Sacred namedecodingandunlocking
- 1. 1 Copyright © 2015 Joseph F. Tischler Thousand Oaks California Decoding the Sacred Name And Unlocking the Civility Within Ourselves by Joseph F. Tischler It is the goal of every true Freemason to continually shape and hone their spiritual ashlar to construct that building of society, which best emulates the highest of ideals one human block at a time. And what are those pinnacles of societal function? How does the sacred name relate to this goal? Masons use the tools of architecture and strive to reveal hidden meanings to cement their moral pathway. If the Ten Commandments are among the entrance requirements to conducting a good life, the Sacred Name provides a pathway to guide us. Although this writing scrutinizes Hebrew text it does so with the objective of discerning truths common to all religious faiths. This article examines the Hebraic names of God and, focusing on the Tetragramaton, explicitly defines it, using the scriptures and a little Midrash; and then views how it fits into our lives for the betterment of ourselves and humanity. The Sacred Name is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. Masonically, it can be compared to the mystery of the Lost Master’s word. Indeed, perhaps it could be referred to as the Lost Word of the Grand Master of the Universe. However it isn’t lost! Although it is written as a word we will see this interpretation perpetuates the tradition, that it is not a word at all. This discussion reveals a unique, original, and an incontrovertible insight into, as the Greeks labeled these four letters, the Tetragrammaton, יהוה, the Sacred Name. The Tetragrammaton appears 6828 times the Teachings or Tanakh (Torah (five books of Moses), Nevi’im (Prophets) Ketuvim (Writings) ) , what many refer to as the Old Testament. There is an extensive explanation of the different references to the Diety in the scriptures and they can be reviewed in Wikipedia under “Names of God in Judaism”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Judaism#El_Shaddai What purpose or value is having knowledge of this Name? In the style of that great master Yoda, “See it you will!” From a Masonic perspective we are constantly trying to improve ourselves. We have a theme of Repairing the World by improving ourselves one person at a time; a noble and lofty goal. As we decode the Sacred Name it becomes clear how those goals can be met and how this interpretation of the Sacred Name is the foundation, forming the fundamental properties of civility. Understanding this interpretation of the Sacred Name requires delving into the original language in which it is written, Hebrew, and this discussion presumes no previous knowledge of it. So understanding English is the only prerequisite for this revelation. For over 3 millennia the Tetragrammaton has been with us. Why then has this concept not surfaced? The concept actually has been stated but only as a reference. This discussion provides a graphical proof. It was written: “there is nothing new under the sun.” This lament from Ecclesiastes or Kohelet 1:9 may epitomize those feelings: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
- 2. 2 Copyright © 2015 Joseph F. Tischler Thousand Oaks California Traditional thinking locks in concepts fixing a foundation of knowledge about life and of God. But life, by its very nature, continuously blossoms evolving knowledge with new perspectives. At a casual first glance, the differences might not be apparent but close scrutiny to the discerning eye reveals true uniqueness and our quest for knowledge continuously unveils new understandings as we strive to improve ourselves. So, after thousands of years the same questions arise and the following surmises an answer to one of those elusive inquiries… the meaning of the Sacred Name, the Tetragrammaton. These four Hebrew letters יהוה form the Tetragrammaton: as you see them, using Latin characters reading left-to-right, HVHY; or as Hebrew is read, right-to-left, YHVH. Some will use a ‘W’ in place of the ‘V’, making it YHWH. It has long been the custom of the Jewish people not to pronounce the Tetragrammaton, in its stead the word adonai, אדני , is vocalized, meaning ‘lord’. Some of today’s prayer books print the Tetragrammaton with no vowels. It is an interesting question as to why the Masorites placed vowels and musical tropes around the Sacred Name as they marked the sacred texts to preserve pronunciation of a term that is not to be pronounced? Languages express the Divine Entity by different words and phrases as does the Hebrew language. Other forms of the sacred name in Hebrew are alluded to having character lengths of 12, 22, and the Midrash Rabbah mentions lengths of 42, and 72. These have proved no help in understanding the Sacred Name, nor have they given insight as to the meaning of these four letters. However the Midrash Rabbah does refer to “Adonai” and the attributes of God in reference to the portion in Exodus Chapter 3. How are we to understand what it means? We will examine the two prominent places in the scriptures where the name of God is expressed and then examine the name itself. The Torah has instances where the name of the Almighty are described. In the portion of Exodus 3:13 – 14, Moses, at the sign of the burning bush, asks God His name, so he can tell the Israelites: Exodus Chapter 3 יגֹאיַּור ֶמה ֶשֹׁמלֶא-ים ִה ֱאָה,ֵהנּ ִהי ִכֹנ ָא אָבל ֶא-ֵינ ְבּל ֵא ָר ְשִׂי,י ִתּ ְר ַמ ָאְוםֶָהל,יֵה ֱא ֶםכי ֵבוֹתֲאיִנַָחל ְשֶׁםכֵילֲא;רוּ ְמ ָאְו-יִלהַמ- מוֹ ְשּׁ,הָמר ַמֹאםֵֶהלֲא. 13 And Moses said unto God: 'Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them: The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me: What is His name? What shall I say unto them?' ידר ֶֹאמַיּוים ִה ֱאלֶא-ה ֶשֹׁמ,ֶהי ְהֶאר ֲֶשׁא ֶהי ְה ֶא;רֶֹאמיַּו,הֹכּר ַֹאמתֵינ ְבִלל ֵא ָר ְשִׂי, ֶהי ְה ֶא,יִנַָחל ְשֶׁםכֵילֲא. 14 And God said unto Moses: 'I AM THAT I AM'; and He said: 'Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you.' טוַור ֶֹאמיּעוֹדים ִה ֱאל ֶא-ה ֶשֹׁמ,הֹכּ- ר ַֹאמתל ֶא-ֵינ ְבּל ֵא ָר ְשִׂי,ָהוהְייֵה ֱא ֶםכי ֵתֹבֲאיֵה ֱאםָה ָר ְב ַאיֵה ֱאקָח ְצִי יֵה ֵאובֲֹקﬠַי,יִנַָחל ְשֶׁםכֵילֲא;ֶהז-י ִמ ְשּׁ ָםלֹעְל,ֶהזְוי ִר ְִכזרֹדְלרֹדּ. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses: 'Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations. http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt02.htm This is what God instructs Moses to say to the Israelites. The following commentary on Exodus 3:15 in the Dr. J. H. Hertz Pentateuch, Second Edition, 1993, pg. 215, which treats these letters as a word, states: “This Divine Name of four letters - the Tetragrammaton - comes from the same Hebrew root (hayah) as
- 3. 3 Copyright © 2015 Joseph F. Tischler Thousand Oaks California Ehyeh; viz ‘to be’.” This gives a poetic view of the Name consistent with the phrase “I am that I am.” This interpretation is beautiful and quite poetic. A. De Hoyo also restates this section of scripture in Scottish Rite Monitor & Guide pg. 303 3rd Edition Corrected. However when one examines this statement 'I AM THAT I AM' closely, it is a declaration of existence not a name. Reread verse 14, and then read verse 15. It is verse 15 wherein His name is instantiated: “And God Said Moreover...” And notice in this sentence, second line down on the left, the Tetragrammaton is written where it states His name. This implies “I am that I am” is a description and not a name. It should be noted there are numerous sentences in the Torah which start “And the LORD said...” , ויאמיהוה ר , where the Tetragrammaton is used. Here in this second sentence the word Elohim, ,אלהמ ‘God’, is used. This further emphasizes the Tetragrammaton represents His name by it not being used in verse 14. God has not met with Moses face-to-face, and thus He has not yet revealed Himself to Moses. That will take acts of biblical proportions where He will ‘proclaim’ His name. In reference to verse 14 Midrash Rabbah Exodus III 6-7 Rabbi. Abba ben Mammel said: God said to Moses: ‘Thou wishest to know My name. Well, I am called according to My work; sometimes I am called “Almighty God, Lord of Hosts”, “God”, “Lord”. When I am judging created beings, I am called “God.” When I am waging war against the wicked, I am called “Lord of Hosts” (Samuel XV 2). When I suspend judgment for a Man’s sins, I am called “El Shaddai” (Almighty God), and when I am merciful towards