It's been said the name of the Jewish people and the Land, can be made up from the acronym of our Patriarchs - Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and our Matriarchs - Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah...combined! A brief look at the Hebrew and this saying becomes true. The Yud for Yitzhak and Yaakov (Isaac and Jacob), the Shin for Sarah, the Resh for Rebecca and Rachel, the Aleph for Abraham, and the Lamed for Leah. There you have her - Israel!

This play on names reminds me the news report which came out a few months ago regarding the first set of triplets born in the State of Israel. The brothers have now passed their fourth decade, live in the same city and even work together. Their parents named the eldest Am. Next in line came Yisrael. The youngest is called Chai. Am Yisrael Chai! Makes you wonder what they think of when they sing the song.

I can't seem to forget the episode straight out of history that happened to me when purchasing a conference table for our office. In search for the near perfect olive-wood color, the manager of the furniture store called two of his employees to hold both ends of all the large boards standing in a row, to provide me with the opportunity to choose to my liking. Moshe...Aaron..he called. And there they came. Moshe to my right and Aaron to my left, or was it the other way around. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but feel pretty good nor surprised when I quickly found exactly what I was looking for.

David and Joshua were in Israel. Just as the King and the Conqueror of Biblical fame, these two traversed all around the Land, and ruled wherever they went. And to think that they started their journey from the DFW International Airport. I'm just glad that I'm related to them - every Uncle could use a David and a Joshua at his side.

In keeping with the theme of this article, and in celebration of the completion of the NBA Finals - a big event in Israel for you sports fans, it should be known that the MVP himself sports quite the Hebrew name - Michael (Micha-el - angel of Israel) Jordan (Yarden - the largest river in the Land). Now it should be perfectly clear why the Bulls beat the Jazz!

Joseph Abrams made Aliyah from Dallas. He is a partner in the Tel-Aviv law firm of Abrams & Schreck, and a Legal Officer (res.) in the IDF. He awaits your comments at abandsc@ibm.net

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