Daily Chidush: Why do we call God the name HaShem and the danger not doing so !!

0:00Hello Achim Yekarim, how are you? Hope you're having an amazing week. Wanted to give you the daily chidush. We're here in Yerushalayim and saw some things on the net. Some people making certain comments about Hashem's name. And this is actually something that I've seen quite a few times where people often use Hashem's name casually, which is a major sin that could easily be avoided. As Sefer Shemot, the book of Exodus,

1:20when we know that what you're saying is completely false. But we're going to really focus more on the name "Hashem" itself, which anyone who knows the Hebrew language knows that "Hashem" actually is not a name. What it literally means is "the Name." Now why do Jews and other righteous people that are observant of the Torah call Hashem, "Hashem"? Why don't they actually just say His name as it is written all over the Torah, which is, you know, spelled Yud, Hey, Vav, and Hey. If you noticed, I didn't say the four letters consecutively as you would say A, B, C, D. I had to add the word “and.” Why? Because even saying those letters casually is not allowed. Why? Because Hashem's name is the holiest thing that ever was, will be, and is. So it's something that you have to tread very, very carefully with, even if it's writing it, even if it's saying it, and it's only allowed to be used when you're reading scripture, when you're reading the Torah itself in the Hebrew language, and also when you're praying, when you pray to Hashem, specifically from a siddur, then you use that name. And as a matter of fact... that ever was, will be, and is. So it's something that you have to tread very, very carefully with, even if it's writing it, even if it's saying it. It's only allowed to be used when you're reading Scripture, when you're reading the Torah itself in the Hebrew language, and also when you're praying to Hashem, specifically from a siddur, then you use that name. And as a matter of fact,

2:41Don't pronounce Hashem's name as it's written, the four-letter word that is in the Torah is not pronounced the way we say it. Why? Because even that is not allowed to be said the way it is. We'll go into it in the Gemara, the Oral Torah, explaining why and then the significance of it. But most importantly, why do we say "Hashem"? What is this whole concept of "Hashem" and why can I say "Hashem" as often as I want? and as casually as I want. Even though it's still a very important thing, technically what we're showing here is kavod for Hashem. We're demonstrating respect for Him. We're acknowledging that His name is so holy, so significant, so special, that we're not just going to say it ordinarily. We're not going to just throw it around like we might with names like Steve, Bobby, or Joey. This is something that we have to tread very carefully with and treat with the utmost respect. So much so, to give you an understanding of what this means and how significant this is, Hashem is telling us here that He will not absolve anyone. This is literally in the Torah, Shemot (Exodus) chapter 20, verse 7. He will not absolve anyone who takes His name in vain. Now, obviously, this is if it is done purposely. But at the same token, even if it's not done purposely, one must be extremely careful.

4:08It's still a very, very heavy punishment that could easily be avoided. You have to be crazy to do this. So, obviously, the ones that are doing it have a lack of knowledge. I really hope that every one of you spreads this to everyone you can, whether they're Jewish or not; because if they're saying Hashem's name incorrectly, it could bring major problems to their life in this world and the next. So, how do we know? Hashem is serious because everybody always says, ah, you know, Hashem said things back in the Torah, but, you know, maybe it's not relevant to our generation. Or, maybe He really meant only the generation of Moshe. So let me give you an understanding of how serious Hashem is about this. In the Gemara, Masechet Avodah Zarah, which is the tractate of Avodah Zarah, it's on pages 17 and 18, specifically referencing page 18, or Daf 18, to be more precise. 18a is a very, very significant and troubling story about Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon. Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon was one of the most important sages that ever lived, and he is specifically named in the Gemara because he had the holiness and the significance in Hashem's eyes to revive the dead. Anyone that's mentioned in the Gemara by name literally had that power.

5:36So obviously, it’s not a power of their own. This is a power that Hashem gave them because of their holiness and how much Torah they had in them. Rabbi Hanina ben Tardion is mentioned throughout the Gemara. He's a very, very holy person. He was such a significant tzaddik that when they recount stories about him, they emphasize the importance of having someone like Rabbi Hanina ben Tardion as a leader. This is to ensure that donations to charity are handled by someone with integrity and holiness. Why? Because when someone possesses these qualities, it ensures that your contributions are managed with the utmost care and are directed to the right places. his personality, his righteousness, his honesty, you know the money's going to go to the right places. But if you don't have somebody like that, you can't rely on it. Why? Because the story goes, Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon once had money that he gave for tzedakah as a side he put for Purim, and another one was for general tzedakah. And he mixed the two. And he wasn't sure which one was which. He ended up And he actually ended up giving one of the monies, the money for pidyon shevuyim. And then he realized that he possibly made a mistake. He wasn't even sure whether he made a mistake or not. Regardless of that, he gathered all his own money and made sure to give the money back to the other tzedakah. Now, obviously, this is someone who has significant Yirat Shamayim because nobody would have known. No one counted it. But this is the type of person that we're dealing with here.

7:02Now, Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon did not waste a moment. He constantly studied Hashem's Torah, taught His Torah, and did chesed. But one day, the evil Romans caught him and punished him, actually giving him what's called an unusual death where they burned him with the scroll of Torah. Surrounding, you know, wrapped around him. Now, tomorrow asks, how could this be? How could such a holy rabbi be one of the Ten Martyrs, one of the ten most significant sages in history, and not only be killed at all, but be killed in such an unusual manner? Now, in the Gemara, on page 18a, it says because he uttered the name of God according to its letters.

