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Y H V HThe first time a Name for G-d is seen in scripture it is Elohim. The word Elohim is itself a masculine word in plural form and has also been employed to refer to other gods, powerful beings or important persons such as judges or princes. Variations of this word are El, Eloha, Elohaynu (Our G-d) and Elohai (my G-d). In the Torah ( Exodus 3:13 - 22) Moses asks G-d what he should tell the Israelites when they ask him of G-d's name? G-d replies; "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh". And G-d continued, saying "Thus shall you say to the Israelites, 'Ehyeh sen me to you.' " The conversation between G-d and Moses continues as G-d tells Moses, "Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: YHVH ('The Lord' see below for commentary) the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto you: This shall be My Name forever. This My appellation for all eternity." This token; YHVH, is referred to as the Ineffable Name, The Unpronounceable Name and the Tetragrammaton. It is a common misconception that Jews were/are prohibited from pronouncing the Name of G-d. Nothing in the Torah prohibits such. The Mishnah actually confirms that the Name of G-d should at time be used as a greeting between fellow Jews (Berakhot 9:5). By the Talmudic period, however, for various reasons, direct use of the Name of G-d became restricted. Whether to avoid abuse or to avoid appearing to employ the Name of G-d as an invocation is not clearly known. Different sources cite different reasons. Suffice it to say that after a given period, the pronouncing of the Name of G-d fell into disuse until such a state as to have lost. In keeping with the developed tradition of employing a substitute for the Name of G-d, and in order to insure that the Name of G-d is not mispronounced, it is typical to substitute either the phrase Ha-Shem (literally, The Name) or the term Adonai (meaning Lord). After the time inwhich vowel marks were added to scriptural writings, to insure correct pronunciation and understanding, in order to remind the reader to pronounce Adonai when the saw the letters Y H V H, the vowel marks for Adonai were inserted into the text. It was the error of a 16th Century monk, who saw the consonants of Y H V H along with the vowel marks for Adonai that created the term "Jehovah". Hebrew scholars find it highly unlikely that this particular pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was ever actually employed. Reinforcement of the idea that pronouncing the Name of G-d is acceptable if not directly encouraged is the inclusion of variation of Names of G-d in certain personal names; Yehoshuah (Joshuah, meaning "The Lord is my salvation), Eliyahu (Elijah, meaning "my G-d is the Lord") and the phrase, Halleluyah (meaning "praise the Lord"). Another Name is El Shaddai. This is usually translated as "G-d Almighty" but this is uncertain as the exact derivation of "Shaddai" is not known today. According to a Midrash, it means "The One who said 'dai'". "Dai" in this case, would mean "enough" or "sufficient". This coincides with the idea that when G-d commanded the acts of creation, that the universe expanded and built itself until G-d said "Dai", "Enough". It is also noteworthy that Shaddai is the Name of G-d written upon the mezuzah scroll. Shaddai could be found as an acronym for the words "Shomer Daltot Israel" (Guardian of the Doors of Israel). |
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