“And your name
shall no longer be called Avram, but your name shall be Avraham, for I have
made you the father of a multitude of nations.” (Bereishit/Genesis 17:5)
“And G-d said to
Avraham, ‘Your wife Sarai – you shall not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her
name.’” (Bereishit 17:15)
Our patriarch Avraham (Abraham) and our matriarch Sarah were
not always known by these names. In this week’s Torah portion, Avraham is
called Avram until G-d changes his name; similarly Sarah is called Sarai. Our
Sages also tell us that Sarah’s given name is Yiskah. (This name appears at the
end of last week’s Torah portion, Noach.)
Mrs. Chana Weisberg on chabad.com explains that names are
considered very significant in Judaism. She writes: “The Kabbalists say that
when parents name a child, they experience minor prophecy – because, somehow,
that child’s destiny is wrapped up in the combination of Hebrew letters that
make up his or her name.” She adds that the Midrash (Tanhuma Haazinu 7) says
that sometimes the name influences the person’s behavior and destiny.
Judaism has a tradition of changing a name to change a
person’s fate. For example, sometimes an additional name is given to someone
who is extremely ill. The names generally used are Chaim or Chaya, meaning
life, or Refael or Refaela, meaning cure.
According to the Talmud (Brachot 13a), the change in Avram’s
and Sarai’s names alters their mission. Avram means “father to Aram” because
Avram comes from a city called Aram Naharayim. The change to Avraham means av
hamon goyim, father of many nations.
Sarai means “[G-d is] my Master.” Sarah now means G-d is not
only Sarah’s personal Master, but Master in general. Midrash Rabbah (Bereishit
47:1) says, “In the past Sarai was to herself; now Sarah will be to all those
who enter the world.”
To achieve these name changes, the letter yud, whose
gematria (numeric value) is 10, is taken from Sarai’s name and replaced with
the letter heh, whose gematria is 5. Avram then receives a letter heh
for his new name.
The Midrash Rabbah (Vayikra 19:2) explains that the yud
taken from Sarai’s name is later added to the name of Hoshea to make it
Yehoshua (Joshua). Moshe (Moses) sends him with 11 other men to spy out the
land of Canaan. Yehoshua and only one other man, Calev, bring back a truthful,
positive report. (Bamidbar/Numbers 13, Parashat Shelach) Our Sages
attribute Yehoshua’s courage and foresight to the letter yud, which gives
him an extra dose of spirituality and perhaps some of Sarah's courage and determination.
As Jewish parents, one of our first responsibilities is to find
fitting Hebrew names for our newborn children. Naming is an opportunity to
imbue in our children a connection to their past (by naming in honor of a
relative or ancestor) and also to convey our vision for their future (by naming
using a character trait or quality we wish them to have.) We should teach our
children from an early age the meaning of their names and the reasons we have given
them these names.
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