Boulder Aish Kodesh

For a parsha called “names”, there are surprisingly few names mentioned. In fact, the Torah seems to go out of its way to avoid giving names. “And a man from the house of Levi married the daughter of Levi”. The savior of the Jewish people is born – nameless. He does not get a name until his Egyptian surrogate mother names him. The only new names we do get in the parsha – the midwives Shifra and Puah – are pseudonyms for Moshe’s mother and sister.

But the word for names – shemot – has another meaning. It also means ‘reputation’. The beginning of the parsha would read “These are the reputations…” And then we find amazing accomplishments of character – midwives who directly defy the orders of the Pharaoh. A child is born who is ‘good’, and a mother who recognizes it and has the courage to hide him. A sister who watches from afar and has the courage to cut a deal with the Pharaoh’s daughter. A man from the house of Levi who has the courage to marry and have children despite crippling decrees.

I hear a call to focus less on who I am and more on what I do. And even that not for the sake of my name per se, but for the sake of its being done. There is so much that is waiting to be done right now – we must as a whole take on the entirety of the task that is demanded of us as the human race. And everyone will do one part or another of that task, but not for recognition or glory, not for pay or prestige, but because it must be done, and I can do it.

Our skills and talents are not to be used by us – we are to be used by them. We are the humble servants of our talents and resources. We must let them guide us toward a fixed world.

So when names are de-emphasized and actions emphasized, we find a sense of selfless contribution to a common cause. We find many people individually but simultaneously taking initiative toward the redemption of the Jewish people – an orchestra of talents each polishing one facet of a nation in process of birth.