Riddle: Which name in this week's sidra is a well known Yiddish term?
A: Shlumiel Ben Tzurri-Shadai - the Prince of Shimon
Joke: What's the difference between a shlemiel and a shlemazel?
A: The shlemiel is the waiter who pours the soup on the customer and the shlemazel is that customer!
I am terrible with names - I always either forget a name or muddle it up with someone else's!
But names are a key feature in the Torah - however, they too, are not always that straightforward....
(5) And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations.
(15) And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.
(29) Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”
A person starts off with one name - and ends up with another! For good reason, yes, but still, the name indicates a change in status.
Interesting idea - the name Y-i-s-r-a-e-l encompasses all the names of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs
Yaakov/Yitzchak
Sarah
Rachel and Rivka
Avraham
Leah
Names mean a great deal and names are associated with a reputation
(יג) רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי זָהִיר בַּתַּלְמוּד, שֶׁשִּׁגְגַת תַּלְמוּד עוֹלָה זָדוֹן. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, שְׁלשָׁה כְתָרִים הֵם, כֶּתֶר תּוֹרָה וְכֶתֶר כְּהֻנָּה וְכֶתֶר מַלְכוּת, וְכֶתֶר שֵׁם טוֹב עוֹלֶה עַל גַּבֵּיהֶן:
Rabbi Shimon said: There are three crowns: the crown of torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty, but the crown of a good name supersedes them all.
Names mean a great deal, yet, aside from the list of names of the Princes of the Tribes and a few others, this week's parsha seems to focus on counting people - not listing the names - we are even told not to count people!
(11) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (12) When you take a census of the Israelite people according to their enrollment, each shall pay the LORD a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled.
(9) Joab reported to the king the number of the people that had been recorded: in Israel there were 800,000 soldiers ready to draw the sword, and the men of Judah numbered 500,000. (10) But afterward David reproached himself for having numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned grievously in what I have done. Please, O LORD, remit the guilt of Your servant, for I have acted foolishly.”
How do we reconcile the counting of the people with the importance of a person's name?
Rabbi Sacks: Covenant and Conversation (2014)
The language used in the parsha is:
(ב) שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כָּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃
(2) Take a census - lit. 'lift the head' of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.
The Torah doesn't refer to taking a census of a crowd or multitude of people - it says you should lift the head of each person above the age of 20 - because he 'counts' as an individual, a person with a name, with a status, with a role to play in his tribe and in his own home.
When we are asked to lift our heads high, we too matter as individual people.
Our names define us.
Who we are,
who we can aspire to be.
Abram achieved what he could in that status - but it took him to be Av Hamon Goyim - the father of many nations - or Avraham, to turn into the Patriarch that we venerate.
Jacob emerged from grabbing the heel of his brother (Ekev = Yaakov) to being Israel, the name that today, defines the country that we love.
Conclusion
We have seen that names count (quite literally) and I am working to ensure that I can remember the many that come before me!
Our names, long or short, English or Hebrew, are built into our DNA and they cannot be lost or destroyed, because they outlive us, through the good reputations that we take a lifetime to achieve.
(27) Thus they (the Cohanim) shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
May Gd bless each and every one of us, with the special names that we have been given over this Shabbat, the wonderful festival of Shavuot that awaits us and for the rest of our lives, as we await the coming of Moshiach - bimhera beyameinu Amen.