“She… gave birth to a son, and she said, ‘This time my husband will become attached to me, for I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore, he named him Levi.” (Bereishis 29:34)
“Who am I?”
This is the most powerful question that a person ever asks himself. For many of us, there are no easy answers as we’re uncertain of our own identities.
An important component in the formulation of an answer to “Who am I?” is the answer to another question, “What’s in a name?”
I’d like to suggest that our sense of personal identity is largely determined by the names we’ve been given. Our names were chosen for us because they have a certain meaning to those who named us, and a message about whom they expected us to become. Generally, a person knows that his name was not randomly chosen, and to a greater extent than we realize, our self-concepts are shaped by our names. (Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU Torah)
B’chasdei Hashem we recently were zocheh to a new granddaughter. After leaving the hospital, my daughter moved in with us, and that first Friday night the fun began with the million-dollar question: What were the proud parents going to name this bubah?
In this week’s parshah, 11 newborns are given names by Leah and Rochel. Each name is carefully crafted by these women and is designed, not only to reflect the emotions of the moment, but to shape and direct the destinies of each of these children.
Leah gives her third son the name Levi, which means “connected,” or “attached.” This reflects her confidence that with the birth of a third son, her husband, Yaakov, will become more attached to her. But it’s also a message to baby Levi that he will grow up and his progeny will be “attached” to the Al-mighty as the shevet of Kohanim and Leviim.
All the Peritzman aunts and uncles (i.e., my kids) threw their suggestions into the ring. The seudah progressed but the topic was still not exhausted; instead, the suggestions became increasingly wild.
“Penina Perel Puah!”
“Chaval her last name isn’t Peritzman; that would go well together.”
“Name her Minchah!” decided Yitzi. “It has a kametz-hei so it’s a girls’ name.”
