Chashmal

Remembering My Name
Pasuk For Lamed-Hey

Devarim 30:12
It is not in the heavens,
that I should say,
who can go up and get it for me
that I may observe it.

in the afterlife, each soul is asked its name
ליאורה חנה אלישבע בת צברה





Dumah - The Angel Of Silence
Tradition teaches that in the afterlife, the disembodied soul is asked its Hebrew name by Dumah, the angel of silence. Remembering one's name prevents a decay of consciousness and a return to nothingness. The rabbis say that the shock of dying causes amnesia to the soul, causing it to forget its name. Learning and memorizing a mnemonic device about one's name while still alive dispels this afterlife amnesia and helps the soul to remember its name, thereby preventing the decay of consciousness and the return to nothingness. The mnemonic device traditionally used is a pasuk (verse) in Torah that begins with the first letter and ends with the last letter of one's Hebrew name.

Chashmal - The Speaking Silence
The process of creating a messianic reality has 3 stages. These stages are chash (silence), mal (circumcision) and mal (speaking). Silence pertains to the soul's existence before it is given life in the physical world. The soul's primordial silence can be cut off (circumcised) during its time in the body by right-living. Right living enables the soul to progress through the 4 categories of being (domem, tzomeach, chai and medaber) within the natural world . Medaber pertains to one who has realized his or her potential as a human being and has become a speaking spirit. When the physical body dies, the soul's consciousness will decay and return once again to its primordial silence if it cannot remember its Hebrew name in the afterlife. A Hebrew name is integrally tied to its bearer's purpose in creation and destiny. Remembering and speaking one's Hebrew name confirms the soul's link to its eternal destiny and answers the angel Dumah, thereby silencing the silence. Having confirmed its reason for continued existence, the soul having the unique quality of being a medaber, is able to transform unrectified reality and sweeten it into a messianic reality.

You have 3 names: the name your parents bestow on you, the name by which others call you, and the name you earn for yourself through your conduct. Kohelet Rabbah 7:3

תני ג' שמות נקראו לאדם הזה אחד שקראו לו אביו ואמו ואחד שקראו לו אחרים ואחד שקראו לו בספר תולדות ברייתו