Blog

Before I get into the message for this week's “Shabbat to Shabbat” newsletter, allow me to extend an invitation. This Friday night, following the Shabbat service at 7:30, is our Alembik event, Exploring the Interplay Between Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual Pain in Our Lives. This program is a moderated conversation between three Sinai members: Dr. Jeffrey Grossman will address physical pain, Dr. Betsy Gard will tackle emotional pain, and our Bunzl Family Cantorial Chair Beth Schafer will speak to spiritual pain. The panel is moderated by our own Adult Education Coordinator and PNK Center Librarian, Rabbi Natan Trief. And…it takes place in the same Zoom room as our Shabbat service (www.tinyurl.com/sinaiworship), so you don’t even need to leave your seat! See you there!

Okay, now back to our regularly-scheduled show- er...message.

To give another person a nickname is a very powerful thing. Names can shape us and they can describe us. Our ancestors would have agreed with me because, in ancient times, people believed that your name could actually shape your soul. For better or worse, our parents give us our first set of names, often after deceased family members. Or in my case, after a character in a soap opera that my mom thought was “really cool.” True story.

In our portion, there is a powerful story about naming. We read “They set out from Bethel; but when they were still some distance short of Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth and she had a hard labor. As she breathed her last – for she was dying – she named her son Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.”

This sad story tells us a lot about naming. Ben-Oni means “son of my sorrow.” Rachel imprints her son with the sorrow she was feeling, but Jacob could not abide. Feeling differently, he changes the infants name to Benjamin, “son of the right hand,” meaning that he would be the source of his father’s strength. And with that new name, Benjamin receives the blessing of a promising future.

I invite us to take a moment, prior to reading past this paragraph, to think about our own nicknames. As we consider our own lives, and give thought to what we have experienced and how we see the world, we can consider the nickname we have earned… or what nickname we hope to earn. And we can consider any changes we need to make in our outlook and behavior to earn the nickname we desire.

The Israeli poet Zelda wrote: 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…

May we live up to the names given to us by those who gave us life. And may we grow to appreciate the value of a nickname given by our closest friends, our greatest allies, and our accomplishments for which we are most proud. Ken y’hi razon. So may it be God’s will. Amen.