Names mean a lot to Jews. They reflect the essence of who you are. Jews almost always are named after an ancestor in the hope they will embrace the positive values that person represented in life. Converts to Judaism select Hebrew names for similar reasons.

What many Jews don't know, is they, too can pick new names in the event of illness. Hebrew names, in most cases, do not require action in a secular court to be changed. One can change his or her Hebrew name in Jewish service.

One of the reasons for changing a Hebrew name in a time of illness is to confuse the Malach Hamavet, the angel of death. If the angel of death doesn't know your new name, the Malach Hamavet can't find you, right? Additionally, as long as nobody knows your "inner" name, they can't control you. Works for angels and mere mortals.

A vulnerable woman in today's Talmud reading (tractate Ta'anit) calls herself Ikku, meaning "if so." Her name- if so or Ikku - begs the question? Life, Rabbi Greene says, is really a story about keeping yourself open to possibilities. Ikku needs a house with a roof. People seeking spiritual first aid are looking for miracles.

Says Rabbi Greene: "When something that I perceive as bad hapens to me, I try to view the catastrophe as something positive. If so, what do I open myself up to? It's a willing decision, an acknowledgment of suspension of disbelief. People do this when they watch a play or read a fantasy novel. Why shouldn't we be open to all possibilities in our personal lives?

"When you're catapulted out of your comfort zone, adjusting to a new life situation is very difficult. We all have this idea that somehow we should get our lives in order, and everything else remains stable. You suspend disbelief an ineffective way - life changes on a dime and what we view as solid ground beneath us really isn't."

She recalls counseling a survivor of physical domestic abuse. The woman finally divorced her abuser and began a new life. "She was a song bird who had been set free. Her new Hebrew name became Ashira. 'I will sing.'"

And so? Ikku?

Were she to change her name today, Rabbi Greene says she would consider renaming herself Rebekah. Rebekah is the only person in the Bible who receives a direct answer to a question posed to God.

And so, Ikku? Ask God. Where is God? Takes a little chutzpah to use a name to remind the creator that God is in a covenant with the Jewish people.

What's in your name?