The name of this week’s Torah portion is Shemot, which literally means, “names.”  Though content-wise the book itself might be more aptly known by its latin name, Exodus, it does indeed begin with the counting by name of the children of Israel:  “And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob….”

Names are an incredibly important idea in the torah.  One of the first things the torah tells us about the human being is: “And God said, it is not good for the human to be alone, I will make for him a helper against him.  And God formed all of the animals of the field from the dirt of the ground  and brought them to the human to see what he would name them, and whatever he named them that was the name of their living soul.  And the human gave (called, identified) names to all the animals and to the birds of the heaven and to all the animals of the field, but to Adam was not found a helpmate opposite him.”

It seems names are more than signifiers, they depict our essence, something about our soul, even who we will be a proper mate for whom.  In the book of Kings counting people as numbers causes great calamity among the Jewish people.   There is clearly something extremely powerful about other’s names, something deep and individualizing and soulful.

The following Midrash makes the point even deeper:

“When God came to make the human being God consulted with the angels.  They asked, “What will be the nature of this human being?”  God answered, “He will be wiser than you.”  God brought the animals before the angels and asked them what the names of the animals should be, but they did not know.  God then brought the animals before Adam and he named them.  Then God asked Adam, “What will your name be?”  Adam answered, “It would be fitting to call me Adam, for I am made from the ground (adamah).”  Then God asked, “And Me, what should My name be?”  Said Adam, “It would be fitting to call You Adoni, for your are the master (adon) of all Your creation.” (Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 17:4)

To understand names is a uniquely human undertaking, something angels can not do.  It seems even God wants/needs the human to name Him.  Names signify our uniqueness, to number people is to deny their individuality, their infinite worth, their Divine origin.  Perhaps it is a uniquely human capacity to know the other intimately enough, as truly unique, and this gives us the power to know names.

To know the name of another is to know them as an end and not a means.  Even as a means to a holy thing is dangerous and forbidden, even for a minyan we do not count people as numbers.  If we see others as a means to an end other than themselves, even a holy end such as a minyan, we have violated their humanness, their uniqueness, their Divinity.   More important than anything else is their human individuality.

The mystics teach us that Abraham left God’s presence to welcome the three nomads in the desert because though to encounter God is powerful, God is always abstract, infinite, and far.  On the other hand with the human being, the image of God, our connection can be direct.   The presence of another human is the closest Divine encounter we can have.

This shabbat find someone whose name you don’t know, ask them their name, and introduce them to someone else by name.  The more we know each other’s names, the more we will begin to know their Divine soul.

Shabbat shalom