Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

> From: Yigal Levin 
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] adonai "my Lord" or "the Lord"
> 
> Steve, I don't know where you got the idea that "in the synagogue the
> people
> davening would be reading the Bible in Hebrew as fast as they could, and
> they would bow their heads every time they read the name of God". First of
> all, "davening" (that's the Yiddish term often used for Jewish prayer) is
> not done from a Bible. The prayers are independent compositions, which do
> draw heavily on the Bible and do include whole chapters (especially
> Psalms),
> but they are printed in separate prayer-books (siddurim). These prayer-
> books
> often use the abbreviation Yod-Yod for the Name of God, vocalized
> "Adonai",
> so that there is no room for error.
> Before the invention of print, and in a reality in which many of the
> congregants could not read, the leader/Hazzan/cantor usually said much of
> the prayer out loud, as is done when repeating the Amidah (which is the
> main
> unit of each prayer service) today, and as is done for most of the prayer
> in
> Sephardic (Spanish and Middle Eastern) communities to this day.
> And people do not bow their heads every time the name of God is
> pronounced.

[Steve Miller] Thanks Yigal. I stand corrected about the word "davening" and
may be wrong that this was a reason that the Masoretes had to vowel adonai
differently than adoni. But I can assure you that I was taught in synagogue
reading to bow my head whenever I encountered the name of God. I don't
recall that Yod-Yod was substituted for the Name, but that may have been. We
were Ashkenazi orthodox. This was the same at my friend's synagogue and the
same a Chabad. Also, most were reading extremely fast.

> 
> As far as the difference between God, men and angels is concerned, look at
> Gen. 18:3. The simple understanding of the text is that Abraham is calling
> the three visitors "adonai" - "my lords" in the plural, thinking that they
> are either humans or angels. He then says "your servant" in the singular
> because he is addressing their leader. But some commentators say that he
> is
> addressing God throughout this verse.
> 
> 
> Yigal Levin
> 
[Steve Miller] yes. This is true.
> 
> 
> Steve Miller] Pere,
> >From what you had explained previously, I understood that the Masoretes
> voweled adoni to refer to a human or angel lord and adonai to refer to
> God.
> So I would expect practically all uses of adoni to refer persons whom the
> Masoretes understood were angels or men.
> I can see why. In the synagogue the people davening would be reading the
> Bible in Hebrew as fast as they could, and they would bow their heads
> every
> time they read the name of God. They wouldn't want to mistakenly bow their
> head to a man or an angel. Elohim can refer to angels or a human judge
> also,
> but the usage is rare.
> 
> If Gen 1:26 was a "royal we", then I would expect to find this "royal we"
> somewhere else in the Bible referring to royalty. If no such "royal we"
> exists in the Bible, then I consider this proof that the "royal we"
> interpretation of Gen 1:26 is wrong. I would not try to use traditions of
> modern gentile kings and popes to explain the Bible, but use the Bible
> itself. It may be that the Victorian kings and popes got their tradition
> from Gen 1:26.
> 
> Sincerely,
> -Steve Miller
> Detroit