God Language

In Judaism, God has many names. Some are quite ancient, others not so much. And many stem from the fact that we are not allowed to say God’s true name at all.

In Hebrew, the true name of God is יהוה. As with most Hebrew writings, including the Torah, the vowels are not included, so we don’t actually know how to pronounce it, nor are we supposed to try.

In written English we often just say “YHWH” and pronounce it as “yawed hey vawv hey” (Yōd, Hē, Vav, Hē) or Yahweh (rhymes with “hey”) or even just Yah.

The formal euphemism is Adonai (אֲדֹנָי), which translates to “Lords.” Many other names for God come from this avoidance of the true name, including common ones like Lord or HaShem (which literally means “The Name”). (Please note that Christians have several euphemistic names and attempts at pronunciation that they use, but us Jews do not.)

For my purposes though, it turns out I have to avoid the whole lot. Why? Because at the point that my story takes place, there are no priests and the name YHWH is not known. There can’t be euphemisms for a word that doesn’t yet exist. The accepted time of the Exodus in Judaism is 1313 BCE. We know that the branch of Canaan that became the Hebrews happened in the couple hundred years after that, which is when our origin stories began to be codified.

In the Early Iron Age (1200–1000 BCE), the modern consensus is that there was no distinction in language or material culture between Canaanites and Israelites. Scholars accordingly define Israelite culture as a subset of Canaanite culture. In this view, the Israelite religion consisted of Canaanite gods such as El, the ruler of the pantheon, Asherah, his consort, and Baal.

Yahweh. Wikipedia.

The Torah was written much later than the time in which it was set, so YHWH the word does occur as early as Genesis.

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name GOD [יהוה].

Exodus 6:3

In my first draft, I used a variety of names, including HaShem. After a discussion with my Rabbi, Irwin Keller, I learned that the timelines are off. While all these names are in use in 1995 where my modern characters come from, those characters simply don’t know them. Most have been raised purely secular, with some Christian teaching thrown in either as part of popular culture or through going to church with gentile family members. So they will use “God” and “Lord” but not much else. The Hebrew characters, from 1313 BCE, will have many names for God, but none that stem from use or avoidance of YHWH.

What God names can I use?

El Shaddai. El means God. The traditional translation of El Shaddai is God Almighty but Rabbi Irwin suggests a better translation for Shaddai would be breast or nurture.

El Rachum. Often translated as Merciful One or Compassionate One. Rabbi Irwin’s translation is Womb God (mother’s mercy, mother love). A related form is Rachamim, mercy. Another potential name for God would be Harachaman, The Merciful One. The Aramaic for Merciful One is Rachamana. Which is the name of a popular worship song in modern times, and one I use in the novel.

El. Though often used with words to indicate a quality of God, it can also be used alone (though it is usually in conjunction with some attribute). Also Eloah, or the more common plural (but grammatically singular) form, Elohim.

Elyon or El Elyon. Supreme or God most high.

Names from The 13 Attributes of Mercy are also a possibility. Moses receives them after the destruction of the Golden Calf, an event depicted in the novel. It is reasonable to assume that those names what did not actually appear much later could have been already in common use.

So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as GOD had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him.

GOD came down in a cloud—and stood with him there, proclaiming the name GOD [יהוה].

The ETERNAL passed before him and proclaimed: “GOD! GOD! a Deity compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness,

extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

Exodus 34:4-7

1. • יְהוָה YHVH (compassion before a person sins);
2. • יְהוָה YHVH (compassion after a person has sinned);
3. • אֵל El (possessing the power to bestow kindness);
4. • רַחוּם Raḥum: merciful (that mankind may not be distressed);
5. • וְחַנּוּן VeḤanun: and gracious (if mankind is already in distress);
6. • אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם Erekh appayim: slow to anger;
7. • וְרַב-חֶסֶד VeRav ḥesed: and plenteous in kindness;
8. • וֶאֱמֶת VeEmet: and truth (fulfilling His promises);
9. • נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים Notzer ḥesed la’alafim: keeping kindness unto thousands (of generations). In the Torah scroll the נֹ‎ is enlarged;
10. • נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן Noseh avon: forgiving iniquity;
11. • וָפֶשַׁע VaFeshah: and transgression;
12. • וְחַטָּאָה VeḤata’ah: and sin;
13. • וְנַקֵּה VeNakeh: and pardoning.

Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. Wikipedia.

What did I choose?

I ended up using a wide range of names throughout the novel. Some in Hebrew transliteration and most in English translation. I’ve listed the most common ones below, but note that there are many variations as well and I only note a few of those.

• The One Who Is (and The One)
• The Holy One
• El
• El Shaddai
• El Rachum
• Elohim
• The Merciful One
• The Compassionate One
• The Nurturing One
• The Almighty One (and Almighty God)

References

• Names of God in Judaism. Wikipedia. Fairly comprehensive without much depth into individual names. Appends a long list of less common names, including: Great One (Adir); The Word/The Law (Dibbura or Dibbera); Ehiyeh sh’Ehiyeh – “I Am That I Am”: a modern Hebrew version of “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”; Truth (Emet); the Holy One (HaKadosh); and many more.
• Rabbi Irwin Keller, personal correspondence, 2020.
• YHWH: The Original Arabic Meaning of the Name.  Prof. Israel Knohl.  The Torah.com.
• The 13 Attributes of Mercy: Asking God for forgiveness. Ronald L. Eisenberg.  My Jewish Learning.
• Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. Wikipedia.
• The determination of the first two of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy.  Letter No. 387: From correspondence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; translated by Eli Touger.  From the Sichos in English Collection.  This letter was addressed to R. Yehudah Tzvi Fogelman, the shaliach in Worcester, Massachusetts. B”H, 20 Menachem Av, 5708 [August 25, 1948].  Chabad.org, a division of the Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center.
• Yahweh. Wikipedia.