blogs/rabbi-huberman

The Power of Your Hebrew Name 

Throughout my life, I have been known as Irwin.

Really, though, that is not my name.

It is perhaps one of the first things that many of our parents and grandparents did when they first came to this country.

They toned down our traditional Jewish names, like Sarah, or Abraham, Herschel, Bella, and Yisrael, and replaced them with names such as Sally, Arnold, Harry, Betty -- and, yes, Irwin.

Jews have done this for centuries. Wherever we've gone, whatever countries we've settled in, our parents and grandparents have wanted to ensure that, while we respected our ancient traditions in private, in public, our names did not make us stand out too far from others.

Anti-Semitism has been a fact of life throughout our history.

My name is actually Yisrael. I was named after my great-grandfather, Rabbi Yisrael Perel (z'l'), and that name, Yisrael, dates back at least nine generations, to Rabbi Yisrael Charif, one of the direct disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement.

It remains a tragedy that, too often, when the Cantor and I preside at the funeral of a family elder, no one can remember what their grandparent's, or even their parent's Hebrew name is.

So what's the big deal?

There is a teaching within the Kabbalistic (mystic) tradition that there is power contained within our Hebrew names.

The word for "name" in Hebrew is Shem. The word for "soul" or "spirit" is NeShama.  

Our tradition tells us that when we provide a child a name, that part of the NeSHAMa - that departed person's loving soul - grounds the child through its  SHEM,  its name.

This is the week within the reading of the Torah in which we pay close attention to names. The second book of the Torah may be known in English as Exodus, but in Hebrew it is titled Shemot - the Book of Names.

Why Names?

Tradition tells us that through our names, we carry a bit of our past into the future.

The whole issue of names will become crucial in the weeks to come, as the story of the Exodus and Passover unfolds.

Over the generations, rabbis have asked how the Jewish people survived under Egyptian slavery. How is it possible, they wondered, that, under the Egyptians' whip, under such pressure to conform and shed their beliefs, the Israelites managed to persevere?

The Midrash, our collection of stories and legends, credits four reasons with our survival.

Rabbi Huna, in the name of Bar Kapparah, states: "We maintained our language; we didn't engage in widespread gossip; we did not engage in immoral behavior; and we did not change our names."

Says the Midrash, "Joseph did not become Justus, Benjamin did not become Alexander, Reuven was not named Rufus."

Of course, it's not as simple as that. We all know stories of Jews struggling to make a living in America, and elsewhere, only to have doors shut to them due to anti-Semitism.

Would Tony Curtis have enjoyed such a wonderful acting career if he would have gone by his real name, Bernie Schwartz? Add to that list Jason Alexander (Jay Greenspan), Charles Bronson (Charles Buchinsky), Jon Stewart (Jon Liebowitz), Winona Ryder (Joan Molinsky), Dinah Shore (Fanny Rose), Woody Allen (Allan Konigsberg) and so many more. 

Many seniors have shared with me that changing their Jewish-sounding names enabled them to get jobs within banking, insurance, or other industries which often tended to shut out Jews.

However, this path, however successful in helping our people survive throughout history, has had its pitfalls. In many cases, we have done such a splendid job in merging within the majority culture that, in some ways, we have forgotten where we came from.

This week, at the time of the year when we launch our reading of the Book of Names, let us confirm -- perhaps reaffirm -- our Jewish identities by embracing our Hebrew names.

In the end, we will not be remembered by future generations by our English titles, but by the ancient Shem which we inherited from a role model in our past, or the Hebrew name we may have chosen during the course of our lives.

Although our English names are important as we stand tall with other Americans at work, or in our social circles, let us never forget where we come from. We are unique.

Let us use this week to ask our parents and grandparents what their names are. Let's ask them who they're named after, and whose name we carry. If you do not have a Hebrew name, perhaps it's time to choose one which represents who you are, and the values you embrace.

Let us continue to march forward with the beautiful contemporary names we've been assigned. But we mustn't forget that the spirit of those who came before us, or the Hebrew names we have chosen later in our lives, are embedded within the deepest reaches of our souls.

This week's Parashah, Shemot, encourages us to remember that we are descended from slaves, and that is something we can never forget as we embrace this period of freedom. Let us carry our names and our history with pride.

Shalom, my friends. My name is Yisrael.

What is your name?

Shabbat shalom, v'kol tuv (with all goodness)

Rabbi Yisrael Huberman