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(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Yo’chah’nahn pronounced The name John is actually the Greek rendition of the Hebrew name Yochanan (Johanan - a name that today many would assume is German). While the common name John gets its popularity from John the Baptist, Yochanan was actually a common name in early Jewish history. The name translates to “God is gracious.” There are two different Yochanans mentioned in the biblical canon. The first is Yochanan ben Karea, who tried to warn Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed governor of Judah, that he was going to be assassinated, After the assassination occurred and Babylonian troops appeared to express the emperors ire, Yochanan ben Korea helped lead the remaining inhabitants of Judea to safety in Egypt (Jeremiah 43:8-22). The second appearance of this name is in the Book of Nechemia. Yochanan ben Yayada is listed as one of

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Kayla pronounced Click here to hear Gahv’ree’ayl and Gahv’ree’ay’lah pronounced Click here to hear Mee’cha’eyl pronounced Click here to hear Ah’lee’yah pronounced Click here to hear Ah’mahl’yah pronounced In the 2011 list of favorite girl names compiled by the United States Social Security Administration, there are several names that have a connection to Hebrew (or Yiddish) but are not rooted in Jewish history. Here is a brief/explanation of some of these names: Kayla, which ranks 49th on the list of names, has several possible origins. As a Jewish girls name, it is the Yiddish variation of the Hebrew Kelila, meaning a “crown of laurels.” It is also a feminine form of the masculine kalil (which means “complete,” and might be the source of Superman’s real name). It is interesting to note that Kayla is the name of one of the lan

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Ah’lec’sahn’dehr pronounced This is certainly not the type of name one typically thinks of as a traditional Jewish name. It may surprise you to learn that the name originated as a way of honoring none other than Alexander the Great. Alexander was in his mid-twenties when he brought his armies to Judea. He had already conquered the Balkans and Asia Minor. Since Alexander was moving into the territory from the north, he first encountered a small converted tribe known as the Samaritans (also referred to as the Cutheans). The Samaritans had accepted much but not all of the Torah; in particular, they rejected the oral law and the Temple worship in Jerusalem. They viewed themselves in competition with the Jews of Judea and therefore told Alexander that the Temple should be destroyed. (They wished that their holy site on Har Gerizim woul

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Nah’aw’mee pronounced Overshadowed by the story of her famous daughter-in-law Ruth, Naomi’s story is both poignant and important. She is introduced into the Biblical narrative as the wife of Elimelech, a man of great wealth in the city of Bethlehem (in the territory of Judah). They have two sons. When famine strikes, rather than see his wealth depleted in local relief efforts, Elimelech decides to close up his house in Judea and leave. Elimelech, family in tow, heads to a more prosperous locale: Moab, was a nation with a history of less-than-friendly relations with the Israelites and had recently been at war with the inhabitants of the Judean territory. Their self-imposed exile lasted many years. Long enough, that both of Naomi’s sons took wives from among the Moabites. Long enough, that Elimelech died in exile, as did her two son

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Na’tahn pronounced While “good old reliable Nathan” (from Guys and Dolls ) might be a phrase that pops into a few heads when they hear this Biblical name, Nathan was actually an important prophet who lived in the time of King David. When Nathan first appears in II Samuel, King David expresses his concern: “See now, I am living in a house of cedar [an elaborate palace] while the ark of God dwells with the curtain [in a makeshift Tabernacle]” (II Samuel 7:2). Nathan tells him to go with his heart. But, that night, God speaks to Nathan and tells him that King David is not destined to build the Temple. This honor will go to David's son who will succeed him. Nathan’s more dramatic appearance occurs several chapters later. King David had sent a man named Uriah to the fatal front line against the Ammonites and married the wife that U

