Properly Pronouncing God’s Name
In this series, we have been concentrating on the laws and rewards of properly answering amen upon hearing a prayer or a blessing. This is, in fact, the primary focus of Rabbi Wildman’s book. He does, however, occasionally stray into tangents that we have heretofore omitted in our adaptation. At this juncture, however, Rav Wildman diverges into a discussion on God’s Name, a topic that is so germane to our main theme that we have decided to include it. Accordingly, various matters regarding the recitation of God’s Name will be the subject of this installment and IY”H the next.
Not a Name
The Taz writes (OC 621:2) that if a person wants to talk about God without saying His Name, he shouldn’t say “Ado-shem” (a portmanteau of “Adonai” and “Hashem”). That’s not a word and using it is no honor to God. Rather, one should use the word “Hashem.” This means “the Name” and is used as a substitute for His Name. [Siman 91]
Sefer HaGan writes that some people speed through their prayers. This causes them to pronounce God’s Name as “Adənai” rather than “Adonai.” (The upside-down e is called a schwa and it represents an unstressed vowel that sounds like “uh.”) “Adənai” is not a Name of God and it fails to communicate that He is our Master (which is the meaning of the “adon” in “Adonai”). It’s imperative that one pronounce the O sound and not slur over it. If one does say “Adənai” in a bracha, he has said a nonsense word and his bracha is no bracha at all. If it’s no bracha, then the one who uttered it is guilty of stealing from Hashem by benefitting from this world without reciting a proper blessing. If a person responds amen to such a non-bracha, he accomplishes nothing and it's comparable to reciting an “orphaned” amen. (Refer back to Siman 3.) [Siman 92]
The Noda b’Yehuda (Rav Yechezkel Landau, 18th century) writes that the proper way to pronounce the Name “Adonai” is with the accent on the final syllable. If a person “pushes it back” to an earlier syllable, he is metaphysically “pushing himself back” into misfortune. [Siman 93]
Another Mispronunciation
Along similar lines, there’s a very common error than many people make in davening when they come to the word that means “to God”: they pronounce it “ladənai” as in “Hodu ladənai ki tov, ki l’olam chasdo” (“Give thanks to Hashem because He is good, for His mercy lasts forever” – Psalms 136, recited as part of Hallel). This word appears many other places in tefillah as well.
One must be careful to pronounce this word very carefully: la-Adonai. This makes it clear that there’s a letter alef in the word “Adonai,” which is slurred over in the mispronunciation. Without the alef, it’s not a real word. It’s as if there were some being named Dənai and we’re giving thanks to him. (Hint: there isn’t and we’re not.) Even if one is careful not to slur the O sound, it’s still as if there were a being named Donai whom we were thanking. (Again, there isn’t.) It’s therefore important to be careful in this matter. [Siman 94]
In the second volume of V’Imru Amein, which we will come to after completing volume one IY”H, Rabbi Wildman makes an important addendum to the above, which we will note here so as not to potentially mislead readers into changing their practice improperly. There, Rabbi Wildman adds that the above represents the opinion of a work called Likutei Shoshanim. (There are numerous works by this name and I’m not 100% sure which one he means.) Another work, however, Tosfos Chayim on Tehillim (29:15) disagrees.
According to this latter work, when the Hebrew prefixes beis, vav, kaf and lamed (meaning “in,” “and,” “like” and “to,” respectively) are added to God’s Name, the letter alef in “Adonai” is suppressed, hence “badonai,” “vadonai,” “kadonai” and “ladonai.” Minchas Shai (Rav Yedidya Shlomo Nortzi, 16th-17th century) on Psalms 135 concurs with this position. [Cheilek 2, Siman 41] (For what it’s worth, your humble author observes this second practice. If in doubt, please consult your own rabbi for guidance.)
Rabbi Jack's latest book, Ask Rabbi Jack, is now available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.