CHAPTER 62

We have received a commandment with regard to the benediction of Priests in which the name of the Lord figures as it is written. This name is the articulated name. Now not everybody knew how this name was to be pronounced and how every one of its letters should be vocalized and which of the letters, if any, should be redoubled. Accordingly the men of knowledge have transmitted this, I mean the mode of pronouncing it, but they did not teach it to anyone except once a week to a worthy scholar.¹ I believe [79b] that the dictum, The sages transmit the name having four letters once a week to their sons and their pupils,2 refers not only to their teaching the mode of pronouncing this name but also to their making known the notion because of which this name has been originated without any derivation. Accordingly there also would be in this notion a divine secret.

Furthermore, though they used³ a name having twelve letters, that name was in sanctity inferior to the name having four letters. In my opinion the most probable supposition is that the name that had twelve letters was not one name but two or three, the sum of the letters of which came to twelve. This name was uttered in all the cases in which the name having four letters occurred in the reading of Scripture, just as we utter today in the same cases the letters aleph and daleth. Now this name also, namely, that having twelve letters, is undoubtedly indicative of a notion more particularly pertaining to God than is the case with regard to what is indicated by aleph and daleth. But this name was not prohibited and withheld from any of the men of knowledge; on the contrary, everybody who sought to learn this name was taught it. This was not the case with regard to the name having four letters. For no one of those knowing it taught it to anyone except once a week to his son and his pupil. In consequence, blameworthy people started learning the name having twelve letters, and through this corrupted beliefs. This happens whenever anyone who is not a perfect man comes to know that something is not as he had imagined it to be in the first place. The Sages therefore made a secret of this name likewise, and taught it only to the discreet among the Priests that they might use it in giving their benediction to the people in the Sanctuary, as they had ceased mentioning the articulated name in the Sanctuary because of the corruption of the people. They say: After the death of Simon the Just, his brethren the Priests stopped using the name in giving their benediction;4 in giving their benediction they used the name [80b] having twelve letters. They also say: At first the name having twelve letters was transmitted to everyone. [However] when libertines became numerous, it was transmitted only to the discreet among the Priests; and the discreet among the Priests uttered it [in such fashion] that it should be inaudible in the [singing of] melodies by their brethren the [other] Priests. Rabbi Tarphon says: Once I ascended the dais after the father of [my] mother, listened to an [officiating] Priest, and heard that he uttered [the name in question in such fashion] that it should be inaudible in the [singing of] melodies by his brethren the [other] Priests.5 They also had a name having forty-two letters. Now it is known to everyone capable of mental representation that it is in no way possible that forty-two letters should form one word; these were certainly several words, the number of the letters of which amounted to forty-two. There is no doubt that these words were necessarily indicative of several notions and that these notions came near to a representation of the essence of Him, may He be exalted, in the way we have stated.

These words that had numerous letters were called name only because of their being indicative of one notion only, like the other names originated without any derivation. And these words were numerous only with a view to making the notion in question understood. For sometimes many words are used in order to make a single notion understood. Understand this accordingly, and know that that which was taught were the notions indicated by these names and not merely the pronunciation, devoid of all representation, of the letters. The term articulated name is never applied to the name having twelve letters or to the name having forty-two letters. For the articulated name is the name that is peculiar to Him, as we have made clear, whereas the two others necessarily taught some sort of divine science. The fact that it taught science is proved by [80c] the following dictum on this subject: The name having forty-two letters is holy and sanctified and is only transmitted to one who is discreet, has reached the middle of his life, is not prone to anger or to drunkenness, does not arouse criticism by his way of life, and speaks agreeably with people. And he who knows it is heedful thereof and observes it in purity, is beloved on high and popular below. He is feared by the people, his learning is preserved by him, and he inherits the two worlds, this world and the next.6 This is literally what the Talmud says. How very remote is the way in which this saying is usually understood from the intention of its speaker. For most people think that it deals solely with the pronunciation of letters, and it is not taken into consideration that these letters may have a meaning, so that great things may be acquired through them and that for this reason there is needed the moral preparation and the multiple forming of dispositions that were mentioned. It is clear then that all this is solely instruction in divine notions belonging to the totality of notions that, as we have elucidated, are mysteries of the Torah. It has been made clear in the books that have been composed concerning divine science that it is impossible to forget this science; I mean thereby the apprehension of the active intellect; this is the meaning of the dictum of the Sage: his learning is preserved by him. When wicked and ignorant people found these texts, they had great scope for lying statements in that they would put together any letters they liked and would say: this is a name that has efficacy and the power to operate if it is written down or uttered in a particular way. Thereupon these lies invented by the first wicked and ignorant man were written down, and these writings transmitted to good, pious, and foolish men who lack the scales by means of which they could know the true from the false. These people accordingly made a secret of these writings, and the latter were found in the belongings left behind them, so that they were thought to be correct. To sum it up: [81a] A fool believes everything.7

We have gone beyond our noble subject and our subtle speculation, turning to speculation designed to invalidate vain imaginings the lack of validity of which is manifest to every beginner in speculation. However the necessity that made us mention the names and their meaning and the opinion concerning them that is generally accepted by the vulgar has led us to do so. I shall now return to my subject.

We have already pointed out that all the names of God, may He be exalted, are derived except the articulated name. It behooves us to speak of this name, which is I am that I am,⁸ in a separate chapter as it includes the subtle notion with which we are dealing, I mean the negation of attributes.