What Do You Name a Baby Born on Yom HaShoah?

I bring meals to neighborhood moms after birth. And yesterday I delivered some soup and couscous to my dear neighbor, Nechama Lerner. Afterwards, I wept the whole way back home. Because of the story Nechama told me about why she and her husband, Tal, chose the special name of their newborn son.

“Tal and I are both the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. All of our grandparents survived the war in different ways. Tal had grandparents who spent the Shoah in a Romanian ghetto. My grandparents were hidden by non-Jews in Holland. And our grandparents from Poland were exiled to Siberian labor camps, where they lived under very harsh conditions, but at least they survived. Most of our grandparents’ extended families did not survive the Shoah.”

“After the War, all of our grandparents merited to make aliya to Israel, where Tal and I were born. Sadly, none of our grandparents are alive today. But I’m certain all of them were rejoicing with us over the arrival of our newest son, born on Yom HaShoah, his bris on Yom HaAtsmaut. In Jerusalem. In the State of Israel.

“The Nazis tried to destroy us. They murdered 6 million Jews including most of our family members. But this baby, and all Jewish babies born, are our revenge, our victory, our ultimate comfort. When this baby was born on Yom HaShoah, and named on Yom HaAtsmaut, it was clear to Tal and me that we would name him Amichai. Meaning “My Nation Lives.” Am Yisrael Chai.