Start And Final
‘Aleph Lamed Chol, Yud Keh Kodesh’
(Shavuos 35b)
Our sugya discusses the Holy Names which must not be erased and determines when there is no prohibition to erase them. One of the common ways to represent Hashem’s name of yud-keh-vav-keh in siddurim is to print two yudin. An examination of the poskim teaches us why we use these letters, and it is even more fascinating to discover that there are three ways to use a yud to represent Hashem’s name.
Two Yudin With A Vav Above
The author of Terumas Hadeshen (Responsa II, Pesakim Uchesavim 171) asserts that people had the custom to write two yudin with a horizontal vav over them as the numerical value (gematria) of those letters equals that of yud-keh-vav-keh – 26. Others would write three yudin, equal to 30, as the expanded gematria of yud-keh-vav-keh (the value of the letters plus the number of letters forming the word) equals that number, or because one combination of the 72-letter Holy Name (Tetragrammaton) includes three yudin. Some left out the third yud or the vav as everyone already understood the meaning of the symbol.
Three Views
Rabbi Yehuda Asad (Responsa Yehudah Ya’aleh, I, Y.D. 304) takes the trouble to define the above three forms and the differences between them, thereby harmonizing a threefold difference of opinions among the poskim. Many poskim discuss whether sanctity should be attributed to these yudin, which are used to represent Hashem’s name.
According to Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid (935), there is no prohibition to erase them. Terumas HaDeshen (ibid.) and Rema (Yoreh Deah 276:10) rule that they must not be erased except for a great need (see the Shach and Gra, ibid.), while the Radbaz (206, cited in Bris Olam on Sefer Hachassidim, ibid.) disagrees and believes that they must never be erased.
However, Rabbi Yehuda Asad writes that Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid allows erasing only if there are two yudin, as according to all opinions, they have no sanctity. Terumas Hadeshen, who only allows erasing for a great need, refers to two yudin with a vav, whose sanctity derives from gematria, while the Radbaz, who utterly forbids erasing them, refers to the form of three yudin, which must not be erased as they are included in one of Hashem’s names (as well as because of the gematria).
Nonetheless, the poskim indicate that we should make no difference between the various forms of writing the yudin and that we should treat them all with the same sanctity (see Maharsham I, in the maftechos 87, who questions the approach of Rabbi Asad, and responsa Iggros Moshe, Yoreh Deah 2:139, who indicates that there is no difference between the forms).
Custom To Write Two Yudin
In conclusion, it is interesting to cite the author of Shulchan Gavoha (quoted in Sedei Chemed, Maareches Mem, kelal 12, os 9, Vol. IV, p. 213), who explains the custom to write two yudin: The first yud represents the starting yud in the name yud-keh-vav-keh, and the second yud represents the final yud in Ado-nai.
