Our essence lies in a word

Once upon a time we were each a new baby, cradled in our parents embrace. They had the awesome opportunity and obligation of giving us a name. For some people, this is time to remember grandparents or other family members no longer with us. For others, they can finally use that name they have loved since childhood. Whatever the case, names define us. The first person to assign names was Adam. He looked into each animal to figure out their role in the universe and gave them each a name.

In the parsha shemos, many names are listed. Why? Yaakov’s sons are all listed in the beginning of this parsha to signify that each of their strengths would be with us, in the dark times and in the light. We are told that we just need to acknowledge the strengths we are given and use them. We each hold a different key to doors only we can open. Do we want to open them?

We can each take a moment to learn about our name. Who are we named for? What were their strengths? What does our name mean? The more we know, the more we can do here!