Ask the Clergy departs from the usual format in today’s edition by asking three clergymen three different questions specific to their faith groups.
A READER ASKS: What is the reason for the Jewish custom of altering the spelling of a name when referring to The Deity, as in G-d and A-lmighty ?
RABBI PINCHUS CIMENT is the spiritual leader of Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in Little Rock.
When mentioning The Deity in any form, it is to be treated with sacredness. When using any of the different names by which G-d is referred to in the Bible, even in a language other than Hebrew, one is to take care to treat the word respectfully.
Being that one does not know with certainty how you will treat the paper after reading it, and out of concern that it might end up in an inappropriate place with other items deemed to be insignificant, we are careful to not write the name of The Deity in its entirety. Rather, we make a slight change to the word that allows the reader to know what we are referring to without actually writing it, and thus we remove the concern of possibly treating a name of The Deity with disrespect.
A READER ASKS: What is the reason for the Jewish custom of altering the spelling of a name when referring to The Deity, as in G-d and A-lmighty ?
RABBI PINCHUS CIMENT is the spiritual leader of Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in Little Rock.
When mentioning The Deity in any form, it is to be treated with sacredness. When using any of the different names by which G-d is referred to in the Bible, even in a language other than Hebrew, one is to take care to treat the word respectfully.
Being that one does not know with certainty how you will treat the paper after reading it, and out of concern that it might end up in an inappropriate place with other items deemed to be insignificant, we are careful to not write the name of The Deity in its entirety. Rather, we make a slight change to the word that allows the reader to know what we are referring to without actually writing it, and thus we remove the concern of possibly treating a name of The Deity with disrespect.
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