[Avodah] City named after AZ

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 02:09:24PM +0000, Dov Kay wrote:
: When I was a teenager, I visited the city of Christchurch in New
: Zealand. Should enunciation of the name of this city be forbidden?
: Does the fact that it has become the name of a city make a difference?

A former neighbor of mine spent some years as the "Rabbi of Canturbury"
(under the United Synagogue), titled after the county. Could you just
picture what would happen if his mother had to explain to people about
her son, who had a shtella in Cristchurch?

FWIW, it's named for the church of followers, not directly the
deity. Wonder if that makes a difference lehalakhah. As well as the
fact that the followers in question were engaging in what Tosafos would
consider shituf, not out-n-out AZ.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             In the days of our sages, man didn't sin unless
micha at aishdas.org        he was overcome with a spirit of foolishness.
http://www.aishdas.org   Today, we don't do a mitzvah unless we receive
Fax: (270) 514-1507      a spirit of purity.      - Rabbi Israel Salanter