[Avodah] Names of God in foreign languages

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Aug 01, 2010 at 11:23:13PM +1000, ben Simpleton wrote:
: I was learning Hilkhot Sanhedrin 26:3 where the Rambam writes:
: "Since cursing by any of the attributes entails the penalty of flogging, it
: follows that if one curses by the Names (of God) in any language, he is
: subject to flogging, for the name by which the Gentiles refer to God belong
: to the category of attributes."

I don't know if "kekol hakinuyim" should really be translated as
"category of attributes". I thought a kinui is more like a reference or
descriptive nick-name. Yes, a description will involve attributes, but
the concept of kinui is more in contrast to the sheimos used in Tanakh,
as transmitted in the Torah and via nevu'ah. E.g. "E-lokim" is a
description of G-d as Legislator, but it's a sheim, not a kinui, because
it's used throughout Tanakh -- Hashem picked it, not us. No?

I'm wondering about cognate words, in particular A-llah. A-llah and HaKel
have the same linguistic heritage and translate identically. Unlike the
Kenaani "El", the Deity usually called by the name "A-llah" is the Single
Absolute Creator and Master of all.

I have seen editions of R' Saadia Gaon that do hyphenate A-llah when
written in Judeo-Arabic, which is written using the alef-beis.

: I do not have the Shut Achiezer...

I found it on the Bar Ilan responsa site. I assume it's the one, since
every other occurance of laaz was about "motzi laaz".

Achiezer 4:32. It addresses the question about a copy of the Israelite,
which contained a sheim Hashem belaaz. Rather than try to work
it through for you, I got lazy and put the teshuvah itself up at
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/achiezer3_32.html>.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
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