#chal-converts

Jewish surnames

You might be overthinking this because our last names don’t necessarily mean THAT much more about our backgrounds than gentiles’. Unless you’re talking about the original way we used to name ourselves i.e. so and so bat Father'sName. Or Ben Fathersname. (i.e. Daughter of, or Son of.)

But if you do want to read more about Jewish surnames, this article is a good starting place.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/01/08/ashkenazi_names_the_etymology_of_the_most_common_jewish_surnames.html

Other than that, Google is your friend. I’d make sure there are existing Jews from the specific background of your characters before settling on a name. For example, “Hey, I want to write a character who’s Ashkenazi. Can I use Bernstein as a last name?” Lo and behold we have Leonard Bernstein. (Fun fact nobody asked for: his last name means “amber” in German! But his father, from where the name comes, was from a city that was in Poland at the time but is now in Ukraine.)

If I’m not answering your question, feel free to clarify, but other than researching the geographical origins of a name and making sure it’s a name real Jews have used either today or in history, I’m not sure what other answers are there.

In other words, look over the names of historical figures or living Jews from the same background as your characters, then use Google to research the geographical origins of those names. Try to stick to people whose names are from Jewish relatives i.e. Harrison Ford’s last name comes from his Catholic father, not his Jewish mother, whose last name was Nidelman. And yes, there are Jews who have no Christian relatives who have WASP-sounding last names, because sometimes people changed their names to pass so they could have better employment prospects. I guess if your character has a name like that and isn’t from a family that converted into Judaism, that’s one of those “implications” you were asking about – the implication that Green used to be Greenberg or whatever.

I have no time or follow-through when it comes to writing.  Among the writing projects I SHOULD be doing, but instead I’m working on some software projects and the like:

A Guide to Jews in Urban Fantasy (focused on the World of Darkeness)

Alternate History: Judea gains independence from Rome in the 2nd century

The Goyim are Coming

This

On top of that, I’ve got about four software development projects that I should be working on, and those are only my Jewish-focused things!

Yes! I posted this a while back but Trans Torah came up with one!

Jewish boarding school students with varying levels of observance

>> I was wondering about what might be some things to do/not do when dealing with the complexity of accommodating everyone’s needs and trying to make these interactions realistic? My goal is that everyone is portrayed relatively positively and respectfully.

My first piece of advice for this would be to read some Orthodox lit to get a feeling for the way they process their own actions, because I wouldn’t want to ‘other’ someone more observant that myself in my writing. Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen is Orthodox YA set in Toronto, about a girl who’s trying to repair her broken relationship with her sister and winds up accidentally starting a matchmaking business. The Hereville graphic novels by @barrydeutsch feature an Orthodox tween girl who fights monsters in her hometown.

Okay so presumably you’re gonna have some people who keep kosher and some who don’t. Does this mean the magic school has a kosher caf and one that isn’t? I’m pretty sure that’s how they do things at Brandeis, if I’m remembering the stories correctly. That’s one thing you can mention.

There might be some awkwardness over people who are shomer negiah interacting with people of another gender who aren’t. (That’s the thing where Orthodox men can’t touch Orthodox women they aren’t related to or married to, and vice versa. If you have questions about where nonbinary Orthodox Jews fall in this, please read the short story “Three Partitions” by Bogi Takács. People who grew up not practicing this might take a little time to get used to having to be careful around their Orthodox friends.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, sometimes not-as-observant Jews can be a little self-conscious around people who are following way more of The Rules – that’s something else you can work into your story. And those who are keeping kosher don’t like to be told they’re “not cool” or whatever.

Honestly, if you’re not super familiar with our communities yet (I see the word “converts” in your URL and I wish you luck and welcome!) I’d be super light on the intra-community conflicts and just try to have everyone working hard to accommodate the folks different from them. I mean, yes, sometimes there are issues but if you haven’t experienced them yourself and thus feel a pressing need to express your truth or whatever, I’d rather not read about them, as a reader?

BTW, one thing to think about is which group controls the administration of the school because if the Orthodox are the ones running the show they might be pickier over who gets in as far as being awkward about patrilienal Jews or people who converted Reform. (I’m not saying this has to be the case but I’m just trying to cover all angles.) Actually, this ideological disagreement might be another source of differences between the students as well.

Hiya @chal-converts ,

What an excellent question– I will do my best to take a stab at this one.  Essentially, you have written multiple English transliterated versions of both the Hebrew letter ‘beit’ (בּ) and the word for ‘home’ or ‘house’ or ‘residence.’  A fun note about the Hebrew letter beit is that, like all Hebrew letters, it was originally part of a pictographical system and most likely was the pictograph for a ‘house’ or ‘home.’  There is a fascinating history behind the development of the Hebrew Aleph Beit and I think that you and many of my followers will get a kick out of how they morphed over time to become the 22 letters we know and love today!

Now in regard to the differences in these words, because you have written several transliterated versions, I will do my best to hone in on the Hebraic spellings.

The word “bayit” (בַּיִת) literally means ‘home’ or ‘house’ in Hebrew.  In its short form ‘beit’ (which is used when the word is combined with another word in a ‘construct state’ or ‘smichut’), like in the phrase ‘Beit Sefer’ (House of Book– or a school) or ‘Beit Knesset’ (House of Gathering– or a Synagogue). 

I believe that bet and beit are referring to the same Hebrew word (the shortened form often seen in a ‘construct state’)– but if not, please let me know!

The word ‘bais’ and ‘beth’ are both translations of some form from the original Hebrew.  ‘Bais’ is the translation to the Yiddish form of the word– for example, a “Bais Midrash’ is a “House of Study/Learning” or a place to study Torah.  The word ‘beth’ is similar, but a strange English transliteration of the Hebrew letter tav (ת)- but unfortunately I don’t know much about how this transliteration came about– other than the fact that originally a tav without a dageish in it (the dot in the middle) used to make the “th’ sound way back when.  So, many communities will use this word in the ‘construct state’ form to describe their congregational name.  Examples include ‘Temple Beth El’ (the Hebrew originally being ‘Beit El’- the ‘House of God,’  Temple Beth Shalom (’Beit Shalom,’ ’House of Peace’), Temple Beth Miriam (’Beit Mayrum,’ ‘House of Miriam’) etc.

Have a wonderful afternoon!

Mazel tov! I’m so happy for you!

I’ve run into a similar thing as well. I’ve described my relationship to womanhood as “always and never,” because kind of nothing else quite captures it? Sorry this isn’t all that articulate - but your posts about this definitely resonated with me.