Writing words that resemble the Names of Hashem

[A] (halacha 320)

Question: Is it permitted to write a word whose letters are like one of the Names of Hashem, but where one's intent is not for the Name of Hashem? And is it proper to be stringent not to write thus, such as writing 'אל שדי חמד אני נוסע..'?

Answer: It is brought in Maseches Sofrim¹: 'And all the secular names whose letters are like the letters of the Name, these may be erased'.

And the Tashbetz² wrote: 'Know that the Name is not sanctified unless the writer intended to sanctify it, but if he wrote it without intent for sanctity, it is not sanctified'.

And so wrote the Maharashdam³: 'Regarding the first question I say that the matter is as clear as the sun, that what they forbade — to erase a name from the Names — they said only when they were written with intent for actual sanctity, and not letters or words that contain letters from a Name but were not written with intent for the sanctity of the Name. For if you do not say so, every place where 'אל' (Kel) is written would be forbidden, since these are letters indicating the Name Kel, which is among the Names that are not erased; and likewise every two letters of a word in which a yud and a hei are adjacent to one another, such as 'יהודוך', would be forbidden to erase, since they are the letters 'יה' (Kah) which is not erased — and this is a matter that has no basis'.

And so wrote the Taz⁴: 'But a Name that was written without intent has no sanctity, as is written in the Hagahos Maimoniyos, chapter 6 of Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, in the name of the Re'em'.

Also in Shu"t Halachos Ketanos⁵ he wrote: 'Question: whether it is permitted to use the letters שד"י to invert them so as to allude to the number שי"ד (314). Answer: Other names we find used both for sacred and secular, "אהיה עמך" (I will be with you), "אלהים לא תקלל" (you shall not curse the judges), and likewise the Name Adnus. And this name too we find in "מתנובות שדי" (from the produce of the field)'⁶.

And in Shu"t Shav Yaakov⁷ he explained that even the Shach, sub-paragraph 12, agrees that if one did not intend at all to write a Name, it is permitted to erase.

It is interesting to note that when the Rav, the Chacham Chaim Chizkiyahu Medini, printed the famous encyclopedia — 'Sdei Chemed'⁸ — there were those who approached him that there was a problem with the name of his book, that it is a sacred name and could come to disgrace; and as one of the rabbis who received his books wrote to him⁹: 'And at the outset I wondered at the name, why he should do so — did not Chazal ordain thus regarding documents, that the Name should not be cast onto a refuse heap.. therefore in the coming volumes the name should be changed to Sdei Chemed..'.

As a result, he printed a small pamphlet called 'Be'er BiSdei'¹⁰ in which he brought responses from the great scholars of his generation who all, with one voice, answered and said that there is no concern in this whatsoever.

And he writes there¹¹: 'From all that has been said we learn that even something that is in general a complete Name, nevertheless, wherever it was written it was not written with intent for the Holy Name but with intent for a secular matter — even if he sanctified it — it is permitted to erase it, since no semblance of sanctity took hold of it. And from this we will understand and rule regarding the name Sdei Chemed, which even in Scripture was not set down with intent for the Holy Name but rather for fields, and likewise in the naming of the book, where the holder of the name explains that his intent regarding the Holy Name [was not so] — his intent appears [secular] — it appears that it is permitted to erase it like any secular matter, as they said in Maseches Sofrim above: all secular names whose letters are the letters of the Name, these may be erased'.

If so, we have learned that there is no concern in writing the letters of a sacred Name when the intent is for something else.

Question: Why then, in writing י"ה, did we see in the previous halacha that the minhag is to be stringent and write טו even though one does not intend a sacred Name?

Answer: It is written in Halachos Ketanos there: 'But the Name Havayah, even though it could possibly be used as a verb with a yud sheva, hei patach, vav segol on the pattern of "יגלה", it is not proper to do so, for the names in Michah are no proof'.

And he noted in the sefer Shulchan Melachim¹²: 'However, regarding what he wrote "except for the Name Havayah," it appears that the same applies to the Name י"ה as well — it is likewise forbidden to use it, for it does not serve a secular purpose; and indeed the poskim were careful, and in place of י"ה they everywhere recorded ט"ו, so as not to use the Name י"ה for a number.

If so, it is specifically the Explicit Name and the Name י"ה, which are names unique to Him, may He be blessed, and have no other use, that one is careful not to write them for a secular purpose even when the intent is not toward Him, may He be blessed.

¹ פ"ד ה"ד ↩

² שו"ת ח"א סי' קעז ↩

³ שו"ת חלק יו"ד סי' קפז ↩

⁴ יו"ד סי' רעו ס"ק ב ↩

⁵ ח"ב סי' שדי ↩

⁶ והעיר שם המדפיס: 'עי' עקרי הד"ט או"ח סי' ז' אות ח' ויו"ד סי' כ"ו אות ל' ובקונטרס באר בשדי להרב בעל שד"ח ני' סוף אות כ'. שהביא תשובות חכמי דורינו יצ"ו שהאריכו בנד"ז ולפלא שנעלם מכולם תשובת רבינו המחבר ז"ל' ↩

⁷ יו"ד סי' נד ↩

⁸ כידוע חביבות ספריו אצל רבותינו נשיאנו עוד מאדמו"ר הרש"ב (ראה אג"ק שלו ח"א ע' קסד), ועד שהרבי הריי"ץ הטיל על חתנו הרבי להדפיס את הספרים מחדש בהוצאת קה"ת (ראה ספר קה"ת ע' 100 ואילך) ↩

⁹ שם ע' א'תתקלב בתחילת הטור השני ↩

¹⁰ נדפס בשׂדי חמד הוצאת קה"ת ח"י בתחילתו ↩

¹¹ ע' א'תתקלא בטור השני בסופו ↩

¹² הל' קדושת השם סי' יג, בהערות שלום ואמת אות ט ↩

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