אות - מד

The Rebbe often spoke about the importance of names. He also discussed the biblical verses beginning and ending with the same letter as one’s name, which are customarily said before the line, “ Yehiyu leratzon ,” 65 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable …” (Psalms 19:15). at the end of the Amidah . 66 This connects with the previous discussion, since this verse is customarily said to prevent one from forgetting his name after death (see Siddur Rav Yaakov Emden , quoting Shnei Luchot HaBrit ; also see Rashi on Micah 7:9).

He once said that he could explain the mystical meaning of the names of all those standing around him And he spoke most about R' Shimon. 67 R' Shimon ben Ber, Rebbe Nachman's first follower. At the time of the Rebbe's marriage, shortly after his thirteenth birthday, R' Shimon became his disciple (see Tzaddik #2; Avenehah Barzel 37a, #51; “ His Wisdom ” #173). He said, “Take the letters Shin , Mem , Ayin , Vav , Nun ( ShiMON ), and rearrange them. You then have AVoN MaSh – away with sin” (Zechariah 3:9) . The Rebbe would not discuss this further. R' Shimon was one of his favorite disciples, and the Rebbe said that this rearrangement literally described his essence.

He also said, “Do not be led astray by questions of how a name can contain the secret of a person’s existence when so many people share the same name. Do not even refer to such things.” 68 This was said to R' Shimon himself ( Kokhavey Or , p. 103, note 3). Cf. Likutey Halakhot , Devarim HaNohagim BeSeudah 4:6.

From what the Rebbe said, we understood that every aspect of a person’s essence is defined by some combination of the letters of his name. We also were able to realize that the Rebbe himself had complete knowledge of this.

The Rebbe said, “The permutation of letters can teach us great lessons. My teachings are very great, but where they involve these permutations of letters, they are even greater” (see “ His Wisdom ” #203) .