my world, I am called “Adonai”, (Genesis Rabbah LI 2), for “Adonai” refers to the Attribute of Mercy, as it is said: The Lord the Lord (Adonai Adonai), God merciful and gracious...Genesis XXXIV-6. Hence I am that I am in virtue of My deeds.’2 It is here in this section of the Midrash Rabbah, that “Adonai” is linked to God’s attributes. But the following interpretation goes further and unveils the meaning of each of the four letters. We now come to the place where God ‘proclaims’ His name. In this most prominent occurrence of the Ineffable Name, in portion Ki Tissah, Exodus 34:5 – 7, where, after Moses finishes the second set of tablets, God proclaims His name. This passage contains the only occurrence in the Torah, where the Tetragrammaton occurs twice in succession, יהוה יהוה, and the text that follows details what are called the divine attributes of God. This can be seen highlighted in the transcribed Hebrew – English and in the actual hand-written Torah excerpt of Ki Tissah, Figure 1. המּוֹ ִﬠ בֵַצּי ְתִַיּו ,ָןנָﬠֶבּ ָהוהְי ד ֵֶריַּו .ָהוהְי ,ם ֵשׁ ְב א ָרְקִַיּו ;ם ָשׁ 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. וﬠַל ָהוהְי רֲֹבﬠַיַּו-,א ָרְקִַיּו ,ָיונָפּ ָהוהְיָהוהְי,לֵאחוּם ַרנּוּןַחְו-- ֶר ֶאםִַיפּ ַא,ב ַרְו-דֶסֶחתֱֶמאֶו. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed: 'The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; זרֵצֹנדֶסֶחים ִָפלֲאָל,א ֵשֹׂנוָﬠֹן ע ַשֶָׁפוה ָאָטַּחְו;הֵַקּנְו,ֹאלהֶַקּנְי- -ֲוֹﬠ דֵקֹפּלַﬠ בוֹת ָא ן-ַלﬠְו יםִנָבּ-ֵינ ְבּ ﬠַל ,יםִנָב-ﬠַלְו ים ִֵשׁלּ ִשׁ-.ים ִﬠֵבּ ִר 7 keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.'
- 4. 4 Copyright © 2015 Joseph F. Tischler Thousand Oaks California Figure 1 Sefer Torah Excerpt from Ki Tissah The actual writing is included because one does not want to use a transcription of the Torah, to guard against any possibility of adding or omitting a character or detail. The Torah has been carefully scripted each letter being carefully placed. There is no doubt that this section of Torah has profound meaning. This double occurrence of the Tetragrammaton therefore, has special significance and what follows unveils the relationship between the two Tetragrammatons and the words which follow them. The Sacred Name Gematria: The first two letters of the Tetragrammaton are the Hebrew letters forming the word יה pronounced Yah, meaning God, or the Eternal, as in the commonly used Hebrew words Hallelu…yah “praise be … God”. The second two characters, ,וה prove to be more challenging,
- 5. 5 Copyright © 2015 Joseph F. Tischler Thousand Oaks California because they are not a word nor are they an acronym for words. Here, it is asserted that they are indeed a number! The “Arabic” style of numbering, as well as the Hebrew were in use, dating back as far as 2000 B.C.E., according to some historians. So it is plausible that those charged with putting the letters of the Torah to parchment had knowledge of this numbering system. The Arabic numbering which we use today is a positional-polynomial base-ten system (for instance the number one hundred twenty three written, 123, mathematically equates to 100+20+3). We are accustomed to seeing the ten numerical characters representing the numerical digits and perhaps were unaware that their written positions represent the different powers of ten. Not so with the Hebrew or Roman Numerals and other ancient forms of numbering. Hebrew uses a set of letters for units, another set for the tens, and yet another for hundreds, reusing these letter sets with dots to indicate larger quantities of 1,000, and there was no zero or place holder character. Hebrew Numbers Table 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס As indicated in the Hebrew Numbers table ו represents the number 6, and the ה represents 5, or together 65. Normally the number 65 in Hebrew would be written ,סה the ס being 60. So, what is the significance of the number 65? Examine the highlighted Torah excerpt from Ki Tissah containing the words of the Attributes of God. If one counts the letters following the double Tetragrammaton to the Hebrew words, ינקה לא, which ends the phrase “by no means clear the guilty”, they will count exactly 65 characters. Granted, this