Warsaw Kehillah Asks Rabbis to Preserve Bible Names for Jewish Children

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Important instructions with regard to the given names of Polish Jews were issued by the Executive Committee of the Warsaw Kehillah.

The Executive instructed the rabbis who are in charge of issuing birth certificates to record on the certificates the original Bible names of newly born Jewish children, instead of the corrupted Polish Jewish name.

For instance, the instructions state, a Jewish boy named Moses should be recorded as such and not Moshek, the corrupted Polish form, used by the Poles in their description of Jews. Isaac should not be inscribed as Itzek, Jacob as Jankiel, Rachel as Ruchla nor Israel as Srul.

The corruption of Jewish names in Poland was due originally to the ignorance of the officials of the various governments. These officials spelled the names phonetically on the basis of the Polish Jewish dialect. These names were later insisted upon by the officials of the Russian and Polish governments with a definite intention of mocking the Jews. Under the present regime the issuance of birth certificates lies within the jurisdiction of the rabbis.