Rabbi Howard Morrison

The Hebrew term for the second book of the Torah is Shmot, "names." In the Parsha, names abound: Jacob and his twelve sons, Pharaoh,  Shifra and Puah, Amram and Yocheved, the daughter of Pharaoh, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Yitro, Tziporah, Gershom and Eliezer, and other significant people. 

Even God declares the divine name to be "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh," on which the commentary in the Etz Hayim Chumash states, "The phrase defies simple translation. It has been taken to mean ' I am whatever I choose to be,' 'I am pure being.' 'I am more than you can comprehend.' . . . The name is gender free . . . as befits a God who embraces polarities of male and female, young and old, transcendent and near at hand (Etz Hayim Chumash p. 330)."

Being created in the image of God, our names contain levels of meaning that define our character in part. On a personal level, I am named in English and Hebrew for my maternal great grandfather, of blessed memory. I was given his Hebrew names, "Avraham Tzvi." The first is a patriarchal name, hinting to my being a father of two sons and a patriarchal figure in my professional capacity. The second, Tzvi (gazelle), finds a rabbinic source in Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Sages, "Run like a gazelle (in terms of performing Mitzvot)." Little did I appreciate as a young boy that my late great grandfather was an ordained rabbi, although he never used his training to assume a congregational position.

Shmot, names, are indeed meaningful. Elsewhere in Pirkei Avot, we learn that the crown of a good name (the reputation we earn in life) exceeds all else.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Howard Morrison