Eber עבר
great-grandson of Shem, head of a house of study; the word «Hebrew» derives from his name
Ever was born in 1723, in the fourth generation after the Flood, and lived 464 years, dying in 2187 — outliving his own great-grandson Terach and knowing the grown Yaakov. In the Torah's genealogy his branch is the one that leads to Avraham.
In the days of his son Peleg «the earth was divided» — the confusion of tongues at Bavel. The sages say Ever foresaw it and named his son accordingly, and that he took no part in the tower.
His name entered the language. «Ivri», the Torah's epithet for Avraham, is explained either as «descendant of Ever» or as «one on the other side», since the whole world stood on one side and Avraham on the other; the midrash gives both.
Tradition makes him co-founder of the study house of Shem and Ever, where Rivka enquires and Yaakov studies.