The Story Behind Chaya Raizel’s Name
In response to many questions over the past week about the name of our daughter Chaya Raizel, her namesake, and how it came to be. I thought it would be easier if I simply shared the story here. I’ve been meaning to share our experience since she was born last week but haven’t found the time until now.
I’ll just start by saying that, I’ve always believed in the truth of our traditions teaching, that “parents are granted divine inspiration (Ruach hakodesh) when choosing a name for their child.” But this is the first time I actually experienced the *truth* of it.
So, for context: Ariella and I didn’t actually know wether it was going to be a boy or a girl (for all our births we’ve preferred to keep it a surprise) and so we had prepared a boys name incase, as well as one name we had both happily agreed upon should it be a girl - the name Chaya (which means “Life”), after our Holy Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, the Rebbes wife. As for a second name we were back and forth with several options, none of which we both liked or could agree upon. We said, “we’ll worry about it when, and if, we need to.”
Then, on the Sunday morning before Ariella went into labor, which was the morning after Shavuot I opened my phone and while checking all the latest updates I came across a news story on my feed about a young, pregnant, newly married Chabad woman from a family of shluchim who had suddenly and tragically passed away during shavuot.
Now I gotta be honest. I usually skip these tragic stories. Firstly, there are unfortunately so many heartbreaking young deaths these days that sadly, I’ve become so used to seeing such headlines and I’m ashamed to say have even become somewhat numb to them. Almost wilfully ignoring them to avoid having to feel the pain I would feel, should I allow myself to.
But this time, something was different. There was something about this particular post that grabbed me and I can’t explain it. But I couldn’t keep scrolling. I had to click on this story to read more…
To be honest, I’m still not 100% sure what it was but all I could remember was seeing Raizel’s Picture. The picture was clearly of a young bride but all I saw, was the face of an angel. In fact, I remember the moment vividly, In retrospect I’d say it was one of those ‘out-of-this 3D-realm’ experiences where my whole peripheral vision disappeared and all I could see in clear, Locked-in-focus to the exclusion of all else, was Raizel’s face which was emitting an angelic glow. I couldn’t keep scrolling.
So I did what I’ve never done and I clicked on the story.
What I read on the other side of that click, about Raizel’s life, can only be described as ‘angelic’. It was the story of a heavenly soul unencumbered by the materialistic constraints of its earthly body, living out so beautifully its divinely intended purpose. To be ‘light’ and to be ‘love’ in their most embodied, most practical and most far-reaching ramifications.
Ariella of course had also read about Raizel, and being 39 weeks pregnant (more about that later) was most obviously shaken by her pregnancy and her baby who now survives her and is still in need of our prayers - may he heal completely!
For the next few days I could not stop thinking of Raizel’s story. Her Soul. And the vision I had, of her angelic image would pop into my head randomly throughout the days that followed. It wouldn’t let me go…
Until one day I was driving home and I got this thought that hit me like a lightning bolt. It said: “If we have a girl, she is Raizel.”
Not, “*should* we call her Raizel?” Not even “we *should* call her Raizel.” But, if we have a girl “She. Is. Raizel!”
Bam 💥
Something just clicked. Right. Into. Place.
Everything suddenly made sense. But on a level where sense doesn’t even begin to operate…like deep In my bones. Even deeper than bones.
When I got home I said to Ariella. “I think, if we have a girl we should call her Raizel.”
Ariella immediately crumbled. She broke down. Sobbing tears! Like a knee-jerk reaction. No lag time. A serious nerve was struck!
She immediately said: “Yes! That’s the name.”
And that’s basically the story of Chaya Raizel’s name. Although her namING was also quite special in fact it was an extremely meaningful part of this story. As HaShem planted the idea in my head that Raizels parents should be the ones to have the honour of naming our baby. Which is exactly what happened. That Shabbos - while we were in the hospital without a minyan - Raizels father named our Chaya Raizel at the Torah, in their very own Chabad House upstate New York.
What happened was, we had gotten in touch with Raizel’s parents to tell them what had happened and to ask if they’d fulfill our request. We ended up having a half-hour video call erev shabbos from the hospital bed where they told us all about their special angel - Raizel. It was so deeply moving for Ariella and I to learn first hand from them about this special soul whose name and legacy our child would carry.
And very much like Raizel, who embodied a life of selfless giving, nourishing and healing others, our Chaya Raizel, at just a few hours old, nourished Raizels grieving parents, who had just gotten up from sitting shivah, with a brief moment of joy and healing during their darkest hour. How befittingly beautiful.
What can I say…
While I might be somewhat of a spiritually inclined person I certainly don’t go around claiming to have experiences in or of other realms. But this I have to admit was a tremendously otherworldly experience for me. It felt like we caught a glimpse behind the curtain for a brief moment. Almost as if we became aware that we were being used as the instruments of a divine plan way bigger than us.
The words of the Ari Z”L in The Book of Reincarnations (Shaar Hagilgulim) ring ever so true: That parents don’t choose a name based on chance or coincidence but are given a name from above with divine inspiration.
It certainly didn’t feel like we chose Chaya Raizel’s name but rather it chose us/her!
One final observation, and this is the one that sealed the deal for me. We were expecting Chaya Raizel at week 36 of Ariella’s pregnancy - like most of her other siblings who couldn’t wait to come out quite a bit earlier than expected. All my plans from 36 weeks onwards were scheduled as tentative but came and went week 36 and no baby, then 37 weeks no baby, 38 weeks nothing. 39 weeks… Chaya Raizel has been our only child who stayed inside this long - basically full term until just after Shavuos.
And now we know why.
She was always meant to be Chaya Raizel.
May it be your will HaShem, that she live up to her name, which is our prayer, that her life be filled with the joy of selfless giving, nourishing and healing - like “Chaya Raizel” the life of Raizel.
And may Moshiach’s imminent arrival cause them to meet each other very soon, down here, with the Rebbetzin [Chaya Mushka] who by the Rebbes side will take us out of this golus where the pain and suffering of death will no longer be possible because we will know only Life, joy & healing!
AMEN!
— Rabbi Nissen Goldman