*This will be delivered tomorrow, 3/9 as the D’var Torah at Temple Israel Center
What’s in a name? As someone who fairly recently went through the arduous process of debating names for our child, it was and continues to be something that is always at front of mind. As much as we try to say a name is just a name, it reflects so much more. As a young person growing up in Missouri, Adir was a bit of a burden to bear. It was only in my later years that I grew comfortable with my name, feeling proud at its signaling of my heritage and Jewish identity.
Judaism places a strong emphasis on our names. In the early parts of the 20th century, Ukrainian/Israeli poet Zelda wrote the lyrics to a now famous tune sung by Chava Alberstein titled “L’chol ish yesh shem, every person has a name.” It begins with these lyrics
Every person has a name that God gave him and which his father and mother gave him
and ends with:
Every person has a name which the sea gave him, and which his death gave him.
In between are lyrics that tell of the various ways in which we acquire our names. It’s a haunting and powerful song that reflects an ancient tradition of the power of our names. Kohelet, the book of Ecclesiastes1 that a good name is more precious than valuable oil. Interpretations of that abound, but it seems clear that acting righteously in the world has much more lasting impact than any stuff can offer.
Names in the Torah are also noteworthy. From the stories of Bereishit, we learn the names of Jacob’s children reflect the ups and downs of Rachel and Leah’s lives. Earlier in Shemot, we learned of Moshe’s name reflecting his miraculous saving by being drawn from the water. And over the last few works we have heard the name of Betzalel, over and over again, as he’s introduced and then re-introduced as the chief architect, gifted with a skillset that allows him to fashion this hallowed home of the Divine.
But Betzalel stands apart in his appellation. Where all others are mentioned by being “so and so, the son of so and so,” Betzalel is always named as "
Betzalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur.
That doesn’t happen in the Torah. As the close readers of the Torah text that you are, we know that anytime the Torah chooses to use a word, phrase, or name, it’s meant to signal something to us. So when Betzalel is described as the grandson of Hur, our mind goes back to that character who we may slightly remember from earlier in the Torah.
Hur was the companion of Moses and Aaron who helped hold up Moses’ arms during the battle of Rephidim against the nation of Amalek. Beside that, there is no other mention of him in the Torah except for last week when we are told he was left behind to lead with Aaron while Moses went up on Mount Sinai. But then, crickets. We don’t hear anything else about Hur.
Except here, Hur is named once more. That gap proves tantalizing for the Rabbis to tell a tale of Hur’s tragic ending, one that teaches us a lot about names. The Midrash Tanchuma Vayakhel 4:6 recreates the following:
Why was it necessary to mention Hur? Because he (Hur) sacrificed his life for the sake of the Holy One. When the people were eager to make the golden calf, he confronted them and rebuked them. Whereupon they attacked him and killed him. The Holy One said: Be assured, I will reward you. To what may this be compared? To a king whose legions had rebelled. When the commanding officer arose and fought against them, and said, “You have rebelled against the king,” they killed him. The king came to them and asked: “Where is my commander-in-chief?” They replied: “The legionaries killed him.” The king cried out: “You gave your life for my life. If you had given me money, I could have repaid you, but since you have sacrificed your life for me, I will appoint all your descendants commanders and lieutenants.” Similarly, since Hur sacrificed his life for the sake of the Holy One, at the episode of the calf, the Holy One said: Because you did this, I will make you known, and those who descend from you shall be known throughout the world, as it is said: See, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur.
It is an interpretation that adds a whole other layer to the drama of the golden calf narrative. Hur’s legacy, in an unfortunate way, is added to here. But what about Aaron during all of this?
The Talmud then fills in the aftermath from Sanhedrin 7a:
“And Aaron saw this, and he built [vayyiven] an altar [mizbe’aḥ] before it…and said: Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord” (Exodus 32:5). What did Aaron see? Rabbi Binyamin bar Yefet says that Rabbi Elazar says: He saw Hur, who had been appointed together with Aaron by Moses to lead the people during Moses’ absence (see Exodus 24:14), slaughtered before him, as he had protested the plan to fashion a calf and had been murdered by the people as a result. The verse is therefore interpreted not as: Aaron built an altar before the calf, but rather: He understood [vayyaven] from the slaughter [mizavuaḥ] before his own eyes; and he then called for a feast.
We remember that after fashioning the calf, Aaron saw something, and
vayiven-mizbeach/built an altar.
