PURELY COMMENTARY
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Tetragrammaton
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38
FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1988
In the May 4, 1979 edition
of The Jewish News, on
pages 38 and 39, you
printed a brocha with the
name of G-d many times.
Jewish Law requires that
the brocha be buried with
"Shaimos" (worn out
religious articles). This
means that all the readers
should be notified not to
discard the paper, but to
cut out those pages and
bring them to our office for
burial.
We request that you
notify your entire staff,
particularly the ad depart-
ment to be on the alert to
omit the printing of the
name of G-d in any prayers
or statements.
Sincerely,
Council Of Orthodox
Rabbis
of Greater Detroit
Rabbi Leizer Levin
Rabbi Charlop wrote to me
on May 31, 1988, with his ac-
companying responsum. I am
deeply indebted to him and to
Dr. Lamm. I am confident
that our readers will share
the deep appreciation for an
effort to enrich the responsa
literature and enlighten all
who wish to be informed on
how the Tetragrammaton is
to be treated when writing
and publishing reference to
the Hashem. It serves as an
enlightenment for all who
may have marveled why the
strict observers hyphenate
resort to the term G-d. I have
never practiced it myself. I
probably will never change
my habit. But the knowledge
of it keeps enriching me. I am
deeply in debt to Rabbis Nor-
man Lamm and Zevulun
Charlop.
Jewish law regarding the
Tetragrammaton (and
possibly several other
forms) of G-d's name is
clear. It may not be erased
or exposed to undignified
destruction. Halachah pro-
vides that it be buried with
"Shaimos" (worn out
religious articles). Indeed,
the word "Shaimos," which
has come to denominate
religious items no longer
suitable for use and which
must, therefore, be buried,
as you undoubtedly know,
means "names" and refers
to writings and artifacts
with G-d's name, whose
honorable disposal is our
first concern in this area.
Therefore, Jews have
been very careful to ab-
breviate His name,
especially in transient
materials such as
newspapers and
magazines, which are
generally not kept. If G-d's
name does inadvertently
appear in such publica-
tions, then their readers
should be cautioned not to
discard them willy nilly
before cutting It out for
burial.
The letter you received
from Rabbi Leizer Levin in
1979, it seems to me, was an
altogether appropriate and
respectful response to you
on this matter. I am,
however, at a loss to
understand the strident at-
tacks against you and the
call for the burning of your
paper, which apparently
came from other quarters,
as this would apply only to
missionary publications or
to the writings of apikor-
sim who would use G-d's
name blasphemously and
for their nefarious pur-
poses. It must also be
noted, however, that the
category of Apikoros, in
view of the most accepted
rabbinic authorities, is
hardly operative anymore
because of the general ig-
norance pervasive among
most Jews today about
Jewish belief and practice.
A preeminent decisor of
our time, Rabbi Moses
Feinstein O.B.M., who
generally deals leniently
with printed, and certainly
automated printed
material containing G-d's
names with the exception
of the Tetragrammaton, in
his responsa Igrot Moshe
(Vol. I, Yoreh Deah,
response 172) feels also
that one should abbreviate
the English form of G-d,
although this is by no
means and necessarily the
view of other decisors.
There is also a distinc-
tion, intimated before, bet-
ween writing out G-d's
name in transient,
"throwaway" publications
such as dailies and
weeklies and writing out
His name in more perma-
nent publications such as
books which are meant, at
the outset, to be kept —
although some people to-
day, and not without
reasonable cause, insist no
less upon abbreviating G-
d's full name, even in these
more enduring forms. They
feel that that loving
reverence which used to at-
tach to books is of a
bygone era, and that they
are hardly better preserv-
ed today than newspapers.
Prophet
Continued from Page 2
There is an evident en-
thusiasm with which she
wrote the stories and it com-
mends her efforts to readers