How is it that we find so many Greek names of great men in the Talmud, and we know she'lo shi'nu es she'mom, not to change their name, is an ideal?
ANSWER:
Nobody ever gave a gentile name to his child. We have to realize, in ancient times there was a tremendous number of converts; geirei tzedek of very high quality. And in the olden days it was not a custom to change the names. Today we change the gentile name, we call them Avrohom or something else. They came in with their names and they kept their names.
Munbaz remained Munbaz, although Munbaz became a tanah, and in one place we find him arguing with Rabbi Akiva, he was so great, but he was still Munbaz; they kept their names. These great tzadikim, geirei tzedek, they are men who illuminated the Jewish world with their wisdom. Unkelos ha'geir, Unkeolos is a gentile name, they didn't change their name. Unkelos! He's in the Chumash, he's higher than Rashi, Rashi brings him as a proof. He's on top of Rashi, right next to the Chumash, Unkelos ha'geir, he didn't change his name. So in some future generation someone wanted to honor that geir, someone wanted to give his child that zechus, he called him that name, that's how you got those names.
Nobody in the ancient times named his child after a gentile or gave a gentile name. It's a good question. But the answer I think is in place.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures. To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
Important Numbers
