Hi my name is Josh, Mark, Rachel, Rebecca! Actually my name is Yehoshua, Moshe, Rochel and Rivkah!  And those are the easy ones.  Sometimes the names can be more dramatic; Dylan is Dovid, and Cindy is Shoshana.

The Torah goes to great lengths in this weeks Torah portion to tell us about the names of the leaders of the Tribes.  Reuven for G-d has seen “Reu” me in my suffering “en”-ee.  Or Gad for Gad – Mazal has come.  Or Asher for G-d has made me fortunate “Ashri”.

What’s in a Jewish name?

Our Sages say that (one of the three) in the merit of the Jewish people not changing their names they were redeemed from Egypt.  You see, the Jewish name is something that helps give us an identity.  I am Moshe the son of Yosef = my family has a tradition that goes back 3400 years and I am connected to a great Torah and a great faith.  It helps us stand out in the face of assimilation.  It gives us something to be proud of.

On another level, the Hebrew name, as evident from the name calling in this weeks portion, is connected with the very identity with the person who is called by it.  Our Hebrew name is a reflection of our soul and is a connection to our soul.  That is why when one is ill, we say a prayer using their Hebrew name.  That is also why on the gravestone we remember the deceased by their Hebrew name.  For our souls are connected to our names and our names are connected to our souls.

So maybe we should be a bit more proud of our Jewish names.  Try to use your name every now and then, maybe at home, maybe with close friends or maybe when you are in the synagogue.  Let’s be proud of who we are!