| “I have called thee by name by thy name; thou art mine” – Isaiah 43:1 KJV
For me, there is a great significance in names. I am none to sure that a rose by any other name than the name the Creator uses to call it into being would smell as sweet.
We humans may call a rose by many names, and even call each other by many names. For instance John Doe might appropriately be called, Mr. Doe, John, Johnny, son, bro, honey and daddy, depending on who was speaking to him.
However, the Lord calls each of us by name, and by my reckoning, that's our true name.
Biblically, names and the process of naming is important.
In Genesis , the first job given to Adam (who represents humankind) is to "name" the animals.
In Judaism, when a person needs to heal or wants to change their life and lot, they will consult with a rabbi to actually change their Hebrew name. This happens rarely, but I know people who did this and they seem to think it helped their situations
This comes directly from the Torah , the first five books in the Bible , where the Lord changes Abram's name to Abraham, Sari's to Sarah and Jacob to Israel. Apparently, as we change our names can change to suit the new people we become.
A Jew's Hebrew name can be very different from the given name in English. Hebrew names are given at special ceremonies for the babies, a bris (circumcision) for boys and the naming for girls.
For religious ceremonial purposes one's Hebrew name is a person's given name, for instance mine is Yehudi Rachel (in English, Judy Rey) plus the denotation of bat (daughter of) Hanna (mother's Hebrew name) v' (and) Aaron (father's Hebrew name). It is thought that this is the name that the Lord calls us.
However, everyone can and even does have a Hebrew name. Some names are actually Hebrew names that have been anglicized, such as Janine - Jane - John, which refers to a previous post in this chain. In this case I would use the feminine form of John in Hebrew.
Many contemporary artists do not sign their works. One reason is that the signature can distract from the intent of the piece. Since all I am doing is painting Hebrew letters signature logo is only made up of Hebrew letters, I lack this problem.
Besides, my favorite artist always signed his name Vincent, and if it was good enough for him, I'll follow his lead. All of the artists I most revere signed their work when they were allowed the luxury.
As an artist, I use the Hebrew letters of Yehudi Rachel as my signature log by turning them into a face of myself.
I have created these for a few other people (Jews and Christians), using the Hebrew letters of their name and creating them into a face that somewhat resembles them.
People who do not have a name that is based in Hebrew only need to translate their name into Hebrew, just the way that it would be translated if they were written about in the Jerusalem Post , for instance. Whether one uses a middle name is up to the individual, and involves some prayer and meditation. In the same way, the given names of parents can also be translated into Hebrew.
My Hebrew name, means Ewe (female sheep) of the Jews. The name Judah/Judith, which my Judy/Yehudi is a derivation of, also means "praise", so my name also means Ewe of Praise of Praising Ewe.
May you be a blessing and be blessed,
Judy Rey
April 25, 2006 |
