Welcoming Leora Amalia
Our world welcomed a shiny and new person not too long ago!
These are the words of Torah I wrote for and share with her.
Someday, God willing, you will be called to the Torah by your Hebrew name, Leora Amalia. I have the honor of telling you about it.
You were born on the Shabbat of Parshat Bresheet.
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
When God began to create the heavens and the earth
וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְהוֹם וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם
The earth being unformed chaos with a darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the face of the water
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר
God said “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Vayomer Elohim yehi or v’yehi or.
Or. Light.
Le-or-a, you arrived the week of maybe the most beautiful parsha in all of the Torah.
You arrived at the very beginning. This story isn’t science - it was never meant to be, it is theology. This is the origin story of our people. In our story, God uses words to speak light - ohr - into being and then sees that this light is tov. Words because words matter. And light? This light is “tov”. This light is exactly the right fit for this world God is speaking into being. This light is good in itself and also because it is light that creates the capacity for good in the world.
Just like you.
Our Torah isn’t talking about sunlight. We know it’s not because God creates this light before creating the stars and the planets to illuminate our sky. This light is something else. Our mystics call it the primordial light. The light of creation itself. This is the light that glows from our Shabbat candles every week. Shabbat reminds us that into the tohu va-vohu, into the chaos before the beginning, we can also speak goodness into creation.
We know that thanks to Chava, to Eve, who looked at the trees at the center of Gan Eden - Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of All Things (Good and Evil and everything in between), and saw that it was the tree of wisdom - of knowledge - that delighted her eyes. According to our rabbis, with the knowledge she gained, and then that Adam gained, we were able to understand that being created b’tzelem Elohim - in the image of God - means we also have the ability to speak the world into being. We also have the ability to bring light into the world.
Leora, your name means “I have light.”
What new words, what new creations will your light bring into our world?
And all of that creative work God does in our origin story, in bresheet? All of the work left for us to do in partnership with God? We remember that work every Shabbat when we hold and drink from a glass of wine or grape juice and say or sing the kiddush:
זִכָּרוֹן לְמַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית
zikaron l’ma’aseh v’reisheet
The work of creation isn’t finished, and our job is to help keep it going working together with God and with each other. This is a group project.
Our Torah portion today, the day of your naming, is Noah.
In so many ways, this parsha is a second story of creation.
In this story we see Noah doing the work of building an ark and caring for everyone and everything in it.
In midrash, Na’amah, partners with her husband, Noah, and takes on the lion’s share of the responsibility for caring for all of those animals.
Then after the flood the whole world needed to be rebuilt.
Can you imagine how much work that must have been, Leora Amalia?
Your second name, Amalia, means hard-working, persevering, steady, and persistent.
Paired with Leora, it means taking your brilliant light, the light that has been in you since the beginning, and engaging in the work that will expand the capacity for good in the world. Amalia means doing the work of speaking our world into continued creation. Amalia means taking responsibility and caring and getting the things done that need to get done.
This amazing name is a gift to you from your parents, and not only does it say so much about what they hope and dream for you, it also says so much about them.
I’ve known your dad for a long time now, and I’ve known your mom even longer.
Leora Amalia, you picked the best parents.
Each of them, in their own way, radiates light into the world. And in each new step of their lives - when they came together, decided to do life together, and then decided to create life together - their light has grown. Your parents know how to love in ways that hold space for each other’s light. I know they know how to love you in a way that will hold space for your light, too.
Each of your parents is persistent, and steady, persevering, and hard-working. Each of them does the things that need to get done. And in being persistent and steady and hard-working together, they take care of each other, and they take care of themselves. I know they will take amazing care of you. They will guide you, they will support you, and they will help you figure out who you are so you can become exactly yourself.
May your parents be blessed with knowing what I know: That they are remarkable.
We are taught that a new person comes into the world in the very moment the world could not possibly have continued to exist without them. You, Leora Amalia, arrived in the very moment our world could not possibly have continued to exist without you. With you our joy increases. With you we can see the light that guides us and can take a deep breath and recommit to doing the work that is ours to do.