G!d

[Muslimwoman]

as salaam aleykum

What a great thread, I actually had to think carefully about why I always type G-d and this led to capital letters as well.

There are no capital letters in arabic, so if I were to write to my husband or another arab I would write allah or god or isa or musa because they would not be offended by this as it shows no disrespect. However, when you translate into English, the old grammatical education kicks in and names are shown with a capital letter, hence Allah, G-d, Isa and Musa.

As for G-d rather than God, it is as Dauer explained, it does denote that He is The One True, Almighty G-d. For me it is about respect for G-d rather than for people of other faiths.

Salaam

[bananabrain]

what dauer said. i'm sure i also got it from renewal originally. i've also noticed some of our christian friends here at CR writing G^D (presumably a reference to the trinity) which i think is also a rather nice idea. incidentally, when i'm singing a religious song in a non-religious setting, i'll sing "amonai" because it both scans correctly and rhymes, so doesn't jar as "HaShem" or "Adoshem" would.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[wil]

I use G-d for a couple reasons.

1st would be what I learned from Jewish friends...that by writing or saying it at all would be defining the undefinable...by utilizing a word putting more in the box than the box can hold.

2nd is my sunday school upbringing of the larger than life Zeus/Thor type fellow deciding to toss down plagues and lightning bolts on a whim...that Santa Claus character keeping a list of who is naughty or nice to determine final destinations

When I returned to the church I couldn't say the word without conjuring up that elementary thought...took a long time to get away from it...but I got better.

The - still remains out of habit...and since I've watched others with the explanation point my little finger still doesn't want to reach up and put that in....nothing to do with the trinity for me.

[dauer]

bb,

Does "amonai" come from anything imparticular, not its source of origin but the way in which the word is formed?

Dauer

[bananabrain]

i think it disrupts the sound of the word far less - try singing an open note or melismatic phrase that ends in "em" - now try it with "ai"... see what i mean? for me it's about preserving the poetics as far as possible without touching the Name.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[wil]

And Dauer didn't you make a reference someplace else about not writing G-d down as it will eventually end up in the trash...impermanence and all...

[dauer]

Not G!d, the tetragrammaton. It's typically buried and never erased. The same rules don't apply to the tetragrammaton as it shows up on computer displays because it's not permanently marked. It's really just flashing lights that appear to us as a word.

You may also be thinking of something I may or may not have mentioned here. When I was at Elat Chayyim I was part of an informal men's performance group that would do a little piece at the weekly open-mic/campfire. I tended to factor pretty centrally into the performances I think because of my eccentric personality and interpersonal abilities when speaking before a crowd (when I'm with a crowd of unfamiliar people that are just shmoozing I'm usually very shy.)

Usually we would find a way to mix in a difficult passage of the parsha, often patriarchal passages. That week I had an idea as part of working with a passage about destroying idols to dress up like a mock kohen with an apron from the kitchen, my tallis and some other items, and burn a shiviti of the Tetragrammaton in the campfire. One member objected and I burned a dollar instead. Looking back I'm glad I didn't burn the shiviti (not because I wouldn't do it for the sake of encouraging thinking outside the box (never just 'cuz)) because Reb Dov-Ber Pinson was there that week teaching a class on Jewish meditation techniques and I think that could have potentially offended him enough that he'd be less inclined to teach again. But then I only had a few brief conversations with the guy outside of his class and the fabrengen he led and he seemed pretty easy-going so I'm uncertain what his reaction would have been. He probably does care a lot about kiruv to communities that might allow such a practice.

Dauer

[bananabrain]

Originally Posted by dauer

That week I had an idea as part of working with a passage about destroying idols to dress up like a mock kohen with an apron from the kitchen, my tallis and some other items, and burn a shiviti of the Tetragrammaton in the campfire.

this, frankly, astonishes me - in what possible way could this be a good idea? what were you thinking, mate? the whole point of our conception of G!D as Name is that this is the only safe way to avoid 'avodah zarah.

because Reb Dov-Ber Pinson was there that week teaching a class on Jewish meditation techniques and I think that could have potentially offended him enough that he'd be less inclined to teach again.

i think i'm fairly open-minded, but that would have upset me considerably. actually i have DBP's book on the "kabbalah of music" which i did enjoy, except for his conclusion, which implies that music is really a sitra ahra thing unless it has been "kashered" - which to me sounds like an excuse for more crappy religious pop and rock music rather than appreciating, say, bulerias or a ghazal, let alone a heavy metal track. i'd certainly have a few things to say about that if i met him.

He probably does care a lot about kiruv to communities that might allow such a practice.

i can see why.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[dauer]

this, frankly, astonishes me - in what possible way could this be a good idea? what were you thinking, mate? the whole point of our conception of G!D as Name is that this is the only safe way to avoid 'avodah zarah.

But it is still idolatrous to attach so much importance to a name and its visual representation and I was speaking out against that very hypocritical idolatrous tendency within Judaism, that truly it is all just the finger pointing at the moon with no special significance besides that which we give to it in holding it as sacred. We don't tend to call everyone else heathens just because their conceptualization is different but we do hold a double-standard which I would say is also very true in the way some of us have become accepting of a divided but One g!dhead in the sefirot while being highly critical of the Christian Trinity. The etz contains trinities. There's so much fancy footwork done to say that it's completely different but it all boils down to, "It's okay because it's the Jewish way to do this thing, not the goyische way." If kabbalah had not become so popular when it appeared on the scene possibly as a response to spiritually sterile hyper-rationalism and the only way we knew of some similar concepts were via gnosticism and neo-platonism where it likely found some influences we'd call it heretical think. And I really don't see a way such a wild and new theology could be mainstreamed in today's anti-mythmaking Jewish climate. It really is no different than the hasidic niggun-making that you disagree with when we're so heavily critical of the sources of our practices and beliefs without focusing the iconoclasm inward as well.

If I were in a different place where the display would be less tolerated I wouldn't have wanted to do it, but it would have been welcome as a performance piece there and hopefully taken to heart. It's always important to know your audience.

i think i'm fairly open-minded, but that would have upset me considerably. actually i have DBP's book on the "kabbalah of music" which i did enjoy, except for his conclusion, which implies that music is really a sitra ahra thing unless it has been "kashered" - which to me sounds like an excuse for more crappy religious pop and rock music rather than appreciating, say, bulerias or a ghazal, let alone a heavy metal track. i'd certainly have a few things to say about that if i met him.

Sounds like he's riffing off hasidic niggun theory 101 to me. I haven't read anything by him though I'm sure I'll get around to it. Just took the class. He somewhat misjudged the venue. Brought only original Hebrew and maybe aramaic sources, no translations. The only people who read Hebrew that well in the class were Reb David Ingber who was rabbi-in-residence and a pulpit rabbi who came to take the course. He just translated everything as he went before going into the experiential part that followed each text which for a class on meditation was slightly rushed. I did appreciate very much that when he got into the Abulafian stuff he went into the second half of the permutation with the nekudot that's often left out, even iirc by Reb Aryeh Kaplan in his guide to it. He also went more heavily into the theological basis for the practice, unless that was Reb David Cooper who had taught it earlier in the summer once on his Ecstatic Kabbalah weekend and once over an evening activity on the silent retreat. Maybe they both did.

Dauer

[Snoopy]

Buddha seems to have a few variations too! Is that ignorance, laziness, dependent upon country, or something more insidious?!

s.