[Avodah] Name and Reputation

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

from R' Micha Berger, in the thread "Rav Schwab on Chillul Hashem":

> And I ask again, how is a "chillul Hashem" even possible?
> His name/reputation, "hasheim" with a lower-case-h, yes.
> But the Creator Himself? I think that capitalizing the "H"
> to make it the kinui "Hashem" is theologically problematic.)

I don't have an answer, but I can suggest a possible direction for
research: When this chillul is discussed by the poskim, it it spelled
heh-apostrophe, or heh-shin-mem? The former is near universal, I think,
though the latter would fit RMB's explanation better.

Any linguists around? I think RMB is on the button logically, but I suspect
this an example of where a phrase takes on a life of its own, like the
second shin in "shaloshudis", or the missing comma in "Hakadoshboruchu".
And, very relevant to this thread, the vowel of "HaSheim" becoming "HaShem".

(By the way, perhaps this is a good place to mention two places in davening
where we actually say "Hasheim", spelled heh-shin-mem. In one place it
actually means "the Name", and in the other it means "G-d", and I don't
think either could be twisted into "the Reputation". Coincidentally or not,
both are in the Avodah section of Yom Kippur Musaf: "V'kach hayah omer: Ana
Hasheim! - And so he'd say, Please G-d!", and "haya miskavein ligmor es
HaSheim - he would aim to complete The Name".)

Akiva Miller
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