If I Were Jewish
8 min read
8 min read
Why are Jewish writings replete with different names for God and what do they mean?
God is central to Jewish belief: He created the world for your benefit and pleasure—the greatest pleasure being a relationship with Him—and the Torah, the book that defines Jewish spiritual life, teaches how to establish and maintain that relationship.
The Torah and later biblical books—depending on various exegetical factors—use at least eight different names for God, as well as various permutations and combinations of those names. What do those names mean, and why doesn’t the Torah simply say, “God?”
According to Jewish thought, God is the omnipotent, infinite, all-powerful source of existence. He created the world, sustains it, and oversees everything that happens throughout the totality of existence.1
That idea, when taken to its logical extreme, means that God is the only power. Ultimately everything that happens—anywhere and at all times—only does so because of His direct, intimate, and constant involvement. Even something as minute as maintaining the relationship between an electron and an atom’s nucleus—and that goes for every atom everywhere in the universe—only happens as a result of God’s direct, intimate, and constant involvement.
Nothing exists or happens independent of God’s will.
God is intimately involved in your life, too. He is the only power—the only reality—and He created everything, as in all of existence, for you.2
The great paradox of Jewish belief is that despite God’s ubiquity in Jewish life and thought, His essence is wholly unknowable. As a physical, finite being confined to a three-dimensional time-bound reality, you may be able to speak, conceptually, of something beyond that—as in something multidimensional or even infinite—but you cannot understand, or experience, that in any real or meaningful way.
For example, you can’t even ask the question, “What came before God created the world?” because “before” implies time, and in the beginning, God created time. An idea like “before” is a function of time, and “before” can’t exist if time doesn’t exist. You can’t have something “before” time. That’s impossible. In other words, you can raise the point—and even theorize about the idea in the abstract—but you can’t understand the answer.
On a deeper level, man doesn’t know what God is, or even what God does—because His infinite actions are just as impossible to comprehend—but, obviously, you can understand the results of His actions, because that is the world you live in.
Seeing God’s hand in your life—what’s known as Providence—decoding the different messages, understanding His involvement, and relating to that depending on your perspective, is the reason the Torah uses different names for God: they don’t explain what God is or what He does, rather, they explain the various ways you relate to Him.
In your day-to-day, the different people you interact with use different names when talking with, or about, you, and that reflects the different types of relationships you have with each other.
For example, my name is Tzvi but my children don’t call me that. They call me “Abba.” My coworkers call me Tzvi, although some—either because of our differences in age, or due to the formality of the workplace—refer to me as “Rabbi Tzvi,” or even “Rabbi Gluckin.” At the bank, or when someone’s trying to sell me something, I’ll get called “Mr. Gluckin,” although in today’s hyper-informal world, strangers will sometimes call me “Tzvi” (or, “How do you pronounce that, and do you mind if I use your first name?”). My wife calls me Tzvi, though sometimes she’ll use the diminutive, and call me “Tzviki,” unless I’ve done something wrong and my name changes to something more colorful.
That’s normal. As you go through your day, different people, depending on the relationship, use different names when referring to you, too.
That concept applies to your relationship with God as well, which is why the Torah uses a number of different names when talking about Him.
The Torah, as well as the other books of the Bible, use eight different names when referring to God, which include:
The meaning of some of those names include:
Sometimes referred to as the Tetragrammaton, the Four-Letter Name of God is contraction of the Hebrew words for “was” (היה), “is” (הוה), and “will be” (יהיה),3 and represents the idea that God transcends time (He created time) as well as all other aspects of the physical, corporal world. This name also represents your personal relationship with Him, as it transcends the fixed laws of nature, and is the name always used in association with God’s feelings, character traits, and motivations.
Elohim is the name that refers to God’s omnipotence, and as the constant that maintains existence. Every Hebrew letter also has a corresponding numerical value, and the letters that make up the name, Elohim, add up to 86, which is the same is Hateva (הטבע), or nature, and indicates that God is the power that animates nature.
Shadai represents the idea that the three-dimensional physical world is a manifestation of God’s will, not His abilities. God’s abilities are infinite and unknowable, but He didn’t create a world to that scale, rather, He created the world He wanted, which is finite and knowable. It is a world of limitations and boundaries. That’s by design, as it gives man the freedom to create himself. The name Shadai teaches that, as it comes from the Hebrew words sh (ש), “that [He said to the world],” die (די), “enough,”4 indicating that when God created the world, He said, “enough,” or “stop expanding at this particular point.”
The name Adonai (אדני) is from the Hebrew word, Adon (אדון), and means, “my master.” It’s used in prayer and when reading from the Torah in place of saying the Four-Letter Name of God, which is never pronounced.
Hashem (השם) is Hebrew for, “the Name,” and is used whenever you’d say Adonai in prayer or when reading the Torah, but at times when you’re not praying or reading the Torah in public. It’s also a way to refer to God at other times, be that while studying or in informal conversation.
In Jewish belief, God is non-corporeal. That means God does not have a body, does not take up physical space, and obviously does not have a gender. Yet in common usage, God is almost always referred to in the masculine, as “He.” That’s because the two genders, male and female, are used throughout Jewish mystical thought as ways to understand different aspects of your relationship with God.
The concept of male, similar to a man's reproductive organs, is external. It represents God's interactions with the world, whether that's through divine intervention, miracles, or communication.
The concept of female, similar to a woman's reproductive organs, is internal. It represents God's presence, which is hidden, internal, and sometimes silent; but which can be felt at times of spiritual inspiration and awareness.
When speaking of God, you rarely speak of God's hidden presence, but rather His actions—as in what He is doing in the world, or as the God that you pray to—and those are the external things, or the things you refer to as "He."
Eight different names of God are used throughout the Torah and later books of the Bible. These names are sometimes combined, and sometimes vowelized in different, alternative ways. The later rabbinic and mystical writings use additional names for God as well.
TRUTHFULLY WRITTEN
I notice also, as a non-jew, that people also use G-D or even g-d. Where does that come from?
And how does one pronounce Tzvi?
Christopher - one of the explanations is - some of the rabbis have taught that - writing out the full name of G-D (with the "o" inserted) - that it can possibly be used - inappropriately & cause defamation to His Holy Name. Often the lower case "g-d" - is often use to designate a deity - other than - the real G-D. The word "Tzvi" is pronounced in English as - "t"SVEE - with a short sound of "T" in front of the "S".
I was disappointed that the meaning of
א- ל and י- ה were not even mentioned. I have been trying to find out for years, unsuccessfully
My grandmother also said "Gottenju" .
I like this article. More of this in Aish!
Good article but what about the name Tzevaot? It is not explained here.
Dvirah - Tzevaot - as it is used in the Written Torah - also used in Siddur prayers - often alludes to entities - similar to angels - & is plural. The article also uses psychological put down hints - that allude that - man in general - is incapable of grasping the concept(s) of our G-D. ONLY - certain individuals - are given access to that understanding - & can comment on - what the different aspects of G-D are.
OH - BTW - it's also used in song - to describe G-D - as mighty.
Thanks. I had an idea that it referred to the Creator as CEO, so to speak, of all creations.