As a loyal servant in the presence of his master, I would like to latch onto the coattails of the Chasam Sofer and attempt to reconcile this unfathomable fact—that righteous parents from shevet Levi would choose to give their son the ill-fated name Korach, the name of one of the chieftains of Eisav. Clearly, the great Chasam Sofer, zy”a, who was a tremendous fount of Torah-knowledge and satisfied Yisrael’s great thirst for chiddushim, had several approaches of his own related to this issue. Nevertheless, it appears that he wanted primarily to emphasize the vital importance of not giving our children names of reshaim.
Since it is the nature of Torah to be elucidated from a multitude of perspectives—“shivim panim”—we will broaden the scope of the inquiry of the Chasam Sofer. Even if Korach was not the name of one of Eisav’s chieftains, the name itself is unflattering and possesses a negative context. This is evident from the following passuk (Devarim 14, 1): "בנים אתם לה' אלקיכם לא תתגודדו ולא תשימו 'קרחה' בין עיניכם למת"—you are children to Hashem, your G-d; you shall not cut yourselves, and you shall not make a bald spot (“korchah”) between your eyes for a dead person.
I would like to propose a wonderful explanation based on the following Gemara (Berachos 7b): "מנא לן דשמא גרים..." From where do we know that a person’s name influences future occurrences? Rabbi Elazar said: Because the passuk says (Tehillim 46, 9): “Go and see the works of G-d, Who has wrought devastations in the land.” Do not pronounce the word “shamot” (devastations) but rather “sheimot” (names). Hence, they expounded in the Gemara (ibid. 55a): "בצלאל על שם חכמתו נקרא... בצל אל היית וידעת"—Betzalel was named for his wisdom . . . “you were in G-d’s shadow, and that is how you knew.” Similarly, we are taught in the Gemara (Sotah 34b): "אמר רבי יצחק דבר זה מסורת בידינו מאבותינו, מרגלים על שם מעשיהם נקראו..." Rabbi Yitzchak said: This matter is a tradition in our hands from our fathers that the “meraglim” were named in accordance with their deeds. We, however, have retained in our hands only one (of these expositions): Setur ben Michael (Bamidbar 13, 13, the spy from shevet Asher)—Setur, because he denied (“satar”) the deeds of HKB”H; Michael, because he depicted himself (G-d) as a weakling (“mach”).
We find an amazing passage in the Midrash regarding this matter (Yalkut Shimoni, Yeshayah, 449):
"אילו זכו הדורות היה הקב"ה קורא שם לכל אחד ואחד, ומשמו היו יודעים את טיבו ואת מעשיו... אמרו רבותינו כשהיה רבי מאיר רואה אדם, היה למד שמו ומשמו היה יודע את מעשיו, פעם אחת באו אצלו שני תלמידים, והיה שם אחד מהם כידור, אמר רבי מאיר לתלמידיו הזהרו מכידור זה, אמרו לו רבי בן תורה הוא, אמר להם אף על פי כן היזהרו ממנו, אחר ימים הלכו למרחץ והפקידו בגדיהם אצל כידור ונכנסו למרחץ. מה עשה אותו כידור, נטל בגדיהם והלך לו, יצאו ולא מצאוהו, הלכו לבתיהם ולבשו בגדים אחרים. באו לפני רבי מאיר, אמר להם מה ראיתם להחליף בגדיכם, ספרו לו המאורע, אמר להם לא אמרתי לכם היזהרו עצמכם מכידור זה, אמרו לו בבקשה ממך רבינו, מנין היית יודע, אמר משמו שנקרא כידור, שנאמר כי דור תהפוכות המה".
Had the generations been deemed worthy, HKB”H would have named each and every individual; from his name, we would have known his character and his deeds . . . Our Rabbis said that when Rabbi Meir saw a person, he would learn his name and from his name he would know his deeds. Once two students came to him; one of them was named Kidur. Rabbi Meir said to his students, “Be wary of this Kidur.” They responded to him, “But Rebbe, he learns Torah.” He answered them, “Even so, beware of him.” Several days later, they went to the bathhouse, entrusted their clothes to Kidur, and went into the bathhouse. What did that Kidur do? He took their clothes and left. When they (the other students) came out and did not find him, they went to their homes and put on different clothes. Then they went to Rabbi Meir. He asked them, “Why did you decide to change your clothes?” They told him what happened. He said to them, “Did I not warn you to guard yourselves from this Kidur?!” They responded to him, “Excuse us, Rabeinu, but how did you know?” He answered, “From the fact that his name is Kidur.” For, it states (Devarim 32, 20): "כי דור תהפוכות המה"—for they are a generation (“ki-dor”) of perversity.
