I Have a Name; I Have a Lovely Jewish Name!

 If you’re thinking the subject above sounds like an Uncle Moishy song, you’re right!

Sefer Shemot is usually translated as the Book of Exodus. Literally, however, it means the Book of Names. The book begins by listing the names of the twelve children of Israel.

Names take on deeper significance with the rabbinic tradition that one of the reasons the Israelite nation was worthy of redemption is “shelo shinu et shmam –they did not change their names.” What exactly does this mean?

Names are taken very seriously in the Jewish tradition. A child is formally given a name that is used for religious purposes like being called to the Torah or a religious document. Even if we have a secular or legal name, it is our Jewish name that, in a sense, defines us.

I still remember Rabbi Avi Weiss coming to speak in the “Survey in Practical Rabbinics” class during my first year of Rabbinical School to discuss “The Synagogue as an Outreach Community.” He began by introducing himself and asked the students to do the same. He asked the student in front of him, “What’s your name?” The student responded, “Jeremy.” Rabbi Weiss then asked again, “What’s your name?” The student, somewhat perplexed, answered again, “Jeremy.” Rabbi Weiss asked again, and the student was very confused. Rabbi Weiss then said, “What’s your REAL name?” This time, Jeremy understood that Rabbi Weiss was making a point about the importance of the Jewish name and answered, “Yonatan.”

The Jewish name we are given may carry forward the legacy of a relative or lay out a blessing or aspiration for the lives we will lead. Our Jewish names are the reflection of our true selves. They distinguish us from the rest of non-Jewish society.

Rabbi Moshe Schick was a famed 19th-century Hungarian Orthodox Rabbi. He had a tradition about how his family came to have the last name Schick. When the government decreed that all citizens use last names in addition to first names, his ancestors refused to be assigned a secular or foreign name. They chose Schick since its Hebrew spelling – שיק, shin, yuf, koof – are the first letters of the words “sheim Yisrael Kodesh – the Jewish name is sacred.” To this day, while there is nothing wrong with secular names, some Jews only use their Jewish names. They signify strong Jewish connection and pride in the face of the outside world.

But what exactly is a Jewish name?

The first person given a name in Sefer Shemot is Moshe. Is that even a Jewish name? He was named by the daughter of Pharaoh, and his name comes from an Egyptian word! The Talmud has rabbis named Alexander and Antigonus. There is even a medieval Tosafist named Rabbeinu Peter!

A Jewish name is more than nomenclature.

The Midrash (Tanhuma Vayakhel) teaches that each person has three names:

1) The name given by parents
2) The name given by fellow human beings
3) The name that one acquires for oneself

Our parents choose a name for our birth certificates and at the Bris or Baby Naming. We go through life with that name or some variation used by the people we meet. The most important name, however, is the “name” we make for ourselves. How are we perceived and received based on how we act or what we do? THIS is the true definition of a Jewish name.  

What does it mean that the Israelites didn’t change their names? What was considered a Jewish name? Moshe didn’t have a Jewish name! The Israelites maintained their identities as the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. They survived the slavery and were able to be redeemed because they never forgot who they were despite the oppression of Egypt.

It may be a nice idea to only use Jewish names. It is absolutely necessary, though, for us to be known as Jews based on our behavior. Whether a Jew’s name is Moses, Peter, Cynthia, or James, we must live up to our Jewish reputations in how we act and how we are perceived by others.

What are we doing to live up to our Jewish names in our personal actions, religious lives, and interactions with other people? We may have been given legal names and have names on our IDs, but the most important and never-changing name is the one we earn through living Jewishly.

What’s your REAL name?