My Weekly Drash (a mini D'var Torah) - Vayetze (3)
Posted by Daniel M. Kimmel on November 25, 2009 | Tags: Vayetze
We read in Parshah Va-Yetzei, “Leah conceived and bore a son, and named him Reuben; for she declared, “It means: ‘The Lord has seen my affliction’; it also means: ‘Now my husband will love me.’” (Gen. 29:32). Although we are a people of custom and tradition, this is one custom that has happily fallen by the wayside. Would you really want to go through life with a name that announced to the world the state of your parent’s marriage at the time you were born? Ashkenazic Jews usually name children for deceased relatives whose attributes they wish to honor by symbolically passing them along. Sephardic Jews name their children for living relatives, not laboring under the Eastern European bubbehmeiseh that the Angel of Death might become confused. Do your children and grandchildren know for whom they are named? It might make for some interesting discussion around the dinner table for Thanksgiving or Shabbat.
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Daniel M. KimmelJoined: October 2, 2007 Daniel M. Kimmel is a Boston area film critic, lecturer and author. He does these weekly mini-lessons for the Mishkan Tefila Brotherhood's newsletter. You are free to use them for similar purposes. Divrei Torah (117) |
