Writing ב"ה and sacred Names in letters
[ב] (halacha 300)
In the previous halacha we learned that because of the holiness present in the holy Names of Hashem, it is forbidden to write them on mundane matters, so that they should not come to disgrace.
Question: Is there holiness when one writes only a single letter of the Name?
Answer: It is written in Sefer Chassidim1: 'If a person writes in script י"י as a hint to the Holy One, blessed be He, he may erase it, for they said the כ of דכי"י may be erased and the ל of דלי"י may be erased, but אלהינו נ"ו may not be erased, for he has already sanctified the Name'.
It appears from his words that the letters י"י, although they were written as a hint to the holy Name, may be erased.
But there are among the poskim who, although they permitted it from the strict letter of the law, were stringent when there is no great need to erase, as is written in Terumas HaDeshen2: 'And as for what you asked, whether it is permitted to erase those written in siddurim and tefillos that are marked with two yuds and a vav above them? It appears the reason they are written this way is because their numerical value adds up to כ"ו, like the Unique Name, and also the two yuds are a name on their own, like this יי', and there are also those who make two vavs like this וי"ו, and you were in doubt whether perhaps there is holiness in it, or perhaps they make the vavs above and laid down so that there should be no holiness in it. It appears that on account of gematria there is no basis to forbid it, for if so, the הודאי too would not be erasable, since it has the numerical value of the Unique Name; and on account of it being a hint to the Name, written in order to instruct, it does not appear that there is reason to forbid on that account. For we say in the chapter Shevuas HaEidus /Shevuos 35b/ that every "Shlomo" in Shir HaShirim is holy, and it too is written to instruct about the Name, yet even so Tosafos wrote that it may be erased. But in this I am in doubt, since this Name has a yud at the beginning, that is, the beginning of the Unique Name as it is written, and it is like the head of the word. And Tosafos, chapter Shevuas HaEidus, folio 35, s.v. בפר"ח, wrote in the name of Rabbeinu Chananel, that the א"ד of אדנ"י may not be erased, for it is the Name as it is pronounced, and even though the ש"ד of שדי may be erased, and the צ"ב of צבאות may be erased, here in the case of א"ד, because it is from the Unique Name there is reason to be more stringent — all this is found in Tosafos — even though א"ד are two letters of the Name, and also that he did not write anything after them. This is unlike our case, where there is only the beginning of a single letter, and moreover, he wrote after it letters and signs that are not part of the Name; nevertheless, perhaps one can say that since it is from the Unique Name in its writing there is reason to be more stringent, and if there is no great need in the matter, why should we permit erasing it'.
And it is brought down as halacha in the Rema3: 'And the Name that is written in siddurim with two yuds and one above them, it is permitted to erase it if it is for a need'.
That is, there is room to be stringent when one writes the letter yud, because it is from the Unique Name.
On the other hand, there are those who wrote that even in a single letter that hints at His holy Name there is holiness, and it is forbidden to erase it by law, and not only on account of a stringency, as the Radbaz wrote4: 'Know that what they were accustomed to write thus [=three yuds in place of the Name of Hashem] is because the three yuds add up like the Name of HaVaya with its four letters, and therefore it seems to me that it is forbidden to erase it, for it is a complete Name. And greater than this I saw written in the name of the Rishonim z"l, that if one wished to write אלהים and wrote even only a single א with a crown above, like this א, and his intention was to write it in place of the Name, that it is forbidden to erase it, end quote. And it is difficult for me, for we say: if one wrote the alef-lamed of אלהים, [or] the yud-hei of ה', it may not be erased — the reason being that it is a name; but an alef alone or a yud alone, this may be erased, even though his intention was to write the Name. And we also say: one who writes the shin-dalet of the Name שדי, this may be erased. And one may reconcile that here we are dealing with a case where he did not make a crown above it, but if he made a crown above it and intended to write the Name, although one is not flogged for it, nevertheless there is a prohibition; and from now you derive a kal vachomer regarding your question ..'.
And it appears from his words in this responsum that he was stringent, that even if one wrote only the letter א, if he intended to write the Name and made a marking that it is the beginning of the Name, this is forbidden to erase.
And there are those who were stringent even with the letter ה', as is written in the responsa Maharitz Chiyus5: 'When I contemplated the words of the Maharai, I saw that his main reason is because the yud is the beginning of the holy Name…and if so, regarding the letter ה'..we have no aspect of doubt that it is permitted to erase even ab initio; however, I saw in the Radbaz..and if so, in our case too, since his intention was to write a ה and mark above it by abbreviation in place of the holy Name, there is again a prohibition to erase it..' And so too was Rav Chaim Palagi stringent6.
