~ What is in the change in the names of Avram and Sarai? How does that change explain the arc of their story?
(א) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים שָׂרַי אִשְׁתְּךָ וגו' (בראשית יז, טו), כְּתִיב (משלי יב, ד): אֵשֶׁת חַיִל עֲטֶרֶת בַּעְלָהּ, אָמַר רַבִּי אַחָא בַּעֲלָהּ נִתְעַטֵּר בָּהּ וְהִיא לֹא נִתְעַטְּרָה בְּבַעֲלָהּ. רַבָּנָן אָמְרֵי מָרְתָא לְבַעֲלָהּ. בְּכָל מָקוֹם הָאִישׁ גּוֹזֵר, בְּרַם הָכָא (בראשית כא, יב): כֹּל אֲשֶׁר תֹּאמַר אֵלֶיךָ שָׂרָה שְׁמַע בְּקֹלָהּ.
אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן קָרְחָה, יוּ"ד שֶׁנָּטַל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִשָֹּׂרַי, נֶחְלַק חֶצְיוֹ לְשָׂרָה וְחֶצְיוֹ לְאַבְרָהָם. אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחָאי יוּ"ד שֶׁנָּטַל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִשָֹּׂרַי הָיָה טָס וּפוֹרֵחַ לִפְנֵי כִּסְאוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, אָמַר לְפָנָיו רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם בִּשְׁבִיל שֶׁאֲנִי קְטַנָּה שֶׁבָּאוֹתִיּוֹת הוֹצֵאתַנִּי מִשָֹּׂרָה הַצַּדֶּקֶת, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְשֶׁעָבַר הָיִית מִשְׁמָהּ שֶׁל נְקֵבָה וּבְסוֹפָן שֶׁל אוֹתִיּוֹת, עַכְשָׁיו אֲנִי נוֹתְנָךְ בִּשְׁמוֹ שֶׁל זָכָר וּבְרֹאשָׁן שֶׁל אוֹתִיּוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (במדבר יג, טז): וַיִּקְרָא משֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן נוּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ. אָמַר רַבִּי מָנָא לְשֶׁעָבַר הָיְתָה שָׂרַי לְעַצְמָהּ, עַכְשָׁיו תְּהֵא הִיא שָׂרָה לְכָל בָּאֵי הָעוֹלָם.
"God said..., 'Sarai your wife...'" In Proverbs (12:4), it is written, "A woman of valor is a crown to her husband." Rabbi Aha said, "Her husband was crowned through her, but she was not crowned through her husband." Our rabbis taught that she ruled over her husband. In all places, the man gives orders, but here (Genesis 21:12), "In all that Sarah orders you, listen to her voice."
Said Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Korcha: 'The Yud that the Holy One of Blessing took from Sarai was given half to Sarah, and half to Avraham. Said Rabbi Shime'on Bar Yochai: The Yud that the Holy One of Blessing took from Sarai flew and posted itself in front of the Throne of the Holy One, and said: 'Master of the Universe! Because I am the smallest letter You took me out of the name of Sarai the Righteous!!' The Holy One said: 'In the past you were in the name of a woman, and in the end of the name! Now I will put you in the name of a man, and on the beginning of the name, as it is written 'And Moshe called Hosea Bin Nun Yehoshua' (Numbers 13:16).' Said Rabbi Mana: Sarai was just [a princess] for herself, now she will be a princess for all the world.
~ This largesse has an aspect of universality that we cannot forget. But today I want to focus on the personal and Jewish aspect of these name changes.
~ This greatness of numbers is but an external aspect of an internal one. This is but the beginning. We know that traditionally Avraham - and Sarah, with him - go through 10 different tests.
החנוכי (במדבר כו ה). עיין רש"י (ד"ה משפחת) עד וזה הוא שמפורש על ידי דוד (תהלים קכב ד) שבטי יה עדות לישראל וכו', עיין שם. והנה יש להבין איך נרמז עדות זה בשם יה דוקא. והנ"ל על פי מה שפירש האלשיך בפסוק (ישעיה נא א) הביטו אל צור חצבתם וגו'. כי ישראל שורשן מאברהם ושרה, ושניהם לא היה להם כח ההולדה, אך האב המוליד את ישראל, הוא אות ה"א משמו יתברך שניתוסף באברהם, לומר אברם אינו מוליד אברהם מוליד (ב"ר מ"ד י'), ואם המולדת היא גם כן ה"א, שנשתנה משרי לשרה (בראשית יז טו). והנה מבואר בספרים כי היו"ד של שרי נחלקה לשני ההי"ן, והבן. וידוע דמקור המחצב יקרא בשם צור, והנחצב בשם סלע ואבן. ולפי זה מקור המחצב של כח ההולדה היא היו"ד, וכח ההולדה בעצם היא הה"א, והכפל אינו מן החשבון רק חלוקי אותיות, נמצא מקור המחצב של כח לידתן של ישראל וכח הלידה הם י"ה. והיינו שבטי יה, כמו שהשבטים נפרדין ונאחזין מגוף האילן, כך הם נפרדין ונאחזין משם יה, ולכך נכתב שם יה במשפחתן להורות שהם בני יה, וממנו יצאו ולא מעם אחר. וזה הפירוש (תהלים קלה ד) כי יעקב בחר לו יה, והבן כי נכון הוא בס"ד.
