For all of us, our name is a complicated gift. Not only does it contribute to our identity, but it can also reflect religious and spiritual dimensions. It is possibly the most personal thing about us, and yet we do not choose it ourselves. Sometimes, we choose to change our names because another name seems to suit us better, sometimes because we want to distance ourselves from the context within which we were named. Many of our families anglicised their names, for example when they left Germany or Eastern Europe in the last century.
The views expressed in this D’var Torah do not necessarily reflect the position of Leo Baeck College.