1. THE NAMES WHICH 'MODERN-DAY ZIONIST IDEALISTS' GIVE TO THEIR CHILDREN.
- Author
-
Kaul-Seidman, Lisa R.
- Subjects
SOCIAL psychology ,NAMES ,ZIONISTS ,IDEOLOGY ,JEWS ,SOCIALISTS - Abstract
The use of names as a means to express or enforce an ideology, or as a strategy of resistance, reveals their power to encode. In this article the author examines the names which modern-day Zionist idealists give to their children. Jewish personal names have functioned, through the ages, both to reveal and to encode. Some socialists suggests that Jewish first names are more than convenient labels for classification that facilitate communication. Although Jewish law does not stipulate a naming system, it does enjoin that a child be given a good name, which will aid its development along the right path in life. Similarly, even though scholars tend to catalogue names and naming under the somewhat apolitical category of Jewish folklore and customs, they have been used as political instruments. Early Zionist settlers in Palestine, for example, exploited the malleability of names by adopting new names to express their collective politiconational renaissance. In this article the author describes how one community of modern-day Zionist idealists name their children. The author remarks that Modern-day Zionist idealist is a term of self-identification used by members of the West Bank settlement of Tekoa.
- Published
- 1999