The Mitzvah Shiur #437 Parshat Re'e לֹֽא־תַעֲשׂ֣וּן כֵּ֔ן לַיהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם You shall not do this to Hashem, your God Removing A Tattoo of God's Name

(1) These are the laws and rules that you must carefully observe in the land that the LORD, God of your fathers, is giving you to possess, as long as you live on earth. (2) You must destroy all the sites at which the nations you are to dispossess worshiped their gods, whether on lofty mountains and on hills or under any luxuriant tree. (3) Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, put their sacred posts to the fire, and cut down the images of their gods, obliterating their name from that site. (4) You shall not do this to Hashem, your God.

Not to destroy things upon which His name, may He be blessed, are called: That we should not destroy and erase the things upon which the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, are called, such as the Temple and holy books and His precious names, blessed be He. And about all this is it stated (Deuteronomy 12:4), "Do not do this to the Lord, your God." After it was preceded by the commandment to destroy idolatry and to erase its name and to demolish all of its houses and altars, it prevented [it here] and stated, "Do not do this to the Lord, your God." And at the end of Tractate Makkot 22a, they, may their memory be blessed, said "One who burns consecrated wood is lashed, and its warning is from 'and you shall destroy their name from that place[...] Do not do this, etc.'" And so too did they say there that one who erases the name [of God] is lashed, and its warning is from the very same verse.

There are names of God that may be erased and there are names of God that may not be erased due to their inherent sanctity. These are names that may not be erased: For example, several variations of the name God [Elohim]: El, Elohekha with a second person singular suffix, Elohim, Eloheikhem with a second person plural suffix; I Shall Be As I Shall Be, alef dalet, yod heh, Almighty [Shaddai], Lord of Hosts [Tzevaot], these names may not be erased.

There are seven names [for God]:

a) The name which is written Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey. This is [referred to as God's] explicit name and is [also] written Alef-Daled-Nun-Yud.

b) [The name] El;

c) [The name] Elo'ah;

d) [The name] Elohim;

e) [The name] E'heyeh;

f) [The name] Shaddai;

g) [The name] Tz'vaot;

Whoever erases even one letter from [any of] these seven names is [liable for] lashes.

As it was taught in a baraita: If one had a sacred name of God written on his skin he may neither wash it in water lest it be erased, nor may he smear it with oil, nor may he stand in a place of filth because it is disrespectful of God’s name. If an immersion of mitzva happened to present itself, he wraps a reed over God’s name and then descends and immerses. Rabbi Yosei says: Actually, he descends and immerses in his usual manner, even if it is not an immersion of mitzva, provided that he does not rub the spot and erase the name. Apparently, Rabbi Yosei’s opinion is more lenient than that of the Sages with regard to indirectly causing a prohibited outcome.

(6) A vessel with a Name inscribed thereon, the part whereon the Name appears must be cut out and hidden.⁶Arakin, 6b. Even when a Name be engraved on a vessel of metal or glass, if he deliberately recasts the vessel he is lashed, for the engraved part should be cut out and hidden. Likewise, if one had a Name written upon his flesh, he shall not wash, anoint himself or remain in unclean places; if he must undergo a mandatory emersion, he shall cover it with a leaf or, when no leaf is to be found, with part of his garments, yet must he not fasten it lest it be obstructive to the emersion, as it was not said to cover it save only because it is forbidden to remain nude in the Presence of the Name.⁷Shabbat, 120a.

(8) All the Holy Scriptures and their exegesis and commentaries, must not be burned or otherwise willfully destroyed, and whosoever willfully destroys them is punished by being smitten as a rebel. Whereat are these words directed? Only with respect to sacred writings which were written in sacredness by an Israelite; but if a Jewish heretic wrote a Book of the Torah, such book must be burned together with the mentioned Names therein, because he believes not in the sacredness of the Name, and surely did not write it in His name, but thought of it merely as of secular matters, and because his mind was such, no Name therein was sanctified. Moreover, it is mandatory to burn it so that there be left no monument either to the infidels or to their works. But if an idolater wrote the Name, it shall be hidden. Likewise, volumes of the Holy Scriptures which became moth-eaten, or which were written by an idolater, shall be hidden.¹¹Gittin, 45b. C.