Over the years, my father as a mohel has come across some interesting or even absurd choices of names. A few that spring to mind: Nimrod – the wicked king who threw Avraham into the furnace for believing in Hashem. Shabsai Tzvi – the false messiah who caused huge controversy and dissent amongst the Jews. Chiel (an abridged version of Yechiel) who ignored the curse put on the person who would rebuild the town of Jericho and in fulfilment of the words of יהושע his firstborn died as he lay the foundation and with the completion of the city gates his youngest son died.
Sometimes we will ask the parents before the bris for the name they are going to call their little prince. And so it was a while back when I went to Liverpool to do a bris at the home of an irreligious Israeli couple. Minutes before the bris I quietly asked the father Rafi what the name was going to be. Like only an Israeli could, he chastised me in Ivrit, “Lo le’hagid, Lo le’hagid” – “one mustn’t say, one mustn’t say”. As if it were an explicit negative commandment in the Torah like not eating pork – and I was the ignoramus for having the audacity to ask him – in no uncertain terms he refused to tell me the name, convincing me that he had chosen a nice Jewish name.
After completing the bris the baby was then held by his brothers [aged 7 and 5!] for the Brochos and for his name to be decided. The Rov who was saying the Brochos held the wine in his hand poised to begin. Before starting he decided to ask the father for the name. “Oh no,” I thought “here we go again, “Lo le’hagid”” but little did I know that in his Halachah rules one can say the name just before you actually get to the naming ceremony but just not before the actual Bris!
The proud confident father announced to the Rov, “Oz Refoel”. What “Oz Refoel?” we immediately questioned him, “but you are called Refoel? Your son can’t be called after his living father. Oz Refoel ben Refoel?” In Ivrit with a twang of the unique Scouser accent Rafi told us that he was not naming after himself but after his father-in-law who was no longer alive. The Rov somehow convinced him that it was still an inadvisable thing to do. But Rafi was still adamant to name after his father-in-law so he summoned his wife, into the room for an impromptu meeting – Israeli style. The decision reached was that since his father-in-law was known as Pélé [pronounced the same way the famous Brazilian footballer, “Best player of all time” was known, which was actually an abridged version of his full name Edson Arantes do Nascimento] – he wanted to call his son Oz Pélé.
The Rov looked at me and I looked at him and in unison we said, “Ve’hu Pélé” – and proceeded to name him… and bless him. May he truly merit to be as successful as Pélé and use his G-d given capabilities to their maximum!
What was our exclamation of “Ve’hu Pélé”? It was a quote from this week’s Haftarah. We read about the angel who comes to the childless couple to inform them that they will have a baby boy who is to be born and remain a Nazirite – his whole life. A Nazir cannot partake in any wine, cannot cut his hair and cannot become contaminated through a corpse. Certain restrictions that apply to a Nazir already applied to his mother while she was pregnant with him. This son, Shimshon [Samson] lived his entire life as a Nazarite.
The second time the angel appeared, Manoach the father-to-be of Shimshon asked the angel his name. The angel replied, “why do you ask for my name; “Ve’hu Pélé””. Different translations and interpretations are put forward on this phrase. The root of the word “Pélé” has connotations of something wondrous, something that is out of the norm.
One explanation is that the angel was saying was that my name is hidden – it is too wondrous to even get your head round. But some explain that the angel was saying that his name was actually “Pélé”. What is an angel? A messenger of Hashem with a specific mission to do. Since an angel has no other interests other than his mission, his essence and his very existence is his job. Therefore since this angel was employed to make Shimshon a Nazir about which it says in this week’s Parshah “if a man vows / separates (‘Yafli’ – root Pélé) himself by taking a Nazirite vow of abstinence for the sake of Hashem” – therefore his name was Pélé. And so we could name the baby after this Angel of G-d.
The Nazir has literally [according to one translation] set himself aside by his abstaining. Furthermore he has acted wondrously [according to the another translation] by managing to control his desires – a truly astonishing act in a world where we are tossed around chasing our physical desires.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov