What's In A Name?

It's an interesting but obscure verse in Genesis, Chapter 2 (verse 19).  God creates and then brings every animal and bird before Adam so that Adam can name them.  And then, in Genesis 2:20, Adam actually names the animals, birds and beasts.

So what's so important about naming the animals and birds?  As with everything in Genesis, the origins of the names have meaning.   Naming something is a mark of great power.  If you don't think so, ask your parents how you got your name - or remember the discussions about naming your children - or even pets!

Names have even more power when we attach titles to them.  Most of us like the name Peter, for example.  But think of the name Peter the Great.  Now you think of a great Russian ruler.  William is another nice name, to be sure.  But William the Conqueror?  He has significant meaning for the Brits.  In the Bible, we could use, for example, David or King David in the same context.

As leaders, we have to be careful how we use names.  Perhaps Susan is a good worker in our office.  But if we always refer to her as "Big Susan" because there is also a "Little Susan" in the office, imagine how badly she might feel if she thinks her defining characteristic is her size.  "Old Tom" and "Young Tom" is another another example, as is "Black Eric" and "White Eric", defining people by age or race.

Our job as leaders is to be role models regarding how we name other people - whether we like them or not!  Here is a quick example:

Tina is a great salesperson.  She has consistently surpassed her quota each month and has won numerous awards.  Her colleagues like her and her managers have considered making her a team leader due to her success and ability to motivate others.  Lately however, her performance has been slipping due to unknown reasons and her colleagues have even noticed tobacco on her breath when she comes to work in the morning and after lunch.  Nobody even knew she had smoked!

You are her manager.  As a leader, do you: a) start referring to her as "Tina the Smoker" and berate her on the sales floor? or 2) remain publicly silent and have a private discussion with her in your office to see what is happening and start to work out the problems? 

Of course, we would all say answer 2 is the ideal answer.  But how many of us fall prey to answer #1.  The mark of Adam, as it were, is to name properly and strive for answer #2, to be a discerning leader, one who names wisely in the spirit of Genesis.

To conclude, I would like to quote the famous poem by the Israeli writer Leah Goldberg, Each Man Has a Name.  I think it sums up this discussion.

Every man has a name... By Leah Goldberg

Everyman has a name that God gave him,
And his father and mother gave him.
Everyman has a name that his stature gave him,
And his fabric gave him.
Everyman has a name that the mountains and the sea gave him,
And his way of faith gave him.
Everyman has a name that his luck gave him,
And his path gave him.
Everyman has a name that his deeds gave him,
And his yearning gave him.
Everyman has a name that his hatred gave him,
And his love gave him.
Everyman has a name that his freedom gave him,
And his mission gave him.
Everyman has a name that the year gave him,
And his blindness gave him.
Everyman has a name that the day gave him,
And his way of smile gave him.
Everyman has a name that his life gave him,
And his death gave him...

Translated by Arweenbabe

Source:  http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=leisure.wj.Every_man_has_a_name

May your name be one marked by greatness and by one learned in the Lessons of Biblical Leadership.

Let me know what you think.

Jordan Parr
Dallas, TX
rabbiparr@gmail.com

Original Sin, Original Sex

To many, the so called "Fall of Man" in the Garden of Eden was sex, the Original Sin.  Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden because they had sexual relations.  But if we look carefully at Genesis, Chapter 4, we see (following the great Hebrew commentator Rashi) that Adam "had known" Eve prior to the events with the serpent and the expulsion.  In fact, Eve was pregnant when they were forced out of the Garden.

Yet, if we look back on God's angry words, there is no mention of sexual behavior.  God does not punish our first family for having sex; God punishes them for eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  In the Garden of Eden, sex is natural, a value-neutral activity and childbirth would have been painless (sorry, women).

God, however, did know that Eve was pregnant when she ate the fruit.  In Genesis, Chapter 3, part of her punishment was the pain of childbirth.  Imagine now just how strong a punishment that would have been to hear had you been pregnant at the time.  If you had lived in that idyllic world, free from worry, strife and pain, this curse would have come as a terrible blow.

It leads to a great principle of leadership, one that Eve and, by extension Adam, learned that fateful day:  Actions have consequences.  I still believe that Eve was a great and necessary leader; she willingly ate of the forbidden fruit because she found utopia inhumane and was willing to destroy it in order to grow.  But as a neophyte human being, she did not realize that what she did affected the world around her and the generations that would follow her.

Actions have consequences.  Her culinary quest meant that women like herself would have pain in childbirth.  Perhaps God punished her in this manner because she was already pregnant.  But through this punishment, she learned that disobeying God had lasting consequences.

Note however, that she was not punished for having sex with Adam!  That was permissible.  If not, the Bible would have told us that action would have been wrong.  So please do not equate the punishment with a crime of carnal passion; that did not happen!

Actions have consequences.  As Eve and subsequent generations will learn, when we control our actions (and our response to actions forced upon us), we can control the consequences.  So far in Genesis, Eve is still the student.  She, and the entire human race, will get better.  It's going to take some time but Genesis is a book about humanity coming of age; we'll get there.

To reiterate: Actions have consequences.  When we control our actions, we can control the consequences of our actions.  Let us learn that lesson from Eve this week as we go forward.

Let me know what you think,

Jordan
rabbiparr@gmail.com

Our First Biblical Leader: Eve!

Yes, Eve.  The woman God created from Adam's rib in Genesis, Chapter 2.

To many, Eve is a patsy whom the serpent duped into eating the forbidden fruit.  Then she conned Adam into eating it and lied to God about the whole episode, causing God to cast the First Couple out of the Garden of Eden. 

Yet the text is much more nuanced.  When we take a closer look at the Hebrew Bible, we see that the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis reveals something quite different.  We see that she chose to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  She chose to give the fruit to Adam.  She chose, therefore, to forsake the false utopia of the Garden of Eden and journey instead into the uncertain future that awaited the couple outside the protected barriers of God's worldly centerpiece.

In other words, without Eve, we would not exist in our society today.  Ever since Eve, we human beings have yearned to return to the Garden of Eden as described in the Book of Genesis - only to intentionally sabotage that dream at the same time.  For we well know that utopia will kill us; we are wired to evolve and utopia is the end of evolution: physical and especially spiritual.

So go back to Genesis, Chapter 2 of your Hebrew Bible and re-read the story.  This time, look at it as if Eve was your hero, a Biblical leader, striving to release humanity from the shackles of Divine servitude.  I know that sounds almost blasphemous but by doing so, Eve taught God - and us - how to live as human beings.

And to me, that is the essence of Biblical leadership.

Thank you, Eve, the mother of all humanity.

I'd love to see your comments.

Rabbi Jordan Parr
rabbiparr@gmail.com

Welcome

The Hebrew Bible is a great source of wisdom for today's world.  Rarely, however, has it been tapped as a wellspring of leadership principles.

But if you think about it, what were Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David and the Prophets but great leaders?  They exhibited magnificent leadership traits which serve as examples for us today.

In this blog, we will look at various Biblical stories and apply these lessons in Biblical leadership to the present day.  Feel free to comment because only through open dialogue can we truly bring our biblical ancestors to life.

Let the journey begin.

Rabbi Jordan Parr
rabbiparr@gmail.com