Playing around with the closely related words, the Rabbis of the Talmud say that Aaron actually saw Hur’s body there on the ground. In this seeing,
vayaven mi’zavuach/he understood that which was slaughtered
It’s quite a tale woven together from the texts of the Talmud and the Midrash. From them, we get a tragic retelling of an already awful tale. Instead of this story simply being about wanton idol worship, it now becomes about a bloodlust at the hands of a frothing mob. Hur is killed in the eyes of the sages because of the people’s misplaced priorities and lack of compassion.
So in naming Betzalel here as the grandson of Hur, perhaps the Torah is trying to provide a bit of a tikkun, a rectification for his grandfather’s demise. Because again, names tell us a great deal about a person. On that note, i’d like to tell you about Nex Benedict. For those who don’t know that name, here is Nex’s story.
Nex was an Indigenous 16-year-old student living in Owasso, Oklahoma. At home, he told his family he was nonbinary and used they/them pronouns; at school, he also used he/him pronouns and told a former partner that he was trans2.
He has been described as a whip-smart straight-A student, a talented artist who loved animals, especially his cat, Zeus. He had a supportive boyfriend who Nex helped come out to his parents. He loved playing Minecraft and liked to make up recipes in the kitchen. Friends called him “adventurous” and “fiery.”
Like so many young trans folks, Nex was bullied at school. In particular, there was a trio of girls that constantly went after Nex. On February 7th of this year, Nex entered a women’s bathroom at school, reflecting a state law that requires people to use the bathroom of their sex assigned at birth. Soon after, those girls entered.
Using this as an attempt to get back at these girls, Nex sprayed them with water. In response, Benedict said the three girls started physically attacking him, grabbing his hair. After Benedict shoved one of the assailants into a towel dispenser, “they got my legs out from under me, got me on the ground, and started beating the crap out of me,” he told a police officer.
Once the fight was broken up, all of those involved were seen by the school nurse. Despite having blacked out during the fight and being seen swaying on their feet after the fight, Nex never had medical services or law enforcement called on their behalf. After being suspended two weeks, Nex was brought home by their grandmother. The next day, Nex’s grandmother called 911 after Nex had fallen unconscious and appeared to be “posturing,” exhibiting involuntary motions that can indicate brain trauma. Benedict returned to the hospital but was pronounced dead soon after arrival.
This story is now a month old and there still is no clarification on exactly what exactly caused Nex’s death. There have been contradictory reports from multiple media outlets. But I share Nex’s name and story not to split hairs about the exact cause of their death but to talk about the events occurring in Oklahoma and elsewhere that contribute to an environment in which trans folks face serious abuse and mistreatment.
From this Vox article, we read the following:
Since 2022, Oklahoma has been at the forefront of a wave of anti-trans legislation aimed at blocking trans people from health care access, forcing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that don’t align with their identity, criminalizing gender-affirming health care, and preventing trans people from legally identifying as their correct gender.
A 2023 analysis by a state watchdog group found that state legislators had “introduced 40 bills limiting LGBTQ Oklahomans’ healthcare access, inclusion in schools and options for self-expression this legislative session.” This year, that number is even higher: a staggering 54 bills — the highest in the country.
Nex’s name is important for us to know and say because of their story and the lessons that it teaches us. There are so many like Nex who are on the receiving end of this type of bullying from peers and this type of legislation from state governments. It clearly is a matter of life and death.
A person’s name, how they choose to identify in the world, and how they are known is deeply important and vital, both for the agency and freedom it gives a person but also for their legacy. That verse that I quoted earlier from Ecclesiastes ends with the following clause
And the day of death greater than the day of one’s birth.
The Midrash in Shemot Rabbah 48:1 in talking about this piece on Betzalel shares the following thought:
the day of a person’s death is greater than the day of his birth. Why? Because on the day he is born a person does not know his actions, but when he dies, he informs the people of his actions.
At the end of a well-lived, lengthy life we all hope that our actions speak to what we left behind. Lives cut short tragically, like Nex and like Hur leave behind actions that leave us all wanting more. All we can do is keep their names, actions, and legacies alive so that others don’t join their fate. As Zelda wrote
Lechol ish yesh shem shenatnu lo son'av venatna lo ahavato
every person has a name that their enemies gave them and their love gave them.
Let’s all fight against the former and lift up the latter for Nex, for Hur, and for all those whose names we don’t yet know.
Shabbat Shalom
7:1
I will be using both throughout this piece
Interesting and informative, as always! And, someone given the name, Zeta Yvonne Zlepper at birth, I know a little about names! I grew into, actually, being happy with my unique name, until my last name changed through marriage. I hope and pray we all appreciate, and, and at best, are tolerant of one another’s uniqueness, and can live together in harmony. Shabbat Shalom✡️ and hugs and love.❤️