Kleel Lavi

Our child's name begins with my Grandfather Morris Glasser, Moshe, who passed away over two years ago. I was at his 90th birthday celebration, and the way he spoke about himself was remarkably different than the way all his friends and family spoke of him. Others spoke of the charity and friendship that had marked his life. Despite the many honors and awards he received, he did not focus on what he had done for others. He spoke of his work, his job, and the hard work that went into it.

His parents immigrated to America about 100 years ago. Being an immigrant isn't easy, and his father apparently found it overwhelming. Nobody knows the full story, but one day his father up and disappeared, leaving eight children behind him. My relatives were scattered all over the country, but because of the gatherings he arranged, we all had a sense of a broader family.

My grandfather worked from age six to help his family survive, and maybe it was this experience that taught him the importance of helping others. From stories that I heard after he passed away, I learned that much more was hidden than was known. I'll tell just one story:

My grandfather was an accountant. One of his largest clients received an offer to buy out his business. For my grandfather, this was a disaster. The purchaser had accountants of his own, and it meant losing a large part of his business. But it wasn't a serious problem, for my grandfather's friend decided not to sell. My grandfather looked over the whole situation, including everything he knew about his friend, and told him it was in his best interest to accept the offer and sell. My grandfather always looked out for others before looking out for himself.

My grandfather passed the age of 90. Ninety in Hebrew is symbolized by the letter Tzadik, which also means "righteous." Most everyone who knew my grandfather, used the word tzadik to describe him. We pray that our child will devote his life to helping others and tzedaka. One additional small contribution is that Kleel, in Hebrew, is also equal to the number 90.

Thinking about the name Moshe of course also demands that one take Moshe Rabeinu (Moses) into account. Moshe wasn't a doer. Avraham was known for the quality of his reception of guests. He also went about sacrificing his son. Not Moshe. He goes up Mt. Sinai, doesn't even bring a pencil, Hashem writes for him. He goes before Pharaoh, and with the exception of a couple of magic tricks the first time, doesn't do anything. He says: "Nu?" and Hashem brings down lice. He says: "Nu?" and Hashem brings down frogs. Even when Am Yisrael goes to war, he doesn't lead them in battle like David, but sits on the side with his arms upraised. He's not a doer. What is Moshe? He's a receptacle, a tool of Hashem's. In Hebrew, a Klee.

What does it mean to be a tool? To do the will of Hashem. To make His will our will, we say. A tool by its nature has no will of its own. A hammer has no desire to build a house. We say a tool is good when it is useful in executing that which its wielder is interested in doing.

But there's a contradiction built into this view of non-action. Is it Hashem's will that we be totally passive, executing his orders, his commandments, or do we have an active role in expressing his will. Or if we are active, are we imposing our own will, an expression of lack of faith in His will, which degrades our role as receptacle for his will?

Sometimes our task is not completely clear. Then being a passive "tool" is not sufficient. The single time that Moshe does something of his own volition, when he kills the taskmaster, perhaps similar to what Baruch Goldstein did, he does this without being commanded by the Master of the Universe. But perhaps in doing this, he merited being chosen to be Hashem's receptacle. A good tool, in human terms, doesn't just do what is explicitly demanded of him. The spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law, is the light by which he guides his life. The Oral Law (Talmud), and not just the Written Law (Tora). When the tool has truly made Hashem's will his own, and does what Hashem would want to be done even when he is not told, then he is a "tool of Hashem, then he is a true receptacle for The Master of the Universes will, in this world.

Our son was born on Parshat Balak. An unclear part of the Tora. Right in the middle of Moshe's struggles with the Jews in the desert, we have a story about two non-Jews, who don't even meet up with any Jews. All they do is see them from a distance. Only at the very end of the parsha do we return to the mess that is the Jewish people in the desert, getting in trouble with women, and Moshe and Pinchas.

Tradition tells us that Bilaam is "the Moshe of the Goyim." He too is a prophet with considerable insight and connection to Hashem. Perhaps the story with him comes to teach us something about Moshe, about being a tool of Hashem.

Bilaam also doesn't just execute the will of those that approach him as they would have it, but includes in his consideration what Hashem actually desires. He blesses those that are supposed to be blessed, despite the request for a curse. He does this not because he wanted to, but because that is the will of the Master. But he too, like Moshe, fails. At a crucial time, he too doesn't see what is really happening before him, doesn't ask what is His will, but resorts to striking out physically. Bilaam strikes the donkey, Moshe strikes the rock. A blow symbolizes an attempt to force one's own will upon something. In doing this a receptacle makes itself unworthy, impure. When the Master of the Universe tests Bilaam, he doesn't respond with faith. Throughout Moshe's entire life, he does turn to Hashem for direction when he is in trouble or troubled. In that he does prove himself to be a true receptacle. One time he fails, and for that he is not allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael. Despite that he is called "the humblest of men." The complete receptacle.

Our son's name also includes "layl," night. Nighttime is the time of fear. Birth is also a time of fear. In the book of Tehillim (Psalms 48) it says: "Trembling gripped them there, like a woman in labor", bringing labor as an ultimate example of fear. Faith by day is not very difficult. We see the world Hashem has created around us. The great difficulty is to maintain one's faith when everything is hidden. Nighttime is parallel to our relationship with the Master of the Universe, who we cannot see. In order to maintain faith then, when we see nothing, we need to find a strong faith within ourselves. Kleel was born at night. Am Yisrael is now passing through a time of great darkness. The three weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av are a time of darkness. We hope we are passing to our son the strength to believe even in the darkest nights.

Klee, layl, Kleel. In the Shemona Esreh of Shabat morning we say : "Moses rejoiced in the gift of his portion: that You called him a faithful servant [klee]. A crown of splendor ["kleel"] You placed on his head when he stood before You on Mount Sinai. He brought down two stone tablets in his hand, on which is inscribe the observance of the Sabath." Kleel is a crown, also a completion. The number seven symoblizes something whole, such as the seven days of the week. The number eight implies the whole plus the supernatural, that which is beyond the natural. Who knows if we will make it to the super-supernatural, but for now, the Gilbar family has somehow reached eight souls, a large family, which now has a crown.

If my grandfather was central to my life, Chaia's never met her grandfather, Arieh Leib. He passed away several years before she was born. He too was an immigrant, one of thirteen children. He too had family difficulties. In giving our son his name, we are closing a circle on things that happened in his life.

His name, Arieh Leib, means strong heart. Amongst men of heart, to be a lion (arieh). The Shulchan Aruch opens with: "A person should rise in the morning like a lion." On the one hand, Lavi includes heart (lev). On the other hand, a Lavi, a lion cub, is explicitly a lion. But not just a lion, a young lion. In our community in Shilo some of us are not as young as we once were, and we have to remember the energy, the creative boldness, of youth. With the name Lavi we hope to instil in our son the strength of heart, as a young man and as an older man, to approach all that he does with excitement.

May it be thy will, our God and God of our fathers, that Kleel Lavi will circumcise his heart, as we have circumcised him today, and will make himself a complete receptacle, a devoted tool, and that he always approach, not out of habit, but with the strength of a lion the fulfilling of God's will

Shabat Shalom