A Message from the Beach

My family and I are on vacation this week.   Where did we go?  To Rehovot. No not the seaside  city in Israel. The seaside town in Delaware.  Rehoboth Beach gets its name from the Hebrew word “Rehovot.”  Rehovot means wide open or broad spaces.  And sitting out on the beach looking out at endless water, it’s clear why this name is fitting.  The name Rehovot/Rehoboth comes from Genesis 26; the patriarch Isaac gives the name to a well of water. 

So, it’s unique to have a town name based on the Hebrew Bible?  Right? Not really.  If you head a few miles down the road, you get to Bethany Beach.  Bethany comes from the Hebrew phrase for “house of figs.”  For the record, figs only grow in  northern Delaware. The Biblical Bethany is a village near Jerusalem and is important in the Christian Bible, not the Jewish one.

But what about closer to home?  In Montgomery County, we have Bethesda.  As we know from Bethany meaning “house of figs” and Beth Chai meaning “house of life,” Beth means “house of.”  But what about “hesda”?  It comes from the root “chesed” or “kindness” in Hebrew.  So, Bethesda means “house of kindness.”  What a lovely name! 

What’s the takeaway from today’s message?  Hebrew references are all around us and knowing them adds an extra level of meaning to our experience. 

Enjoy!