365 Names: “G-d”

G-D is a bit of linguistic trickery. Because traditional Judaism teaches that the name of G?d (see what I did there?) is not to be erased, “G-d” is a way to write that Name without really writing it: on a Hebrew school blackboard, say, or a Xeroxed handout, or a computer screen, or any transient or otherwise ephemeral medium. Of course, as Rabbi Larry Kushner points out, “‘God’ is not God’s name” — thus, erasing “God” should pose no theological problem. Some habits, though, are hard to break. (So what’s with the question mark? See here, o seeker after Divine nomenclature.)

Once upon a time, in 2011 in fact, The Metaphorager aspired each day to feature a different name for that-which-some-people-call-God. Some were creative, others traditional, each unique; so we’re going to attempt that again (though not every day) until we run out of the names we’ve collected so far. If you want to see your favorite here, but haven’t, send it along with the subject line “365 Names” and let us know whether or not you want to be credited.

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