I Want My Hebrew Name To Be.....

One of the issues that always baffles me about the Messianic movement is that so many of their Christian members decide to take on Hebrew names. I am talking about people who have never, ever been Jewish who out of the blue have a Hebrew name. On a practical basis, there is no reason to do this. After all, why would a Christian need a Hebrew name? But, in the world of evanglization, a Hebrew name makes a Christian appear more like a Jew and helps them even get mistaken for a real Jew.

For example, there is Shira Sorko-Ram. Shira and her husband R.B. run Maoz Israel Ministries, a $2.5 million Messianic outreach of the Texas-based Christ For The Nations Institute, whose goal is to convert the Jews of Israel. Shira is the daughter of Gordon and Freda Lindsay, Christian ministers who founded Christ For The Nations. As you may have guessed by their names, Gordon and Freda Lindsay were not Jewish. In fact, there are about as Jewish as a ham sandwich on Yom Kippur.

So how did a daughter of internationally-known Christian ministers get the name Shira? The answer is that she gave the name to herself. Shira's real name is Carole. She was born Carole Lindsay, a Christian child of Gordon and Freda. She has never been Jewish in any way, shape or form.

This situation reminds me of when I first took Spanish in seventh grade. My teacher asked us each to pick a Spanish name for ourselves that we were to go by in class. This is a common practice in many schools. Years later, various people who had similar Spanish class experiences have said things to me such as, "You know, my name from Spanish class was Pedro." Really? So your name is Pedro? Of course not.

In Judaism, you get your Hebrew name from your parents as a child or you pick a name when you convert to Judaism. Carole's name, Shira, is exactly as legitimate as one of your non-Hispanic Spanish classmates named Bill calling himself Pedro.