Hungary SIG #Hungary RE: jewish birth traditions #hungary
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Lynn Saul <lynnsaul@...>
The "witness" or actually the person holding the child at the
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circumcision ("sandek" in Hebrew) is often, traditionally, one of the grandfathers. So the fact that this person has the mother's last name is probably her father, or possibly a brother. You could surmise why the person isn't the one for later children, but any of a million reasons is possible (dead, not available, change in personal emotions, someone else the parents of the baby wanted to honor). Lynn Saul
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From: d pfalzer [mailto:d_pfalzer@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 12:16 PM To: H-SIG Subject: [h-sig] jewish birth traditions As a result of my recent success with locating my Neumann branch in Belicza [found in the county of Zala], I have a question about one item of information on my ggm's brother's birth record. On these birth records I see a column headed "Name der Pathen eder Zeugen" that I have surmised is the witness to the circumcision. Please help me understand who I should expect these people to be. How would they be chosen? In particular, what I really wish to know is that given that the witness to the eldest son's circumcision has the surname Kohn -- the same as the mother's maiden name -- what is the likelihood that he is her father? Can anything be read into his not appearing as the witness for later grandsons?
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