Inquiry Regarding the Name Naama

Greetings,

Indeed, `Naama`, the sister of Tubal-Cain, united with the fallen angels Uzza and Azael, and she is the mother of the demons. However, there is another Naama who is associated with holiness, namely `Naama`, the wife of King Solomon, who was a great righteous woman. I will quote you a passage from the book of the Rama from Pano regarding the greatness of Naama, and surely those who bear the name `Naama` intend for this name, rather than the Naama from the other side.

Thus wrote the Rama: (Book of Ten Statements - Statement of the Mother of All Living - Part 3, Section 9): "Go and learn from Ruth the Moabite, who was accepted only during the time of poverty and challenges of Naomi, and it is written that Ruth clung to her, specifically not during her prosperity, for the bitterness was very intense for me. And among the thousands of women whom Solomon converted, she alone was accepted to establish the kingdom of Israel, specifically Naama the Ammonite, whom he married when he was in dire straits, and he did not return to his kingship except by virtue of her. It is written in the legend that the ring on which the explicit name was inscribed was given to Solomon by Ashmedai and he cast it into the great sea.

In the end, Hashem arranged for a fish to swallow it, and for three years Solomon was distressed in his poverty for having transgressed three prohibitions: he should not increase in wives, horses, and gold, and he stumbled in all of them and lost his mind over the loss of the ring, until Hashem had mercy on him and he encountered the king of the Ammonites and became his servant. Naama, his daughter, desired him, and her father exiled both of them to a desolate wilderness so that they would die a death of their own and not have his hand upon them. But Hashem arranged for them by the seashore, and that fish was destined for them, and in the merit of Naama, Solomon received consolation when she gave him back the ring by causing the fish to split open, and his spirit was revived, and from her it was said that she would bring forth a son. There’s no doubt that Solomon did not miss a great mitzvah that came to him, for immediately upon his return, he invited her in marriage, and they were still both in abject poverty. She was even more meritorious than Ruth, as she is referred to merely as the ‘mother of the king’ as is stated in the chapter about the boat, and Naama is indeed the mother of the Messiah according to our sages, and her name testifies to the pleasantness of Hashem our God, just as Ruth is called so because David, who sang praises to Hashem, descended from her."

Happy Chanukah - Menashe Israel