And so too in the responsa Tzafnas Pa'aneach7 the Gaon of Rogatchov was asked why he does not write ב"ה at the head of letters. And his answer: 'In truth there is room to elaborate on this, whether if one wrote a single letter of the Name it is permitted to erase; see Yerushalmi Sotah chapter 2 and chapter 3, where it is a dispute between ב"ש and ב"ה, and that which they dispute in Shabbos 115 regarding rescuing [sacred writings] from a fire, whether one combines letters, or only words; and see ע"ז יח; therefore one must be careful not to write the word 'ב"ה' at the heads of letters'.
But it has already been noted8 that the Radbaz himself in another responsum9 reverted and permitted erasing the three yuds that are made as a sign for the Name of HaVaya. And so too the Chida in Bris Olam on the aforementioned Sefer Chassidim wrote: 'I recall thus, when I was a youth, that I saw in the manuscript commentary on Sifrei of our teacher the Rav, the honorable Rav Avraham Nachum z"l, who, on account of his great humility, I asked of him, that he was in doubt regarding one who was accustomed on the day of Hoshana Rabbah to write on the wall with a willow [the words] ה' ישמור צאתך ובואך etc. as a good sign, and ערב"ה his year, in square letters, whether he may erase the ה' that he wrote in place of the Name; and it seems to me that he agreed that he may erase it. This is what I recalled, and there is support for his words from the words of our teacher, and examine well'.
If so, we have seen that they disputed whether there is holiness in a single letter of the Name, and it appears that even the main ruling in halacha10 is that there is no holiness in this, but it is fitting to be stringent and to treat it with holiness, unless in a case of need.
Notes:
1 סי' תתקלה ↩
2 ח"ב סימן קעא ↩
3 יו"ד סי' רעו ס"י ↩
4 שו"ת ח"א סי' רו ↩
5 סי' יא אות ג. וראה גם בשיירי כנה"ג הגהב"י יו"ד סי' רעו אות יז שכתב 'בספר אות אמת בסוף הקדמתו, וכתב שראה למי שירא למחוק אפילו כשכתוב הקב"ה בר"ת כזה' ↩
6 רוח חיים סי' רעו ↩
7 וורשה סי' קצו ↩
8 משנת אברהם סי' לו אות נח ↩
9 ח"ו סי' ב'שט ↩
10 ראה שו"ת יחו"ד ח"ג סי' עח ובאריכות ביריעות שלמה ח"ד עמ' פד ואילך ↩
[ג] (halacha 301)
We learned1 that it is forbidden to write a holy Name in mundane correspondence out of concern that it will be thrown into the trash; likewise we learned2 that there are those who wrote that, as a stringency, there is holiness even to a single letter of the Name of Hashem.
Question: Is there, based on this, a concern with writing ב"ה at the head of letters?
Answer: Indeed, we saw the words of the Gaon of Rogatchov3, who indeed wrote that: 'In truth there is room to elaborate on this, whether if one wrote a single letter of the Name it is permitted to erase..therefore one must be careful not to write4 the word 'ב"ה' at the heads of letters'5; however, in the poskim several reasons are brought to permit it, as follows:
1) Even most of those who are stringent regarding the holiness of a single letter were stringent specifically with the letter yud, which is the beginning of His Name. As is written in the commentary of the Gra6, and as elaborated in the responsa Afarkasta D'Anya7, and these are his words: 'And the Terumas HaDeshen in his rulings, siman 171, brought in the Darchei Moshe at the end of siman 276, was somewhat in doubt only regarding the letter yud of the Unique Name, because it is the beginning of the Unique Name in its writing and is like the head of the word, see there; but regarding the letter ה', which does not even have the advantage of being the beginning, what concern is there in the matter? And also in the Sefer Bnei Yonah (brought in the Pischei Teshuvah siman 276 sub-paragraph 15) it is written that if one wrote the vav-hei of הוי"ה and his intention is to add before it the two first letters, he may erase it, see there; and if there, where he wrote two letters and also intended to complete the Name before it, even so it is permitted to erase them, all the more so with the letter ה' alone'.
