Parshas Bamidbar
Rabbi Yissocher Frand
Torah lists [Chapter 2] the names of the various princes of the Tribes of Israel. There are two names in the list that are rather curious. “The prince of the children of Asher is Pagiel son of Ochron” [2:27] The word “ocher” implies one who perverts, who makes trouble. Ochron is a strange name to give a child. Then we find “and the prince of the tribe of Naphtali is Achira the son of Enan” [2:28]. Achi-ra means the bad brother. Again here we can ask why such a name was given to an eight day old child at his bris. What is the meaning of these names?
Rabbeinu Ephraim, who was one of the Baalei haTosfos, offers a very interesting idea. The camp of Israel was arranged such that there was a “Degel” [banner] consisting of 3 Tribes in each of the four directions. Asher and Naftali were under the banner of the Tribe of Dan. When they left Metzraim, the Tribe of Dan took out an idol with them. This idol accompanied them through the wilderness. It crossed the Jordan with them. When they came into the Land of Israel, the Tribe of Dan had an active House of Idolatry in their midst in which this idol was worshipped! This idol, which is known in the Book of Judges as “Pesel Michah”, was a cause of trouble.
The Tribes of Asher and Naftali were upset that they were stuck traveling with the wicked people from the Tribe of Dan who were idol worshippers. Rabbeinu Ephraim writes that Pagiel ben Ochran was not his given name at birth. It was a name he created for himself later in life. It meant “Pagah be Kel”. (The Almighty has given me a punishment.) What was the punishment? He stuck me with the Tribe of Dan. His assumed name Ochran [sinner] did not allude to his father, it referred to his travel companions – the Tribe of Dan. Similarly, Naftali’s prince assumed the name Achira. Now the name fits beautifully: My brother is evil – it refers to the brother of Naftali – Dan and his clan. The name Enan is also not the actual father of the prince of Naftali, but it is an assumed name to allude to the fact that the Cloud (anan) pushed aside the Tribe of Dan, since they traveled together with an idol.
Why did they do this? Why did they take such names? They did it for a very good reason. A person is invariably influenced by his society, by those around him. Asher and Naftali knew that they had a very hard road to hoe. Their first reaction when they found out they would have to be travelling with Dan was “Oy this is going to be terrible! What are we going to do! What are we going to do?” But what happens to people — and this is both the biggest blessing and the biggest curse at the same time — is that we get used to everything. In the beginning, they were appalled. They knew that with the passage of time they would get used to it. Avodah Zarah? Yeah, that’s just the way it is.
When Jews first came to America from Europe at the turn of the last century, there were some Jews who fainted when they saw the rampant Sabbath desecration that took place here within the Jewish community. We no longer faint when we see Jews driving down the street on Shabbos. We take it in stride – “There are observant Jews and there are non-observant Jews. That’s the way it is.”
These princes asked themselves: How are we going to ensure that we do not make peace with the idols in our midst? How are we going to make sure that we don’t get used to it? The plan was to change their name, to give themselves names that described the revulsion they originally felt when they realized that this was their lot (to be travel companions of idolaters). Just as a person’s name remains with them forever, they wanted this feeling of revulsion towards idolatry to remain with them forever.
This can be a valuable lesson to us. Sometimes we find ourselves in environments that are not to our standards and not to our liking and we have no choice in the matter. We need to try to quantify our original feelings and make sure that those feelings do not dissipate.
