by Raffael A. Ferri PhD

Created on: March 24, 2008   Last Updated: June 03, 2008

The Name you Yahweh is a good reference name as any when making reference to G-d. However the actual pronunciation of the characters that make up The Name cannot be pronounced and those that do know how, are forbidden to pronounce It.

It is written that Moses himself had inadvertently killed an Egyptian by using The Name. He was overheard by other Egyptians and that is why he ran off into the desert.

The actual Name of G-d is not one we can use to call upon a human. Were it that simple we would all be calling out His magical Name in vain. Several aspects of G-d are to be accepted as The Word, for example: Were we to see Him, we would die. Were we to hear Him we would go deaf. Were we to feel Him we would melt. In other words there is no contact with G-d except within our minds. That is what makes us humans different from all other creatures that share this universe with us.

The Yod Hey Vav Hey are the sounds of the Characters that make up The Name. I'd be careful in how you use them.

There are many books on Kabbalah (receive) that can explain the importance of each Character in the Torah. One does not have to belong to any particular religious group to learn their values and essence. It wouldn't hurt to know something about the characters that make up the most valuable book in history.

To most people, permutations,gematria and attribute synthesis of the characters is somthing they know nothing about. Torah scholars have been studying the characters since the Palestinian Talmud, which was written under duress but none the less provided information that simple reading would not reveal.

The more we play around with the use of G-d's name, the further we will get from accomplishing our job, which is to make Heaven on Earth. If G-d wanted us to call upon Him now and then, I'm sure He would have made it simplier for everyone to call.

What's in a name? We choose carefully a name to give to a child believing that it will give him/her some character that perhaps is associated with the name one chooses. We take slight offense when others mis-pronounce our name and we are flattered when others make the attempt to pronounce our names properly. If we can feel the affects of others using our own personal name, shouldn't we make the best effort to learn to pronounce the name of others?

Learn more about this author, Raffael A. Ferri PhD.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.