Since this week's Torah portion, Shemos, literally means "names", I'd like to examine the significance of the name of one of the Bible's most famous personalities: Moses.
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabah 1:3) teaches that Moses actually had ten names - Moshe, Yered, Chaver, Yekutiel, Avigdor, Avi Socho, Avi Zanuach, Tuviah, Shemayah, and Halevi. Yet, throughout the entire written Torah, he is known only by the name Moshe, the origin of which is also found in this week's Torah portion. After Pharaoh decreed that all baby boys in Egypt were to be killed, Yocheved is forced to hide her newborn son. When the baby turns three months old, she can no longer hide him at home, so she places him in a basket among the reeds of the Nile River. Pharaoh's own daughter goes to bathe in the Nile where she discovers the baby in the basket. In defiance of her father’s strict orders, she rescues this noticeably Jewish child and raises him as her own, naming him Moshe, “For I drew him [misheesuhu in Hebrew] from the water." (Exodus 2:10)

Why is it that of all of Moshe’s names, the one that the Torah always uses to identify him is not the name given to him by his biological parents, but rather the name he's given by Pharaoh's daughter?

Perhaps the answer is that of all the names he had, the name Moshe is the one he received as a result of the greatest degree of sacrifice and devotion. Imagine the courage and bravery it took for Pharaoh's daughter to defy her father’s wishes, which we can assume carried significant consequences! A contemporary analogy would be if Hitler had a daughter who was found to be providing a safe haven for Jews during the Holocaust. Pharaoh’s daughter was willing to risk her father’s wrath (or worse!) in order to do what she felt was just and moral. This required tremendous dedication and self-sacrifice on her part.

By using the name that Pharaoh's daughter bestowed upon this child whom she rescued from the clutches of an evil tyrant, the Torah is teaching us that the things that have the greatest, most lasting power in life are not those that come to us with ease, but instead it’s what we achieve by virtue of dedication and self-sacrifice.

We recently completed celebrating the festival of Chanukah. The name "Chanukah" itself means dedication, because when the Maccabees re-captured the Temple from the Syrian-Greeks, they re-dedicated it to G-d. If the dedication of the Temple is a cause for celebration, why wasn't a holiday established to commemorate the occasion when the first Holy Temple was built in the days of King Solomon? When King Solomon built the temple, it was in the heyday of Jewish history when the Jewish people were at peace with their neighbors, the economy was flourishing, and things couldn't have been better. Under those conditions, dedicating the Temple was a wonderful event, but not surprising or unexpected. Contrast that with the situation in the days of the Maccabees, when the Jewish people were being persecuted in their homeland and the practice of Judaism was outlawed. Against all odds, a relatively minuscule group of Jews decided to fight for their lives and for Judaism, and emerged victorious. They were finally able to re-dedicate the Temple only after they had risked life and limb! In that historical context, the Temple dedication was nothing short of extraordinary, an event to be commemorated for posterity!

Whether it is the name of our greatest leader or the name of one of our favorite holidays, the lesson for all of us is to value the things for which we go the extra mile, because those will ultimately form our most lasting legacy.