Abraham's wife (ib. xvi. 1), the latter form denoting majesty and distinction. An angel is also addressed as" Adonay": e.g.," Adonay (My lord), pass not away, I pray thee" (ib. xviii. 3). I have restricted my explanation to the term Adonay, the substitute for the Tetragrammaton, because it is more commonly applied to God than any of the other names which are in frequent use, like "dayyan," judge, "shadday," almighty "zaddik", righteous, "hannun," gracious, "rahum" merciful, and "Elohim" chief; all these terms are unquestionably appellations and derivatives. The derivation of the name, consisting of yod, he, waw, and he, is not positively known, the word having no additional signification. This sacred name, which, as you know, was not pronounced except in the sanctuary by the appointed priests, when they gave the sacerdotal blessing, and by the high priest on the Day of Atonement, undoubtedly denotes something which is peculiar to God, and is not found in any other being. It is possible that in the Hebrew language, of which we have now but a slight knowledge, the Tetragrammaton, in the way it was pronounced, conveyed the meaning of" absolute existence." In short, the majesty of the name and the great dread of uttering it, are connected with the fact that it denotes God Himself, without including in its meaning any names of the things created by Him. Thus our Sages say:" ' My name ' (Num. vi. 2 7) means the name which is peculiar to Me." All other names of God have reference to qualities, and do not signify a simple substance, but a substance with attributes, they being derivatives. On that account it is believed that they imply the presence of a plurality in God, I mean to say, the presence of attributes, that is, of some extraneous element superadded to His essence. Such is the meaning of all derivative names: they imply the presence of some attribute and its substratum, though this be not distinctly named. As, however, it has been proved, that God is not a substratum capable of attributes, we are convinced that those appellatives when employed as names of God, only indicate the relation of certain actions to Him, or they convey to us some notion of His perfection.
Hence R. Haninah would have objected to the expression" the great, the mighty, and the tremendous," had it not been for the two reasons mentioned by him: because such expressions lead men to think that the attributes are essential, i.e., they are perfections actually present in God. The frequent use of names of God derived from actions, led to the belief that He had as many [essential] attributes as there were actions from which the names were derived. The following promise was therefore made, implying that mankind will at a certain future time understand this subject, and be free from the error it involves:" In that day will the Lord be One, and His name One" (Zech. xiv. 9). The meaning of this prophecy is this: He being One, will then be called by one name, which will indicate the essence of God; but it does not mean that His sole name will be a derivative [viz.," One" ]. In the Pirke Rabbi Eliezer (chap. iii.) occurs the following passage:" Before the universe was created, there was only the Almighty and His name." Observe how clearly the author states that all these appelatives employed as names of God came into existence after the Creation. This is true: for they all refer to actions manifested in the Universe. If, however, you consider His essence as separate and as abstracted from all actions,
