"It's a Girl!" <photo-caption />

With profound gratitude to Hashem, we are proud to announce the birth of a beautiful baby daughter!
(5lbs 12oz) at 8:20 AM EDT on Monday April 21, 2003; 19 Nissan 5763;
in the 227th year of independence of the United States of America;
in the 55th year of independence of the State of Israel.

Sunday April 27: We are pleased to announce that our daughter was named on Shabbat Acharei Mot, April 26, at Kehilat Orach Eliezer.

Approximate transcript of remarks by Tovit at KOE April 26 about Yaira Eve’s first name:

It is with a sense of awe that Mike and I stand here in front of Hashem, our families and our friends. Only three weeks ago, Mike stood here and expressed his gratitude to the KOE community for the years that we have spent as individuals and as a couple with Rabbi Halivni and all our friends at KOE. Now, we stand here as a family with our daughter Yaira Eve, the newest member of KOE.

We named our daughter Yaira Eve after my maternal grandfather and Mike’s paternal grandmother. Yaira is named after my grandfather Shraga Favel ben Yosef. My grandfather, or Zaidy, was one of the most significant influences in my life. My earliest memories are of times spent with my Bubby and Zaidy. Zaidy was born in Poland and came to Canada after surviving the Holocaust in hiding. Having seen the murder of his parents, the death of his sisters at the hands of the Nazis, Y’mach Shemam, and his entire community disappear, one would think that his outlook on life would have turned cynical. But, my Bubby and Zaidy arrived in Canada with a sense of opportunity, hope and the drive to build a new family in the Jewish tradition of their parents and grandparents.

The meaning of the name Shraga Favel is a Yiddish variant of the Aramaic word for light. Zaidy was a light to our family and his community, a light out of the embers of the flames of the Holocaust. He was the candy man in his shul and taught every child to politely ask for gum and candies that were always overflowing from his pockets. He often stood at the gates of my elementary school with cheesebuns just to make sure that I would have a snack that I liked to eat, because my mother believed in more healthy snacks. (I know that Yaira’s grandparents would never do anything like that!)

Zaidy always came and to our house and took my sisters and I on outings and one of my strongest memories is of his commitment to tzedakah and to tefilah. On the last day of his life when his body was riddled with cancer he found the strength to don tallis and tefillin. We have chosen the name Yaira in memory of my Zaidy. Yaira means “to enlighten” and we hope that she will embody the kindness, generosity, commitment to family and to Judaism that her maternal great-Zaidy embodied and bring light to our family and our community in the tradition of my Zaidy. We give her the bracha Zot Haktana, Gdolah Tehiyeh. May she grow from her little 5 pounds 12 ounces to be a great member of her community.

Approximate transcript of remarks by Mike at KOE April 26 about Yaira Eve’s middle name:

As Tovit said, three weeks ago I spoke here for what I thought was the last time to thank you all for 11 years of community, since we thought we would be moving after Pesach and before the baby came. But it seems little Yaira Eve is a punctual type and arrived early. When we asked her why, she said it was because she thought she could still get a mixed kria at KOE before we moved. Maybe she’ll be back here in 20 years herself and ask for one! Although I coined the 4 s’s at KOE, today I’d like to remark briefly on just three points.

First, I want to thank HKB”H (G-d) for giving us the privilege to care for Yaira Eve who has given us more pleasure in 5 days than we thought possible in a lifetime. I guess all parents think the birth of their children, especially the first, is a neis (miracle), but, as I’ll explain in a minute, we especially feel that way. In fact, this might even surpass the ‘94 Rangers!

Second, I want to say a few things about Yaira’s middle name – Chava, or Eve in English. She is named for my late Grandma Eva who passed away about 6 weeks before Tovit and I met (thanks to another former KOE president – Pam, although it took a few years for Tovit and I to see Pam’s wisdom). At Grandma Eva’s funeral I talked about her courage – leaving home and family to travel on a harrowing journey to the uncertainties of a place half a world away, and the fortitude to come to that new place and not just survive, but to have the courage and the vision to build a new life and a beautiful family, raising two wonderful children – my aunt Syd and father Marty, both with us today. Many years ago when I asked her to talk about her life on camera, she talked about her first job in this country where the boss didn’t want to hire her because she was a woman, but she proved to be so efficient that before long she was earning more than the men. Grandma Eva had incredible warmth, a great sense of humor, a deep inclination to give of herself, and an unmatched commitment to her family. Nothing would make me happier than if Yaira Eve inherits her great-grandmother’s character.

Finally, I want to say a few words about my wife. Obviously I felt pretty strongly about her before or I wouldn’t have asked her to marry me. But I could never have known then, the courage and the grace with which she would face adversity. The reason I said that Yaira Eve’s birth feels particularly miraculous to us is that, as many of you know, Tovit had emergency surgery which left us wondering if this day would ever come – you may not remember that that surgery took place 11 months to the day before Yaira Eve’s birth.

That miracle is due to the goodness of G-d, to the miracles of modern medicine, and most of all to the incredible strength and courage of Tovit. She has been an inspiration to me and I know that she will be one to our daughter.