33. Names Not Written on Paper

Yesodei HaTorah 6:6

If a Name of God is written on a utensil, it should be cut off and buried. If God's Name were engraved on a utensil of metal or glass and a person melted the utensil, he would still be liable for the penalty of lashes. Therefore, one should cut off the Name and bury it.

Similarly, if a Name of God were written on a person’s skin, that person may not wash or anoint himself, nor stand in an unclean place. If such a person needs to immerse in a mikvah for the sake of a mitzvah, he should wrap the area of the Name and immerse. Reeds are preferable; if these are not available, he should wrap his clothes around the Name but not so tightly that they will keep the water from reaching his skin. The reason he does this is because it is forbidden to stand before one of God's Names while naked.

Yesodei HaTorah 6:7

If a person removed, in a destructive manner, even a single stone from the Temple’s altar, its building, or elsewhere in its courtyard, he is liable for the penalty of lashes, as per Deuteronomy 12:3. Regarding idols, it says, “You shall tear down their altars.” The next verse continues, “Do not do this to Hashem, your God.” Similarly, if a person destructively burns wood that has been consecrated to the Temple, he is liable for lashes. Deuteronomy 12:3 says, “You shall burn their asheiros with fire” (an asheira being a tree that was worshipped); the next verse continues, “Do not do this to Hashem, your God.”