The Names of Mankind's Parents

This Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memory of my mother, whose yahrtzeit is always during the week of Parashat Breishit.

And Adam named his wife Ḥava, for she was the mother of all life.                           Genesis 3:20

             It is interesting to note that Adam's name reflects his past, since he was created from the soil (adama), while Ḥava's name relates to her future.

          One might argue that it is more appropriate for Adam to be named for the future, since it is a father's role to prepare his children for the future, as our Sages taught:

A man is obligated to teach his son Torah ... and a

Livelihood…       Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 39b

          Conversely, it is perhaps more fitting for Ḥava to have been named for the past, since it is the mother who connects her children to their roots throughout infancy by conveying understanding and appreciation of the past. 

         In the mitzva of honoring ones parents, the father is given precedence:

Honor your father and mother…   Exodus 20:12

      While in the mitzva of fearing ones parents, the mother is given primacy:

You shall fear every man his mother and his father ...                                                      Leviticus 19:3

            Our Sages [Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin ibid.] explain that it is more natural for a person to fear his father and to respect his mother. The Torah reverses the natural order as a way of expressing the full equality of both parents.

            We can apply our Sages' teaching to the names of the parents of all mankind, and understand that the counterintuitive choice of names is intended to stress their equality. While mother and father may have different roles in child rearing, each is equally important in their children's development. Ideally, mother and father constitute a unit, with each part complementing the other, creating a whole which is much greater than its constituent parts.