Last week we left off on the idea of chibbut hakever. We will continue with chibbut hakever and its connection to reciting a verse corresponding to one’s name:
It is written in the midrash of Rabbi Yitzchak ben Parnach…When a person leaves this world, the Angel of Death comes and sits on his grave. His soul then immediately returns to his body and he stands up on his feet. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said further: and in his hand is a chain, half metal (iron) and half fire. The person is then hit. With the first hit his limbs are broken, with the second hit his bones are broken, and with the third hit (administered by a group of angels) he is turned into dust and returned to the grave. Rabbi Meir said further that the judgment of chibbut hakever is worse than the judgment of Gehinnom…”1
Here is another passage on chibbut hakever that is more clearly related to the custom of reciting a verse:
The students of Rabbi Eliezer asked him, “What is the exacting of justice in the grave?” He replied to them, “When a man leaves this world, the Angel of Death comes and sits upon him, beats him, and says, ‘What is your name?’ and the man replies, ‘I do not know.’ Immediately, he inserts his soul into his body, and stands him up and puts him on trial.”2
It is explained that the man replies, “I don’t know,” because “the wicked do not remember their names.”3 Reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name, however, ensures that one will remember one’s name when put through such judgment. As it says in the Sefer Ben Zion:
…I heard from the Kabbalists that everyone should find a verse for one’s name from the Torah, Prophets, or Scriptures, that begins with the first letter of one’s name and ends with the last letter of one’s name and one should recite it regularly and never forget it as long as one lives [in order to save oneself from chibbut hakever]. It appears to me that it is especially auspicious if the verse actually begins with one’s name or if one’s name at least appears in the course of the verse. For example, if one’s name is “Shalom” one could recite the verse Shalom rav l’ohavei toratecha... (Tehillim 119:165).4
A list of many names and their corresponding verses then follows. This seems to be the earliest source for reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name in order to be saved from the suffering of chibbut hakever. We see from here that one’s name is deeply connected to one’s soul. Closely related to this is the episode of the angel who asked Yaakov his name to understand his essence prior to blessing him. So too, Adam named all the animals as he did based on the essence of their souls.5
And finally, from the Kitzur Shnei Luchot Habrit:6
It is known what is written in matters related to Gehinnom, and so it is in the Sefer Hakavanot regarding chibbut hakever, that evil people do not know their names in the grave and they beat them with cruel beatings. But, one who said during his lifetime a verse that begins with the first letter of one’s name and ends with the last letter of one’s name…and especially one whose name is in the verse itself… it is a segula not to forget one’s name…and one should say it in the Shemoneh Esrei() before yehiyu l’ratzon.
A later explanation for the practice of reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name (unrelated to chibbut hakever) can be found in Chabad sources.8
According to Jewish mysticism, the soul, as well as the body, is refreshed through sleep. In fact, this can even be experienced as dreams in which Torah subjects are made known to the person dreaming. “These [dreams] generally occur through concentrated devotion to Torah study during the day. When someone studies Torah with great diligence or engages in ‘service of the heart’ – prayer – with intense effort then, at night, [during his sleep, he can ascend to great spiritual heights]… each person according to his diligence in his avoda [spiritual service] during the day.”9
In this vein, Rabbi Shalom Dovber, the second rebbe of Lubavitch, taught:
The letter of the “verses of the names,” which we say in the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, are the Torah letters that purify the part of the neshama – divine soul – that is within the body, from the filth caused by the body’s materialism. When one then reads the Kriat Shema she’al hamitah – the bedtime Shema – as it should be read, each person according to his ability, and declares, “In Your hands, I entrust my soul,” from the core of his heart, then through the letters of the “verses of the names,” one merits that he is allowed to stand near the open doors and see what transpires in the Heavenly chambers.”10
One who has more than one name should recite a verse that corresponds to both names.11 Others, however, are not particular to do so and suffice with a verse corresponding to one name.12 Others suggest trying to find a single verse that somehow alludes to both names.13 Most sources say that it is preferable to recite a verse that actually begins with one’s name or at least contains one’s name.14 Other sources say that a verse that simply begins with the first letter of one’s name and ends with the last letter of one’s name is preferred. If there is no verse that includes one’s name, not even a verse that begins with the first letter of one’s name and ends with the last letter of one’s name, then one should just recite a verse that begins with the first letter of one’s name and, preferably, a verse that also includes all the other letters of one’s name somewhere within that verse.
_____________________
- Hatishbi, p. 23.
- Sefer Chochmat Hanefesh.
- Zohar Chadash, Ruth.
- Page 34.
- See Mevasseret Tzion 15 for more on this and the practice of reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name.
- Kitzur Shela (Epstein) p. 101. Others say that attributing the Kitzur Shela for the source of the practice is questionable. See: http://www.chabadlibrary.org/books/admur/ig/2/404. Dr. Shnayer Lehman (among others) asserts that the author was a Sabbatean and that the Kitzur Shela is full of Sabbatean references. See: http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2011/11/change-has-come-to-modena.html.
- Howie Bryks notes that no source really offers an explanation as to why the verse is specifically recited as part of Shemoneh Esrei. He suggests that Shemoneh Esrei may have been arbitrarily chosen simply to ensure that everyone would recite their verse at least three times a day.
- Cited at: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2451435/jewish/Names-Verses-and-Flaming-Hot-Rods.htm.
- Hayom Yom, 4 Tevet.
- Talk of Simchat Torah 5654 (1893), quoted in a letter by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, dated Erev Pesach 5702 (1942); Igrot Kodesh Admu”r Mehoraya”tz (Kehot, 1983), p. 273.
- See: http://chabadlibrary.org/books/admur/ig/2/404.
- See for example: http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15924&pgnum=38.
- See for example: https://dinonline.org/2014/10/27/pasuk-at-end-of-shemoneh-esrei.
- Sefer Ben Zion above.
