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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Mention was made that:</span></font><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>>> For a linguist,
the importance of the ceremony being called "halaqe" <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>>> (Arabic for
"shaving, haircut") also cannot be overemphasized. As <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>>> most people are
aware, Jews have always used Hebrew words for old <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>>>> Jewish minhogim…<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>There is a German custom of Chol Kreiss, i.e. verses
of the Torah read by youth by a male child before giving a secular (chol) name.
When was this practice started and by whom? It can be found in the Seligman
Baer Siddur, after the Torah readings on p 494 (Seder Avodat Yisrael, Tel Aviv
5717 [1957] edition).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>The term has a combination of Hebrew (chol) and
German? (Kreiss). I doubt it’s an original Jewish minhag or perhaps it
is to give sanctity (?) to a non Jewish name.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>Baer originally published his siddue in 1868 (5628) and
if he recorded the custom there, it must have been already accepted by the
general public. Is it still practiced today by Jews of German descent? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>Curious,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>Shlomo Pick</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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