This week we start a new Book of the Torah: Shemot (Exodus), which in Hebrew means "Names." Our rabbis teach us that there were three important cultural practices the Jews kept that allowed them to maintain their Jewish identity through exile in Egypt: 1) their Jewish names; 2) the Hebrew language; 3) and their way of dress.
Nowadays, most of us don't dress particularly different then the rest of the nations. Most of us outside of Israel don't know any Hebrew either. However, when it comes to Jewish names, we pretty much all have one - and if we don't, we can always get one (it's often derived from the name commonly used by the person).
Fortunately, as the title of the Book of Shemot indicates, of all three things, having Jewish names is the most important. No matter how far people go away from their Judaism and Jewish identity, their name can always bring them back to their roots.
Names are full of meaning and describe the essence of a person. The Holy Rabbi Isaac Luria (the "Ari" - the Lion) of Tzfat, perhaps the greatest kabbalist to ever live, states that the parents' choice of name for a child is a form of divine prophecy. God places the name in the mouth of the parents. Various mystical sages, including the Lubavitcher Rebbe, when asked to give a name to another's child, would refuse to do so, so as to not take away this special prophetic moment.
Simply having a Jewish name should be cause enough for celebration. Yet, us here at Modern Jewish Home believe that we should always strive for more. In order to ultimately achieve the three cultural aspects mentioned above, as well as other key characteristics that make us live fully as Jews, we should start by improving the Jewishness of our homes.
By keeping our homes Jewish, both in their look and feel, we set the correct foundation for everything else. We make a powerful and immediate impact on all those that live there, and on all that come to visit. That's what we mean by "Celebrating Jewish Life in Style."
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