A Rose by any other name........

Shoshana is a Hebrew word, meaning "rose." In Song of Songs (2:2) G‑d refers to the Jewish nation as a Shoshana: "As a rose among the thorns, so is My beloved among the daughters." The commentators explain this to mean that "As a rose among the thorns which pierce it, but it remains constant in its beauty and its redness, so is My beloved among the daughters. They entice her to pursue them to stray like them after strange gods, but she remains firm in her faith." ~ Chabad.org
 
I have certainly struggled in my faith, not in G-d but denomination wise, and I realized by reading the Bible, again and again, searching out the original biblical languages and commentaries,  that we weren't all over the place when G-d began His works, but through MAN, we are separated .  

My middle name is Ruth  which means "friend".  So is it a mere coincidence, that I, this person who was raised as a Southern Baptist, went to church all of my life, and then when I was 22, went through religious conversion into Orthodox Judaism,(studied and studied and then went to a "ritual bath" mikveh, and now at 52, consider myself a  true follower of Jesus(Yeshua) following the way He lived his  life on this earth; as best as I can. Following his ,  holidays, following the words of his Father, as much as I can ,  and statutes and commandments as best as I understand them. So is it a coincidence, that my name is Shoshana Ruth? I don't think so.

 Back in 1989, we had just gotten home from a 3 week, second honeymoon to Israel, (with the father of my children, and ex-husband). I wasn't converted yet, and still went by my given name.  At that time, I remember sitting on the bed, back in California, thinking, what name should I choose? I went through the name books, you know the ones you look through when you have a baby? Yeah , those books, oodles of them, just to find "the right name".  Trying this one and that one, writing it down, and speaking it, Tzipporah, Chana, Raisa, were some that came to mind, but each time I would go back to Shoshana.   And even 25 years later, as I have gone by Shoshana forever, ( work, taxes, SSN, etc...) it seems, strange, that I would have to stand up in a civil court, not just the Bet Din(religious court) and say, Yes, I take Shoshana as my name!

Just last year, matter of fact. My drivers license was about to expire, and I needed to renew it, but not so fast! When I went to the DMV to show my old license from Oregon and my Birth Certificate, they said, "your B.C. and your DL, don't match names. Since if you change your name, through your DL, SSN and all other documents, and don't change it legally, it may catch you up sometime.(just a note).  I changed it very different from what my legal real given at birth name was.  Not just my first, but my middle, and now because of  marriages, my last name too! So it REALLY didn't match what was on my birth certificate, from the Catholic hospital in California on that winter day  52 years ago.  But I did it, I filed the papers, and decided that YES! I want to keep Shoshana, I don't want to go back to my name before, not that I didn't like it, but its not really me anymore, hasn't been over 30 years now.  Very few of my friends know me by my given name anymore, and they all respect me enough to call me my new one, although some slip now and then, and  its alright, because now, one of my names means "friend" and that is what I try to be . BUT my other name is "rose" and that means I can have "thorns" , but try to come out sweet smelling on the end, try to blossom where planted, and try to sew seeds of friendship and kindness wherever I go, but IF  you cut a flower down, it will wilt and die, eventually

This is  one of the perfect reasons why when reading the Bible, that it is important to search out the original words and thoughts and feelings of the text. Only that way do you understand what G-d (YHVH) meant in His inspiration of the entire work that was inspired by Him , but penned by others.

Interesting huh? I think this speaks to how important a name is ...,sweet smells, fallen petals, thorns and all, I love my name .