(2) See, I have singled out by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. (3) I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft; [to build the Mishkan ("ark")]
(ז) וַיְהִ֨י אֹמֵ֜ן אֶת־הֲדַסָּ֗ה הִ֤יא אֶסְתֵּר֙ בַּת־דֹּד֔וֹ כִּ֛י אֵ֥ין לָ֖הּ אָ֣ב וָאֵ֑ם.
(7) And Mordechai raised Hadassah—that is, Esther—his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother.
מדרש תנחומא (ורשא) פרשת ויקהל סימן א
כל זמן שאדם מרבה במצות הוא קונה שם טוב לעצמו, את מוצא שלשה שמות נקראו לו לאדם, אחד מה שקוראים לו אביו ואמו, ואחד מה שקוראין לו בני אדם ואחד מה שקונה הוא לעצמו, טוב מכולן מה שקונה הוא לעצמו
Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Vayakhel, Siman 1
Every time a person increases their good deeds, they earns themselves a new name. There are three names by which a person is called: one which their parents call them, one which other people call them, and one which they earn for themselves. The last is the best one of all.
1. Explain the nature of the three names mentioned in the text(s) above. What are the differences between them?
2. How do you earn your name? What makes that name the best of all? When might it not be the best name of all?
3. Using the concept “name” in the broadest sense, to reflect a person’s identity (perhaps in more than one word), what are your three names? Which names would you want? What might you want your children’s names to be?
Zeresh advised her husband to prepare a high gallows and to hang Mordechai on it. This plan was reversed when the king later ordered Haman and his ten sons to be hanged on the same gallows which he had prepared for Mordechai. His daughter committed suicide (who knows why?).
Of the 12 defendants sentenced to death by hanging, two were not hanged: Martin Bormann was convicted in absentia (he had been, unknown to the Allies, killed while trying to escape from Berlin in May 1945), and Hermann Göring committed suicide the night before the execution. The remaining 10 defendants sentenced to death were hanged.
16 October 1946
International News Service
…Julius Streicher made his melodramatic appearance at 2:12 a.m.
While his manacles were being removed and his bare hands bound, this ugly, dwarfish little man, wearing a threadbare suit and a well-worn bluish shirt buttoned to the neck but without a tie (he was notorious during his days of power for his flashy dress), glanced at the three wooden scaffolds rising menacingly in front of him. Then he glanced around the room, his eyes resting momentarily upon the small group of witnesses. By this time, his hands were tied securely behind his back. Two guards, one on each arm, directed him to Number One gallows on the left of the entrance. He walked steadily the six feet to the first wooden step but his face was twitching.
As the guards stopped him at the bottom of the steps for identification formality he uttered his piercing scream: 'Heil Hitler!'
The shriek sent a shiver down my back.
As its echo died away an American colonel standing by the steps said sharply, 'Ask the man his name.' In response to the interpreter's query Streicher shouted, 'You know my name well.'
The interpreter repeated his request and the condemned man yelled, 'Julius Streicher.'
As he reached the platform Streicher cried out, 'Now it goes to G-d.' He was pushed the last two steps to the mortal spot beneath the hangman's rope. The rope was being held back against a wooden rail by the hangman.
Streicher was swung suddenly to face the witnesses and glared at them. Suddenly he screamed, 'Purim Fest 1946.' [Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrated in the spring, commemorating the execution of Haman, ancient persecutor of the Jews described in the Old Testament]…
And so, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—when the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened, and the Jews got their enemies in their power.
What do you want people to think of when they remember your work at Hillel of Colorado? What do you want to remember?