Steven Avery
Administrator
Thank you Jason for putting together so much interesting material in one short paper. And offering some original insights, or at least positions and analysis, with value-added, that have been dormant in the superficial and "major in the minors" types of discussions that are standard fare in internet discussions and scholastic writing.
It is interesting that you generally agree with Nehemia Gordon against much of the current scholarship, about vav as a v rather than a w sound.
This could easily be an error of ignorance or convenience on the part of many scholars. One that would increase their importance and position and status as they go about individually conjecturing their various reconstructions. It is rather heady to be claiming to tell God, the Creator of the Universe, his name!
The only direct reference in your paper in this regard seems to be from David Paul Drach, even though a number of additional references were given to you for study. And, with Drach, you were puzzled in our conversations by his assertion that the Jews know the name as Yehovah, stated as a simple fact, having been a rabbi in France in the early 1800s with ultra-solid talmudic and hebraic background. Your experience as a secular Jew in Israel two centuries later is different. Quite understandable. Yet there is no reason to doubt that Drach was in fact relaying his own knowledge and study and background properly.
You did not even include the Zohar references that acknowledge the cholam in the name which has been posted right here on CARM.
As another example, I shared with you from:
Book of the Divine Name, by Eleazar Roke'ach of Worms
Written: 1225 Published: 2004
The book includes a ceremony for transmitting the name, and I gave the English translation of the section as well, from Nehemia.
- how could one transmit a name that was, you claim, unknown?
There are many Hebraic references that will affirm the opposite of the "admission".
And if that basic, fundamental claim is wrong, then the whole paper must be reconsidered, top to bottom.
Steven
It is interesting that you generally agree with Nehemia Gordon against much of the current scholarship, about vav as a v rather than a w sound.
While many points could be considered, including the earlier questions unanswered on the previous Trinitarian Bias thread, and some omissions, let us start with the most basic starting point claim from the paper:Jameson;n4840470 said:I’ve completed writing up my response to the recent discussion about “Jehovah” being the proper pronunciation of the Nomen Tetragrammaton. You can access it here. I’d love to hear back from you. I tried to keep it as non-technical as possible and to teach some Hebrew things as going along, but there are aspects of this question that you must understand Hebrew morphology to put it focus.
First, why would this be an admission? (This little slip bewrays a circularity in your approach.)"...most scholars today are quick to admit that the “the exact pronunciation [of יהוה] was forgotten and [its] vocalization is uncertain” and that it “was probably pronounced Yahweh” but that we cannot be sure “since the vowels were forgotten in ancient times”...
This could easily be an error of ignorance or convenience on the part of many scholars. One that would increase their importance and position and status as they go about individually conjecturing their various reconstructions. It is rather heady to be claiming to tell God, the Creator of the Universe, his name!
Putting aside the diffuse Greek evidences, clearly the best place to go for the question of whether the name was actually lost would be to review the Hebraics (including various talmudic and rabbinical and karaite references over the years.)"As we saw before, it is popularly held that the vowels of the Tetragrammaton were lost to history and that we now have mere suggestions in the Greek language of how to pronounce it from momentary mentionings of how people in certain places pronounced it..."
The only direct reference in your paper in this regard seems to be from David Paul Drach, even though a number of additional references were given to you for study. And, with Drach, you were puzzled in our conversations by his assertion that the Jews know the name as Yehovah, stated as a simple fact, having been a rabbi in France in the early 1800s with ultra-solid talmudic and hebraic background. Your experience as a secular Jew in Israel two centuries later is different. Quite understandable. Yet there is no reason to doubt that Drach was in fact relaying his own knowledge and study and background properly.
You did not even include the Zohar references that acknowledge the cholam in the name which has been posted right here on CARM.
As another example, I shared with you from:
Book of the Divine Name, by Eleazar Roke'ach of Worms
Written: 1225 Published: 2004
The book includes a ceremony for transmitting the name, and I gave the English translation of the section as well, from Nehemia.
And I also shared with you another point from Nehemia Gordon, that we have an acceptance of this as an actual event by a world-class Hebraic scholar, an expert on these writings, Joseph Dan (b. 1935). the first incumbent of the Gershom Scholem Chair in Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University.Y"Y is the unique honorable and terrifying name... It may only be transmitted to the modest... It may only be transmitted over water... Before the rabbi teaches his disciple, they must wash in water and immerse in 40 se'ah [of water], donning white clothes. They must fast on the day they learn it, standing in water up to their ankles. The rabbi will then open his mouth in awe and sat), "Blessed are you Y"Y, our God, king of the universe. Y"Y, God of Israel, you are one and your name is one. You commanded us to hide your great name, for your name is terrifying. Blessed are you Y"Y, and blessed is your glorious name forever, the honorable and terrifying name, Y"Y our God. ...Blessed are you Y"Y who reveals his secret to those who fear him. The rabbi and bis disciple shall place their eyes upon the water and say), "... The sound of Y"Y upon the waters (Psalms 29:3)..."
"The voice of the LORD is upon the waters"
[KJV]
The obvious question arises"...in this description, Rabbi Eleazar presented a tradition that was practiced in his surroundings and family, and that be may have participated in himself, both as a
disciple and a rabbi..."
Joseph Dan, History of Jewish Mysticism and Esotericism, vol. 6. page 561
- how could one transmit a name that was, you claim, unknown?
There are many Hebraic references that will affirm the opposite of the "admission".
And if that basic, fundamental claim is wrong, then the whole paper must be reconsidered, top to bottom.
Steven