8:02And here the pshat is that when he prayed and even when he studied, he would use Hashem’s name and he would actually say the letters. Instead of saying what we say, Hashem, or perhaps even Adonai, he actually would pronounce the name the way it's actually written. Now again, even the second word that I just said, Adonai, which means our Lord, is not to be said casually either. And these are lower levels than the highest level, which is the way it's spelled. Now, this righteous sage was not just saying it casually to his friends. Hey, by the way, I just talked to Hashem. No, this is during his studies. This is during his praying. But nonetheless, even though he was allowed to use it because he was using it for the purpose of actually learning how to use it — meaning the significance and the "magical" part of it — learning how to use it, which was allowed. What he was doing was allowed, but his minor sin was that he did it next to people, and that was not allowed at his level. He was not allowed; he had to only do that next, you know, by himself. So here we see that again, this may not necessarily make rational sense or may not sit well with everyone. of actually learning how to use it, meaning the significance and the impactful part of it. Learning how to use it, which is allowed. What he was doing was allowed, but his minor sin was that he did it next to people, and that was not allowed at his level. He was not allowed; he had to only do that by himself. So here we see that, again, this may not necessarily make rational sense or may not sit well with everyone.

9:30is that Hashem is so strict with His judgment, and this is disturbing. But at the same time, this is Hashem. This is the holiness of Hashem. This is the third commandment. And what Hashem is telling you is that you cannot just utter My name the way you want, casually, or even if you're using it for the right reason, but the right reason was misused. Punishment is very, very severe. So much so that a person's wife, who knew he was doing this and knew she could have said something about it, or even made a comment about it, was also punished with the death penalty. This is found on the same page, 18, of the Gemara. Firstly, we learn that we can't just throw Hashem's name around casually, as if it's insignificant. Secondly, we learn... If you actually know someone who is making this significant mistake—which often happens with non-Jews, especially those who are coming from the Christian faith—either because they want to convert or simply want to learn some Torah, you know, they tend to use Hashem's Name and spell it out. It's become more popular where people spell out the Name of Hashem, and in a...

10:56In English, where they put Y-H-V-H or something like that. And even that's not allowed. Even that's not allowed. Because even though it's technically the English language, the reality of it is that they're referencing the real name. And we specifically have instructions from Hashem, from His Sages, that you cannot do this. You want to speak, you want to reference Hashem, call Him Hashem. That's as simple as it gets. The name, even using the word God, unless it's for the purpose of teaching or for the purpose of reading, should be carefully used. Now, we know that even though Hashem started the world, created the world, with the Hebrew language, with the Holy Hebrew language, using its letters, the DNA of the world is the Holy letters. At the same time, He created everything else. The way we see it is that nothing just happens as a coincidence. For example, the name of Hashem, the Yud, Hey, Vav, and Hey, has a numerical gematria, which is a numerical value of 26. Okay, Yud is 10, Hey is 5, so that's 15. Vav is 6, so we have 21, and Hey again is 5, so we have 26.

12:23If you actually notice, the word God, if you calculate just based on the placement of each letter in the English alphabet, also has the same value. So here we see that even the word that is in a different language was also brought in by the Creator Himself. So again, you have to tread very carefully with this because if someone like Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon was punished so severely for such, in our eyes, you know, an insignificant sin because we have no concept of how significant the Name is. Then we little people have to understand that we have to tread very carefully. If you see someone doing it, you have to mention it to them again. was punished so severely for what, in our eyes, seems like an insignificant sin because we have no concept of how significant the Name is. Then, we, as little people, have to understand that we must tread very carefully. If you see someone doing it, you have to mention it to them again. it's Hashem, which means 'The Name,' because the name itself is too holy to be said. If you're going to be reading scripture, you can say it if you're reading it in the holy language. If you're going to be praying, again, if you're reading something, you can use it. But, for the most part, even for study purposes, if there's no actual real need to say it, just say 'Hashem,' because that is your easy way of avoiding playing with fire, atomic bombs, and pretty much every bad thing in the world. That's just not necessary. It's our duty to spread the Torah to the world. It's our duty to spread the truth to the world. And it's our duty to spread our knowledge to the world. And if you have friends, you have family, you have anyone that you know,

13:47easy way of avoiding playing with fire, atomic bombs, and pretty much every bad thing in the world. That's just not necessary. It's our duty to spread the Torah to the world. It's our duty to spread the truth to the world. And it's our duty to spread our knowledge to the world. And if you have friends, you have family, you have anyone that you know, that you've heard them say something like this, or you see a comment on Facebook referencing this, you should say, "Well, you know, this is just not allowed, and people bring bad things upon themselves by doing it." As it also says in Avoda Zara, someone who learns Torah without teaching is like someone who doesn't have a God. Now, in this specific case, it's connected to what we're talking about, where now that you possess this knowledge, after learning this shiur for the last 10 or 15 minutes, you have to spread it. You have to explain to people that you know, your friends, your family, and everyone else, not to call Hashem by any other name unless they're complying with the rules. Because again, for what purpose?

15:00It's the third commandment. We'll have a new shiurim coming up soon. There was an amazing shiur in Netanya last night. Very, very powerful shiur. Big crowd. Great guys. And Bezrat Hashem, we will be publishing it. It's in Hebrew, but they'll be publishing it shortly. And we'll also be having some English shiurim coming up soon and many, many other good things. So thank you for learning with me. And may Hashem continue to bless you.