Unclear on the concept

[dlevey]

Our synagogue hosts a preschool.  Some, but not all, of the classes are specifically Jewish in theme and focus.  The other day I saw something there which took me by surprise.

In the hallway outside each classroom is a row of coathooks, and most classes post the name of each child above a hook.  So far, so good - it gives each child the same place

Comments

[dlevey]

...And a swastika was a good-luck symbol for hundreds of years, but I still wouldn't walk into a synagogue with one tatooed on my forehead.

[jimpage363]

I'm sure they are clueless parents who have no idea of the context of that word. I can nearly guarantee they aren't White Supremacists, though.
"Density of Population" is a good tag for this crowd.
Between the preschool and my school here, I have 3 Christophers or Christines - all come from 100% Jewish families and all the parents (when discreetly asked) said they "just liked the name". Clueless!

[dlevey]

Well, technically my younger son's name (Malcolm) means "follower of St Columba" so I can't talk too much there...

[ymarkov]

Yeah, interesting :-)

I do remember, years ago, preparing a tax return for a man named Christopher, whose three children's names were Christopher Jr., Christine, and Christian. At least the wife was named Judy :-)

[dlevey]

To elaborate, he was named for my grandmother, Malka. Originally, we were considering the Hebrew name of "Makom Shelibi" until we found that this could cause some discomfort amongst those more observant than we are. For his Hebrew name we went with "Shlomo Melech".

[jdulac]

It isn't the word that you think it is -- it's just a clever and non-standard spelling of the name Ariane/Ariadne.

[dlevey]

It is also, however, an accepted and common spelling for "Arayan" to the point where Wikipedia and dictionary.reference.com have entries for it.

[elizabear]

Yeah, but in my accent, Arien and Aryan are not pronounced the same.