The Name Game

God said to Abraham: “Sarai your wife – do not call her by the name Sarai, for Sarah is her name.”                    Genesis 17:15

            When God changed Sarai’s name, he commanded Abraham to no longer use her old name. The Hebrew can be understood as well to mean that Sarah herself may longer use the name Sarai. From this point on both Abraham and Sarai herself must see her exclusively as Sarah. One’s self-perception determines his/her personal identity and self-concept.

            When God changed Abram’s name, He instructed him:

Your name shall no longer (od) be called Abram, for your name shall be Abraham, for I have set you up as the father of a horde of nations.                                                                     Genesis 17:5

That is, as an absolute, the name Abram is no longer to be used. Our Sages understood this to convey an actual prohibition:

Bar Kappara taught: Whoever calls Abraham Abram transgresses a positive precept, since the verse says “Your name shall be Abraham.” Rabbi Eliezer says he transgresses negative command, since the verse says “Your name shall no longer be called Abram.”      Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 13a

            Netziv notes that the word “od” seems superfluous, and suggests that it purpose is to limit the prohibition of referring to our first father by the name Abram to his descendants, while the nations of the world are free to refer to Abraham as Abram.

            Based upon Netziv’s exposition, God demanded self-awareness of Abraham and his descendants, as he did of Sarah. In the end, it matters not whether the world use the appellation Abram or Abraham, but it is vital for us to appreciate that our first father is not “Abram,” but ”(Abraham) the father of a horde of nations,” and our mother is not Sarai (meaning “our mistress”) but Sarah, the mistress of the entire world.