Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Souls and Names

Art by Sharon Tomlinson


The Talmud [Berachot 7b] teaches that a Hebrew name has an influence on its bearer. Therefore, it is extremely important to name children after individuals with positive character traits who led fortunate lives and helped bring goodness to the world.

The Arizal writes that the nature and behavior of a person, whether good or bad, can be discovered by analyzing his or her name. For example, a child named Yehudah could possibly be destined for leadership, for Yehudah, the fourth son of Jacob, symbolized monarchy and most Jewish kings descended from the tribe of Yehudah.

It is said that parents are actually blessed with prophesy when naming their newborn babies.

According to the Arizal, even the numerical value of the Hebrew letters in one's name can be indicative of an individual's character. For example the gematria of the name Elisheva is equivalent to the numerical value of the Hebrew words yemei simcha, meaning "days of happiness," perhaps portending a joyous life for a baby girl named Elisheva.

It is precisely because the fortunes and misfortunes of mankind are concealed in the secrets of the letters, vowels and meanings of Hebrew names that a seriously ill person is given an additional name like Chaim, meaning "life," or Rafael, meaning "God heals," in order to influence his destiny. We hope and pray that the new name will herald a new mazel, or fortune, for the stricken individual.

Rabbi Elimelech of Lyzhansk, writes in his classic work on Torah "Noam Elimelech" [Bamidbar] that there is a profound connection between the soul of an infant and the soul of the person for whom he or she is named.

When a child is named after the deceased, the latter's soul is elevated to a higher realm in heaven and a spiritual affinity is created between the soul of the departed and the soul of the newborn child. That deep spiritual bond between these two souls can have a profound impact on the child.

Zocher HaBris 24:4, who also quotes Noam Elimelech on Bamidbar: “If they give him the name of a tzaddik who has already lived in this world, this will cause him also to become a tzaddik, because it has aroused the soul of the departed tzaddik in the Supernal World.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Covid is going around a lot. About 1/5 people in my shul in the states right now has covid and most of them have severe cases. I wonder if the pandemic coming back is connected to Moshiach coming now.

-Shira

Devorah said...

Yes it's going around here as well.

Anonymous said...

I can’t wait until Hashem destroys fauci when Moshiach comes. He admitted this week to making up the masking and social distancing rules and he had beagle dogs killed to be used for experiments. There’s a video of him from 2017 saying that there will for sure be a big infectious disease coming up. Interesting how he’s not in court yet facing trial to go to jail. Made a fortune of money off the pandemic as well.

-Tzvi

Devorah said...

I just saw a photo from 2015 of Fauci, Melinda Gates and Obama at the Wuhan lab. They all played a part.

Anonymous said...

That’s for sure. They are all evil sociopaths. Gates and Fauci , Yemach Shemom , are mass murderers. They knew it would interfere in an election, they knew they would pocket big profits from the pandemic, and they knew it would kill many people and disrupt many lives.

-Tzvi

Ikesmom said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkA1Sxqreew Rabbi Kessin

Anonymous said...

"Interesting how he’s not in court yet facing trial to go to jail. Made a fortune of money off the pandemic as well. "

It isn't interesting or surprising at all. They are so immune to punishment and egoistic about what they are doing that they have no issue at all saying their sins outright. They are going by the words of Dovid Hamelech in his first Perek Tehillim. Scoffers can change the reality we all perceive and make people look like they are invincible. This is the tool that the Democrats are using throughout this era. They lie straight into your face, which is so extraordinary, that people just stay on the sidelines confused or shocked.... and when others do answer back it just gives their lies more legitimacy and fuel.

If my 2 year old were to tell me that she's older than me and then I argue back, I am giving her silly lies legitimacy. Get it??

But on the other hand, it is giving us chizzuk that this is the end.

SGK