Question:
Dear rabbi,
I do not know either of their mother’s Hebrew names and am unable to know what to ask for if I need a tehillim for their health. My dad’s mother is Gertrude and my mother’s mother is Eleanor.
Can you suggest a safe name for both should I have need to daven for their given blessings in any G-d forbid soon refuah shlemiah? It would be helpful and I have been asking for tehillim for myself by Shmuel ben Yehudit. I have been minding scared health today and need hope and prayer.
Many thanks
Answer:
Is your parent’s ketubah accessible? It might say their father’s names there. If the name of a sick person’s mother is not known, we may daven for the person using his father’s name. If the father’s name is also not available, we can even use the person’s last name!
Sources:
Aruch Hashulchan O:Ch 119-1, Midrash Talpios (choleh), Ein Yaakov Brachos 34, Orchos Rabeinu 1- 218 and pg. 333.
Or even the city. [Chazon Ish]
correct.
What about using the names these ladies were known by? (mentioned here)
I have heard that even if they were given Hebrew names, if the names weren’t used much (as might be indicated by the fact that their (grand)children don’t know them) perhaps the names they *were* known by, even if not “Jewish” names, could be used when mentioning them in prayers.
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