Naming after tanach characters that didn't appear "nice"

amother

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:07 am

Well, I guess my title explains it.

DH and I thinking of baby names. I really like the name Leah, but then it got me thinking about Leah from tanach.... she didn't say such nice things to Rachel...
Also the name 'Chava'- she was the first person to sin. How come people chose that name?
Or 'Reuven'- didn't he get in trouble for interfering in his parent's marriage?

I'm sure there are other tanach names with "flaws" but these characters came to mind.

Im really sorry if I offend anyone. Im just curious

essie14

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:10 am

Everyone is flawed. that's what tanach teaches us. Theres no such thing as a perfect person. We stumble and fall and get back up again.

amother

Pewter

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:11 am

There were 4 people total that never sinned. I guess you could use the name Yishai... don't remember the other ones. And I don't think there were any girl names.

tichellady

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:13 am

These are all great people who sinned but Are not just known for their sins. I thought you were talking about characters who are only known for their sins, those I would stay away from when naming a child

groisamomma

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:30 am

The only four people that never sinned are Yishai, Amram, Binyamin, and Kilev (not Kalev).

Since none are girls' names, I guess you'll have to go with the lesser of all the female evils in the Torah.

Last edited by groisamomma on Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:31 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:30 am

tichellady wrote:

Nice answer. But what is Leah known for? I don't know why she is considered one of the imahos. And also what did Chava do that was so good?

Yep Im a BT btw so my biblical history is kind of rusty...

tigerwife

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:33 am

Leah was literally one of the four mothers of Klal Yisrael. She wouldn’t have been included if she was not an extremely virtuous person!

keym

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:35 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Nice answer. But what is Leah known for? I don't know why she is considered one of the imahos. And also what did Chava do that was so good?

Yep Im a BT btw so my biblical history is kind of rusty...

Leah was the mother of malchus- Yehuda. Mother of Levi- Cohanim and Leviim.
And she was the mother of 6 of the shevatim. That's half.
Leah davened to change the baby she was pregnant with (Dena) from a boy to a girl so that Rachel would be able to have 2 of the shevatim.
Leah was known for her red, weepy eyes because she didn't want to marry Eisav.

greentea

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:36 am

Leah was known for her tefillah. It says v'einei Leah Rakos
She prayed she wouldn't have to marry a bad person (Esav)
She also prayed that her 7th child would be a girl so that Rachel wouldn't have fewer shevatim then Bilhah and Zilpah.

She definitely had the koach of connection with Hashem.

amother

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:50 am

Wow thank you.
I wish there was a book on summary of names that would be a great read.

What about Chava?

trixx

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:50 am

I thought you were going to ask about names like avshalom (rebelled against his father dovid), amnon (who raped his half sister) or other unsavory characters!
The names of our patriarchs are possibly the greatest ones we can give. And chava was mother of all humankind. Don't be mistaken by the one thing the torah blows up about each person. These people were giants (well, chava literally was).

amother

Sapphire

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 12:58 am

Interestingly, people did use names of the less positive characters. Two examples off the top of my head - the Tanna Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, and on. Rosh Hashanna, we say Unetaneh Tokef, attributed to the medieval Rabbi Amnon of Mainz.

yonabets

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 2:05 am

Hava only did one mistake!! If only we will be like her!!
And Lea ,all the purpose of her life was to be married to a tsadik and to be the mother of Am Israel. She cried for this...

zohar

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 2:13 am

Leah is also known for hakaras hatov, ("hapa'am odeh es Hashem") and she also davened while pregnant with Dina that she should be a girl so that Rochel would be able to mother a second one of the shevatim.
I weirdly always connected to Leah. I think it might be cuz I have a thing for the underdog. And I perceived Leah as one as she wasn't the most loved wife.

trixx

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 3:12 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Wow thank you.
I wish there was a book on summary of names that would be a great read.

What about Chava?

There is a Jewish dictionary of names (Alexander beider) but won't quite help you. Better to read Midrash says to learn the biblical characters.
Chava means mother of all.

amother

Seagreen

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 4:15 am

I thought of Penina when I read the thread title. I made a thread once called Penina or Margalit where I asked why it's okay to name after Penina when she's known for being mean to Hannah, and I got good answers there.

Ora in town

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 5:01 am

amother [ Pewter ] wrote:

There were 4 people total that never sinned. I guess you could use the name Yishai... don't remember the other ones. And I don't think there were any girl names.

Amram was one of the others...
and I think benyamin
and I researched Kalev

Lea is not a "bad" character, I would say...

Raisin

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 6:33 am

Ruth is blessed that she should be like Rachel, Leah and Tamar. So obviously there was something special about Leah. I always had a lot of sympathy for Leah myself. TBH if you think she did something wrong - most men in Tanach seem to have done far more problematic things.

Raisin

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 6:35 am

I suggest you read through the parsha each week. Chabad.org is a great site with tons of stuff. I also love Jonathan Sacks' divrei torah on the parsha. He has some books but also has a website. http://rabbisacks.org/covenant.....page/

singleagain

Fri, Jun 05 2020, 6:48 am

Also, think for a moment about what sort of things make it into our history books. Is the big bad things mostly... Especially, when our heros mess up. Why is that? Bc we learn a lot more about failure and picking yourself back up then success.