The Names of G!d

The Midrash Rabbah records seven rabbinic interpretations of Exodus 3:14. The first of the six interpretations relates only to ehyeh asher ehyeh of 3:14a, and interprets this phrase as a declaration by G!d that, depending upon the work G!d is then performing, G!d is to be known “in virtue of My deeds." In other words, “I am called according to My actions."

There are 7 names so holy that they cannot be erased, another 11 names frequently used, and an additional at least 40 names infrequently used for G!d in our TaNaKh. In addition, the Kabbalists have ascertained a seventy-two-lettered name, derived from three verses in Exodus (14:19–21), beginning with "Vayyissa", "Vayyabo" and "Vayyet" respectively. According to Kabbalistic interpretation, each of the verses contains 72 letters, and when combined they form 72 names, known collectively as the Shemhamphorasch. The Kabbalist book Sefer Yetzirah explains that the creation of the world was achieved by the manipulation of these sacred letters that form the names of G!d.

Moreh Nevuchim 1:58 reminds us that the very fact that there is nothing in our experience that compares to G!d makes it utterly impossible, really, to speak of G!d, much less name G!d. Our thought processes are finitely limited. We do not even have the vocabulary with which to speak about G!d.

In the book, G!d is the Good That We Do, the author puts forth the concept that “We can experience G!d, ... and we can think of G!d, not as something or someone remote, nor as the Creator of the universe, nor as a spirit or principle behind everything, but as some thing—“someone”—we bring to life when and as we do good.” He further explains Midrash Rabbah Shemot 3:14, “If G!d acts only through us, it follows that there is a sense in which we are responsible not only to G!d but for G!d, or at least G!d’s continuance, by our actions.”

Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green posits that Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, “is reaching to some place beyond words, seeking to create a breakthrough in our consciousness. ... ‘I shall be’ can mean ‘I am nameless, because no name could ever grasp who I really am.’ Or it could mean “Call Me whatever you like. It makes no difference what you call Me, because I fill all names—all words, all things, all times and places—and any name you give Me will indeed be Mine. ...G!d is Being itself. All of Being. Everything contains G!d. There is not a place, not a moment, not a thing, certainly not a person that is not filled to overflowing with the Divine Presence.... The name Y-H-!-H should not be translated ‘G!d’ or ‘Lord,” but rather ‘Is-Was-Will Be.’ It is not really a noun at all, but a verb artificially arrested in motion and made to serve as thought it were a noun.” (pp. 1-2, “Ehyeh: A Kabbalah For Tomorrow,” by Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green.)

It seems to me that this “Is-Was-Will Be-ness” of G!d speaks to a sacred and holy process that everything, person, creature, being, and soul is constantly going through every nanosecond, evolving and growing. Perhaps G!d is saying that at the core, it is all Holy Process, vibrating with Sacred Energy, a “verb artificially arrested in motion.”

In the final analysis, how many names are there? The Kabbalists discuss many hundreds of names. Midrash Rabbah states that G!d is to be known in virtue of G!d’s deeds, which are also innumerable. Can the number truly be counted, or is it more important, as Rabbi Dr. Green advises, to accept that our finite understanding and limited vocabulary will never truly know G!d’s name because G!d is Being itself?