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The text of a Torah scroll is
entirely consonantal, without
vowels. The vowel sounds are
supplied by the reader, based on
his or her knowledge of Hebrew.
In the early Middle Ages, Jew-
ish scholars known as the Ma-
soretes added vowel symbols to
the Torah text as an aid to cor-
rect reading. Knowing that by
tradition the Tetragrammaton
was pronounced as Adonai, they
added to the Tetragrammaton
you properly; continue using the the (modified) vowel symbols of
the word: shva, cholam, patach.
pronunciation you learned.
Usually scholarly (or pseudo- Around the 16th century, when
scholarly) writers will use "Yah- Christian scholars of Europe be-
weh" as the authentic Hebrew gan to study the Torah in its
term for God, based on the be- original Hebrew, they — being
lief that Yahweh is the correct unaware of the Jewish custom
pronunciation for the Hebrew — read the word as "Yehovah"
letters yud, hey, vav, hey, often (or to use the German spelling,
referred to as the Tetragram- Jehovah), thus creating a hybrid
maton. Yet even in ancient times word.
"Jehovah" became widespread
the four-letter combination was
pronounced Adonai ("Lord"), so among English speakers after
as not to violate the prohibition its use in the King James Bible
of taking God's name in vain (1611), in Exodus 6:3. Other-
(Exodus 20:7), and also to avoid wise, the King James rendered
bringing Judaism down to the the Tetragrammaton as "the
level of paganism, whose deities Lord." The American Standard
Bible (1901) regularly used "Je-
had personal names.
The actual pronunciation hovah," with the result that the
probably was used only by the word is perhaps better-known
kohanim, the priests, and then in America than in other parts
only in specific circumstances. of the English-speaking world.
The word got an extra boost
On Yom Kippur, it was used by
the High Priest alone in the Holy in 1931 when the Millennial
of Holies of the Temple in Dawnists changed their name
Jerusalem, and by ordinary to the Jehovah's Witnesses.
priests when they recited the
priestly blessing in the Temple. Q: The Wizard of Oz is m
Since we do not have audio very favorite movie, and
recordings from 2,000 years ago "Over the Rainbow" i
(although some of those Beach my very favorite song,
Boys records sure sound ancient, so of course Harold
don't they?), we have no accu-
Arlen is my very fa-
rate way of knowing how the
Tetragrammaton was pro- vorite composer.
nounced. Anyone today propos- Can you tell me
ing a pronunciation is only anything about
how the song
making a guess, at best.
"Yahweh" entered Western was written?
literature in part from Greek
A: Arlen,
transcriptions of Torah texts. born Hyman
Among those who claimed to
know the true pronunciation
were some of the early Christ-
ian scholars writing in Greek,
notably Theodoret (circa 386-
457), bishop of Cyrrhus (a small
city between Antioch and Eu-
phrates, in what is today Syria).
Theodoret stated that he heard
the Samaritans pronounce God's
name as "Yahweh."
"Jehovah" is not a Jewish
term. It is based on Christians'
misunderstanding of how the
Torah was to be read.
Q: I'm confused about Jew-
ish names for God. In some
places, I see it rendered as
Yahweh, and at other times
as Jehovah. When I went to
school, we never used these
words. We were taught to
pronounce God's name as
Adonai or Adonoi. So where
do these other terms come
from?
A: Your Hebrew school taught
Arluck in 1905 in New York,
was the son of a cantor. Hy's own
"musical career" began when he
was just a boy and sang in the
synagogue choir. He got happy
as a songwriter with his first big
success in 1928, writing for the
musical Get Happy.
No doubt Arlen's biggest
claim to fame was the 1939 Wiz-
ard of Oz, for which he won an
Academy Award.
Arlen composed the music to
"Over the Rainbow" while
strolling down the street one
evening. He was passing the fa-
mous Schwabs Drugstore on
Sunset Boulevard when sud-
denly, inspired, he sat right
down. Using the light from the
window at Schwabs, he wrote
out music for what would be-
come one of the most famous
songs of all time.
Alas: would-be musicians will
have to search elsewhere for in-
spiration; Schwabs was torn
down in 1989.
❑
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