“Being Called by Your Name” p: 172

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Monday 2 Elul 5772 

Page 172 – middle of the second paragraph of the page (line starts, 'kmo...') For text, see picture below.

We are aiming to show how the spreading of the light, still carries with it an element of essence, and this is called tzurah atzmi / essential form.

And to understand this we are looking at ha-arah/reflection and 'reflection of a reflection'.

Pirkei Eliezer says, 'before the world was created there was just Him and His name'.

Yesterday we looked at the topic of 'name' in contrast to 'light'.

You might have thought that name refers to the person himself, since it has not seperate person, yet we are saying the 'name' is only a reflection. The name is not the essence of the soul and the life of the person.

It is only the ha-arah/reflection of them.

So the name is referring to the reflection of the person. We said yesterday, that a baby gets given a name after birth. Why? It it the declaration that this person is now a member of humanity. The name represents the person in the place where he is not present. It brings a person to a broader environment.

In the name of a person, there are differences between aspects of the name. On the one hand it relates to him, though not to his very essence. It does not define the fact that he exists. It identifies the ha-arah – reflection – presence, rather than existence, but he cannot divest himself from this ha-arah/reflection.

A name can be removed from objects and property at the time of their sale. So we see that when his name spreads and applies to some objects, it is not as intrinsically connected as it is to himself.

A name is not just a reference. It is a reality. How is it a reality? It seems added on... but it is real because he is real and ownership is real. When you own a property, then the reality of the property itself shouts out, 'I belong to this person!'

This is what gives the world reality. A property that is not owned, is not in neutral space, it is in G-d's hands. And when a person claims it, it is fundamental, because G-d was holding this property for him.

This is in contrast between an animal holding its turf. The animal does not have ownership. It never becomes his.

So when the name of a person is applied to an object that he owns, there is reality to this.

The connection of the name to an object is weaker, than the connection of the name to the person.