By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent
Anyone who has paid attention to the surveys talking about declining Jewish populations has obviously not spent any time in Seattle lately. By our count, no fewer than seven Jewish babies have entered the world since just before the start of the new year. Here are some of their stories:
Shira and Aaron Levin of Mercer Island have a double bundle of joy! Fraternal twins Jake Morris and Alex Asher came into the world on Monday evening of Sept. 29, just after Rosh Hashanah.
Both of the little guys are healthy, with Jake — older by just a little bit — weighing in at 5 lb. 7 oz. and Alex a tiny bit smaller, at 5 lb., 6 oz.
The two could not be more different, new mom Shira says.
“They’re both so cute in different ways,” she said. “The first exciting thing we noted was one [Jake], had red hair like his sister, and the second had black hair.”
The new babies’ sister is Zoe, who is almost five.
“She loves them,” says mom, though her mood vacillates between clinginess to “doing her own thing.”
Shira said she was originally worried about when the babies would be born, because of when they would hold the brit m’ilah. The family attends Congregation Shevet Achim on Mercer Island, an orthodox synagogue, and giving birth so close to Yom Kippur made her a bit nervous for getting the circumcision day right.
But everything worked out just fine, she said and the Tuesday morning brit had a wonderful turnout.
Local man-about-town Asher Hashash had his eyes on the prize for first Jewish baby. His wife Jane, however, had other ideas.
She said that by the Friday of erev Rosh Hashanah she was ready give birth to their new son, but she held out until Tuesday for little Noam Levy Hashash to be born. His middle name honors Asher’s maternal grandmother.
Noam’s tardiness didn’t damper any of the family’s enthusiasm. Noam has a big brother, Avi, who will be three next month and has already attached himself to the little guy. That doesn’t sound too difficult, since he already appears to be pretty easygoing.
“He is such a good boy, he is just so gentle and he doesn’t really cry much,” Jane says.
The boys’ mother also says that with the new addition’s birthday so close to the New Year, they look forward to having not one, but two special holidays to commemorate.
With all of these Jewish boys entering the world now, Robbie and Bonnie Cape of Sammamish expected they would have one, too.
Much to their surprise, however — with two boys already, they really did expect a third one — they had a little girl.
“We’re pretty thrilled,” says the new father. “Having a girl is just incredible.”
Dalia Ruth Cape joins big brothers Benjamin, five, and Noah, who just turned three. So far the trio appears to be getting along quite well, said Robbie Cape.
While Dalia, whose birthdate was Oct. 6, doesn’t take the prize for first baby of the year, she does get special distinction for being born on Yom Kippur. Acquaintances at Kol Nidre services the night before had wondered aloud when the birth would finally take place.
Dalia’s mom, incidentally, did not fast, though Robbie did say he learned that women in labor should fast on this holy day. He added that he took a drink of orange juice in the mid-afternoon himself, but besides that he didn’t touch a thing until the evening. He also — understandably — did not make it to services at Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation that morning.
Cape said that while his new daughter has an Israeli name, the two months the family spent in Israel over the summer wasn’t necessarily the inspiration. Still, he said the experience was wonderful.
“Everything was perfect,” Cape said. “We ended up seeing an [obstetrician] there and had an ultrasound. They took very good care of us.”
The doctor, however, wrote all of his notes to take home in Hebrew, which Cape said their doctor here would not have been able to understand.
He found it amusing that Bonnie will now have a page in her permanent medical history, written entirely in Hebrew.
So, the most important question remains: which baby was first? That honor goes to Joy and David Maimon, whose little boy, Victor Betzalel Maimon was born on the morning of Sept. 28, the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
To all the new parents, from everyone here at the Transcript, a hearty mazel tov!