My Name Is Natah - Last Installment
My first name is more common as a middle name, as in Natan (Nosson) Natah. My tenth grade Jewish History teacher Dr. Fredman explained this phenomenon to me. The bracha-blessing on the Torah includes these two verbs, "asher NATAN lanu Torat Emet vechayei olam NATAH betocheinu" - "who has given us the true Torah and planted the life of the world in our midst."
When I was seventeen I looked up my name in a biblical concordance because I'd always suspected a name should be a noun. I remember the moment with guilt because without permission I took the concordance off a dorm mate's bookshelf. I found one place in Tanach where my exact name is used as a noun.
In Iyov-Job the protagonist bemoans the fate of man. Considering the frailty of human life he observes how plants are more resilient than man. If you cut a man down he dies, but a cut down tree can grow again: "Meiriach mayim yafriach, ve'asah katzir kmo NATAH" -" It will grow from the scent of water and will reach harvest again as a new plant."
When I discovered this pasuk-verse I felt better about my name. I took it as a good omen that my name represents resilience. And I was able to start the practice of reciting a pasuk with my name in it after Shmoneh Esrei, something I had never done because my name wasn't on the traditional list.
As I get older I become increasingly comfortable with my name. I would have long ago started going by my Hebrew name if it was Chaim or Moshe or even Natan. But if I had a different name I would have a different life. And I wouldn't change my name or my life for anything.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 11:59 AM
1 Comments:
Your story is interesting, because growing up, my name was always a source of contention for me. Being the only Jew in my school most of the time, Shoshana was a very unusual name, and I had to endure many mispronunciations and weird questions and comments. I always wanted to change my name to something more normal.
Today, now living in a religious Jewish community, all of a sudden I find my name commonplace and typical. Which is funny, because I don't consider myself typical in any way. But the truth is, since becoming religious, I have been very happy that I never had to struggle with the decision about whether to change my name, or go by a different name than that which I was brought up with. I am now happy that I struggled through those early years with a "different" name, because now it makes sense and makes me feel at home.
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