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Mo’ree’yah pronounced Mariah appears to be a variant of the Hebrew name Moriah, which is a common girls name in Israel. Moriah is not the name of a Biblical persona, but rather, it is the name of one of the most important locations in Jewish history, Mount Moriah. The first biblical reference to Mount Moriah is in Genesis 22:2 as the place to which Abraham is instructed to bring Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice. Numerous important occurrences in Jewish history are connected to Mount Moriah, but none as critical as being the location of the Holy Temple(s). As it says in II Chronicles, “Then Solomon began to build the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah” (3:1). Moriah, as a word, can have numerous meanings. One could connect it to marah as in bitter (particularly those who connect the name Moriah as a derivation of Miria

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear No’ahch pronounced There is an interesting debate among the sages regarding the verse “Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation” (Genesis 6:10). Does it mean that Noah was a true tzadik (righteous person), or that Noah was righteous only when compared to the rest of his generation? Noah was given his name by his father, Lamech, who said: “This one will bring us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which God had cursed” (Genesis 5:29). From the very beginning, Noah was destined to have an impact on the world. Although Noah lived in a time of chaos, when the people were, as the Torah describes them, completely corrupt, he “found grace in the eyes of God” (Genesis 6:8). While Noah had a relationship with God, however, he was not on the best of terms with his neighbors. Throughout the time that

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Lay'ah pronounced On the morning after Jacob was to marry Rachel, he woke up only to find that his new bride was the wrong woman--actually Rachel’s older sister, Leah. “‘Deceiver, daughter of a deceiver!’ he said to Leah...She said to him, ‘Is there a teacher without disciples? Did your father not address you as Esau, and did you not respond?’” (Genesis Rabbah 70:19). ( Click here for Rabbi Buchwald's insights into Jacob's deception.) Leah was a woman of great strength who was singularly focused on achieving what she knew in her heart to be her destiny. Like the other Matriarchs, Leah is credited with being both modest and beautiful. And while it is noted in Genesis (29:17) that she had “weak” eyes, the Midrash explains that this was a condition brought on by her tears. Leah’s father Laban, and his sister Rebecca, ha

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Yo'sef pronounced Joseph, whose name means “He will add,” was the first son of Rachel and Jacob. The idea of “adding on” is prominent throughout Joseph’s life. Whatever occurs to him, seems to occur in superlatives. Not only did his brothers dislike him, they came to hate him. They hated him enough to want to kill him, although they settled for selling him to be a slave in a foreign country. And being a slave wasn’t the end of his spiral to the bottom, he was later falsely accused and convicted of rape and imprisoned. But just as Joseph’s downward spiral went as far as it could go, when the circle turned, blessings rained upon him one after another. He was released from jail, employed by Pharaoh, and appointed Viceroy of Egypt. One might expect that someone who is able to rise from convicted slave to Viceroy of Egypt would b

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Rah’chayl pronounced While Rachel is a name of Biblical origin, it is not a name that reflects religious devotion (such as Elisheva ...”God is my Vow”) or even appears to be prophetically based (such as Joseph...”He will add”). In fact, Rachel translates as ewe, a female sheep. This seems a strange choice of name, until researching a bit further and reveals that the name of her sister, Leah, is linked to the Akkadian word for cow. Rachel (and Leah) were raised in the home of their father Laban. From his very first appearance in the biblical narrative, at the time of Eliezer’s proposal in Isaac’s name to Rebecca (Laban’s sister), Laban’s greed and focus on material wealth is readily apparent. In his eyes, Rachel and Leah were “valuable” in the same way prize herds are valuable--for what they can bring him. It is no wonder, then, th

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Dah’veed pronounced Although King David was not the first king of Israel ( King Saul was the first), he is the most famous. In fact, he is considered to be the ideal Jewish king--pious, scholarly, philosophical, poetic and a victorious warrior. There are far too many episodes in David’s life to fit into any one Jewish Treat, so let us begin with the origins of King David: The eighth son of Jesse (Yishai) and Nitzevet, David could almost be called an after-thought to the family. According to the Midrash Yalkut Hamechiri, he was conceived after his parents had separated, when his mother disguised herself in order to be with her estranged husband. Her pregnancy was thus looked upon with great (but unfounded) suspicion. After King Saul lost his right to the throne by disobeying a direct commandment from God, the Prophet Samuel was