The Hanochites (Numbers 26:5). And see Rashi (first word: family of) that explains this through David (Psalms 122:4) the tribes of Yah are a testimony to Israel etc. see there. And we have to understand what is hinted at by this testimony being given by the name Yah, precisely. And we can explain through what the Alsheich explained in the verse (Isaiah 51:1) "Look at the Rock from which you were hewn" - because Israel's root is from Avraham and Sarah, and both had no strength to conceive, so the father who gave birth to Israel is the letter Hey of the name of the Holy One of Blessing that was added to Avraham, as to say 'Avram does not give birth, but Avraham does' (Bereshit Rabbah 44:10), and the mother giving birth is also through hey, that changed from Sarai to Sarah (Genesis 17:15). And look, it was explained in the books that the Yud of Sarai was separated into two Heys, and pay attention to this to understand. And it is known that the quarry is called Tzur, and the stones quarried from it are called by the names Sela and Even. And according to this, the essence of the quarry of giving birth s the Yud, and the strength to give birth is the Hey, and the fact that they are double each other should not come to mind, just the separating of the letters: we find [that there is] the essence of conception of Israel, and the strength to give birth to them are both Yud and Hey, Y"ah. And this is the tribes of Yah, just as the branches separated out of the body of the tree, so too they separate out from, and seize, the name Yah; and so the name Yah is written in their families to explicit that they are children of Yah, and from Yah they come out, and not from a different people. And this is the explanation for the verse "And Yah chose for Him Yaakov" [can also be read "And Yaakov chose for him Yah"] and understandm because this is true, with the help of Heaven.
~ According to the Yismach Moshe, we have here the very essence of God's name Yah in each of us, as we are part of the Jewish people. How does that express itself in practice?
And Moses said unto the children of Israel: “See, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel the son of Uri” (Exod. 35:30). May it please our masters to teach us: How far must a person go to eliminate mixed materials (shatnez)... The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: Keep My commandments and My statues. Why? Because the consequence of a good deed is another good deed, but the result of committing a sin is another sin. Ben Azzai stated that one good deed results in another good deed, and one sin produces another sin. R. Meir said: For every good deed a man performs, an angel is assigned to watch over him. If he does one good deed, one angel is assigned to him, and if he performs many good deeds, many angels are assigned to him, as it is said: For he will give His angels charge over you (Ps. 91:11). Every time a person increases the number of good deeds s/he performs, s/he adds to her/his good name. You find that a person is known by three names: the name by which her/his father and mother call her/him, the name by which other people call her/him, and the one s/he earns for her/himself: the most important name is the name one earns for oneself.
בס"ד. מוצאי ש"פ לך לך – בחדרו – ה'תשל"ח (רב מנחם מנדל מליובאוויטש)
ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך, וידוע שיש בזה ב' פירושים. פירוש הא' שההליכה (דלך לך) היא מלמעלמ"ט. וכמבואר בתו"א שאברם הוא אב רם, שכל הנעלם מכל רעיון [שהוא למעלה גם מבחי' חכמה. כי חכמה (עם היותה ראשית כל הכחות פנימיים) היא בחי' גילוי. משא"כ אב רם הוא שכל הנעלם מכל רעיון. וכמבואר בהגהות וביאורי הצ"צ לתו"א שם פרטי הדרגות שבזה]. ואמר ה' אל אברם לך לך מארצך גו' שיצא אורו הנעלם לגילוי ויומשך מלמעלה למטה עד אל הארץ, בחי' מלכות. ומוסיף "אשר אראך", ובזה ב' פירושים. א' (כפשוטו) שאראך קאי על הארץ, בחי' מלכות, שהמלכות היא בחי' עלמא דאתגליא לכן אומר עלי' אשר אראך. ופירוש ב' שאראך קאי על אברם (בחי' שכל הנעלם מכל רעיון) – "אראה ואגלה אותך בעצמך" ("במהותך ועצמותך").
And Ad-nai said to Avram 'Go from your land, and your birthplace, and your father's house to the land I will show you" (Gen. 12:1) - and it is known that there are two explanations. The first one is that the walk (halicha) of go (lech lecha) is from the high to the low. And it is explained in the Torah Ohr that Avram is Av Ram [highest/exalted father] which is the mind hidden from all ideas (which is higher even than Wisdom, since Wisdom - which is the first [reshit] of all inner strengths] - is apparent [and revealed]. Which is not Av Ram, [the Exalted Father] which is the mind hidden from all ideas. And the Tzemach Tzedek on the Torah Ohr explains the details on this.) 'And Ad-nai said to Avram go from your land etc.' means that his hidden light should come out to be revealed, and continue, from high to low until the land, which is [the sphere where we live] Malchut. And [the Torah Ohr] continues that 'I will show you' has two explanations. One, (as its simple meaning) I will show you the land, the aspect of Malchut, since Malchut is the world that is revealed, and so it says: that I will show you. The second explanation is that 'I will show you' applies to Avram himself, (he is the aspect of the mind hidden from all idea): "I will show you through your self" (with your essence and your self-concept). [R. Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, the end of Shabbat Lech Lecha, 5738]
~ Each of our names are aspects of ourselves: the most public name is not even a name, but our actions. The actions, the mitzvot we do is what becomes our name. Our actions are bigger and larger than our words, our titles, our given names whether by our parents or by other people. In that sense we can understand an interesting take by the Lubavitcher rebbes: the lech lecha means that Avraham's essence will be revealed to the world, through his being in the world. And we can expect that with Sarah it is the same - the name that reveals, reveals less of our essence than our actions reveal our essence. May we have a week of growth, mitzvot and more good aspects being added to our essence - as individuals and as the Jewish people as a whole. Shabbat Shalom.
(10) And God said to him: ‘Your name Yaakov; your name shall not be called Yaakov any more, but Israel shall be your name’; and He called his name Israel.