INTRODUCTION

Some years ago my four-year-old daughter asked me, “What does Adonai mean in Hebrew?” As my wife and I had been trying to teach her some Hebrew, I explained, “Well, honey, it’s one of the Hebrew words we use to refer to G-d.” She answered, “But I thought every Hebrew word referred to G-d.” And so my little one taught me something about Hebrew and the çd≤Qøh'0/çl] (leshon hakodesh), the “holy tongue.”