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Comments on May one name a secular object using a Divine Name?
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May one name a secular object using a Divine Name?
Once upon a time, I was on a trip up in north Georgia and stumbled across this gem: a security service branding itself as "Adonai Security, LLC."
The tagline proceeds to make a pun in the same vein: "Know that you are secure in the hands of Adonai."1
In a similar vein I once passed by this street in Memphis, named "Yahweh Rd."
Let's say that an orthodox Jew was the one asked to name this street, or that the security firm was owned by a group of Jews.2 Would an observant Jew be allowed to name something completely unrelated to any religion3 using one of the Divine Names, or would this constitute usage of the Name in vain or a desecration thereof?
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As far as I am aware, I am allowed to write out this Name explicitly, even according those who are careful not to write out English variants on Divine Names, because it is being used in the context of a secular being, namely a security firm. I don't see a distinction between this usage and the myriad times the word אלהים appears in the Bible to refer to idols. ↩
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I'm sure that when I was visiting Blue Ridge my family was the only group of Jews anywhere in the city, and even calling it a city is generous. ↩
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To the exclusion of naming a religious group J's Witnesses, where the usage of their transliteration of the Divine Name is meant to refer to Hashem, not to their group. ↩
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As you said, the word "Elohim" and "Adonai", even if written in Hebrew, can have secular status.
רש"י בראשית יח פסוק ג
ויאמר אדני אם נא וגו' - לגדול שבהם אמר וקראם כולם אדונים ... הוא יעמדו חבריו עמו ובלשון זה הוא חול (שבועות לה) ד"א קודש הוא...
Rashi Bereshit 18:3
ויאמר אדני אם נא וגו - To the most important of them he said so, and called them "Adonim" [masters]... and to this explanation it's [the word Adoni in the verse] is secular, and some say it's holy [to different explanation]
רש"י בראשית לא נג
אלהי אברהם - קדש
ואלהי נחור - חול
אלהי אביהם - חול
Rashi Bereshit 31:53
Elohi [God] of Avraham - holy
Elohi [God] of Nachor - secular
Elohi [God] of their fathers - secular
"Yahweh" might be different, since it's a name and not a title.
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