9 Attribute holiness to G!d’s Name

The Hebrew idea of holiness includes sanctity, but we do not sanctify G!d’s Name. How can we? We are sanctified by G!d — and thus we do not sanctify G!d’s Name. We have both Formal and Informal Names for G!d.

השם

The Informal Name is usually Ha’Shem. We use this Name in English to mean G!d generally, whatever Name is used in Hebrew. Like many Hebrew words, and especially words that convey spiritual meaning, this word is a pun.

Hebrew shém means name — and shahm means to put or to place.

We do not use Ha’Shahm to name G!d, but we do use Maqom, which means place but has the sense of omnipresent, e.g., G!d Is everywhere.

We attribute holiness to G!d’s Name in various ways. The most visible way, and certainly in this work, is by abbreviating the Name so as not to erase it. In Hebrew we typically write ה or ד. The common English version is to write G-d, but I am informed by my teacher Reb Hillel, who learned from our teacher Reb Zalman, to write it with an exclamation mark rather than a dash. My own contribution to this idea is to suggest that agnostics use G?d when writing the Name.