Bava Basra 015: Moshe's Name

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Bava Basra 015: Moshe's Name

Boruch Kahan asked:

The Gemoro in Daf 15A goes into detail about Moshe Rabeynu's name and suggests 
that Heyman is Moshe and then the Gemoro says that there were 2 Heymons and 1 
was Takke Moshe Rabeynu.If that is so then why is it not in the list in the 
Medrash on Vayikro of 1 of the 10 names of Moshe Rabeynu or put another way why 
is the list not 11.

A Terutz I came up with was possibly those 10 names such as Avigdor etc. were 
only Meyuchos to Moshe Rabeynu in other words there is no one else out there 
with those names Mah She Eyn Kayn with Heymon the fact the Gemoro has to say 
there were 2 Heymons means that Heymon is not an exclusive name to Moshe 
Rabeynu.What does the Kollel think of this

Boruch Kahan, London,England
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The Kollel replies:

Hello Boruch.

Good to hear from you again.

Your answer is a nice idea, but I am not sure if it is the correct one, as some 
of the other names mentioned are also common to other people, such as Yered 
(Bereishis 5:26) and Chever (Shoftim 4:17 also see Rashi Shemos 18).

The simple (although perhaps slightly unappealing) answer would be that the 
Medrash disagrees with Rav of our Gemara.

Alternatively, we may suggest that the name Heiman is not included because it 
is a replica of the name Moshe, in that it has the same connotations. This is 
implied by a number of connections we find between the two names.

Firstly, as the Ben Ye'hoyada points out on our Gemara, the "Nistar" of the 
word Moshe is Heiman. In other words, each individual letter when spelt out by 
itself has a Nigleh (the part of the letter that is written in any word that 
contains the said letter) and a Nistar (the part of the letter that is not 
written in a word that contains the said letter). Hence, the letter Mem, which 
when spelt out as a word by itself is written Mem Mem, has Nigleh of Mem and 
Nistar of Mem. The letter Shin has Nigleh of Shin and Nistar of Yud, Nun, and 
the letter Heh has a Nigleh of Heh and a Nistar of Heh. Thus, the Nistar of the 
letters that make up the word Moshe give us the word Heiman.

Secondly, the word Heiman is made up of four letters, two of which (Mem and 
Heh) are the same as the word Moshe (and in fact the main part of his name as 
we find Moshe said about himself v'Nachnu Mah (Shemos 15:8)). The other two 
letters (Yud and Nun) have a Gematria of sixty, equivalent to the letter 
Samech, which is transposable with Shin, as we often find in Tefilos, for 
example in Kel Adon the verse that should start with Samech begins Semeichim, 
with a Shin.

Finally, we find the name alluded to in the same Pasuk that Moshe was given the 
name Moshe (Shemos 2:10), in the explanation of his name. Bas Paroh said that 
she called him Moshe: "Ki Min ha'Ma'im mi'Shisihu", "because I pulled him from 
the water". The last letter of the word Min together with the the first three 
letters of the word ha'Ma'im spell Heiman.

And the explanation of all this? As follows. The name Moshe was given to 
represent the fact that Moshe was pulled or drawn from the water. It is no 
coincidence that Moshe is indefatigably referred to by the Torah with this 
name. It is a sign that this name represents Moshe's fundamental nature. Rav 
Chaim Vital (in Sha'arei Kedushah 1:2) explains that water is the element (of 
the four basic elements, air fire, water, earth) that represents Ta'avah, 
desire. When the Torah quotes to us that Bas Paroh said Min ha'Ma'im 
mi'Shisihu, the Torah is telling us that Moshe was removed from Ta'avah as far 
as is possible for a human in this world. For this reason the Torah tells us 
that Moshe was Anav Me'od, (Bamidbar 12:3), because his own interests and 
desires did not play a role in his actions. For this reason Moshe is called 
Ne'eman (Bamidbar 12:7), meaning true, straight and reliable. This is the same 
as the name Heiman that Rav conferred upon him. Those who do not count Heiman 
do not disa
gree, perhaps, with the fact that he was called this, rather they say that it 
is already included in the name Moshe. Or they hold that there was actually no 
need for him to be called this name since he was already called Moshe by Bas 
Paroh, and they argue with Rav as suggested at the outset.

Please let me know if you have any comments.

Kesivah v'Chasimah Tovah, 
Dov Freedman



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