“My Name to Conceal”

 

Professor Azriel Rosenfeld on the Sacred Name

August 2, 2002

Listen to "He Called Out his Own Name Twice" from EloHyms (www.EloHymns.com)

Snyder Bible

 

Jackson Snyder: “The use of the ‘HaShem your G-d’ (in your Torah studies) is very disturbing to me.  Are you now worshiping a G-d named HaShem?  I realize it means, "the name," but shouldn't the actual name YHWH be spoken instead of a disturbing substitute? The god HaShem has taken on a life of his own, it seems.  Do you have any teaching on this that could enlighten me?”

 

Azriel Rosenfeld: In Biblical times the Tetragrammaton was pronounced the way it was written, and in the Temple it was pronounced by the Kohanim when they blessed the people, but since that time it is always replaced by a generic Divine Name, usually the one spelled A-D-N-Y and translated "My L-rd". For secular purposes, even the generic Divine Names are not pronounced the way they are written; in particular, A-D-N-Y is replaced by "Ha-Shem" ("the Name") because it usually stands for the Tetragrammaton. The verse in Ex.3:15, which can be read "This is My Name to conceal" (LE-ALEM) rather than "This is My Name forever" (LE-OLAM), is interpreted by the Talmud as saying "I am not spoken the way I am written" (Pesachim 50a, Kiddushin 71a). See also Deut.28:58, "To fear this honored and awesome Name (HA-SHEM), Y-H-V-H your G-d", which foreshadows the replacement of Y-H-V-H by "Ha-Shem".