Aylan Chabetaye Gelder Dabah
Aylan was born on February 23, 2020. His naming ceremony was originally scheduled for March 21, but we canceled it because of the rapidly unfolding Covid-19 pandemic. We shared the following speech, readings, blessings and birthday traditions at Aylan’s 1st birthday and naming ceremony celebration on February 20, 2021 via zoom. (You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/T2cgBSupH04) The reason for his names. Choosing a name for our baby was not an easy thing for us to do. It was the very last thing we did before leaving the hospital after our 2 day stay. For the first two days of his life, he was Baby Boy Gelder. But we figured, he needed more than that. Charles and I come from different Jewish traditions. In the Ashkenazi tradition, we name after someone who has passed. In the Sephardic tradition, you name for someone who is living. And so we’ve combined our traditions, while also giving Baby Boy Gelder a name that is significant to us. We’ll star...