Exodus or Names?
One cannot be liberated from bondage, without a sense of self-hood. A person who is not secure with his/her own identity is susceptible to virtually every other influence that imposes itself on the individual. This is not true freedom. We cannot surrender ourselves to G-d’s authority and accept the Torah at Sinai, without having an identity to surrender. Bereft of an identity, we will acquire everyone else’s identity. And, these multiple identities are antithetical to accepting G-d’s desired way of life, which is based on unity.
What kind of a Name is “Names?”
This week we begin reading the second of the five books of Moses. To most people, this Biblical book is referred to simply as the book of Exodus, because this book’s most dramatic narrative is the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish People from Egyptian bondage.
The traditional name for this book, however, is not Exodus, but rather “Shemos” or “names.” Ostensibly, the reason for this title is the fact that this Biblical book begins with the verse: “And these are the names of the Children of Israel who have come to the land of Egypt…” It is common for a book or chapter to be named after its first, or one of its first, words.
The question begs to be asked:
Why would we name a book, containing some of the most central themes and historical events of Judaism such as the Exodus, the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the building of the Mishkan (Portable Sanctuary in the desert)
etc., “names?” Certainly, the fact that the word “Shemos” appears at the beginning of the book is not an adequate reason for its selection as the name of the book. Shouldn’t the name capture the most riveting and poignant aspects of the book, rather than be just one of its first words?
Maintaining a name: the Force against Assimilation
The answer lies in the significance of the Hebrew names of the Jews in Egypt. Our Sages inform us that otwithstanding the forces of assimilation in Egypt, the Jews did not change their names. No matter how far a Jew might have strayed from his/her Jewishness in Egypt, they never lost their Jewish identity.
It was this tenacious attachment to their identities that enabled the Jews to leave Egypt and receive the Torah at Sinai. While it was regrettable that they did not translate the realization of who they were into what they did, they still retained this one formidable redeeming quality; they never lost sight of who they were.
This is indeed the secret of Jewish survival throughout all of our history. To be sure, Judaism is more than just retaining one’s identity and name, but it cannot survive without that identity. It may be likened to the construction of a building that has many stories. Without its foundation, it cannot last; the building will ultimately topple. And while it is self-understood that a foundation alone does not suffice, it is nevertheless the first and most solid part of the structure. Similarly, retaining one’s name or identity is the foundation and bedrock of Jewish existence, without which there cannot be a Jewish structure.
Thus, the second book of the Torah, detailing the very foundations of the Jewish nation, is appropriately called “Shemos-Names,” because it is this stubborn attachment to one’s Jewish identity—no matter what—that is the basis for everything else discussed in this book.
The Key to Liberation :Acceptance of Torah and Building a Sanctuary
One cannot be liberated from bondage, without a sense of self-hood. By definition, a person who is not secure with his/her own identity is susceptible to virtually every other influence that imposes itself on the individual. This is not true freedom.
One cannot surrender oneself to G-d’s authority and accept the Torah at Sinai, without having an identity to surrender. Bereft of an identity, one will acquire everyone else’s identity. And, these multiple identities are antithetical to accepting G-d’s desired way of life, which is based on unity.
One cannot create a Mishkan, a sanctuary, for G-d without or within, when one is devoid of an identity. Dwelling implies the process of being internalized within someone. One who possesses no selfhood cannot be a vessel to receive and absorb the Divine presence. (This does not contradict the well-known Chassidic teaching that to be a Sanctuary to G-d one must be humble. There is an obvious difference between an empty–and therefore a receptive vessel–and no vessel at all.)
Hence all of the central themes of the Book of Exodus hinge on Shemos, the names of the Jewish People; never losing one’s Jewish identity.
What was true then, when we were liberated from the first exile, is equally true today as we await the final Redemption by Moshiach. The key to Redemption is Shemos, never losing sight of our names. We will leave, however, the deeper explanation for the power of a name to bring about liberation and Redemption for the next essay.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Shmos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
