When the Blessing of 2 Takes On A Life of Its Own

Last Thursday Rabbi Moshe Sasonkin and his wife Mussie celebrated the bris of their son Yisrael Aryeh Leib, but it was hardly your standard bris. Rabbi Sasonkin wrote the following on social media the following day.

Yesterday, we celebrated a momentous occasion. We had the unique privilege of having a double bris – for our son, and for my brother Berel and his wife Rochel’s son.

We couldn’t have planned this if we tried!

There must have been something in the air with the theme of 2:

2 brothers to

2 sisters had

2 babies at

2 o’clock (2am and 2pm) on the

2nd of Sivan (the current month)

You can’t make this stuff up.

Each time our babies are born, it is a humbling experience. We are witnessing a living miracle as a new life enters the world.

Baruch Hashem, both births went so smoothly, and we are so grateful to G-d Almighty for blessing us with healthy, beautiful children.

Berel and Rochel chose the name Menachem Mendel for their boy.

As many of you know, that name is special to us for 2 reasons (we’re sticking to the 2 theme!):

– That was the name of our dear father, Rabbi Mendy.

– That was the name of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was our father’s mentor and spiritual guide, and the greatest Jewish leader in modern times. The Rebbe shared the importance of 3 loves: love of Hashem, love of the Torah, and love for your fellow.

Today, I extend blessings to my beautiful little nephew, Menachem Mendel, to carry on the great legacy of his Zaidy and to follow in the teachings of the Rebbe.

For our son, Mussie and I chose the name Yisrael Aryeh Leib. He was the younger brother of the Rebbe.

The Rebbe was very close to him, and anyone who chose to name their child after his brother received deep appreciation from the Rebbe.

When he was a child, his grandfather proudly shared with the Rebbe at the time—Rabbi Shalom Dovber of Lubavitch—about his young grandson, describing him as a boy who was extremely intelligent, a prodigy, fluent in the Talmud and its commentaries.

That was when he was a mere 8 years old…

Yisrael Aryeh Leib was a brilliant scholar with a photographic memory, deep understanding, and vast knowledge of the holiest Chassidic thought, as well as secular subjects. He compiled papers on complex mathematical theories and advanced quantum physics.

His daughter Dalia was actually classmates with Mussie’s grandfather, Dr. Naftali Loewenthal – who is himself an accomplished academic scholar of Chabad thought.

He shared with me that the work of Yisrael Aryeh Leib directly shaped the Theory of Superconductivity, which received a Nobel Prize in 1972.

One more thing he shared was that Yisrael Aryeh Leib put together a list of his favorite books. The list had about 200 books—some of deep Chassidic thought, many scientific reads. And one of his most precious, he wrote, was the Siddur Prayer Book that his father gave him.

As we bless our boy with this new name, we hope that he also takes to the books. The Jewish people are called the People of the Book because we have always treasured the Torah and the studies of our tradition. And we hope that little Yisrael will give us much nachas.

Thank you again to all those who celebrated with us yesterday!

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Shabbat!