The Power of Names

One of the highlights of the High Holy Days is the opportunity to exchange a number of traditional greetings with others, enabling new relationships to be formed and past ones to be rekindled. A favorite formula is "L'Shanah Tova Tikatevu, May you be inscribed for a good year!" Of course it's the name that is inscribed. But our names and our persons are the same. According to the Talmud, at Rosh Hashanah God pays particular attention to our names, recording them in one of the books which are opened in heaven for the occasion.

The Biblical view is that to know an individual's name is to be familiar with the very essence of that person's being and personality. Anonymity is equal to non-existence.

In the upcoming "Days of Awe" and afterwards, the opportunity for one to make one's name a creative force presents itself. No matter who we are, our names have the potential to evoke good feelings in others, to be respected, and to become the equivalent of the types of lives we will lead through daily acts. Thus will the tradition of the "Power of the Name" be kept alive another year for good, for life and for peace.

Shalom,
Rabbi Mark L. Shrager

RABBI MARK L. SHRAGER

Rabbi’s Message :: The Power of Names