24 Tishrei 5771 – October 2, 2010
Bereshit – Genesis 1:1-6:8
Rabbi Daniela Szuster
B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica
On the capacity for giving names and being named
We find ourselves once again starting the reading of the Torah. We read about all the natural phenomena created by God: heavens, earth, seas, stars, plants, animals and human beings. And next, we are told that God placed human beings within the Garden of Eden, to farm it and tend to it (Gen. 1:15). Unlike the other created phenomena, He conferred upon men a special responsibility. What was the first thing that human beings did after being created? “And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field…” (2:20). He gave names to each one of the animals. This act strikes us as interesting, considering that in most of the previous passage, it was God who named everything created. For instance: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night”, “And God called the firmament Heaven”, “And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas” (Gen. 1:5, 8 and 10).
Without a doubt, the act of giving names is an expression of power and divine sovereignty over creation. When man says that God is the “giver of names” per excellence in this parashah, what does it mean?
According to a Midrash: “Rabbi Hacha said: When G-d came to create man, He consulted with the angels. He said to them: ‘We will make man.’ Said they to Him: ‘This man, what is his worth?’ Said He to them: ‘His wisdom is greater than yours.’ G-d brought before them the beasts, the wild animals and the birds and asked them, ‘This, what is its name?’ and they did not know. He then brought them before man... and man said, ‘This is an ox, this is a donkey, this is a horse and this is a camel....’” (Midrash Rabba 17:5).
Man could do what angels couldn’t: grant names to living beings. He was granted the gift of speech, differing from the animals and celestial beings. Perhaps we can think that, when the Torah says we were created “in His own image, in the image of God” (Gen 1:27), it means we are similar in owning the gift of speech.
Following this idea, a great thinker of our time, Judith Butler, suggests: "We ‘exist’ by virtue of that fundamental dependence on the calling of others” […] “The act of acknowledging becomes an act of constitution: the call brings the subject to existence” (Butler, Language, Power and Identity, 1997 – free translation).
These are very deep words; they drive us to reflect on how we are constituted: through someone who gives us a name, who calls us to existence and acknowledges us. We are nothing unless someone has thought about us. Thus, giving names is not just an expression of power but also of acknowledgement, closeness and love.
Furthermore, Judith Butler reminds us: “… the possibility itself of giving a name to someone requires that we have been given a name beforehand. The subject of speech who is given a name becomes, potentially, a subject who in the course of time will give a name to someone else” (Idem).
I find this concept extremely interesting: we are given names and through this means, not only a place in this world opens for us but we are offered the possibility of ourselves granting names to others as well.
The Mishnah on Pirkei Avot tells us: “R. Shimon says: There are three crowns: the Torah crown, the Priesthood crown, and the Kingly crown; but the crown of having a good name is above them all” (Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 4:17). This sage ranks good name, Shem Tov, over all the crowns which humankind usually yearn for: wisdom, leadership, and power. Throughout our life, we are given very different names. Sometimes we receive good names; others, mediocre names; and still others, perhaps despicable names. At the end of the days, surely someone will work out the average.
Perhaps, the way in which we are named depends on how we name others. It is a continuous inter-game, where we must be careful and cautious. We should not take advantage of the power to give names and the use of speech.
Sometimes we will occupy a place similar to that of the divinity, giving names to those around us; at other times, as the living beings named by the first man, we will be determined and called into existence by others.
We are really fortunate for having been granted the gift of speech. May we use it with wisdom, acknowledging our neighbors and calling them into existence through speech and, at the same time, forging for ourselves a true Shem Tov, a good name.
Shabbat Shalom!
