We were commanded that, in the sacerdotal blessing, the name of the
Lord should be pronounced as it is written in the form of the
Tetragrammaton, the shem ha-meforash. It was not known to every one how
the name was to be pronounced, what vowels were to be given to each
consonant, and whether some of the letters capable of reduplication
should receive a dagesh. Wise men successively transmitted the
pronunciation of the name; it occurred only once in seven years that
the pronunciation was communicated to a distinguished disciple. I must,
however, add that the statement, “The wise men communicated the
Tetragrammaton to their children and their disciples once in seven
years,” does not only refer to the pronunciation but also to its
meaning, because of which the Tetragrammaton was made a nomen proprium
of God, and which includes certain metaphysical principles.
Our Sages knew in addition a name of God which consisted of twelve
letters, inferior in sanctity to the Tetragrammaton. I believe that
this was not a single noun, but consisted of two or three words, the
sum of their letters being twelve, and that these words were used by
our Sages as a substitute for the Tetragrammaton, whenever they met
with it in the course of their reading the Scriptures, in the same
manner as we at present substitute for it aleph, daleth, etc. [i.e.,
Adonay, “the Lord”]. There is no doubt that this name also, consisting
of twelve letters, was in this sense more distinctive than the name
Adonay: it was never withheld from any of the students; whoever wished
to learn it, had the opportunity given to him without any reserve: not
so the Tetragrammaton; those who knew it did not communicate it except
to a son or a disciple, once in seven years. When, however,
unprincipled men had become acquainted with that name which consists of
twelve letters and in consequence had become corrupt in faith—as is
sometimes the case when persons with imperfect knowledge become aware
that a thing is not such as they had imagined—the Sages concealed also
that name, and only communicated it to the worthiest among the priests,
that they should pronounce it when they blessed the people in the
Temple; for the Tetragrammaton was then no longer uttered in the
sanctuary on account of the corruption of the people. There is a
tradition, that with the death of Simeon the Just, his brother priests
discontinued the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton in the blessing;
they used, instead, this name of twelve letters. It is further stated,
that at first the name of twelve letters was communicated to every man;
but when the number of impious men increased it was only entrusted to
the worthiest among the priests, whose voice, in pronouncing it, was
drowned amid the singing of their brother priests. Rabbi Tarphon said,
“Once I followed my grandfather to the daïs [where the blessing was
pronounced]; I inclined my ear to listen to a priest [who pronounced
the name], and noticed that his voice was drowned amid the singing of
his brother priests.”
There was also a name of forty-two letters known among them. Every
intelligent person knows that one word of forty-two letters is
impossible. But it was a phrase of several words which had together
forty-two letters. There is no doubt that the words had such a meaning
as to convey a correct notion of the essence of God, in the way we have
stated. This phrase of so many letters is called a name because, like
other proper nouns, they represent one single object, and several words
have been employed in order to explain more clearly the idea which the
name represents; for an idea can more easily be comprehended if
expressed in many words. Mark this and observe now that the instruction
in regard to the names of God extended to the signification of each of
those names, and did not confine itself to the pronunciation of the
single letters which, in themselves, are destitute of an idea. Shem
ha-meforash applied neither to the name of forty-two letters nor to
that of twelve, but only to the Tetragrammaton, the proper name of God,
as we have explained. Those two names must have included some
metaphysical ideas. It can be proved that one of them conveyed profound
knowledge, from the following rule laid down by our Sages: “The name of
forty-two letters is exceedingly holy; it can only be entrusted to him
who is modest, in the midway of life, not easily provoked to anger,
temperate, gentle, and who speaks kindly to his fellow men. He who
understands it, is cautious with it, and keeps it in purity, is loved
above and is liked here below; he is respected by his fellow men; his
learning remaineth with him, and he enjoys both this world and the
world to come.” So far in the Talmud. How grievously has this passage
been misunderstood! Many believe that the forty-two letters are merely
to be pronounced mechanically; that by knowledge of these, without any
further interpretation, they can attain to these exalted ends, although
it is stated that he who desires to obtain a knowledge of that name
must be trained in the virtues named before, and go through all the
great preparations which are mentioned in that passage. On the
contrary, it is evident that all this preparation aims at a knowledge
of Metaphysics, and includes ideas which constitute the “secrets of the
Law,” as we have explained (chap. xxxv.). In works on Metaphysics it
has been shown that such knowledge, i.e., the perception of the active
intellect, can never be forgotten; and this is meant by the phrase “his
learning remaineth with him.”
When bad and foolish men were reading such passages, they considered
them to be a support of their false pretensions and of their assertion
that they could, by means of an arbitrary combination of letters, form
a shem (“a name”) which would act and operate miraculously when written
or spoken in a certain particular way. Such fictions, originally
invented by foolish men, were in the course of time committed to
writing, and came into the hands of good but weak-minded and ignorant
persons who were unable to discriminate between truth and falsehood,
and made a secret of these shemot (names). When after the death of such
persons those writings were discovered among their papers, it was
believed that they contained truths; for, “the simple believeth every
word” (Prov. xiv. 15).
We have already gone too far away from our interesting subject and
recondite inquiry, endeavouring to refute a perverse notion, the
absurdity of which every one must perceive who gives a thought to the
subject. We have, however, been compelled to mention it, in treating of
the divine names, their meanings, and the opinions commonly held
concerning them. We shall now return to our theme. Having shown that
all names of God, with the exception of the Tetragrammaton (Shem
ha-meforash), are appellatives, we must now, in a separate chapter,
speak on the phrase Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, (Exod. iii. 14), because it is
connected with the difficult subject under discussion, namely, the
inadmissibility of divine attributes.