Tirza ~ May 10

 

My family is peppered with Rachels – no, make that salted – there are so many.

My father’s sister is Rachel. My mother’s mother was Rachel, who orphaned five children. All but one named their first-born daughter Rachel.  (I can vividly imagine the fight between Moshe and Yonina when they named the youngest of the cousins not-Rachel. Yonina may have had to pull rank for being Holocaust survivor, and too old to have another child.  “Too many Rachels and all the nicknames already taken!” on their own wouldn’t have made a dent.)

My mother named her first born Rachel, even though it’s a Jewish custom never to name a child after a living relative.  But she must have argued that the baby wouldn’t be named for her sister-in-law’s Rachel, but her dead mother’s Rachel.  (Clearly my father wasn’t the only loophole-meister).   

And the rest of her daughters? Well, thank goodness she hadn’t yet met Jorge in Puerto Rico who had five sons, Jorge, Jorge, Jorge, Jorge and Jorge.  If she had, my name would also be Rachel.  

She named my sister Naomi.  By the time I was born, she had to go off the beaten path into the desert of Hebrew names, with so many of the others already taken by the living number of aunts on my father’s side plus the nieces.

I was the only Tirza I knew for most of my life.  There are several roots to this name.  I was told there is a reference in the Bible to a city by that name.  Also, it’s from the Hebrew root word for delight – this is what google has to say:

Though Tirzah means "delight," it remains open to the bearer whether they elect to fascinate the senses of the beholder or their own mind. 

Quite enlightened this google.  

Had anyone told me this sooner, it might have changed my life.

Just recently, my jaw dropped when I found out that in the bible, Tirzah stood as one of the five daughters of Zelophehad, who successfully petitioned Moses to grant them the inheritance of their father's property. 

Uncanny, since my life had been upended when I had to withstand 26 lawsuits filed by my disinherited brother against his sisters, intending to send us to our ruin.  My sisters were too distant to be of much help.  
And you ask what’s in a name?