2) The holy Rebbe, the author of the Imrei Emes of Ger, wrote8: 'You have brought in the name of the Rav [of Denenburg - (the aforementioned Rogatchov)] not to write ב"ה, since the intention is like "Baruch Hashem" (Blessed is Hashem) or "BeEzras Hashem" (With the help of Hashem), and what does it have to do with the holiness of a letter of His Name, may He be blessed; and in my opinion it is a matter of wonder'.
It appears that his intention is to say that this is not at all a letter of the Name of HaVaya, for the intention of the abbreviation is "BeEzras Hashem" (With the help of Hashem). And the word "Hashem" is not from a holy Name, but only to hint at Him, may He be blessed.
3) In the responsa Sho'el VeNishal9 it is written: 'And in any case it appears that in our case, that which they write at the beginning בעה"ו is only to have the mention of Heaven's Name before us, and at the outset of every matter he shall remember that the strength and the ability are in the hand of Hashem; and if so, it appears that their intention is not at all that that name should become sanctified'.
And see also in the responsa B'Tzel HaChochmah10: 'And so it stands to reason, that surely one who writes ב"ה does not intend in writing it the letter ה' to serve as a letter of the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, may His Name be blessed, but rather his intention is that he writes his letter "BeEzras Hashem" (with the help of Hashem), or that he is giving thanks to Hashem for some matter that he mentions in his letter; and see the Taz (siman 621 sub-paragraphs 2 and 3); this is unlike the dispute of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel in Yerushalmi Sotah (chapter 2, halacha 4), which deals [=is speaking] of a single letter written with the intention that it should be one of the letters of a holy Name, see there'.
4) The Igros Moshe11 wrote: 'And as for the fact that many are accustomed to write at the top of every letter they write ב"ה, where the hei is a letter of the holy Name and the intention is also to Hashem, may He be blessed — for I have heard that there are those who hold it to be a prohibition — behold, although it is only a single letter, in which there is no prohibition of erasure, nevertheless it stands to reason that it is no less than the two yuds, which it is forbidden to erase without need, as is found in Yoreh Deah at the end of siman 276, and likewise it is forbidden to throw it in a place of disgrace; nevertheless, I do not see in this a prohibition in our country, since it is not common that they would erase it, and in our country it is not at all common that they would take this paper for wiping in the privy, for there are special papers for that, and to throw it in a place of disgrace is also not common, for it is customary to burn the papers that are not needed, and one need not be concerned for a thing that is not common at all'.
If so, we have seen that even if we say that there is holiness in a single letter of the Name, nevertheless there is no concern in writing ב"ה at the head of letters.
And it should be noted that there are those who wrote that nevertheless it is good to prefer writing בס"ד; see the responsa B'Tzel HaChochmah there: 'And in any case, surely one whose heart is to Heaven and is meticulous to write at the head of his letters 'בס"ד' in place of ב"ה, and likewise is meticulous not to throw with his hands into the trash letters on which ב"ה was written — may blessing come upon him; but to be careful to guard them so that they not roll into the trash is an excessive stringency'.
And in the Mishneh Halachos12: 'And in any case, one who wishes to fulfill the view of all should intend to write "Baruch HaBorei" (Blessed is the Creator), or should write בס"ד, for then there is no hint to the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He'.
And likewise wrote the Igros Moshe there: 'And if one writes בס"ד there is no concern at all to forbid, even in a manner where there is reason to be concerned for erasure without need and using it for a matter of disgrace, for in this there is no letter of the Name, since this is unrelated to the letter ד of the Name that is pronounced, for everyone reads this as "BeSiyata DiShmaya" (with the help of Heaven). And likewise if they write בעזהש"י there is also no concern at all, for the shin makes it recognizable that the hei too is not a letter of the holy Name, but on account of the shin everyone reads "BeEzras Hashem Yisbarach" (with the help of Hashem, may He be blessed)'.
But in tomorrow's halacha it will be seen that in most of the rulings of the Rebbe the directive is to write ב"ה.
