On the Doubling of the Name "Moshe Moshe"

Parshat Shemot

by Rabbi Avi Billet

When God first addresses Moshe at the burning bush, He calls out “Moshe Moshe!” (3:4) We know that in the Torah Moshe has one name. And unlike the former UN Secretary-General (last name Ghali), that was not a doubled name. Why is God saying Moshe’s name twice? Is He stuttering, mocking the stammering prophet/soon-to-be-deliverer? 

The classic answer, as noted in the Pesikta and other Midrashim, is that this doubling of the name is called לשון חבה, a demonstration of God’s love for Moshe. The Midrash Sechel Tov attaches the same meaning to when Avraham is called אברהם אברהם, and when Yaakov is called יעקב יעקב, and when Shmuel is called שמואל שמואל. 

Hadar Zekenim takes this to a bit of a stretch as far as the “trop” (cantillation marks) presents things (for this argument he ignores the טעם מפסיק, the trop that causes a pause), but he adds that everyone whose name is doubled, which not only includes Avraham and Yaakov, but also Noach and Terach, merits two worlds. Terach must have therefore done Teshuvah in his life (Noach, of course, is defined in the Torah as an איש צדיק -righteous). 

As proof, we have Bereshis 6:9: אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת נֹ֔חַ נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו 

And Bereshis 11:27: וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת תֶּ֔רַח תֶּ֚רַח הוֹלִ֣יד אֶת־אַבְרָ֔ם אֶת־נָח֖וֹר וְאֶת־הָרָ֑ן 

Rabbi Menachem Rikanati, who often invokes Kabbalistic teachings in his commentary, notes that the doubling of “Moshe” comes because everything God says contains both God’s judgment and God’s mercy. Since the way God is relating to Moshe, and perhaps also to Israel, and certainly to Egypt is through a lens of both merit and guilt, the double language suggests that the components of what He is saying that judgment are channeled through one mention of Moshe’s name, while the components of what He is saying through which His mercy is intended to be displayed are channeled through the other mention of Moshe’s name. 

However, there is an important characteristic of this doubling of the name that we don’t find anywhere else. Note that in the case of Avraham, Yaakov, and Shmuel, there is a cantillation mark called a פסיק between the two names. For Moshe, the cantillation has no division between the two names. In fact the trop is מרכא טפחא, which connects the two words far more than it creates a pause or divides them. (This is presented in Minchas Shai as well, as he posits that once God began speaking to Moshe He never stopped (see also Malbim), while for other prophets, their prophesy came at different stages in life, but not forever. ד' שמות מוכפלים, וסימניהון אברהם ׀ אברהם,   יעקב ׀ יעקב,   משה משה,    שמואל ׀ שמואל,     וכולהו' פסקי', ומשה טפחא) 

 

He explains the difference as follows: 

The first part of Avraham’s life was unpeaceful as he hadn’t yet experienced all 10 tests. He was able to live in peace afterwards. The last part of Yaakov’s life, when he lived in Egypt, was peaceful. Until that time he had the many struggles with Eisav and Lavan, his children, and the long-term unrest over Yosef’s fate. Shmuel’s life also had two stages – the first part, before he became a prophet, which is defined as לא שלים, and the second part of his life, when he is a prophet. In Moshe’s case, there is no break between his two names, because from the moment he was born the Torah described how he was טוב - ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא – And she saw about him that he was good. 

Along similar lines to Moshe having two stages of life, the Chasam Sofer also presents a novel approach to understand Moshe’s name, quoting the grammarian Wolf Heidenheim, saying that “Moi” means water in Egyption, and “she” means to draw (as in ‘from water’). So his name was actually Moi’she (he’s really bringing out his Hungarian tendencies in this interpretation!) (וכמ"ש בספר מאור עינים בקונטרס פילון וגם מייתי לי' החכם ר"ו היידענהיים כי בלשון מצרי מו"י מים ש"ה משיכה, ונקרא בלשון מצרי מויש"ה) In this view, he offers that he is called Moshe (1st time) having been drawn from the water, his past life, and Moshe (2nd time) based on his new life in which he will be tasked with drawing the Bnei Yisrael out of the Yam Suf. 

Rabbenu Bachaye offers different levels of interpretation: 

Pshat – Moshe was called once. But prophets hear an echo. See Tehillim 62:12 – “God spoke once but I heard twice.” 

Midrash: His Midrashic interpretation combines what was shared above from the Pesikta and Hadar Zekenim. 

Sechel (logic): A prophet is a little confused at the first calling. Were God to speak to him immediately, he would not understand what is going on. Thus the second calling, which allows the prophet to ready himself to receive the prophesy and understand the message. 

Kabbalah: He presents along the same lines as Rekanati on the duality of God’s mercy and judgment being called into the communication. 

Alshikh follows the “Sechel” approach of Rabbenu Bachaye, adding that the repetition is meant to assure to Moshe that he’s being addressed by God, and not by an angel. Further, it is meant to convey to him, “You have been Moshe at such-and-such level until now. Now you are a new Moshe, on a higher level. Prepare yourself and receive the message.” Moshe’s response of הנני, means “I am here and I am prepared to receive the message.” 

Shakh on the Torah (not the same author as on Shulchan Arukh) has an innovative suggestion based on the Midrashic interpretation that Moshe’s response of הנני conveyed “I am here for Kehuna/priesthood and I am here for kingship.” Shakh suggests that if you say MosheMoshe it can sound like MahShimusha - מה שמשה – what service do you want? Top that argument off with the fact that Moshe’s name twice has a numerical value of 690, plus the six letters equals 696, which is the same as תרצה (“do you want”) (off by 1 in gematria is still valid). Shakh gives a number of equations as to how Moshe’s responses related to this. Suffice it to say, though it’s all very cute, the Torah’s reporting is that God said Moshe twice. (see the first comment below) 

So what’s the real story? It is not my place to consider whether Moshe(-not-yet-)Rabbenu understood all the hidden messages alluded to in these commentaries. I imagine that he most likely was called in a manner that was loving, that was meant to make him feel comfortable and ready to process the information, which is a combination of the Midrashic approach of לשון חבה and the Sechel approach of Rabbenu Bachaye and Alshikh. 

 Perhaps Moshe was meant to contemplate in ensuing days and years how it all began, from those first moments of connection with the Almighty at the burning bush, through all the things he achieved in his life afterwards, and maybe over time he understood all those messages in hindsight.

Our luck is that all of our interpretation of the Torah is in hindsight, so we have the luxury of trying to figure these things out to best understand them. The other messages conveyed above, of Moshe having two distinct stages of life, of his being a unique caliber of prophet who received messages on different levels is certainly true for the greatest prophet ever.

Our take home is to remember that if we wish to communicate with love, sometimes a twinkle in the eye and a soft repetition of the name of the subject of our affection can be a powerful way to communicate that emotional connection.