Popular thoughts on my mind... and in my public journal:

Names

Kalifowitz.

10 letters, 4 sylables, spelled phonetically (aka literal}, and almost always scary the first time one stumbles across it. Hey, that's a good way to describe me and my brother... Interestingly, the name itself is also a good way to describe me and my brother.

For a very long time I've known what "Kalif" (aka Calif) meant: "A leader of an Islamic polity, regarded as a successor of Muhammad and by tradition always male."

This part of the surname can be ascribed to my Mother, who is an Iraqi Jew (she was born in Jerusalem, but her parents were born in Iraq - making them what's known today as Sephardic Jews). Technically though they're Mizrahi Jews - the difference is defined really well by Wikipedia. Whichever one you choose, the connection to the Arab lands and reference to "Arab Jews" is relevant vis-a-vis a "Calif." A minor tid-bit: my mother's maiden name is "Mizrahi" - and now that this is posted here, I'm no longer using that when asked for it by companies thinking it's a clever security question ;-)

Strangely, I've never taken the time to look up what "owitz" means - until this evening.
According to Wikipedia: "...[T]he owitz ending, meaning "son of". Poland, Russian Empire, other Eastern European countries.." This part can be ascribed to my father - not only because we are his sons, but because he is an Ashkenazi Jew - half Polish, half Russian.

Had our surname been invented at the union of my parents, I wouldn't be as curious about it. But it came from my father's father... I wish I could find out how far back it goes...

So there you have it. My brother and I have a surname that perfectly defines our heritage. Now we just need to figure out that whole leadership/successor of Muhammad thing...

My desire to figure this out once and for-all was sparked after reading "Are Jews Smarter" in New York(which I'll comment on later).

From time to time I like to Google my surname... here's an interesting story:

http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/sokoly/Sok142.html

This entry was posted on Oct 23, 2005 at 10/23/2005 08:50:00 PM. There are . If you want, you can leave your own response by clicking here. You may also send this post to a friend of yours via email, or bookmark it for yourself by using icons below;

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