu’s great-grandmother and mother of Naomi’s late husband Robert. Again drawing on JewBelong, Cye read,

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, shehecheyanu v’key’manu v’higiyanu lazman hazeh. Amen.

Praised are You, Spirit of the Universe, who keeps us alive, sustains us, and brings us to this moment. Amen.

My turn came as I explained the significance of Hebrew names, drawing on Chabad materials:

On the most basic level, a Jewish name is a keystone of Jewish identity. Our sages tell us that although more than two centuries of exile and slavery had all but assimilated the Children of Israel into the pagan society of Egypt, they remained a distinct entity because they retained their Hebrew “names, language and dress,” and thus merited their miraculous redemption.

Our Hebrew name is your spiritual call sign, embodying your unique character traits and G‑d-given gifts. Ideally, you should use it 24 hours a day, not just when you’re called to the Torah or when prayers are offered on your behalf. Your Hebrew name functions as a conduit, channeling spiritual energy from G‑d into your soul and your body.

Your name is selected by your parents who usually name you after a dear departed loved one, most often an ancestor. Our sages have declared that your parents’ choice of a name constitutes a “minor prophecy”, since the name they choose conforms with the inborn nature of your soul.

Then the moment arrived for Emma and Mike to provide the “minor prophecy” of their son’s Hebrew name: Eliyahu Reuven.

Eliyahu, or Elijah. A prophet whose name means “The Lord is my God.” It honors Emma’s grandfather Eric.

Reuven, or Ruben. It means “Behold, a son.” He was the first son of Jacob and Leah. This name honors Emma’s late father Robert.

I invited people to add any other thoughts they had on this special moment.

Kicking back after MCing the baby naming.

After that, we moved to the kiddush with great-grandfather Mel delivering the prayer over the challah, and I closed with the prayer over the wine.

Everybody liked the ceremony with its readings and inclusive sensibility. I found it extraordinarily moving, to  honor a baby with a name linking him to forebears going back to the first son of Jacob, Reuven, and the prophet of titanic conviction and impact, Eliyahu.

The future is in good, and now growing, hands.