What’s in a (Last) Name?
When using proper names in the Jewish ritual, such as receiving an Aliyah to the Torah, marriage, divorce, on conversion documents, on tombstones or in memorial prayers, Jews are…
Thou Shalt Take A Surname
Goldberg, Rosenstein, Feldman...typical Jewish Ashkenazi names. Historically, however, until the early Industrial era, Jews were generally known by a patronymical : Rabbi Shimon ben (son…
Cohen, Katz, Kagen
Meet a man named Cohen and it is fair to assume that he is a descendant of the priestly tribe, going all the way back to Aharon the High Priest. We all know that there are distinctly…