By Joshua Rosenstein, Special to JTNews
The first Jewish baby born in Washington since the Jewish year started Sept. 6 was born a world traveler. He had the opportunity to experience England, Scotland, Spain, and Jackson Hole, Wyo., from the vantage point of inside his mother’s womb.
Maybe the experience convinced him to wait, as Juliet Waller and Alan Pruzan’s first son was born a full two weeks late. “I had to sit by the door though all of Rosh Hashanah services,” Juliet says.
Eliyahu Ya’acov entered the world at 11:34 p.m. of Oct. 1, 2002 at Swedish Medical Center. He weighed 8 pounds, 11.6 ounces and measured 20 – 1/4 inches long.
Eliyahu, or Eli, as his friends call him, was named after Elliot Rubinstein, Juliet’s mother’s brother. Eli’s middle name, Ya’acov, is in honor of Alan’s grandfather, Jack Pruzan.
The Brit Milah took place at the home of Alan’s parents, Herb and Lucy Pruzan. Dr. Steve Chentow served as mohel, and Rabbi James Mirel of Temple B’nai Torah presided as master of ceremonies. Grandma Penny made an excellent apricot strudel and Grandma Lucy welcomed her new grandson into Jewish life with her traditional chopped liver.
Eli’s mother, Juliet Waller, grew up in Nashville, Tenn. Her parents, Grandma Penny and Step-Grandpa Wolf live in Nashville and Grandpa Derek and Step-Grandma Gail live outside of Nashville. Juliet, a University of Memphis graduate, is a dancer and choreographer with LeGendre Performance in Seattle. She also teaches dance and choreography in a variety of scenarios and she was artist-in-residence last year at the Des Moines Elementary School.
Juliet, who taught dance at the JCC for eight years, says she enjoyed her first pregnancy. “It was something that pointed to an unknown, exciting future,” she says.
Eli’s dad, Alan Pruzan is a bona fide Seattle native. Alan’s parents Herb and Lucy Pruzan are both former presidents of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and live in Seattle. Lucy says she has been waiting a long time and is delighted to be a grandmother. Eli is also blessed with three great-grandparents, Grace Pruzan, who lives at the Kline-Galland Home, and Frieda and Gunther Sondland of Mercer Island. Alan and his business partner own a company called Forrest-Pruzan Creative which develops and designs toys and games. Alan says they do a lot of “workshopping” with the target audience. “We decided to create our own tester,” he says, smiling down at little Eli.
Alan and Juliet met through a mutual friend in Seattle and have been married two years. They are members of Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue.
Both Alan and Juliet are troubled, however, because they can’t quite believe that their son is the first Jewish baby of the New Year. In fact, Alan extends a call to all of Jewish Washington. He says, “Please, if you had a Jewish baby before October 1st, please come forward and claim your honor.” It appears though that as far as we know, it took the Washington Jewish community three weeks into the new year to have a baby.