The Ten Names of Moses

[muman613]

While I was trying to explain how names are used in the Torah in a way to teach us how the person related to others I mentioned that several personalities in the Chumash had multiple names.

The most obvious example is that Avrams name was changed to Avraham, that Jacobs name was changed to Israel, etc. But some of these names are not as well known.

I had learned that there are ten names by which our Teacher Moses was known by.

I found these names on Chabad.org and I repost their article here:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/627663/jewish/What-was-Moses-real-name.htm
What was Moses' real name?
By Eliezer Danzinger

Question:

Moses is the name given by Pharaoh's daughter to the infant that she "drew from the water." Doesn't this imply that Pharaoh's daughter spoke Hebrew? And what name did Moses' parents give him?

Answer:

According to the Chizkuni,¹ it was actually Moses' biological mother, Jochebed, who gave Moses (משה) his name. Jochebed later told Pharaoh's daughter, Bithiah, the child's Hebrew name in Hebrew, and so Bithiah also called him by this name, remarking that this name was indeed appropriate, since she had drawn² him out of the water.

The Ibn Ezra³ says that Bithiah gave Moses the Egyptian name Munius, which the Torah translates into Hebrew as Moshe (Moses). Alternatively, the Ibn Ezra suggests the possibility that Bithiah actually had learnt to speak Hebrew, and it was she who gave Moses his Hebrew name. This latter explanation is also given by other commentators.

Interestingly, the Yalkut Shimoni⁴ says that Moses was called by no less than ten names:

   1. Yered (ירד), implying descent. According to one opinion, Miriam gave him this name, for because of him, she went down (yarad) to the Nile to see what would become of him. Alternatively, Moses was called this name because he brought the Torah down to the Jewish people, and the Divine Presence back down to this physical world.
   2. Avigdor (אבי גדור), master of the fence. According to the Yalkut Me'am Loez, he was called this (by his grandfather, Kehat), because "since Moses' birth, G‑d has fenced in Pharaoh, not allowing him to continue his decree to drown Jewish infants."
   3. Chever, (חבר) meaning, companion, or connector. Either because Moses connected the Jewish people with their heavenly Father, or because he prevented Heavenly retribution for their sins. Some say that Amram, his father, gave Moses this name, because Moses was born after his father had once again joined his wife after having divorced her.
   4. Avi Socho, (אבי סוכו) Father of Seers. He was given this name by his grandfather, Kehat (alternatively, by the nurse who helped Moses' mother raise him), because Moses would grow up to be the "master" (avi) of the seers (sochim) and prophets.
   5. Yekutiel (יקותיא-ל), from the root kavei (קוה) meaning hope. His mother Jochebed called him this name because she had hope and trust in G‑d that He would return Moses to her. Alternatively, because she foresaw that Moses would be the Jewish nation's great hope.
   6. Avi Zanuach (אבי זנוח), literally, "master of rejection." Aaron, Moses' brother gave him this name, saying "My father rejected my mother, but took her back because of this child." Alternatively, because Moses would make Israel reject idols.
   7. Tuvia (טובי'ה), implying goodness.⁵
   8. The Jewish people called him "Shemaya (שמעי-ה) ben [the son of] Nethanel."⁶ They predicted that in his days, G‑d would hear (שמע) their prayers.
   9. Ben Avitar (בן אביתר), son of pardon, since Moses was the Jewish son who would solicit G‑d's pardon (ויתר) for the Jewish people's sin of the Golden Calf.
  10. Levi (לוי), so named after the tribe to which Moses belonged.