is not the total number of letters of all of the words in this section. However, the words included in the 65 characters do completely contain all of the Divine Attributes. The remaining phrase details what it means to be part of the guilty. Is the relationship of the Tetragrammaton’s embedded characters and their relationship to the Divine Attributes just a subtle coincidence? This is the discovery! This interpretation equates the Tetragrammaton, the יהוה, to a short-hand for the sixty-five characters which form the words of the Attributes of God. This interpretation continues to promote the tradition of not pronouncing the Tetragrammaton as a word. This is not to say that the sacred words that follow it in the Torah should not be pronounced. Indeed, during the celebrations of the biblical holy days (Pesach - Passover, Shavuot – Feast of Weeks, Rosh Hashanah –New Year, Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement, and Sukkot - Festival of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles) a portion of these words is sung by the congregation just before the Torah service. It is a portion, because the liturgy omits the words referring to holding the guilty accountable. Numerology is often viewed with suspicion and skepticism. Here, no magical or mystical property is ascribed to the number 65. Indeed, these four letters are interpreted as a short-hand for a very special group of words. This explanation of the Tetragrammaton unravels an inner beauty hidden within its four letters, equating יהוה to the following English expression “the Eternal’s 65 characters.” One can now understand why יהוה isn’t a word at all and should not be pronounced as a single word. Perhaps, as we reread the scriptures with this in mind new meanings will surface from this interpretation of the ineffable Sacred Name.
- 6. 6 Copyright © 2015 Joseph F. Tischler Thousand Oaks California There are a variety of names for God and yet, there may be an undisclosed “sacred” name for God. This interpretation reveals the Eternal’s Sixty-Five letters defining the attributes of the All Merciful and inextricably connects them with His name, יהוה. merciful Showing or exercising mercy; (of an event) coming as a mercy; bringing someone relief from something unpleasant gracious Courteous, kind, and pleasant; Elegant and tasteful, especially as exhibiting wealth or high social status; (In Christian belief) showing divine grace long-suffering Having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people abundant in goodness Showing kindness; Possessing or displaying moral virtue; Strictly adhering to or fulfilling all the principles of a particular religion or cause; That which is morally right; righteousness truth The quality or state of being true; That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality; A fact or belief that is accepted as true keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm forgiving iniquity Immoral or grossly unfair behavior transgression An act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct; an offense sin An immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law that will by no means clear the guilty; Definition and links are derived from the Oxford Cambridge Dictionary Looking at these Attributes, we can see that if man could exhibit these qualities of Truth, Mercy, Graciousness, Forgiveness, and Goodness on a more regular basis how strife, war, and poverty would be mitigated. Mitigated because there will always be those afflicted with disease, disabilities, famine, and natural disasters. Indeed these realities of life give us opportunity to practice these virtues. Rigorous examination of these qualities would spawn volumes of commentary. They presume a certain level of judgement and understanding quite different from the ‘Thou shalt’s of the Ten Commandments. And, when we look at the attributes of goodness and graciousness do they not also embrace charity, hospitality, and civility? We are not deities nor can we invoke these qualities all the time but we can cause ourselves to perform these ‘divine’ attributes more abundantly in our daily lives. When we do, we become humane and achieve those highest of societal ideals.