Everyone Has a Name

As a people, our Jewish com­mu­nity places great emphasis on the power of names. In fact we make lists and lists of names. The Torah records lists of names, we com­pile our own lists of names every Yom Kippur on Yizkor, we list names of donors and bene­fac­tors. Why do we find names so sig­nif­i­cant and pow­erful? Let’s consider our upcoming commemoration this week:

Yom Hashoah begins Monday evening, April 17th – Tuesday, April 18th. (See below for the special program at Chapman University, An Evening of Holocaust Remembrance on 4/18).  During this commemoration we reflect on all those who were killed in the Holocaust. In some com­mu­ni­ties, we read aloud the names of those family mem­bers from that par­tic­ular com­mu­nity who per­ished during the Nazi régime.

Some might ask – why read all of those names? The name is so pow­erful because it sur­vives. We don’t nec­es­sarily know the people whose names are listed in the long lists in the Torah, or on the walls of the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, or Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on the walls of the many Holocaust memo­rials or any of the hun­dreds of places where other such lists exist. We don’t know these people but we do know their names. A name which gives them a place in his­tory, a name which gives them an enduring legacy. To say a name out loud brings it renewed life.

The events of the Holocaust are given meaning only by remem­bering the indi­vid­uals who died during that time. We gather as a com­mu­nity, we remember the names of those who died and we affirm their lives by how we choose to lead our lives. So, names, indeed, are very pow­erful.

A midrash tells us about the sig­nif­i­cance of our names: “All people have three names,” the midrash says, “one which their par­ents give to them, one that others call them, and one which they acquire them­selves. And the one they acquire them­selves in most impor­tant of all.”

The name our par­ents give us is our spe­cial con­nec­tion to the past, it takes an empty space and fills it with life, life that has been handed to us by those who came before. The name our par­ents give us tells us that we were not born into a vacuum, but are part of a rich chain of tra­di­tion.

So how do we honor those who came before us and those who per­ished during the Holocaust? By giving our names – and their names meaning through our actions and aspi­ra­tions and the way we ful­fill them.  By the deeds we per­form, by the way we live our lives and by our con­nec­tion to God.

Temple Beth Sholom will join tonight on Erev Shabbat with Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley for a joint Shabbat service in commemoration of Yom Hashoah (we will not host a service at TBS this evening. All of our yahrzeit names will be read at CBT. Please see below for details.)

Everyone Has a Name: A Poem for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day
Poem by the Israeli poet Zelda
[trans­lated from Hebrew]

Everyone has a name
given to him by God
and given to him by his par­ents.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his stature
and the way he smiles.
and given to him by his clothing
Everyone has a name
given to him by the moun­tains
and given to him by the walls.
Everyone has a name
given to him by the stars
and given to him by his neigh­bors.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his sins
and given to him by his longing.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his ene­mies
and given to him by his love.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his hol­i­days
and given to him by his work.
Everyone has a name
given to him by the sea­sons
and given to him by his blind­ness.
Everyone has a name
given to him by the sea and
given to him
by his death.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel
Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth Sholom

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