Monday, October 15, 2018

Change Your Name, Change Your Mazel ??



New shiur from Rabbi Alon Anava


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I probably did something stupid. About 3 months ago I changed my name from Mirjam to Mariël. I was raised in a traumatic Xtian way and I wanted to break those ties by changing my first name too. So now, apparently, I no longer have a Jewish name. I have to say that a big burden has fallen away from me now that my name has changed. I am even happy nowadays. But Mariël is not a Jewish name ... is it wrong?

Devorah said...

I'm guessing that you did not do this name change officially in a shul, where they announce your new name just as if you were a newborn baby.... ??

Don't worry....your original Hebrew name of Mirjam is still your Hebrew name, nothing has changed except that you now call yourself Mariel. Your soul is still Miriam and always will be unless you have a new name re-announced in a synagogue at the time of the reading of the Torah, on a Monday, Thursday or Shabbat.

Changing a name in a synagogue should not be done on a whim, your name is your essence. You can ask people to call you a different name, but your original Hebrew name that you were given when you were born remains intact.

Devorah said...

Also see:
Meshane Makom Meshane Mazel



The Hebrew name you were given at birth relates to the mission of your soul in your lifetime.

Anonymous said...


is there anyone who can help me discover my purpose in life by my hebrew birth name: nechama leah??? thank you

Devorah said...

A name reading will tell you all about your own personality... things which you already probably know because it is part of YOU. It will not tell you your purpose in life, and it will not predict your future.
it is more of a validation of yourself, rather than a fortune telling tool.

Life's purpose usually becomes clearer as we get older. The things which are difficult for you to do, are the things you need to work on. For example, if you have anger issues.... or were born into an angry family... anger is no doubt something you were put here to fix.

We are given all the necessary tools we need to complete our purpose in life. I don't know anyone personally that I can recommend to analyze your name... it's a process of writing down the entire Hebrew name including your parents' Hebrew names and then analyzing the letters in different ways to form different words/phrases which relate to your name.

It's a really interesting thing to do, but it won't really answer too many questions that you don't know already. it just validates your own personality and lets us see how amazing it is that our name contains our spiritual DNA.

Sorry I can't recommend anyone to do it, and like anything else it needs to be done by a genuine rabbi well versed in kabbala.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Devorah.
I am reassured by your answer.

Devorah said...

Myrtle Rising has a great post here:
Tips on Using your Jewish Name to discover the Real You

Devorah said...

Interesting stuff in this book by the excellent Rabbi Glazerson:
What's in a Name