Torah Study > Chapter 5: Self and Community > Text 1

Explain the nature of the three names mentioned in the text above.
What are the differences between them?

How do you earn your name? What makes that name the best of all?
When might it not be the best name of all?

A person’s name is an expression of one’s identity and the way that person
wants to present himself to the wider community. The three names reflect
the three ways in which a person gains a name—from his parents (reflecting
a connection to his history and past), from the wider community (reflecting
the way one is seen by those around them) and from one’s own actions
(reflecting the actions that one chooses). Each of the names reflect an
aspect of a person’s identity. The value of a name earned through action
can be understood in light of the impact that one can have on the wider
community. This may be the best name because it is actually chosen, and
is a result of something that a person has control over, rather than the other
names which are bestowed upon the person.

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Using the concept “name” in the broadest sense, to reflect a person’s
identity (perhaps in more than one word), what are your three
names? Which names would you want? What might you want your
children’s names to be?

 

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