By Mitchell First

The name “ישרון” appears three times in the Torah, all in the book of Devarim: 1) “Yeshurun got fat and kicked,” (32:15) 2) “There was a king in Yeshurun,” (33:5) and 3) “There is no one like the God of Yeshurun,” (33:26).

The first time the name appears, it is obviously a nickname for the people of Israel. Both the second and third times, the meaning of the verses are unclear. But the name also appears in Isaiah 44:2: “Do not fear, my servant Jacob, Yeshurun whom I have chosen.” Since in our first and fourth verses, it is a nickname for the people of Israel, that is how we should understand the other two verses and how I translated them above.

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The first issue with the name is the import of the “un” ending. “Zevulun” is another name with an ending like this. In the case of Zevulun, commentators have much trouble with the naming of the verse in Genesis 30:20. It mentions two difficult roots in connection with the name: “זבד” and “זבל.” The commentators usually don’t have enough strength left to discuss the “un” ending!

Let us now discuss the ending “on” as in the name “Shimon.” Is this merely an ending which turns a verb into a noun? Or does it, perhaps, have a diminutive aspect to it? For example, “אישון — eyeball” is widely understood to mean “little man in the eye.” Even if “on” has such a meaning, is “un” just a regional variant of “on” or is it, perhaps, something different altogether? I will come back to the import of the “un” ending.

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Now, let us address the root. Most of our commentaries and most scholars see the root as “ישר.” The name would, therefore, reflect something like the straight, righteous and moral character of the people of Israel. See, e.g., the Ibn Ezra and Rabbi Hirsch on Deuteronomy 32:5.

The root of the name “Yaakov” is “עקב.” Although “עקב” originally meant something like “heel,” and “follow at the heel,” from this, it developed a negative connotation of “overreaching” and “tricking.” See, e.g. Jeremiah 9:3 and 17:9. See also The Living Torah’s loose translation of Genesis 27:3, which is “went behind my back” and Rashi’s second interpretation here is “outsmarted me.”

Therefore, it has been suggested by some of our traditional commentaries that the name “Yeshurun” was created for the people of Israel to respond to the implication of deceit that arises from being named after “Yaakov.” See, e.g., Nachmanides on Deuteronomy 2:10 and 7:12. Many scholars agree.

A different view (within the “straight/righteous/moral” approach) views the name as referring to only the most praiseworthy of the people of Israel. See, e.g. Genesis Rabbah 77:1 and Netziv on 32:15.

What other approaches are there to the name “Yeshurun?”

There is a root “שור” in Tanach that means “see” (see, e.g., “אשורנו,” Numbers 23:9). Some suggest that this is the root of “Yeshurun.” One who takes this approach is Rabbeinu Bachya. He believes the name refers to the fact that our people saw God face-to-face at Har Sinai. See also the Seforno, who suggests a relation to this root and suggests that “Yeshurun” is a name for the select portion of Israel who are “ba’alei ha-iyyun” (i.e., the most intellectual).

Another approach sees “שיר — sing” as the root of our name. See, e.g., Vilna Gaon, Aderet Eliahu to Deuteronomy 33:26 (second section). He suggests that the name alludes to the fact that the Israelites sang a song to God (“Oz Yashir”) after the Exodus.

Some Rishonim believe that “Yeshurun” is a combination of “ישר” and “נאה.” They point out that the total of these two words has the same gematria as “Yeshurun.” Those who take this approach include Rokeach and Arugot HaBosem.

He-Ketav Ve-Ha-Kabbalah (died 1865) views the root as “ישר” with its “straight” meaning and that it refers to the fact that Israel has a direct means of communicating with God. See his commentary on Deuteronomy 33:28. (He makes other suggestions there as well.) The Septuagint (third century B.C.) translated “Yeshurun” with a Greek word that means “beloved.”Surprisingly, the Talmud does not discuss the meaning of the name.

After all of that, what do I think? Many scholars have suggested that the “un” ending suggests that the name is a “hypocoristicon,” a name of affection. For example, in English, individuals whose names are Jonathan and Thomas are typically called by affectionate shortened names: “Johnny” and “Tommy.” I think that is what is going on here.

Let me explain further… I have always suspected that “Yeshurun” was originally spelled “Yesurun” with a “sin” and that it originated as an affectionate shortening of “Yisrael.”

I see that something like this was suggested by a famous gentile biblical scholar: Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (died 1842). (His writings were one of the basis of the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon of 1907. The introduction to this work calls him “the father of modern Hebrew lexicography.”) Gesenius suggests that the name was originally “ישׂראלון,” (cited in Samuel David Luzzatto on Isaiah 44:2). But I don’t think we have to go that far. I think “Yesurun” could have developed directly from “Yisrael.”

Of course, one can alternatively view the name as a hypocoristicon that originated with a “shin.” The term would mean, affectionately: my “straight, moral” people. This name could have arisen as a response to a possible negative connotation of the name “Yaakov,” or arisen on its own. But the name would still fundamentally be a hypocoristicon playing on the word “Yisrael” and adjusting it to a “shin.” See the Encyclopedia Ha-Mikrait entry for this and a few other suggestions.(Some view the “un” ending as implying “righteous little people.” This view seems very far-fetched.)

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In the Rosh Hashanah Amidah, when the three additional themes are included, the custom came to be to recite three Malchuyot verses from the Torah, three from the Ketuvim, and three from the Nevi’im and the 10th verse would again be from the Torah. See Rosh Hashanah 32b. (The structure is the same for the Zichronot and Shofarot sections.)

Regarding the Malchuyot section, there are many verses in the Nevi’im and Ketuvim that refer to God as “מלך.” But what about in the Torah? There are only three: 1) Exodus 15:18, “Hashem yimloch le-olam va’ed,” 2) Numbers 23:21, “u-truat melech bo,” and 3) Deuteronomy 33:5, “va-yehi bi-Yeshurun melech.” That is why, for the 10th verse, we recite the “Shema Yisrael” verse. The Talmud includes this as an option. See Rosh Hashanah 32b.

But Ibn Ezra takes the position that the “melech” referred to at Deuteronomy 33:5 is Moshe, not God. I have always wondered what verse he used as a substitute! The truth is that at Rosh Hashanah 32b, other substitute Malchuyot verses from the Torah are suggested as well: in Deuteronomy 4:35 and 4:39.

Others also interpret the “melech” of Deuteronomy 33:5 as Moshe. See, e.g., Exodus Rabbah chapters 48 and 52, and Rambam, the commentary on Mishnah Shavuot 2:2. See also perhaps the statement in Seder Olam, chapter 7 about Elisheva (included at Zev. 120a).

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I would like to acknowledge Rabbi R.C. Klein’s post: “Jacob’s Three Names” from January, 2020 which provided some of the above references.

Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected]. He goes to Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck. He hopes that readers from Congregation Bnai Yeshurun will enjoy this column.