G-d or G o d

[Moshe92]

This is another interesting ask the rabbi question and answer from the Beit El yeshiva website.

http://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/eng/?id=4441

G-d’s name


Rabbi Elchanan Lewis

Question:
Personally I don’t like to use the name G-d at all since to my belief it is not allowed to use G-d as well as amon or other deities. Am I wrong to prefer to use only Elokim and Kel shakkai etc and not G-d since this is also taken his name in vain according to my belief? I might be wrong, please correct me

Answer:
The Talmud [Nedarim 7b] teaches that even though the third commandment of not carrying Hashem's name in vain is explicitly speaking about an oath using any of Hashem's names, it also teaches us not to speak his name in vain at all.
There are seven names within the category of Godly names that can't be uttered in vain all of which are listed in the Shilchan Aruch [YD 176:9] and therefore when are spoken not in the context of the holy scriptures are altered as Elokim, Shakai, Kel, Tzevakot etc.

The word G o d is not of these seven names and can be uttered or written and erased without violating any Halachic restriction just as the adjectives "merciful" or "the all mighty" that allude to G o d, are not his name. [Ohr Sameach, Avodat Kochavim 2:7] .

Even though "G o d" is not one of the seven names, since it is a reference to the holy one blessed is he, many have the practice to spell it G-d to show respect to his name.

To conclude – you can use both G o d and Elokim as reference to Hashem but the other two names you wrote should be altered if not during Torah study to Kel and Shakai.

[muman613]

Yes, this is well known that G O D is not a holy name yet we still respect it because it represents the idea of Hashems name. I always spell it with the dash for this reason.

[Hyades]

Maybe intersting for some of you?

http://www.hebrew4christians.net/Names_of_G-d/names_of_g-d.html 

[muman613]

Maybe intersting for some of you?

http://www.hebrew4christians.net/Names_of_G-d/names_of_g-d.html 

You do know that Jews are not allowed to teach the names of G-d to non-Jews... I don't know if it is a good idea to post a link like this...

http://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/eng/?srch=1&cat=&search_in=2&q=teach+torah

Question:

Is it permissible to teach Hebrew and Torah sources to a goy (an observant catholic)?

Answer:
It is forbidden to teach Torah to a non Jew.
Though the Responsa Meshiv Davar writes that this refers only to rabbinical writings and not to the bible, but the Ohali Ya'akov writes that also teaching quotes from the bible is not allowed.
Teaching Hebrew is also forbidden, unless the non Jew already knows Hebrew but wants to study the grammar.
Some Rabbis say one is allowed to teach the seven Noachide commandments.

http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/736060/Rabbi_Gidon_Rothstein/Towards_a_Jewish_Theology_of_Non-Jews

...
First, paganism was alive and well in the time of the Talmud- Christianity did not conquer the Roman world until the fourth century, and Persia was pagan well beyond then. Second, traditional Jewish law counted at least some versions of major modern religions as idol-worshipping35. References to the prohibition against idol worship as universal, then, must mean only that the Talmud expected non-Jews to understand that a monotheistic system would prohibit idolatry, not that they would intuitively accept such a system.

Even those who insist that the prohibition of idolatry is intuitive need to recognize the Jewishness of the Talmud’s definition of it, at least at the level of incurring the death penalty. We can easily understand the liability assumed for anyone who worships an idol in its ordinary manner or verbally accepts its status as a deity; that is the inherent definition of the prohibition. What becomes more surprising is the system’s ruling that anyone who bows down, offers incense, sacrifices, or libates to an idol that is not worshiped that way still deserves death36.

In contrast, other acts of admiration and love- kissing, hugging, washing, polishing—do not incur the death penalty. The Talmud explains that the included forms of worship make the list because they were avodot penim, acts of worship that occurred within the sanctuary of the Temple itself. It is the Temple aspect of these acts that shape their definition as worship of an idol not normally served that way.

Aside from the particularism of asserting that Jewish ideas of worship define others’ acts, the rule assumes that non-Jews need to know something about Judaism and its Temple. To highlight the issue, we might imagine two non-Jews who wish to actively (although not verbally, since verbal acceptance itself incurs the death penalty) express their good feelings towards some idol. This idol’s normal worship involves people throwing money at its feet.

Destitute, one of our people rushes up to the idol, hugs it, kisses it, and polishes it to a fine sheen. The other lights some incense before it. From the Jewish perspective, the second would get the death penalty for idolatry while the first would not37. A non-Jew could avoid all of this, of course, by simply refraining from expressing any positive feelings for powers other than the single Creator of the World, but that, too, means the non-Jew has accepted Jewish monotheism.

Moving to blasphemy, non-Jews who care about the Noahide laws could just avoid the whole issue by never expressing negative feelings towards G-d. Those who want to know the line between a capital crime and an ordinary prohibition, though, would need to know something about how Jews refer to G-d. The blasphemy rules, for Jews and non-Jews, address two main issues: what words constitute blasphemy and the name of G-d that must be used to raise the act to a capital crime. Simply saying, for example, “I hate G-d, I hope He x,” while not lauded, would not earn a person, Jew or non-Jew, the death penalty.

Instead, based in part on its reading of Scripture, the Talmud requires that the blasphemer use a name of G-d as part of the curse. In the Talmudic idiom, the blasphemer must say “Yose should hit (or kill) Yose,” with Yose being a euphemism for names of God38. The Talmud records a debate as to what words qualify to substitute for “Yose” in the preceding sentence.

The majority opinion asserts that a Jew will not be put to death unless he uses the special name of G-d, Hashem or, according to Maimonides, Adonay39. Non-Jews, on the other hand, would be put to death for using any kinui – a word we will define in a moment- of G-d’s name40. Maimonides sees the term kinui as including:1) alternative names, such as Hashem or Tsevaot, 2) ordinary Hebrew terms for qualities that Scripture attached to G-d, such as “He Who is Compassionate” or “Merciful,” and 3) terms used for G-d in non-Hebrew languages, such as Allah, G-d, or Dieu41. Other commentators42 may have limited capital liability to those who use an actual name of G-d, such as Hashem or Tsevaot, which the Talmud would have referred to as a kinui, a nickname, in comparison to the special names.

Either version places capital blasphemy in a Jewish context. While all blasphemy is reprehensible, the blasphemy that moves a court to action is only that which takes on G-d identified in an authorized form- the names that are included in Scripture, and, for Maimonides, the character traits that are linked to G-d and the names of G-d in other languages. Like idol worship, capital blasphemy only becomes a problem when it rebels against G-d in a Jewishly defined way43.
...

[Hyades]

Maybe intersting for some of you?

http://www.hebrew4christians.net/Names_of_G-d/names_of_g-d.html 

You do know that Jews are not allowed to teach the names of G-d to non-Jews... I don't know if it is a good idea to post a link like this...

I know, but people here are Zionists, thus righteous. I think there is a huge difference to the average often anti-Semitic Christian...