Despite all these names, throughout the Torah, he is referred to as Moses. Moreover, G‑d Himself addresses Moses only by this name.⁷ Our sages tell us that this teaches us the importance of raising a child, especially when doing so requires special self-sacrifice.⁸

Rabbi Eliezer Danzinger for Chabad.org


FOOTNOTES
1.    His commentary on Exodus 2:10, "She called his name Moses, as she said 'For I drew him from the water.'"
2.    See Rashi on Exodus 2:10, s.v. "mi'shi'ti'hu" ["I drew him"].
3.    Exodus, ibid., ad loc.
4.    On Leviticus, ch. 1, remez 428; and ch. 2 remez 166, where attribution of the names are given. Most of these names are mentioned in I Chronicles 4:18, and the name Shemaya ben Nathanel, ibid. 24:6; see Targum ad loc.
5.    In Shmot Rabbah, 1:20, there is an opinion that says that Moses was also called "Tov," good.
6.    According to some, "ben [the son of] Netanel" was a distinct name. Regardless, Netanel is a composite of two words netan, meaning, gave, and Kel, meaning G‑d. Thus, as a whole the name ben Netanel means, the person [literally, the son] to whom G‑d gave the Torah.
7.    Exodus 3:4.
8.    See Yalkut Me'am Loez on Exodus 2:10.


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[muman613]

A little more insight on the concept of names of G-d... I have explained that the name is not the essence, it is a mere description of the relationship with the other.


http://vbm-torah.org/archive/kuzari/28kuzari.htm

The Attributes

            When R. Yehuda Halevi approaches the issue of the names and attributes of God, he is forced to deal with the issue of the corporeality of God and the question that arises from the very assignation of a name.[1]

The Rabbi said: All names of God, save the Tetragrammaton, are predicates and attributive descriptions, derived from the way His creatures are affected by His decrees and measures. He is called merciful if he improves the condition of any man whom people pity for his sorry plight. They attribute to Him mercy and compassion, although this is, in our conception, surely nothing but a weakness of the soul and a quick movement of nature. This cannot be applied to God, who is a just Judge, ordaining the poverty of one individual and the wealth of another. His nature remains quite unaffected by it. He has no sympathy with one, nor anger against another. We see the same in human judges to whom questions are put. They decide according to law, making some people happy, and others miserable. He appears to us, as we observe His doings, sometimes a "merciful and compassionate God" (Shemot 34:6), sometimes "a jealous and vengeful God" (Nachum 1:2), while He never changes from one attribute to the other. (II, 2)

            Rihal emphasizes that the various attributes do not testify to changes in God Himself, but to man's perspective on God. Rihal illustrates the point with the example of a judge who, with respect to the very same verdict, appears "merciful and compassionate" to one party and "jealous and vengeful" to the other. In the same manner, the diverse attributes assigned to God by man from his perspective do not attest to changes in God, but to the manner in which subjective man comprehends His objective revelation.

            Moreover, Rihal notes the problem that rises from the fact that the terminology that we use to describe God is taken from the human realm and from man's emotional and intellectual concepts. As such, they do not faithfully reflect God's actions.

            Having said this, Rihal moves on to a detailed classification of the various Divine attributes:

All attributes (excepting the Tetragrammaton) are divided into three classes, creative, relative, and negative. As regards the creative attributes, they are derived from acts emanating from Him by ways of natural medium, e.g. "making poor and rich," "exalting or casting down," "merciful and compassionate," "jealous and revengeful," "strong and almighty," and the like. As regards the relative attributes, "Blessed, praised, glorified, holy, exalted, and extolled," they are borrowed from the reverence given to Him by mankind. However numerous these may be, they produce no plurality as far as He is concerned, nor do they affect his Unity. As regards the negative attributes, such as "Living, Only, First and Last," they are given to Him in order to negate their contrasts, but not to establish them in the sense we understand them. For we cannot understand life except accompanied by sensibility and movement. God, however, is above them. We describe Him as living in order to negate the idea of the rigid and dead… Thus, the essence of God is too exalted to have anything to do with life or death, nor can the terms light or darkness be applied to it. If we were asked whether this essence is light or darkness, we should say light by way of metaphor, for fear one might conclude that that which is not light must be darkness. As a matter of fact, we must say that only material bodies are subject to light and darkness, but the Divine essence is no body, and can consequently only receive the attributes of light or darkness by way of simile, or in order to negate an attribute hinting at a deficiency. (II, 2)