What’s in a name? – Va’era
Judaism takes names very seriously. A name is far more than simply a convenient label for a person, a place or a thing. It articulates philosophy.
Abram became Abraham, the Father of Many Nations; Moses was called Moshe, the Drawer Out of his people from slavery; Isaiah’s sons had names that foretold the future – Maher-Shalal-Chash-Baz, “The Spoil Speedeth, the Prey Hasteneth” and Sh’ar Yashuv, “A Remnant Shall Return”.
Names were always carefully chosen, and not just by human beings, but by God too. Look at the opening verse of today’s sidra. God says, “I am Hashem” (using His authentic name, spelt Yod-Hay-Vav-Hay). He continues, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but My name HaShem I did not make known to them”.
The name HaShem is fascinating as well as important. The Christian world attached an outlandish pronunciation to the letters Yod-Hay-Vay-Hay, in defiance of the rules of Hebrew grammar, and produced the word Jehovah. Fortunately, scholars recognise that this could not be correct and no longer use it. As far as Judaism is concerned, the exact pronunciation has not been known since Temple times, and in any case the name is too sacred to be used; hence we substitute alternatives such as Ado-nai (The Lord) or HaShem (The Name).
Why does God attach such importance to the moment when He revealed His true name to Moses? Because He was making known not just His name but His nature.
What is God? Since He has no physical form, you cannot depict Him; since He is everywhere, you cannot pin Him down; since He is infinite and all-powerful, definitions do not define Him.
What then, can be known and said about Him? That He is Yod-Hay-Vav-Hay, from hayah, “to be”. What God’s name tells you is that His nature has to do with the verb “to be”.
It reveals two things, that He is, and that He causes all existence. He is the one who, uniquely, is for ever; He is the one who, uniquely, is the source of all life. None of His creatures has eternity: they inhabit a tiny fraction of time. They use or abuse existence, but that existence comes from Him.
But that is not all. The Shema proclaims, “HaShem is One”. He is one and not two, one and not three. But it is not just a mathematical statement to say HaShem Echad. it states something more basic: that God is unique, and that’s what makes Him HaShem. He cannot be compared to anyone or anything else. The normal rules do not apply to Him.
We use words about Him, like “great”, “good” or “mighty”, and we use the same words about ourselves. However, when we say such things about God it is because all we have is human words; we lack words big enough and special enough for God.
But in addition, it is possible that the words we use about God are there as an inspiration and direction for human beings. No-one can approach the greatness, the goodness of God. But there is a spark of God in each of us. His greatness is beyond us, but each of us can take our human greatness to heights we never imagined reachable. His mind is infinitely vaster than ours, but each of us is capable of stretching our God-given mind and reaching ideas and insights that we never thought attainable.
He is alone in His uniqueness; but every human being can rise above the crowd and be in our own way quite unique.
