I want to clear up some confusion. You know, for a long time I have been very happy with the way the community in this area has accepted us as a mixed/married family. But some time ago I heard that there was a rumor circulating and I thought I should correct it:

‘Galli’ is not an Israeli Jewish name.

Of course most of you here already know about that, but there may be others who don’t, so I wanted to make it clear: ‘Galli’ is not an Israeli Jewish name. I am not Jewish. My ancestors didn’t come from a shtetl or a kibbutz. They came from little towns in Ireland, England, and a place called Luca in Italy. And what is happening today is unprecedented in our family. We have never before had a member of the Galli family become a Bar Mitzvah.

When you, my son, were born, there was no question that you were going to be raised as a Jew. And there was no doubt that I would never become a Jew. Over the last thirteen years, I have sometimes worried about whether that would cause a problem between us. Thank God, I can say that it has not.

But lately I’ve been thinking. My father had only one son, named Galli. And I have only one son. When you are older, and you have children of your own, they will be Jewish children whose name is Galli.

And so the confusion I want to clear up today is this:

Galli is not an Israeli Jewish name. It is an American Jewish name, and I would like you to make me proud of it.