About the name Yael Shoshana
Sarah and I feel truly blessed with the birth of our second daughter. We thought long and hard to come up with an appropriate name for our daughter. Fortunately and thanks to Hashem, we have no one in our families to name for. This blessing makes choosing a name even more difficult and somehow a great responsibility given to us by Hashem. Yael Shoshana's name has great meaning and significance to Sarah and me, and of course, her big sister Yehudit.

In Shoftim, the book of Judges, a woman steps into a war, killing the enemy army's general, to win the war for Bnei Israel, even when she wasn't involved and could have remained out of the war. This woman was Yael, who is credited with winning the war against Canaan. Devorah, the Judge, had asked Barak to defeat Canaan, but he was unable to do so without Yael's help. We pray that our Yael will also stand-up against wrong, even when she is not immediately involved.

Yael's big sister, Yehudit, has been davening for a baby for over a year now. When she learned that Hashem said "Yes", she wanted to know when the baby would come. We told her "when the snow melts and the flowers come up." Since that time, she talked all winter about loving flowers, and wanting to kiss and hug them. Yehudit, the flowers came up and you have a baby sister, whose middle name is Shoshana, meaning rose. You have your flower to kiss and hug and love.

We pray that Yael Shoshana will grow up to stand up for what is right and against evil, just like the Biblical Yael, and we know that you will always be loved by all those around you, especially your big sister.

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