By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Twenty-one-month-old Aviva, despite a few months of kissing her mommy’s belly and, now that little brother Asher has arrived, kissing him on the head, is still probably a bit too young to be fully prepared for the responsibilities incumbent upon a big sister. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t going to try.
“She’s good. She likes kissing him on his keppe. She likes holding him,” said Aviva and Asher’s dad, Aaron Averbuch of Seattle, the father of Washington State’s first Jewish baby of 2011.
Things are going well for Aaron and new mom Joelle, who gave birth to Asher on the night of January 17. He weighed in at a very healthy 8 lbs. and measured 19-3/4 inches.
To be fair, we should note that there was a Jewish baby born the week before, but sometimes the honor of being the first baby is a bit overwhelming to new parents and they choose to abdicate the title. That means the Averbuch family gets the honors — and honored they are, between nighttime feedings, diaper changes, and the cries of a baby recovering from his brit milah.
The brit, incidentally, had gone without a hitch the day before JTNews spoke with the Averbuchs, and was co-officiated by local mohel Aaron Witz and Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum. The Averbuchs are “very active participants” in the Kavana Cooperative; Nussbaum, Kavana’s executive director, also officiated at the Averbuchs’ wedding and Aviva’s simchat bat.
Another attendee at all three ceremonies was the chuppah under which Aaron and Joelle were married.
“We all stood under it for the naming portion, so it was nice to use that for the third time,” Aaron said.
Neither Aaron nor Joelle have family in the area, but they have plenty of support from friends, and Joelle’s mother will be in town to help out for the next three weeks.
Asher is named for Aaron’s grandmother, who died a month ago, and two uncles who had passed away a few years ago, “unfortunately too young,” Aaron said.
It’s probably too early to hope that Asher might be the next Jewish astronaut or, like his dad, a software engineer, but his proud parents will be fine, “as long as he’s happy and doing something good,” Aaron said.