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Yis’kah pronounced Many people are surprised to learn that Jessica, which is the transliteration of Yiska, is actually a Biblical name. Perhaps that is because it appears only once in the Bible, in Genesis 11:19: “Abram and Nachor took to themselves wives, the name of Abram's wife being Sarai and that of Nachor's wife Milka, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milka and Yiska.” According to the Midrash, “Yiska is actually another name for Sarah. Why then was she called Yiska? Because she could see ( sachta --same root) [the future] through Divine Inspiration, and because everyone gazes ( socheen --same root) at her beauty” ( Megillah 14a). While other Biblically derived names such as Rebecca, Elizabeth and Hannah ( Rivkah, Elisheva and Chana appear throughout history, Jessica is not a name that one finds attached to m

Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Bin’yah’min pronounced The youngest of twelve brothers and one sister, Benjamin, the son of Jacob, appears in the Biblical narrative to be a passive personality whose life is seemingly dictated by the fate of those around him. His mother, Rachel, died while giving birth to him. Knowing that she would not survive, with her last breath she called him Ben-Oh'nee, the son of my mourning. His father, however, called him Binyamin (Benjamin), which means son of my right hand. Eight years younger than his charismatic brother Joseph, Benjamin was only nine when their father was informed that Joseph had been killed. The sole surviving son of Rachel, Benjamin took Joseph’s place as his father’s beloved child. After their first trip to Egypt to buy grain because of the famine in Canaan, Jacob’s 10 eldest sons were afraid to return to Egypt

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Sah'rah pronounced Few Biblical names are as common, popular and unchanged through time as Sarah. While most people could probably identify Sarah as the matriarch of the Jewish people, the fact is that this was not her given name. For the vast majority of her life, Sarah’s name was Sarai . One might think: Sarah, Sarai, no big difference--no big deal. But, in Sarah’s life this made a tremendous difference. Sarai bat (the daughter of) Haran was not destined to have a child. The course set out for Sarai on the Divine map did not include motherhood. When Sarai and her husband, Abram, chose to dedicate their lives to sharing God with a world that had fallen into idolatry, the Divine map of her life was given the opportunity to be rewritten. And so God changed the name of both Sarai and Abram. At age 89, Sarai became Sarah. Abram,

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Dah'nee'el pronounced Daniel, whose name means “Justice from God,” served in the court of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II, where he glorified the name of God and strengthened the faith of his fellow Jews. Although the last chapters of the Book of Daniel are visionary, Daniel himself is not counted among the prophets, and the Book of Daniel is categorized among the “Writings.” The Book of Daniel introduces Daniel thus: In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god, and the vessels he brought into the treasure-house of his god (Daniel 1:1-2). Nebuchadnezzar instructed h

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Listen to Cha'vah Pronounced The name Ava is the German iteration of Eve, a name that is itself a derivative of the Hebrew Chava (the initial guttural chet sound evolved into a flat letter). Jewish Treats will use the name Eve. If there is one Biblical story that most everyone in Western society knows, it is that of Adam and Eve. The story of Adam and Eve is truly fascinating. In addition, there are many details that are fleshed out in the Oral Tradition. However, the basics are: God tells Adam not to eat from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The serpent seduces Eve into taking a fruit, and Eve gives Adam a bite. As a result, God banishes humans from the Garden of Eden. Quite often, and mistakenly, Eve is portrayed as the “antagonist.” God must punish Adam and Eve for transgressing the one rule that he has given them. He exiles

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Ye'ho'shoo'ah pronounced Joshua is the anglicized form of the Hebrew name Ye’ho’shua. The only real biographical information given about Joshua in the Torah is that he was from the tribe of Ephraim and was originally named Hoshea. According to the Midrash, a yud was added to the beginning of his name by Moses before he went to scout out the land of Israel in order to give him Divine protection from the nefarious plans of the 10 rebellious spies (Numbers 13:16). One can deduce from the text, that Joshua was around 42 years old when the Israelites left Egypt. (The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years, then Joshua them for 28 years. He was 110 when he died.) Joshua was a proven military leader who had led the Israelites in their successful defense when they were attacked by Amalek (Exodus 17:8-14), and could

