[Avodah] Hyphenating the Shaymos

[Akiva Miller]

This thread will be about when we do and do not hyphenate the Names when written in English. I am very aware the the poskim are not united regarding when foreign-language Names have kedusha and when they don't, so I'd like to stipulate at the outset that I do NOT want to discuss the requirements of halacha. Rather, I'm interested in what is considered appropriate and customary, which is presumably beyond the actual halachic requirements, at least of some poskim.

I'd like to begin by pointing out that I am a frequent reader of "Covenant and Conversation", the Parsha Sheet of British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, available at http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ I have noticed that he consistently hyphenates "G-d", but spells "Lord" in full. This is different than the practice - familiar to me since Hebrew School - of hyphenating both of these.

Pondering these practices, I asked myself: "Hashem Tzevakos" is also one of the Shaymos She'aynam Nimchakim, so why do we spell "Hosts" in full? And if "Shakai" is translated as "Almighty", we should hyphenate that too, right? (Some do, but it's not as common as "G-d" and "L-rd".)

My current suspicions are along the following lines: There is indeed a real machlokes haposkim about Shaymos in languages other than Lashon Hakodesh. Possibly, Amcha are choosing (perhaps unconsciously) to be machmir on translations of YKVK and closely-related Names, but to be meikal on less-closely-related Names.

This would explain the practice of spelling "Hosts" and "Almighty" in full. This could apply even to "Lord", especially when "G-d" appears in the same phrase. At the same time, it would explain why I have seen some hyphenate "H-Shem" - a practice I considered foolish until I began formulating this post.

This idea might also explain why so many people nowadays consider the Double Yud to be among the Shaymos She'aynam Nimchakim, even though it was originally designed to be an abbreviation which *could* be erased. Ditto for "Heh-apostrophe", which contains one of the letters of the YKVK, and is in the process of being replaced by "Daled-apostrophe".

(Perhaps it's my imagination, but I perceive a sort of "Law of Conservation of Chumros and Kulos" at work here. Does being super-machmir on the higher-level Shaymos entitle us to be meikal on the lower-level ones?)

Any comments? Have any of the chevra stopped to analyze their own practices, and the reasons for those practices?

Akiva Miller

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