Have you ever completely messed up a name? Maybe you forgot one, or you just had one part of it off. Well, there's an interesting #Jewish perspective to the importance of names. Names represent our identity not simply because they are a convenient way to allow us to be distinguished one from another. It is because they define us. The names we are given at birth aren’t accidental. They are to some extent prophetic. They capture our essence. They are the keys to our soul. The Hebrew word for soul is neshamah. Central to that word, the middle two letters, shin and mem, make the word shem, Hebrew for ‘name.’ Your name is the key to your soul. Names are a book. They tell a story. The story of our spiritual potential as well as our life’s mission. That explains the fascinating midrash that tells us when we complete our years on this earth and face heavenly judgment, one of the most powerful questions we will be asked at the outset is, What is your name – and did you live up to it? Who was the first one ever to call something or someone by name? The Torah makes clear it was none other than God. And God used names not for the sake of identification, but rather for creation. When the Torah says, “God created,” it doesn’t suggest that He worked with what He fashioned by labor, but merely that He spoke – and the very words describing the object came into being. God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” The Almighty merely gave it a name, and the very letters defined its atomic structure. It is not our names that force us to be what we are. It is what we are that transmits itself in a profoundly prophetic manner to those entrusted with the holy task of choosing our names. It is a message from God entrusted to our name-givers in order to help us define our mission on earth. #aish #AishIsAwesome! #aishhatorah #dogs #Philly #PHL #loveDogs #dog #cute #animal #tongue #lick #name #instalike #follow4follow #instagood #good #awesome #cool #videooftheday #photooftheday #furry #Jew #Israel #Bible #beautiful (at Washington Square (Philadelphia)) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmv8t56n31V/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=8shkekaev94d