What's in a name?
So, apparently I’m not that good of a liar. Who would have thought? Oh well. At least I seem like an honest person… is that good? Do I need to work on being a good liar?
Listening to my friends at Hillel share their new Hebrew names made me think of mine. My Hebrew name is the name I use in all situations, whether it’s being called to the Torah or being called from across a room. It’s my name. What does it mean to me, then?
Metaphysical/spiritual
For a word that’s not a name of a person in the Torah, my name’s mentioned a fair bit in the text: “Sing the praises of G-d”, “a song of love”, “the Song of Songs”, etc. I’m a prayer, an aid in raising voices to the Heavens, a praise to G-d that reverberates in the hearts, minds, and souls of people. I’m a metaphysical quality, an idea, not a person that can be physically touched, a spirit that resides within G-d and people.
Hebrew
My name is the masculine form, the feminine being “Shirah”. My name is not terribly common, both in Israel and in the United States, making me a unique entity in my name’s relatively uncommon presence and in being a female with the masculine form of a name. I am struggling to form my own identity, to make sense of the feeling of not quite fitting in with that around me, of fitting together the conflicting ideas. When I was younger I hated my name because people couldn’t pronounce it and because it called attention to my “otherness” as a Jew and an Israeli. Now, it’s the acknowledgement that my soul is singing a song that nobody else can hear.
Meaning
I am a song, a uniting factor among cultures around the world. Song is used frequently in different cultures as a form of communication, inspiration, prayer, unification. I travel the world with a song in my being, a song that drives me to keep moving. I am following a tune I do not know, trying to find the note that completes my being. I am a song to the world, a song to the Heavens, a song that I have not yet composed.
In Kabbalah, when the Sefirot (the knowable manifestations [crown, wisdom, understanding, mercy, severity, glory/beauty, perpetuality/victory, majesty, foundation, and kingdom] of an unknowable G-d -) are in perfect balance, then will G-d be in balance, then will we be able to know G-d. That idea has stuck with me, that the idea that Sefirot need to be balance before we can know G-d, is an allegory for ourselves. I need to be in balance, a tune in harmony, all the Sefirot within me in concord. I am an indescribable shout for joy, a haunting whisper of mourning, a song.
Listening to my friends at Hillel share their new Hebrew names made me think of mine. My Hebrew name is the name I use in all situations, whether it’s being called to the Torah or being called from across a room. It’s my name. What does it mean to me, then?
Metaphysical/spiritual
For a word that’s not a name of a person in the Torah, my name’s mentioned a fair bit in the text: “Sing the praises of G-d”, “a song of love”, “the Song of Songs”, etc. I’m a prayer, an aid in raising voices to the Heavens, a praise to G-d that reverberates in the hearts, minds, and souls of people. I’m a metaphysical quality, an idea, not a person that can be physically touched, a spirit that resides within G-d and people.
Hebrew
My name is the masculine form, the feminine being “Shirah”. My name is not terribly common, both in Israel and in the United States, making me a unique entity in my name’s relatively uncommon presence and in being a female with the masculine form of a name. I am struggling to form my own identity, to make sense of the feeling of not quite fitting in with that around me, of fitting together the conflicting ideas. When I was younger I hated my name because people couldn’t pronounce it and because it called attention to my “otherness” as a Jew and an Israeli. Now, it’s the acknowledgement that my soul is singing a song that nobody else can hear.
Meaning
I am a song, a uniting factor among cultures around the world. Song is used frequently in different cultures as a form of communication, inspiration, prayer, unification. I travel the world with a song in my being, a song that drives me to keep moving. I am following a tune I do not know, trying to find the note that completes my being. I am a song to the world, a song to the Heavens, a song that I have not yet composed.
In Kabbalah, when the Sefirot (the knowable manifestations [crown, wisdom, understanding, mercy, severity, glory/beauty, perpetuality/victory, majesty, foundation, and kingdom] of an unknowable G-d -) are in perfect balance, then will G-d be in balance, then will we be able to know G-d. That idea has stuck with me, that the idea that Sefirot need to be balance before we can know G-d, is an allegory for ourselves. I need to be in balance, a tune in harmony, all the Sefirot within me in concord. I am an indescribable shout for joy, a haunting whisper of mourning, a song.