Click here to hear Channah pronounced Hannah’s story opens the First Book of Samuel. The beloved wife of Elkanah, Hannah longed to have a child. After ten years of childlessness, she told her husband to marry another woman so that he might have children. Over the next eight years, according to the Midrash Pesikta Rabbati, Penina, Elkanah’s second wife, bore him ten sons. Watching her husband’s family grow was a painful challenge for Hannah, especially since Elkanah believed that the extreme love he had for Hannah should have been sufficient to make her happy. Finally, after 18 years of barrenness, when the family made one of its regular pilgrimages to Shilo (where the Tabernacle stood, before the Temple was built in Jerusalem), Hannah made her way to the sanctuary and poured out her soul to God. The prayer, as described by the Midrash, was a heart-wrenching plea questioning the purpose of her own existence (ex: "Master of the Universe...nothing which You created in woman is super

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Eitan pronounced Ethan is the anglicized form of the Hebrew name Eitan. It means strong and steadfast and also refers to a stream whose water flows throughout the year. Although Ethan is a biblical name, it is not the name of any major character. There appear to be three different Ethans in the Bible. The first is mentioned in I Kings : “Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east...For he was wiser than all men: than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol” (I Kings 5:10-11). Although I Kings does not identify these men further, one can assume that Mahol was an alternate name for Judah’s son Zerah, as I Chronicles 2:6 lists Zerah’s sons as “Zimri and Ethan and Heman and Calcol and Dara.” The second Ethan is listed in I Chronicles 6:25, 27, as an ancestor of Asaph the son

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Listen to Av'ee'gah'yil pronounced Abigail was not only one of “four exceptionally beautiful women in the world” ( Megillah 15a), but was also one of seven women considered by tradition to be a prophetess ( Megillah 14a). It is strange then that most people would not even recognize the name’s biblical origin. Abigail is introduced in the the First Book of Samuel , immediately after King Saul had been buried. David had already been privately anointed as Saul’s successor but had yet to claim the throne. While remaining in the wilderness, David and his men helped to protect the flocks of the Israelite shepherds. One day, David heard that one particularly wealthy man was arranging a sheep shearing (which was, in those days, a great feast). This man was “...Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, a

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Listen to Michael Pronounced Michael is the name of one of the four heavenly archangels . Although Judaism recognizes the significant role of angels in the metaphysical maintenance of our world, their presence is hidden in the Torah. Angels are first mentioned outright in the books of the Prophets. Ma'lachim, as angels are called in Hebrew, are completely spiritual beings who serve as God’s messengers. The archangels are a special breed of ma'lachim who have specific roles to fulfill in the world. The roles of the most famous of these archangels are reflected in their names: Raphael - “God heals” Gabriel - “The strength of God” Uriel - “God is my light” Michael - “Who is like God?” Michael’s name does not shed much light on his role in the universe, but he is actually the primary advocate of the Nation of Israel. Thus in the Book of Daniel

(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Listen to Elisheva pronounced Isabella is actually the Italian version of Elizabeth, another name on the most popular names list. Elizabeth and Isabella are both derivatives of the Hebrew, Elisheva (pronounced Eh’lee’sheh’va ). Elisheva, Aaron’s wife, is described (Exodus 6:23) as the daughter of Aminadav and the sister of Nachshon, the prince of the tribe of Judah. Aaron and Elisheva had four sons. The sages note that at the inauguration of the Tabernacle, Elisheva had five reasons to rejoice: “her brother-in-law [Moses] was ‘king,’ her husband was high priest, her son [Eleazer] was assistant [to the High Priest], her grandson [Pinchas] was the priest anointed for war, and her brother [Nachshon] was prince of a tribe [Judah],” ( Zevachim 102a). However, instead of rejoicing, she mourned her two sons, Nadav and Avihu, who, on that very day, died wh