CCAR RESPONSA
New American Reform Responsa
144. Erasing the Name of God from the Computer Screen
QUESTION: The writer is using traditional Hebrew Biblical texts in his studies. They have been entered into his computer screen. He needs to erase them constantly as he moves forward or manipulates the screen. This leads to erasing the divine name. Is this permissible? (Levi Dannenberg, Boston MA)ANSWER: The tradition was concerned with reverence for the written name of God, the tetragramaton. This was one understanding of the third commandment (Ex 20.7; Deut 5.11), and also of the commentaries to an injunction in Deuteronomy (12.3 ff). In the considerable discussion which followed in subsequent literature, we find an emphasis on the sacredness of the name of God whether written in the Torah, another book, on a metal vessel, or even as a tattoo on the skin (Yad Hil Yesodei Torah 6.1; Sefer Hahinukh #437). Ultimately, the decision was made that the name was sacred only if it was written with intent to be sacred (Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 274 and commentaries). The computer disk intends to make the text available for study and not for any sacred purpose. Furthermore, removing a section from the screen is akin to turning the page and does not obliterate the item from memory. If we take this one step further and ask whether such a disk can be reformatted, or must it be buried like a book? We may state that the recorded form is not Hebrew but binary, and it becomes Hebrew only through a transformation which takes place through the computer program. The above mentioned care does not apply to translations or transliterations. It is permissible to utilize the text on the computer and to erase it when the user has finished it.January 1991
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