Erasing the Name of God

The Talmud states: “We must be careful not to offend our wife, for she weeps often and is easily offended.” The Talmud passage continues by saying that God responds quickly to a woman’s tears and that her tears are more effective than a man’s prayer. God takes a woman’s tears seriously. The passage concludes: “A man must respect his wife, for his house will be blessed only because of his wife.” (Baba Mezia 59a)

“And the priest shall write these oaths in a book and blot them out in the bitter water” (Numbers 5:23. The husband of a woman suspected of adultery is brought to the tabernacle. The priest, performing the ritual, prepares a mixture of water and “dust” from the floor of the tabernacle. He makes the woman swear an oath that foresees a curse that will fall upon her if she is found guilty. Then the priest writes the words of the oath on a scroll, washes the ink from the scroll with water, and gives this water to the woman. The woman drinks the water, as if swallowing the curse, to prove her innocence. If she were guilty, the water would cause her the harm foreseen in the curse. If she were innocent, the water would not harm her. On the contrary, it would only increase her fertility.

This whole procedure causes some difficulties for the reader. Usually In Judaism, it is forbidden to erase the sacred name of God. When a scribe copied the Scriptures into Hebrew, he had the right to erase any mistake he made, but not one in which the name of God was mentioned. So, in a passage in which the name of God was mentioned, the scribe could erase and correct all the words except the name of God. This is the reason why to this day, Jews who strictly observe the laws and regulations do not write the name of God in Hebrew on school boards, so as not to have to erase it later. Documents in which the Hebrew name of God is written are considered more valuable. They cannot be carelessly and irreverently thrown away or destroyed. Sacred books in which the name of God is written are not even placed face down on the table, and it is not allowed to place other, less sacred, books on them. With The Holy Scriptures are never taken to the restroom. Even a photocopy of the name of God acquires a sacred status. When a scroll or book containing the name of God falls out of use, they are placed in a kind of “funeral” repository for sacred texts.

If the reverence for the name of God is so strong, affirmed in a tradition that has endured for millennia regarding the erasure of the name of God, then why does the Torah say that the priest must erase/wash the curse from the scroll with water? The holy name of God is mentioned twice in the curse. The ancient sages teach that God is so concerned about peaceful relations between man and woman that He even desires and allows His name to be erased for the sake of reconciliation (Sifre 17).

Peace between man and woman in Judaism is perceived as “shalom bayit,” a term that literally means “peace in the home.” This peace in the home even surpasses the sanctity of the name of God. Thus, people are instructed to watch that even religion does not destroy marriage. God is more interested in happy marital relationships than in some religious decrees. For God, the sanctity of marriage is of such importance that He allows the erasure of His name for the sake of reconciliation in the family.

Source: “The First Fruits of Zion”, http://www.ffoz.org/ – Magazine “Vinogradnik”, 8-9, 2011, pp. 6-7.