Notes:
1 הלכה מס' 299 ↩
2 הלכה מס' 300 ↩
3 וורשה סי' קצו ↩
4 וראה מגדל עז עמ' ק, והערה1 וראה גם המשך מכתבו של האמרי אמת דלקמן שכתב: 'והרי גם הרה"ג הזה כתב באיזה סימן בספרך ב"ה' ↩
5 גם הרבי כתב אליו בנושא זה (אג"ק חכ"א ע' ה): 'במכתבי הקודם שאלתי לפניו אם יש למצוא מקור למה שכותבין במכתבים "ב"ה" או "בעז"ה" וקצת ראי' להיפך בר"ה (יח:) וברש"י שם בקושי יכלו לבטל וכו' גם בסנהדרין (יא:) משמע כן. ואין להביא ראי' מסנהדרין (צו.) וחולין (צה:) וכמובן ובכל נוסחי שטרות לא נמצא כן גם יש להעיר מיבמות (צו:) אלעזר דורש סתם והכל יודעים וכו' ועוד ↩
6 סי' רעו אות כד וראה גם מהר"ץ חיות סי' יא אות ג' ↩
7 ח"א סי' ס ↩
8 בהסכמתו לספר פסקי תשובה ח"ג ↩
9 ח"ד יו"ד סי' מא ↩
10 ח"ד סי' קה. וראה ג"כ בשו"ת משנה הלכות ח"ו סי' קפג ↩
11 שו"ת יו"ד ח"ב סי' קלח ↩
12 ח"ו סי' קפג ↩
From the 'Shoneh Halacha' project — a daily halacha with reasons and sources
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Join the WhatsApp groupWriting B"H at the Top of Secular Letters
[ד] (halacha 302)
The Rebbe writes1: 'Since the Name of Heaven is fluent on the lips of every Jew even when he speaks of mundane matters, and especially in writing, therefore it is customary throughout all the dispersions of Israel - and a custom of Israel is Torah - that even in a letter about mundane matters, one writes at its beginning ב"ה or the like'.
Question: What is the source for endeavoring to mention ב"ה at the head of mundane letters?
Answer: It is written in Sefer Chasidim2: 'It is written, "אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה'" ("then began calling in the Name of Hashem"), and immediately adjacent to it is "זה ספר" ("this is the book"); when the scribe begins, he should pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, to grant him success in completing the book. The sage saw a scribe who wrote at the beginning of the book "בשם ה'" ("in the Name of Hashem") in the margin above; he said to him, "Why did you do this?" He said, "Because of the adjacency of 'בשם ה'' to 'זה ספר'." The sage said to him: It is written "לקרא בשם ה' זה ספר" ("to call in the Name of Hashem, this is the book") — that the scribe needs to pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, that He grant him success in writing and in completing the book, and not to write "בשם ה'" ("in the Name of Hashem"), for it is written "לא תוסף עליו ולא תגרע ממנו" ("you shall not add to it nor subtract from it"), and it is written "אל תוסף על דבריו פן יוכיח בך ונכזבת" ("do not add to His words, lest He reprove you and you be found a liar"). And they became accustomed to write "בשם ה'" — meaning that the writer writes for the sake of Heaven, and likewise one who hires the scribe, since the book is his, intends for the sake of Heaven, and when one lends the book that they may study from it for the sake of Heaven; but he should not write in the book "לקרא בשם ה' זה ספר"'.
The Rebbe cited Sefer Chasidim as the source for writing ב"ה. And as they explained3, the intent of Sefer Chasidim in its words is that they became accustomed to write 'בשם השם' ('in the Name of Hashem') and this is a fitting thing (but he adds that one should not write this in a Sefer Torah, and likewise not to write 'לקרא בשם ה' זה ספר').
This minhag was also mentioned in the words of the Gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Karo4: 'And therefore they were accustomed at the beginning of all writing to write ב"ה, as it is said "בכל דרכיך דעהו" ("in all your ways know Him")'.
In addition, as support for the minhag, the Rebbe mentioned5 the Nitzotzei Zohar on the Zohar in Parshas Tazria6: 'אמר ר' אלעזר בכל עובדוי דבר נש לבעי ליה דלהוון כלהו לשמא קדישא מאי לשמא קדישא לאדכרא בפומיה שמא קדישא על כל מה דאיהו עביד' ('Rabbi Elazar said: In all the deeds of a person he should desire that they all be for the holy Name. What is "for the holy Name"? To mention with his mouth the holy Name over everything that he does'), and the Nitzotzei Zohar there remarked at letter ו: 'And at the head of letters and epistles one writes ב"ה and the like'. That is, the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. And the Rebbe added that this is as is found in maamarei Chassidus whose beginning is with 'בס"ד', for, when one 'builds' a matter (such as a letter and the like), one should connect it with the Name of Heaven – 'שמא קדישא' ('the holy Name'), as is explained in 'Sefer Chasidim'.
