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I'm a bit shocked to see how The Name is written without any "changes" in it and how the vocalization is freely unveiled.

Since it's completely forbidden to pronounce or use in vain, I would like to know why there aren't any rules or moderators' surveillance regarding it in this website (I checked the FAQ, and didn't find anything)?

How come we jump on little things like tags and not on this? I'm sure a lot of thinking has been put in this and decisions have been made and I would like to understand. (Maybe this should be in the meta website, but I'm not sure.)

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    this does seem to be a meta-question, and one which begs judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/1186/hashems-name-on-device
    – rosends
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 18:57
  • your link doesn't supply any reference and is not located in the meta site...
    – user1854
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:03
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    I've migrated this to our Meta site, as it primarily asks about site policy.
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:04
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    feel free to look through all the referenced questions via judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/10777/… and see that the issue of digital presentation vis-a-vis halacha has been explored. the meta part is beyond me. i'm a n00b
    – rosends
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:05
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    For some Meta discussion see meta.judaism.stackexchange.com/q/32/759
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:05
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    Are you asking about "God" vs "G-d" or about other transliterations such as "Elohim"?
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:07
  • Speaking of "little things like tags", halacha has hitherto been used for questions about main-site halacha-related questions, not for questions (like this one) that are themselves halacha-related. So I'm detagging this.
    – msh210 Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:08
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    @DoubleAA ... or straight-up Hebrew spellings?
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:11
  • Mainly about the Hebrew name, I'm surprised how people takes precautions to write "G-d" or else but fully write the true name or the true pronunciation w/o any problem... As I'm an Israeli and religious those English Transliterations are much more meaningful than a simple word of 3 letters without any real signifaction
    – user1854
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:12
  • Sorry you've been displeased by my spellings mistakes, I rushed in asking a question that I thought crucial as it directly concerns the firsts of the ten commandments (for me at least)
    – user1854
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:14
  • @danie7LT I think it is a little presumptuous of you to say that the name "God" has no significance when I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work to fulfill the Biblical command of reciting the Shema when done so in English.
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:16
  • G-od isn't the name of HaShem, G-od as D-ieu D-eus etc are words in foreign languages to express the idea of G-od nothing "presumptuous"
    – user1854
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:20
  • @danie7LT And because they are in foreign languages they are meaningless? See for instance Igrot Moshe OC 4:40 where he rules that blessings recited unnecessarily in foreign languages are full-fledged brachot levatallah. Turns out they are quite meaningful indeed even though they aren't in Hebrew.
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:25
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    @danie7LT, I'm sorry if my comments have added to the confusion. Your question was about writing, and in the discussion a couple tangents came up, one about speaking as distinct from writing, and one about speaking name-equivalents in other languages and whether they "count". I was just suggesting that these would be fine topics for their own questions on Mi Yodeya, independent of the written-transliteration question or moderation policy. For that matter, a question about writing "elokim" versus the actual transliteration would also be welcome on the main site.
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 21:11
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    @danie7LT, I'm also sorry that your participation got off to a rocky start, and I do hope you'll continue to ask and answer questions. This got moved to meta because it asked about moderator policy, not because you asked about written forms. And on meta voting means something different; it signals agreement/disagreement and does not affect reputation. If you don't want to ask some of these related questions on main then I might because now I'm curious, but you should have first crack at them. I think they'll get up-votes.
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 21:12

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Words like "God" are not the Name; they are translations. Nonetheless, some people write "G-d" (or "Hashem") anyway and those same people also write "Elokim" etc.

This question addresses issues about divine names in Hebrew on digital devices. If using a Hebrew name on a computer does not pose a halachic problem, then it seems even less likely that a transliteration of one would.

Policing the site to remove/transform names anyway would always be imperfect, so it would still be the reader's responsibility to check a particular page before printing it out. Since printing pages from Mi Yodeya is probably infrequent, that seems an acceptable approach.

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  • I think he was asking (based on his comment) that he was asking why people write "G-d" (instead of "God") but then write "Elohim" instead of "Elokim"
    – b a
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:21
  • @ba, oh I see now. (His comment arrived while I was typing and I didn't see it. Will update.)
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:25
  • Thank you for editing my mistakes in my post. Thank you for your kind answer Monica Cellio and @ba you're right that's a part of what I meant
    – user1854
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:26
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    +1 Moreover most poskim agree that reciting God's name properly while learning Torah is not forbidden Biblicaly or Rabbinicaly, although some (particularly Ashkenazim) have a custom to avoid doing so anyway. So Mi Yodeya would not adopt a policy which would seem to rule on this matter, but we would let everyone choose what to write for themselves.
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:34
  • @DoubleAA That's what I was asking in the first in my post, the reasonning behind the liberty given to anybody to write the name of G-od the way he wants- thank you for that
    – user1854
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 19:37
  • related judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/13386/…
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 21:14

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