George Szpiro is an author, journalist and mathematician whose books include Numbers Rule: The Vexing Mathematics of Democracy, from Plato to the Present (2010) and Risk, Choice, and Uncertainty: Three Centuries of Economic Decision-Making (Columbia, 2020). Szpiro has been on the faculty at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Below is an excerpt from his newest book, Perplexing Paradoxes: Unraveling Enigmas in the World Around Us (Columbia, 2024).
The Bible’s third commandment (third in the Jewish count, number two according to the catechism of the Catholic Church) commands, “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.” And the punishment: “For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” Now, here’s a tricky question: What do you answer when someone asks, “What name should I not take in vain?” Since no human being is allowed to utter it, how can one instruct ignoramuses not to use it?
One can’t!
With idols forbidden and God being without body or form, awe for the Supreme Being expresses itself in the dread in which His name is held and in the stringent limitations of its utterance. Blasphemy is considered one of the most evil sins a Jew can commit.
But blasphemy is not the only instance in which the forbidden appellation is uttered. Profanities and curses are infamous for invoking the name of God and are, of course, also strictly prohibited. Another occasion is the swearing of oaths and vows; they are always made in the name of God, not in the name of any other being or thing. Note that it is forbidden not only to swear to falsehoods— that is prohibited by the ninth commandment—but also to take an oath for which there is no need since that would mean taking God’s name in vain.
So, on the one hand, God’s name must never be taken in vain; on the other hand, if one must testify under oath, it must be in God’s name.
But how can ignorant people avoid pronouncing the forbidden name by mistake if they do not know what it is? Well, if they are Jewish, they’re simply supposed to know what is meant; nobody will spell it out for them.
A paradox!
The problem is that we once again have an instance of self- reference, a statement in which a subject refers to itself in order to exclude itself. As so often in philosophy—from Bertrand Russell’s “the set of all sets that are not members of themselves,” to Groucho Marx’s “I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member,” to the barber who shaves everybody who does not shave himself—self-reference leads to a paradox.
And so it is with the pronunciation of a name that must not be pronounced. Commonly written “YHWH” in the Bible and in prayer books in Hebrew letters (from right to left: Yod, Heh, Wav, Heh), the so-called Tetragrammaton is God’s name. Only the high priest was permitted, and only once, on the holiest day of the Jewish year, on Yom Kippur, to utter God’s name.
Orthodox Jews tiptoe their way around the difficulty by substituting another word for the forbidden name. Whenever the Tetragrammaton is encountered in Jewish liturgy—for example, when reading the Bible, reciting a prayer, or just wishing someone good or bad luck—the congregation substitutes “Adonai” (“Our Lord”), “Elohim” (“God”), “Shaddai” (“the Omnipotent”), or—the name that says it all—“HaShem” (“The Name”). And even that may be too close for comfort. Many faithful substitute “Ha’” for “HaShem.” (In English, the Tetragrammaton is most often translated as “the Lord.”)
dénouement
Let’s leave aside curses and profanities, which are anathema in any case. But how about blasphemers? How can they be brought to justice? In biblical times, the penalty for blasphemy was death. However, a Jewish blasphemer could not be condemned to death unless a witness had heard the person pronounce God’s name and would testify to the fact. Thus, courts were confronted with a dilemma: on the one hand, the judges needed to hear the witness describe what he had heard; on the other hand, uttering God’s name, even by a witness, was forbidden. How could a trial proceed?
The rabbis’ dilemma, indeed the paradox, could not be avoided. All the sages could do was reduce collateral damage as much as possible. To diminish the fallout of this capital sin, they devised an elaborate procedure. During the interrogation of a witness, the common forename “Yossi” was substituted every time God’s name was meant. That was good for a while, but at some point the inescapable moment could no longer be avoided; the witness would be obliged to repeat what he had heard word for word. It was the dramatic high point of the proceedings. Everybody, except for the judges and the witness, was sent out of chambers. Then the judges called upon the witness to repeat verbatim what he had heard. As soon as he uttered the hallowed Tetragrammaton, the judges tore their clothes in shock and mourning, and the blasphemer’s fate was sealed.
In spite of the dire consequences, blasphemy became so widespread with time that the quaint tradition of tearing one’s clothes was discontinued by Rabbi Hiyya, a sage who lived about 1,800 years ago. He decreed that “he who hears the Divine Name blasphemed nowadays is not obliged to rend his garments, because otherwise his garments would be nothing but tatters.”
more . . .
When Moses encountered the burning bush and asked God what his name was, God answered, “I am what I am,” or, since the conjugation of the Hebrew for “to be” is identical in the present and future tenses, “I will be what I will be” (“Ehyeh asher ehyeh”).
Apart from the tautological answer not being very informative, the sentence’s exact pronunciation is not known since in Hebrew script, only consonants are written. Which vowels the Israelites used in their spoken language was inferred only much later by Jewish scribes.
Thus, the original pronunciation of God’s utterance “I am what I am” has been lost; what is left are the four consonants that many scholars believe may designate the first- or third-person singular form of “to be” in the present, past, and future tenses.
Excerpted from Perplexing Paradoxes: Unraveling Enigmas in the World Around Us by George G. Szpiro. Copyright (c) 2024 Columbia University Press. Used by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
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