And likewise we find among many of the great ones of Israel that they conducted themselves thus, such as the words of the holy Rebbe, the author of the Imrei Emes of Gur7, who writes: '"ושאל את אביך ויגדך" ("ask your father and he will tell you") etc.; both my master, teacher and grandfather of blessed memory [=the Sfas Emes], and the chiddushim of the Rim, wrote ב"ה on every page; and I have with me works by Rabbi Meshulam Igra, and on every page he wrote ב"ה several times on each and every page8'.
In practice, the Rebbe aroused many times regarding writing ב"ה, and as will be brought below, several examples:
In a response from 57359 the Rebbe answered: 'And secondly, that this too has a double importance in these days of ours, to begin every fitting matter with the initials - ב"ה, as I see also in his letterhead, and similarly it would be worthwhile that it be also in the booklet, even though it is mentioned within - and would that this suffice, and this is readily understood'.
And likewise in Likkutei Sichos10: 'In the future too he should send here his publications - with the addition of 'ב"ה' and the like at its beginning'.
To the shluchim who received a letter from a Jew from Panama and sent it to the Rebbe, the Rebbe wrote11: 'At an opportunity it would be worthwhile to arouse them to write at the head of every letter of theirs ב"ה, and there are several benefits in this'.
And once the Rebbe expressed himself12: From where does the strange 'custom' stem - that one does not mark ב"ה on letters and notes?
In a response13 concerning a flyer that was printed without ב"ה, the Rebbe wrote: 'And in any case to print (with a rubber stamp and the like) at the head of every copy ב"ה'.
And likewise the Rebbe aroused regarding the size and placement of the ב"ה, for on a sheet on which it was written in the corner at the head of the page in small letters, the Rebbe remarked14 that it should be in the center, and in a legible manner!
In a response to the management of Tzach regarding a publication that was not fitting, the Rebbe answered15: 'It is obvious that one needs to destroy them from the world after they separate from it that which they were careful to begin it with (to fulfill the directive of Sefer Chasidim ..) ב"ה'.
However there were times when the Rebbe indicated that they should write בס"ד, such as in a response from the 2nd of Sivan 575116: 'In the appropriate place to add בס"ד (or in English as is now customary)'.
The words of the Rebbe Rayatz are of interest, who wrote to the Rebbetzin, peace be upon her17 (in translation to Hebrew): 'There are letters of great tzaddikim18, at the beginning of whose letter 'בעזרת השם' ('with the help of Hashem') is not written, but simple Jews need to write at the beginning of a letter בעזרת השם'.
Regarding the genizah of ב"ה and other Names we shall learn, with the help of Heaven, in the coming days.
הערות:
1 לקו"ש ח"ו ע' 160 ↩
2 סי' תתפד ↩
3 ראה בפירוש לספר חסידים, וכ"ה בפירוש הוצאת הר"ר מרגליות. וקובץ רז"ש ע' 71 ↩
4 תולדות יצחק פרשת מצורע פי"ד פל"ד ↩
5 שיחו"ק תשמ"א ח"ג ע' 104 ↩
6 נא, ב ↩
7 בהסכמה לפסקי תשובה ח"ג ↩
8 ראה גם בשו"ת משנה הלכות חי"ב סי' רב: 'ומיהו אנן קבלנו לכתוב בראש כל מכתב בס"ד או ב"ה, וכן שמעתי מהגה"ק בעל שפת אמת שהקפיד שלא לשנות מלכתוב וכן ראינו אצל רבותינו ואבותינו ז"ל. וכ"כ בשו"ת יחוה דעת ח"ג סי' עח: 'מותר לכתוב ב"ה בראש המכתבים ואגרות שלומים. וכן נהגו שלומי אמוני ישראל, וטוב ונכון לעשות כן'. ודלא כמ"ש באגרות משה יו"ד ח"ב סי' קלח ↩
9 שליחות כהלכה 634 ↩
10 חכ"ד ע' 599 ↩
11 היכל מנחם ח"ג ע' נז ↩
12 היכל מנחם ח"א ע' רמט ↩
13 משנת התשל"ו, שליחות כהלכה שם ↩
14 שליחות כהלכה שם ↩
15 מענות קודש תשמ"ח אות קב ↩
16 שליחות כהלכה שם ↩
17 אג"ק חט"ו ע' קטו ↩
18 להעיר שבמכתבי אדה"ז כפי שנדפסו באג"ק ברובם אין ב"ה ↩