It's All in the Name
“Names” - what a strange title for a book!
“Genesis”, the title of the first book of the Torah, is a brilliant name. It is full of mystery and intrigue. It captures the imagination of billions of people who are fascinated by the timeless question: what is the origin of the universe? How did it all begin?
By contrast, “Names”, the Hebrew title for the second book of the Torah, does not elicit curiosity or intrigue. Unlike the Greek name, Exodus, it does not seem to capture the heart of the story. In fact, the names mentioned in the book, are perhaps the most uninspiring part of the book and they don’t seem to add anything to the plot and message of the book.
The first book of the Torah tells the stories of our patriarchs and Matriarchs, of their children and grandchildren. It is a book that captures the story of a family. The second book, however, tells the story of a people. We are no longer a small family, we are now a nation, and the stories and dramas are about a nation as a whole. We read about the slavery and exodus of a nation. We read about a nation receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai and we read about the national project of building the Mishkan, the home for G-d in the desert.
Nations are comprised of numbers. When people think of nations, when encyclopedias list nations, one of the most important things to list is the number of people that comprise the nation.
Numbers capture the common denominator of that which is being counted. The numbers 1.3 billion Chinese, 1.2 billion Indians, or 320 million Americans, respectively, describe the common nationality of the people, not their individual philosophies, perspectives, hopes and dreams. The number does not tell the story of the individual, of his or her unique personality and calling. The number is blind to anything but what the individual has in common with the group.
A name, on the other hand, seeks to highlight the individual. A name gifts its possessor with the dignity of individuality. If you are needed to fill a number than you may be counted in the census, but you can easily be replaced. If you are valued for your unique identity, if your contribution is indispensable, than you are not merely a number, you are given a name.[1]
Thus, when the focus shifts from the individual to the community, from the one to the collective, from the person to the nation, there is a danger of the individual being lost in the story of the whole. Often, the price of building a nation is sacrificing the focus on the individual. The title of the second book, “Names”, reminds us that in Judaism every individual is not just a number, one that shares a common identity with others, but also, a name, an individual. One who is indispensable.
Indeed in all the epic stories of the book, the exodus, the revelation at Sinai and the building of the temple, events that created our nation, the Torah goes out of its way to highlight the importance of the individual. Moses, the fearless leader of the Jewish people is introduced as someone who risks his life to save not a nation but an individual:
Now it came to pass in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers. He turned this way and that way, and he saw that there was no man; so he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.[2]
In the moment of the Divine revelation, when G-d revealed himself and spoke to all entire people of Israel gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, he spoke not in the plural but in the singular, as explained in the Midrash:
When the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke [the Ten Commandments], each Jew said, ‘The words are speaking [directly] to me!’ This is why it says [at the beginning of the Ten Commandments], ‘I am Hashem your G-d,’ using the singular form of the word ‘your’ (rather than the plural form usually used in the Torah).”[3]
And finally, when the Jewish people set at to build the Tabernacle the home for G-d in the center of the Jewish camp in the desert, a monumental project made possible only with the combined efforts of the community, the commandment alludes to the home for G-d in the heart of each and every individual:
They shall make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell within them (25:8)
The verse does not say “and I will dwell within it,” but “and I will dwell within them”—within each and every one of them.[4]
Thus there is no better name for a book about a fledgling nation then the “Names”. It captures the tension of the story and it gets to the very essence of the Jewish people: yes, we are a group, a community, a nation, but each of us has a name. In G-d’s eyes each of us is indispensable. Each of us is critical to the Divine plan of making this world a dwelling place for Hashem.
[1] Lekutey Sichos, Shmos Vol. 6, Sicha 1.
[2] Exodus 2:11-12.
[3] Yalkut Shimony, Yisro 20:2.
[4] Likutey Torah, Naso.