When the Homily is about Immunology

Ha Shem

I enjoy talking to my Jewish coworker on a variety of topics, and today I mentioned that my kids have taken to singing a song, part of which, is in Hebrew. She laughed, expecting a joke I suspect (since she knows me too well), and then I explained that it is a portion of a song from the Soundtrack of “Prince of Egypt.”

As best I could, I tried to blabber out the words as I recalled them and she smiled, seemingly understanding me until I reached the phrase “Adonai” at which point she looked at me as if I’d run my nails across a chalkboard.

Now we’d talked before about the comparative ease with which “christians” speak the names of God, sometimes to the point of being blatantly offensive. I pointed out that indeed the using of Jesus'/God’s name outisde of a context in which He is actually being discussed or referenced is indeed considered blasphemyfor most Christians, but that westerners are so secularized these days that many who often use our Lord’s name in “unusual” circumstances, actually know nothing about Him- they don't even understand what they are saying. A devout Christian certainly knows better.

Now, I had always known that the tetragrammaton was never uttered, but apparently even names such as “Adonai” are not to ever be said outside of prayer. In its place, I am told, they use the phrase “Ha Shem” which is directly translated as “the name.” And it was so odd discussing this issue with her because she avoided terms like "Adonai", saying instead: “What you said earlier” or “What you just said.” It was charming...I feel blessed to have her her and be educated by her.

And the issue of names gave me pause to think: What effect would it have on our prayers if we reserved the use of the name Jesus (or even God for that matter) to only those times when we are directly addressing Him? Think about it...I expect there would be a certain empowerment in that, wouldn’t there? Now clearly this is not a part of our tradition – by that I mean we do not have any prohibitions about using the name Jesus when we are engaged in discussions about Him, but we do, by the same token believe that there IS a certain power and authority in His name, no?

For my own part, I think I need to consider attaching more sacredness to the names of our God. And I really do wonder how it would affect our worship and prayer if we were to converse day to day about “Ha Shem” and then only name Him when we are directly speaking to Him. We certainly have no shortage of the “best buddy” syndrome in western theology, rather we could use a greater dose of “otherness”, “holiness”, and “mystery.”