- Pronouncing God's Name
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- Moshe Ben-Chaim
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- Question: It is my understanding that our philosophy is never
to use G-d's Name without proper justification (2nd Commandment).
Therefore, in common speech, we refer to Hashem - rather than
A-D-O-N-A-I. In all my years in Yeshiva, it has never been explained
to my why the pronunciation of the 2 Yud's and Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay are
both pronounced as "A-D-O-N-A-I", even during prayer.
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- In my mind, when would there be better justification to use the
proper pronunciation of G-d's name than during prayer, when we are
trying to commune and establish a dialog with Him?
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- Mesora: I
learned from a rabbi years ago that the idea of never pronouncing
God's name - as written - is a demonstration by man that he does not
have positive knowledge of God. "We cannot call Him by His real
name", this means that we do not know His essence. This
idea is an essential idea for mankind to recognize. Our minds are
incapable of surpassing certain areas of thought. We also demonstrate
this by never entering the Holy of Holies in the Temple. See my
article on this here: The Temple and
Tabernacle
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