Parshas Vayikra
Use Your Power Wisely!
“And Hashem called to Moshe and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting….” (Vayikra 1:1)
A person’s Hebrew name is much more than a way to call him or talk about him. A Hebrew name describes a person’s essence and attributes.
Midrash Rabbah (Bereishis 17:4) writes that Hashem brought various animals to the angels and asked them to name the animals in a way which described the essence and purpose of each animal. The angels were unable to do so. Then Hashem brought the animals to Adam who was able to name each animal based on its essence. Hashem told the angels that this was an example of Adam’s wonderous wisdom which was greater than theirs. Clearly, great intelligence was necessary to define the essence of each animal.
A name can also indicate a person’s mission in life. After wrestling with Esav’s angel which ended in a tie, Yaakov wanted to know the angel’s name (Bereishis 32:30). The angel responded, “Why is it that you ask for my name?” (32:31). Rashi explains that the angel did not tell Yaakov his name because angels’ names change.
Midrash Rabbah (Bereishis 78:4) explains that the angel was telling Yaakov that angels do not have permanent names. Their names change according to the service that they are commanded to do or depending on the mission upon which they are sent.
The Torah tells us, “And Hashem called to Moshe,,,.” Midrash Rabbah (Vayikra 1:1) points out that Moshe was called by ten different names. Each name described a different aspect of Moshe’s essence, based on the Hebrew root word of that name. Moshe was called Yered because he brought the Torah down from Heaven to earth. Others say because he brought Hashem’s Holy Presence from Heaven to earth. He was called Avigdor because he was the father of those who would build a protective fence around the Torah. He was called Chever because he joined together the children with their Father in Heaven. He was called Evyasar because through him Hashem overlooked the sin of the golden calf…. Hashem told Moshe that although you have many names, “I will only call you by the name that Bisya, Pharoah’s daughter, called you.” “Bisya called his name Moshe” (Shmos 2:10).
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz z t”l asks why Hashem chose the name Moshe from amongst all of the names that he was known. Furthermore, the name Moshe did not describe his essence. Rather, it just described the event of Bisya drawing Moshe out of the water.
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz zt”l offers a beautiful answer. Bisya’s actions were only possible because of her great mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice. Bisya’s act was done in defiance of her father who wanted all babies drowned in the Nile River. Since Moshe’s life was saved through an act of mesiras nefesh, “this power and ability of utter self-sacrifice entered the very body and soul of Moshe, for all that the giver gives to the recipient totally enters him!”. Wow! Moshe attained this attribute of mesiras nefesh because of Bisya’s act. Therefore, Moshe was known by that name which expressed his essence more than his other names.
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz zt”l proves this. The Talmud Yerushalmi (Kedushin 1:1) says that Hashem gave the Jewish people three gifts. Hashem gave them the gifts of compassion, bashfulness, and kindness. The Talmud proves this from the pasuk in the Torah, “Hashem will guard for you the covenant and the kindliness that He swore to your forefathers (Devarim 7:13).”
The Torah Temimah questions the Talmud’s proof. The pasuk is speaking about the chesed, the kindness, that Hashem will do for the Jewish People. It does not say that the trait of chesed is inherent in the Jewish People. So how does the pasuk prove that the trait of chesed is inherent in the Jewish People? The answer is that since Hashem acts with the Jewish People with the trait of chesed, this trait is transferred to and absorbed within them.
(Rabbi Chaim’s Discourses translated and edited by Rabbi A. Scheinman and Eliyahu Meir Klugman)
Parents and teachers should especially be aware of this. Truthfully, all of us have the same power.
When we interact with others, exemplifying our good middos, character traits,
we can actually share and transfer those traits to others!
