Regarding the name of God

[ftf]

There has been some discussion recently about the name of God, I'm not interested in having another discussion about what it is, what I was hoping to gain a greater understanding about was the prohibitions about use of the name, both what they are, and where in scripture they are drawn from, this is a subject I know very little about, so I was hoping someone could educate me about it.

[mord]

Maybe LUBAB would know however most Christians don'nt say G-D the Fathers name.

[Lubab]

Oh boy. There's a lot to this topic. Just a few basic points to start.

G-d has two types of names: Names (Shemot), and titles (Kinuyim). Using the analogy of a person a name is like that someone's name is John. Then John can have titles like: Doctor, the kind one, the good basketball player etc. Titles refer to qualities of the person. Essential names refer to the person himself. So if I call him John, I'm referring to his whole being, not just one aspect of him.

So too, G-d is referred to in the Bible with titles sometimes like: "Rachum" (mercifull one) "Erech Apayim" (the One who is slow to anger). These refer to G-d's qualities. Then G-d has essential names that refer to G-d Himself spelled: Y(Heb. yud)-H (hay)-V (vov)-H (hay) and A (aleph)-D (dalet)-N (nun)-AI (yud).(but this get's complicated because these can also sometimes be titles)


Now there are a lot of detailed laws in the Talmud and in the later commentaries when you can use these names. Here's just a few basics:

-One of the names which is 72 letters long names can only be said once a year by the high priest.
-Most (maybe none?) can never be said in the bathroom.
-It's more lenient if you use the English version of the name but some restrictions still apply.
-It's more lenient if you're using a "title" instead of an "essential name".
-It's always more lenient if the name is being used as part of a prayer as opposed to being used casually.
-Most people avoid all these issues by not using any name at all but just using the Hebrew word "Hashem" which just means "the Name".


So I guess to answer you're question, it depends, who is saying it, when, where, why, how, and in what language.

[ftf]

What I was really hoping to hear more about was where in the torah prohibitions are mentioned, if ti's too much work it's ok, I can look it up for myself in time, (I don't have the tme at the moment though).

[genteelgentile]

This is a very fascinating topic. I do hope to read more when possible.

[Lubab]

What I was really hoping to hear more about was where in the torah prohibitions are mentioned, if ti's too much work it's ok, I can look it up for myself in time, (I don't have the tme at the moment though).

Hmmm. I'd have to look it up too. I know using G-d's name in vain is one of the Ten Commandments but I think that refers to SWEARING in G-d's name. And these laws I think are derived from somewhere else. I'll try to check it out when I have time.

[ftf]

Thanks lubab.