[HANASHIR:12255] Re: question on words. one word, actually.

[Andy Curry <acurry...>]

On Yom Kipur afternoon, the liturgy includes descriptions of the 
ancient-Temple ritual performed by the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kipur.  The 
climax of this ritual was that he entered the holy of holies and pronounced 
the ineffable name of God - the only time in the year that this was allowed.

The ineffable name of The Ineffable One - Yud-Key-Vav-Key (and, without 
thinking about it, I just substituted "Key" for "Hey", to avoid even 
spelling it) is no longer pronounced AT ALL by Jews.  Fundamentalist 
Christians sometimes refer to "Yahweh", but that's an unlikely,and IMO 
silly, pronunciation.

Even the Reform siddurim avoid spelling that name, substituting "Yud Yud".

So the most common substitute, used for prayer, is your "A-word", meaning 
"Lord".  And, in fact, that word is also used as an honorific in the Bible 
when a man is talking to a human lord.

As you say, the "A-word" has become "loaded" from its use in t'filah.  Jews 
of stricter observance avoid using it except in prayer, even though it is 
itself a substitute.  They also substitute kuf for hey in other words 
referring to the Holy One, e.g., "Elokim".  The idea is to separate the 
holy from the profane.  I believe the practice is very old.

I myself follow the practice most of the time, but more so I follow the 
minhag hamakom.  Either way is okay with me as long as respect is 
maintained.  Wish I knew where to point you for written material on the 
subject.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,
Andy

At 12:10 PM 9/20/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>I have been asked to lead a discussion about Jewish music and one of the 
>questions has to do with using one of the zillion names of God.
>Because I am schooled in the Reform tradition it feels okay for me to use 
>-- well, let's call it the A-word for now -- in reference to God. But 
>other Jews prefer to avoid use of this word by substituting a less, um, 
>loaded word in its place; or by doctoring a name by changing a consonant 
>to alter the pronounciation and thereby avoid the actual name altogether.
>How did this tradition come about? What do people think about it? And can 
>anyone recommend a good book that would help be feel better prepared to 
>discuss this phenomenon?
>Thank you in advance --Beth Hamon

Andy Curry
7990 W 114th Terr
Overland Park KS 66210
Home: (913)663-1647
Work: (913)312-4739
acurry (at) lenexa(dot)sema(dot)slb(dot)com

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+