All In The Name Of Hashem

By: By Dr. Alan A. Mazurek

At Kehillat Aish Kodesh in Woodmere this past Shabbat, the Morah d’Asra, Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, shlita, gave a powerful exhortation about the need to call upon Shem Hashem, the name of Hashem, to help us fight our enemies. As the parashah last week opens with, “Ki teitzei l’milchama al oyvecha—When you go out to battle your enemy,” this can be understood in the simple pshat of external physical enemies or, as Chazal tell us, it can also apply to the enemy within, the yetzer hara, or the evil inclination. 

Rabbi Weinberger quoted the famous pasuk in parashas Haazinu, which we will be reading in several weeks: “Ki Shem Hashem ekra, havu godel l’Elokeinu—When I call out the Name of Hashem, give greatness to our G-d” (Devarim 32:3). This is noted in Masechet Berachot (21a) as being equivalent to Birchas HaTorah, the blessing on learning Torah we say daily.

Though Rabbi Weinberger went in a different direction, while I was listening to his drasha, I started to think of other places in our tefillah and in Tanach where the term shem Hashem is mentioned. For example, there is “Eleh va’rekhev v’eleh va’susim, va’anachnu b’shem Hashem Elokeinu nazkir—Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we call out in the name of Hashem our G-d” (Tehillim 20:8).

There is “Baruch Haba b’shem Hashem, beirachnuchem mi’beit Hashem—Blessed is he who comes in the Name of Hashem; we bless you from the House of Hashem!” (ibid, 118:26).

And famously, while still a youth, King David in his famous battle with Goliath declared in response to Goliath’s derisive abuse: “Ata ba elay b’cherev, u’vachanit, u’v’chidon, v’anochi ba eilecha b’shem Hashem Tzvaot—You come at me with sword and spear and javelin, and I come to you with the Name of Hashem, G-d of Hosts” (I Samuel 17:45).

Four different situations dealing with challenges, both physical and spiritual, external and internal, joy and travail, but all demonstrating the absolute, incredible power of going forth in the name of Hashem. Is this just rhetorical flourish, or does it have real world, practical consequences?

If we return to the first source, “Ki Shem Hashem ekra…” from Devarim, we see it is all over our davening. We say it before the Amidah of Mussaf and Mincha. In Yoma 37a and Brachot 50a, we learn that Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Akiva say this verse is the source for when the Chazzan says, “Borchu et Hashem HaMevorach” the Congregants answer: “Baruch Hashem HaMevorach l’olam va’ed!” It is also the source of why we answer “Baruch Hu, u’varuch Shemo—May He be blessed and His name be blessed!” after Baruch atah Hashem is recited. 

In Tehillim 20 that we recite daily, it declares that our enemies use “chariots and horses” to defeat their foes, but we call out in the name of Hashem. In the same way that David defeated Goliath (I Shmuel 17) not with sword, spear, or javelin, but with the name of Hashem. 

And Tehillim 118, which we say every time we say Hallel, notes that we bless those who come in the name of Hashem: the Shem Hashem, bequeathed to us by HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself. Did you ever wonder why, when Moshe Rabbeinu encountered Hashem at the sneh, he asked His Name, and Hashem immediately told him? Our tradition tells us of the power possessed by the Shem HaMeforash, the ineffable name, which initially was associated with Y-K-V-K that we dare not pronounce, and was later Kabbalistically composed of up to 72 letters that we have no idea how to pronounce!

What power is in Hashem’s name! The power to defeat our enemies and to bless our allies. This has such powerful consequences for our current situation. Can you imagine if we actually approached the world in Hashem’s name? Our real friends would applaud us while our enemies would tremble but give us grudging respect because they claim to come in His name. And they claim to know of its power though they use it for vicious and violent ends.

And if you were to counter that, wouldn’t our enemies accuse us of the same? The answer is yes, but we would know that we are proudly standing as the people of Israel—the Jewish people—in Hashem’s name! Not because of security or geopolitical reasons, not because the world feels sorry for us because of the Holocaust or October 7, but because we fight and defend what is ours, what we stand for, and what we believe in: Hashem’s Torah. And from one Jew to another, how powerful it would be if we could appeal to our brothers and sisters b’shem Hashem, quoting the above pesukim to try to breach the divide that is weakening us and causing conflict. Just as one can defeat the internal power of the yetzer hara within us, so we can also defeat the external forces that divide us by employing the same Holy Name.

Given its awesome power, we must be careful whenever using or acting in Hashem’s name. Many of us may recite the Tikun Haklali after Shema Koleinu in the daily Shemoneh Esrei, which concludes with “Ve’temaleh kol Hashemot she’pagamti b’Shimcha haGadol—And make whole all the Names that I have blemished in Your Great Name.” May we never be guilty of that, intentionally or unintentionally.

“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. When it comes to Shem Hashem, the answer is everything. 

Shabbat Shalom. 

Dr. Alan A. Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem, and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA.