Bronia Goldman is a senior at Bais Yaakov. She enjoys reading, eating, acting, dancing, writing, sports, and making popsicles. She contributed photography as well as prose to the contest.
PROSE - 2009
Grades 7 - 9
First Place - Baila Elkin
Second Place - Lana Rubinstein
Third Place - Solomon Polansky
Grades 10 - 12
First Place - Annie Fishman
Prose, Grades 10 - 12: Second Place
What's in a Name? - Bronia Goldman
According to the Social Security Administration Statistics, some of the most popular baby names of 2009 are Emma, Olivia, Hannah, and Natalie. Others are Zoe, Sydney and Alexa. My name did not make it on to the list. If there was an honorable mention section listing all the names that almost made it onto the list, my name would probably not be there either. However, that’s one of the reasons I like it so much.
My name, Bronia, was chosen by my parents to honor the memory of my grandmother who passed away seven months prior to my birth. She meant the world to both my parents so they decided to name me after her.
My grandmother was born in 1915 in Poland and lived there until after World War II. When war broke out, she valiantly faced all of the atrocities associated with living during the holocaust. Living secretly in the woods, she and my grandfather saved 30 Jews from the hands of the Nazis. I am proud to be named after someone so strong.
I wasn’t always so proud, though. There was a time when I wished my name could be something as simple as Olivia, or Hannah. A time when I would detest meeting new people because it would require me telling them the unusual name by which I was called. A time when I would hate going into stores which employed friendly sales people who would want to call me by something other than “Miss.” It’s not that I was ashamed of my name; I would just get sick of people not being able to pronounce it. I would cringe inwardly whenever someone struggled to pronounce the foreign syllables which compose my name. Repeatedly I would correct new acquaintances with the accurate pronunciation but more often than not, my efforts would not help; to them my name would always remain Barone, Brianna, or Bronna.
It took me about fourteen years to realize how special my name is. Last year, in school, we did an in-depth unit on the Holocaust and studied the kinds of horrors that Hitler and the Nazis inflicted upon Jews. It took determination, a will to survive, and so many other remarkable qualities to make it out of that time alive. Learning about the Holocaust prompted me to appreciate how I am the descendent of not one, but two people who not only survived it, but helped saved thirty people as well. My grandmother existed in the forest surviving one day at a time, never knowing what the next day would bring. While some of her family members were brutally killed, she lived on. She persisted in assisting the Partisans who were saving lives even when it meant putting her own at risk. Someone as heroic as my grandmother should never be forgotten. I came to the understanding that perhaps my parents named me after my grandmother in order to carry on her legacy and the things she stood for. A name like Bronia, however unusual it may be, signified my resilient, courageous, and selfless grandmother who risked everything to save others. I realized then how proud I am to be named after someone so strong.
When I went to visit my grandmother’s grave this past summer all of the realizations I made suddenly came flooding back to me in huge waves of emotion. I saw her name, which is now mine, engraved on the stone and realized how it’s my responsibility to carry on her legacy. Yes there are pictures, memories, and even videos of my grandmother, but pictures and videos can be destroyed and memories forgotten. A name is more than an object or even a concept but rather it is a representation. Bronia is a representation of not only me but my grandmother as well. I owe it to her as my namesake to represent the things she stood for when she was living so that people can remember her now that she’s gone. And although I may never be as strong or as determined as she was, I know that I can at least try to do her name and memory justice.
After I had come to that realization, all of the struggles I had previously faced with my name seemed to vanish. Of course, people still mispronounce my name more often than not, but instead of cringing, I smile, because it causes me to think about how I am the only person in the world named after my courageous and heroic grandmother who defied all odds and survived.