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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: <A
href="mailto:yfel912928@aim.com">yfel912928@aim.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>>>I think the use of "Hashem" is a sociological phenomenon. That
is, whereas it had been the community preference to fit-in and be considered
religiously normal among other Americans, there came to be a need/inclination to
stand out and be different. Like so much else in contemporary Yiddishkeit, it
probably stems from a reaction to the 1960's, when differences became points of
pride and ethnicity suddenly shined and mattered.<<<BR><BR>-- Yaakov
Feldman<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>><BR>I think it goes back way before that, to a
discomfort with using non-Jewish or non-loshon hakodesh names for G-d.
Even way before the Sixties, even in the shtetl, my impression is that it was
rare for people to refer to Him as "Gott" but rather they would say the
"Ribono Shel Olam" which, the way my grandparents said it, when I was a
child I thought was one six-syllable Yiddish word -- "Ribonashalolam"
-- with the major stress on the second syllable and a secondary stress on the
fifth (penultimate) syllable. (I also thought my grandfather's name was
"Moshechiel" -- one Yiddish word -- not realizing it was "Moshe Yechiel" until
much later.) The other word frequently used was the one R' Micha mentioned
the other day, der Aibershter. If you were learning it might be
"Hakadosh Baruch Hu" but that was used less often. A constant saying I
heard as a child was "Der Ribonoshelolam feert zein velt." Very
comforting, no matter what happened. Another one, to counter-balance that
one and prevent total passivity, was "A Yid git zich an eitza." Thus, "G-d
runs the world" but at the same time, "Jews are resourceful."</DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR></B><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR><BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Psssst...Have you heard the news? <A title="http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014" href="http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014" target="_blank">There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>