Signs Of Intimacy

i confess. i often hear ideas and begin to believe that they are mine. almost immediately, i have to go “wait a second” and return to the reality that it was someone else’s interesting thought or concept. the human mind can be tricky.

thus, credit for this post is initially due to a jewish theological seminary student’s speech which may have been a rabbinical school assignment. she introduced her talk with the factoid that eskimos or inuit people have a large vocabulary with respect to snow. from the sources, there are some forty to fifty words describing the solid state of water. these words describe many different qualities of snow. the reason for this is obvious. eskimos and inuit people have a deep and involved relationship with snow. their lives and livelihoods for countless years are entwined with this essential piece of nature.

after hearing this piece, i grabbed a hold of a high holiday prayer book -a makzor- to look at prior to the upcoming new year. the high holiday liturgy’s prayers address god with a variety of names. this begs the question, “why would there be so many names if there is only one god?”

the torah, and judaism, have many names for god, they include elohim, adonai and the four letter word- the tetragammaton- which is not spoken or erased. there is also el shaddai-god almighty, adonai tzevaoth, the lord of host and there is the famous one provided to moses at the burning bush- i am that i am. further, there the name “the god of abraham, god of isaac and the god of jacob”. other terms for god include the merciful, gracious and faithful. also, individuals use “ha’shem”, which in english is the name.

many of these names come from the torah in which humanity and the children of israel both experienced god and had relationships with him. their interactions- some over generations- inspired the name. some of the names were inspired by actions, such as the almighty. some describe god’s location and some desscribe god’s essence. as such, the fact that there are so many names for god, mostly noted from the torah, marks a people who had or experienced a relationship with god. they individuals within the torah, their lives, one can argue, depended upon it.

be well!!

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