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You are pretty much on target, Sam! The Jews believe the tetragrammaton "YHVH" to be too sacred to pronounce, so they say "Hashem" the name. For instance, when they say Baruch Hashem, they are saying "bless the name" or " bless YHVH" or we might say it, "Bless the Lord."
When I attended Hebrew School in a Synagogue for a very short time, many years ago, the class seem to get excited when I, the only Gentile, pronounced YHVH! They could never do it, but I, as a Gentile, could get away with it. The name is so sacred that the Rabbi would not even write it on the blackboard or he could NEVER erase it. They would write it L_RD and since it was not complete, they could erase it.
I attended the class because I wanted to learn more about the Jewish concept of the godhead and salvation. It was very interesting and has caused me to study the Jewishness of Christianity for well over a decade.
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"Those who go after the "Sauls" among us often slay the Davids among us." Gene Edwards
Executive Servant http://www.newlife-church.org
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