[Dean's World] Dean: A Goyim Explores "Hashem"

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Posted by Dean:
A Goyim Explores "Hashem"
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1192658741.shtml


   Somewhat in response to Naftali's recent posting, I thought I'd
   explain the term "Hashem" to some folks who might now know it.

   Believing that the name of God is sacred, some traditionalist Jews use
   the term "Hashem," which is basically Hebrew for "The Name." Some I've
   met will also just say "El," which is the first part but not the whole
   part of one of God's names in Hebrew. (There's more than one, which is
   a complicated subject in and of itself.)

   Some somewhat more liberal will go ahead and say "God" is okay since
   that's obviously not God's name (in the Hebrew, anyway) but some to be
   safe will spell ing "G_d" just to avoid offending the almighty.

   The actual names of God most well-known to Jews are "Elohim" and
   "Yahweh," although there is some controversy over that; in ancient
   Hebrew, YHWH are the only letters known, and the vowels are just sort
   of guessed at. One of the more improbable guesses is "Jehova," which
   very, very few Hebrew, Jewish, OR Christian scholars accept as valid.
   But nobody's actually sure what the vowels in YHWH were originally.
   They are not clearly remembered in oral tradition or spelled out
   anywhere reliable.

   By the way, it is with some amount of discomfort that the
   traditionalist Jew hears either "Elohim" or "Yahweh" blurted out loud
   in casual conversation, although when they hear it from gentiles the
   usual reaction is to say "well they're just uneducated, they don't
   know better." Most Jewish scholars, from what I've seen, would agree
   that it's not actually offensive for a gentile to reproduce "Elohim"
   or "Yahweh" in writing, but, they would say it would be offensive to
   print those out and then treat what is printed with contempt, or to
   curse those names. But just having them there electronically is
   perhaps startling but not truly offensive.

   Seeing the four letters in Hebrew is a little more startling, but
   [1]that's an even touchier subject.

   Those of you who treat all this with contempt, by the way, really
   embarrass yourselves. It's such a small thing, to ask for a modicum of
   respect for a thousands of years old religious symbol. I thought so
   when I was an atheist. I think so now that I'm a Christian. You don't
   have to share the same view of it although for thousands of years most
   Christiaqns respected it, which is why they transposed "THE LORD" for
   "YHWH" or "Elohim" whenever they translated the Old Testament. You see
   it all over the King James, but also in most other modern
   translations.

   I think the most cringe-inducing opinion on all this I ever saw from
   this was from a "Messianic" Christian (a tiny offshoot radical
   minority of sorta-Christians) angrily bloviate that being respectful
   and careful about using God's name was just the Jews being stupid. But
   contempt for Jews runs very deep in some so-called "Christian"
   circles, even those who claim to support them.

   Anyway, you wondered what "Hashem" was? Now you know: devout Jews who
   would prefer not to offend God by casual use of His name. I don't have
   to agree with all their theology to treat it with respect (and really,
   is treating other beliefs with respect so much to ask?).

   Sorry to Naftali if he thinks I overexplained something. I just know
   there were readers going, "What the heck's a hashem?"

References

   1. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1182792497.shtml