[Avodah] City named after AZ

[Aryeh Herzig]

The Divrei Chaim of Sanz would never mention Polish cities because he held 
they were named after Avoda Zora.  He would say "The city that Yankel 
Hoffman (E.G.) comes from".
The only exception was Krakow which, he said, is not named after any Avoda 
Zara.
Chassidim were careful to call his own city Tsanz not Sanz.
Surely you've heard of the Tzeilimer Rav.
Guess what?  There is no such city as Tzeilim.
The actual name is the equivalent of "crucifix" (which is a Tzelem).

Many Satmarar Chassidim distort the name of the city to "Sakmar".
Satmar sounds too much like Saint Mar[ie]

In the Torah itself - Bamidbar 32:38 "V'Eth Nvo V'Eth Ba'al Me'on Mussaboth 
Shem"  Rashi says that this means that the Bnai Reuven did not use the names 
of the cities Nvo and Baal Me'on because they were AZ names and subsequently 
changed the names of those cities.

Gur Aryeh Herzig