What’s In a Name?

What’s In a Name?

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

October 25^th, 2013

One of my favorite songs is by Johnny Cash and is entitled “A Boy Named Sue.” In the song, Sue wants to meet the person who gave him that name and ultimately will meet his father and they will have a big fight yet wind up embracing. Yet at the end he swears that if he ever has a son, he will give him any name other than Sue.

What is such a big deal? There are boys names that are used by girls, so what is it that made this song so popular in its time, other than Johnny Cash is singing it?

The issue is that in a mysterious way we come to identify with the name we are given. We respond when called by that name and by no other. Some people use an initial for their first name and use their middle name as the given one. Our name identifies me to myself and to everyone else. Some names are rare, like my first name, and it even sounds a bit odd when you meet someone else who also has it.

Names give power. When my mother or father called my name, the tone and tenor of how it was pronounced and where they put the accent, and how loud or soft, was all that I needed to know. They gave it to me. They labeled me. At least until a certain age, they had the power. As they were my parents, they had the inherent right to give me my name and call my name.

That is why God names Adam and Eve, with the meaning inherent in each name, his meaning ‘earth’ and hers relating to ‘life.’ God created the earth and put them on it, and they will be the progenitors of all human beings. Similarly the first thing that God had Adam and Eve do in the Garden of Eden was to give names to all the animals. It indicated that there is a hierarchy in the world and that human beings are at the epitome of the ladder of existence. Human beings are ultimately permitted to slaughter animals for food, but an animal that kills a human being is put to death. Giving a name to another has many implications about their relationships and even their destiny. That is why God changed Avram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah, by adding the letter “Hey” referring to God to each of their names.

The Ashkenazic Jewish tradition is to name our children after the deceased, so as to perpetuate their memory in the family. I know that I am named after my two maternal grandfathers. Ruby and I named Menachem, Yonina and Tzeira after family members and made sure that they knew who their namesakes were. Through names we can tie the generations together and keep some cognizance of from where we come. It is a powerful dynamic. With Moshe Tzvi’s second name, Tzvi, and Raya’s name, though deceased, my father and my uncle are kept ever present in the family by the mention of their names.

What’s in a name? Everything.

Those following something besides the World Series and Wall Street might have guessed where I am leading, but before getting there I want to inject one other issue.

Judaism has core values and one of them is entitled “K’vod HaBeriyot,” – “The Honor of living beings.” It isn’t relegated just to one sphere of existence. It is applicable to animals and human beings alike.  It is fundamental in Judaism that everything in existence must be respected. Religiously we say that everything traces its origin back to God who is the supreme Creator. The insertion of Va’yachulu in our tefilot tonight stresses that religious belief. Thus everything inherently has, inherently reflects God’s holiness. Even the earth, an inanimate object, is God’s creation and thus requires our respect. The earth is holy, too.

It is easy to connect my two subjects, names and respect. How we name someone, how we call someone, indicates what we think of them, how we relate to them, what is our relationship with them. Does it indicate power or honor? Does it show respect to ancestry or diminishment of the past? How we feel about ourselves is reflected in the names we call ourselves and the names we reject when used against us. I am proud to be called a Jew, when someone says “You’re Jewish.” I have to correct them we they call me a “Hebrew,” usually used out of ignorance. It has been a long time since any derogatory term has been used against me. I bristled and called them out when they did. I want to be respected for, with and by my name. I give respect in using others’ names.

So what should we do about the National League Football team in Washington, D.C., currently called “The Redskins.” Only slightly distant are the Atlanta Braves and the tomahawk chop, the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Chiefs. All other major league teams in baseball, football and basketball have benign names. Yes, these nicknames have a long history with their teams. I also confess to not knowing how they were chosen.

But should they keep them?

The Cleveland team is currently asking their fans about using their name. The Atlanta team is already under demands to reevaluate theirs. I haven’t heard anything from Kansas City. But the term “Redskins” is certainly derogatory. It reflects an attitude to the only group that is native to this continent or surely antedates us by millennia. It is pejorative no less than the Yiddish word used for African-Americans. For those who remember television in black-and-white era, let us recall how Native Americans were portrayed. How did they speak? What were they called? [Answer – savages.] How did they dress? How were the women and children portrayed?

Did this show respect?

Did is show insight into their culture?

Did is reflect the honor and holiness that they showed to the earth?

Did is reveal their spirituality?

Did it present the values of their cultures?

                                                                                    Hardly if ever.

How would we as Jews feel if the period of sojourn in Eastern Europe or in the Middle Eastern countries (besides Israel) was held up to satire, lampoon and ridicule? I think that this could be done to everyone. It should be done to no one.

So let’s find another name for the National League Football team in Washington, D.C.

Given their location I could suggest a few: the nudnicks; the do-nothings; the empty tea-cups; the disgrace; the ruinations. They don’t sound good in a cadence, but they are more befitting than the current appellation. Of course these suggestions are just a little satire. But if we can have the “Flying Squirrels” I am sure that they come up with something useful for Washington.

What’s in a name?

Respect.

Self respect.

Honor.

Dignity.

Identity.

Destiny.

I am proud to be called a Jew. Let’s join our voices to show honor and respect to others.

Shabbat Shalom.