7 Prophetesses Sarah Imeinu with Sources

Introductions

I am __________, daughter of ______________, granddaughter of ____________.

Is there any significance to your name? Were you named after anyone in English or Hebrew (or another language)?

Sarah's Names - Princess, Prophetess, Minister

Sarah had three names in her lifetime: Yiscah in her youth, Sarai as an adult, and Sarah in her older years. The Talmud teaches that the name Yiscah indicated her ability to gaze into the future as well as signified her great beauty since it is said that everyone gazed upon her (Talmud Megillah 14a).

Nechama Rubinstein, a biblical scholar, explains that her name change from Yiscah to Sarai, literally, “my princess” (meaning God’s princess) was a “realization that she was to become a line of aristocracy.” She is considered a prophet by our Sages, and it is said that she knew that she would become the first matriarch called Sarah Imeinu – Sarah Our Mother, and the first of the seven prophetesses of Israel. As a prophetess, she had a deep connection with God. Sarai also meant “Sar – Yud” meaning minister of the letter Yud. The letter Yud stands for Yah, one of the names of God. She was princess, prophetess, and minister of God.

As regards the significance of this change, the Rabbis explain that initially she was a princess [sarai] over her people, while now she will be a princess over all the inhabitants of the world [sarah] (Tosefta Berakhot 1:13). In an additional exegetical explanation, because Sarai performed good deeds, God added a large letter to her name, and she would now be called “Sarah” (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Masekhta de-Amalek, Yitro 1). The midrash relates that the letter yud that was taken from Sarai’s name flew up before God. It complained: “Master of all the worlds! because I am the smallest of all the letters, You removed me from the righteous woman’s name?” God replied: “Before, you were in a woman’s name, and at the end of her name, now I put you in a man’s name, and at the beginning of the name [Num. 13:16]: ‘but Moses changed the name of Hosea [hoshe’a] son of Nun to Joshua [yehoshua]’” (Gen. Rabbah 47:1). According to another tradition, half of the letter yud [with the numerical value of ten] that God took from Sarai was given back to Sarah, and the other half was given to Abraham [each received the letter heh = 5 + 5] (JT Sanhedrin 2:6, 20[c]).

-Jewish Women's Archive

EACH OF US HAS A NAME by Zelda

Each of us has a name
given by God
and given by our parents

Each of us has a name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls

Each of us has a name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
given by our sins
and given by our longing

Each of us has a name
given by our enemies
and given by our love

Each of us has a name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work

Each of us has a name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.

© Translation: 2004, Marcia Lee Falk
From: The Spectacular Difference
Publisher: Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 2004, 0-87820-222-6

Questions for Reflection:

1. What are the names you have been given?

2. The names / roles you have earned and taken on?

3. Are there any roles/ways of being from this past year your want to let go of?

4. Are there new names or ways of being you want to take on this year?