{"id":64305,"date":"2019-10-13T16:25:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T13:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64305"},"modified":"2023-05-07T09:39:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T06:39:54","slug":"avi-mother-of-hezekiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/avi-mother-of-hezekiah\/","title":{"rendered":"Avi, Mother of Hezekiah"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I was in a college ulpan class at Hebrew University when a teacher asked me, \u201cIs your name really Avi?\u201d She followed up with an offer that gave me little consolation, \u201cI will go home and check the etymology of your name, to see if it is appropriate for a female.\u201d And what am I supposed to do when she comes back and tells me no? I wondered. It\u2019s my name.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since childhood I had been told repeatedly that \u201cAvi is a boy\u2019s name.\u201d Every new person I met asked me \u201cwhat is your name short for?\u201d I was mistakenly put in boys\u2019 bunks on multiple occasions. Once, a substitute teacher sent me out of the class for lying when I insisted that my name really is \u201cAvi\u201d. At the start of the ulpan semester, I fought with the I.D. department to translate my name into Hebrew spelled as \u201cAvi\u201d when their first attempt had inexplicably added multiple yuds in an effort to write something that would better match the female-looking person in the photo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea that Avi should be associated with a male is reasonable. Afterall, it is Hebrew for the phrase \u201cmy father.\u201d So, it was with great surprise that I entered the classroom the next day to an apology from my ulpan teacher. She handed me a Tanakh open to Kings II, Chapter 18, verse 2. She began to read: \u201cIn the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years; his mother\u2019s name was Avi daughter of Zechariah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There it was. A biblical female Avi. And not just any female, but the mother of King Hezekiah (He\u2019s one of the good kings!). I was surprised. I was surprised to have found this biblical namesake, and also surprised by how much I cared. I had developed a pride in my unexpected name. I had created narratives for myself about why the name suited me and why I loved it. And yet, seeing my name on the page of the Tanakh was powerful and exciting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This verse offered not only the rightness of a female Avi, but the promise of motherhood. The biblical Avi is the mother of Hezekiah. For years I told people, \u201csomeday I am going to have a son and I am going to name him Hezekiah.\u201d I longed to be even closer to my biblical namesake– to honor her through shared motherhood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In December of 2012 my first son was born. His name is Judah Hezekiah. My name is Avi, and I am the mother of Hezekiah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo: Avi and (Judah) Hezekiah, courtesy of the author.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64307,"id":64307,"title":"Avi Killip3.JPG","filename":"Avi-Killip3.JPG.jpeg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Avi-Killip3.JPG.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/avi-mother-of-hezekiah\/avi-killip3-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"avi-killip3-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64305,"date":"2019-10-13 13:25:09","modified":"2019-10-13 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