Lioness of G-d

by Aaron Goldsmith
It was a few weeks before Chanuka, 2003. Our synagogue in Postville, Iowa, was viewing a video of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. A clip was shown where a man had told the Rebbe that his name was Robert and that he had never received a Jewish name. The Rebbe told him that since the name "Robert" begins with the letter "R," which has the same sound as the Hebrew letter "Raish," Robert should take the name Reuven. I found this interesting but did not think much about it afterwards, and did not think much else about it.

I was at the end of my last term as City Councilman. Postville had become a centre for media attention, the subject of multiple documentaries, countless articles and even a book. Hadassah Magazine had come to do its own feature about our community.

Postville offered a most striking story about how a group of Lubavitcher Chasidim had developed a substantial presence in a quaint, all-white and all-Christian Iowa farm town. The pursuit of a reliable kosher meat source became a success story about diversity.

Postville's Rabbi Aron Schimel put together a fantastic Chanuka program and invited all of the Jewish Community and the non-Jewish neighbors as well. Booths offered potato latkes, kosher pizza and the chance for children to make their own menora.

Moshe Yess, an entertainer and singer, made everyone laugh and sing. He told his classic joke about his return to Torah Judaism and that he has once been a "Hippie" but was a "Chippie" (a cross between a chasid and a Hippie).

The highlight of the evening came when we lit the menora, with the participation of Postville's Mayor. I noticed that there was a photographer at the event and I found out that she had been sent by Hadassah Magazine.

The following day I walked into the kosher store and saw the photographer looking a little out of place. I introduced myself and asked her if she was enjoying her visit. She responded that she was having a nice time. I asked her if she learned anything new. She replied,"Yes, I learned the difference between a Hippie and a Chippie!"

I was surprised at her answer, not because she remembered one of Moshe Yess' lines from the night before but because she did not "look Jewish" and yet she was able to pronounce the guttural "ch" of "Chippie."

I asked the young woman, "Are you Jewish?" and she answered, "Yes!" I then asked her what her name was and she said, "Arwin."

"Arwin?" I said in surprise. I had never heard that name before. "What kind of name is it?"

"My parents were involved with eastern philosophies and the name came from that," she told me. I asked Arwin if she also had a Jewish name but she shook her head "no."

We spoke for a few moments about how one can acquire a Jewish name and I offered to help her. She was very happy at the idea. I remembered the video clip of the Rebbe that I had seen a few weeks earlier and my mind went straight to a name that begins with the Hebrew letter "alef," similar to the "A" that begins the name "Arwin." I thought that "Ariella" would be a good fit but before I told this to Arwin, I told her that I would return with a suggestion in half an hour.

I went to my office and searched in a list of Hebrew female names. "Ariella" just seemed to fit. I went back to Arwin and suggested the name Ariella. She smiled and said, "That sounds so beautiful, what does it mean?" I told her that it is the feminine form of "a lion of G-d."

She became very serious and said "you are not going to believe this, but 'Arwin' means lioness of G-d!"

We talked briefly about the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Robert, Divine Providence, and the gift of prophecy that G-d gives to Jewish parents in choosing their children's names. Arwin-Ariella was moved by her own little Chanuka miracle. And perhaps the Hadassah photographer who came to capture images of Postville's Jews ended up capturing a new image of herself!