ABSTRACT
The subtitle of this essay may seem provocative insofar as I have juxtaposed God to an elfin benefactor in a Grimm fairy tale. Nonetheless, each text concerns cautions about naming. We are admonished not to utter the name of God in vain in the sacred text which contains the Ten Commandments. Furthermore, God is most frequently named indirectly as ‘the Lord’ or in a similar paranomic device, lest we be accused of sinning. Such prohibitions to the naming of God also exist in non-Judeo-Christian religions and cultures as well and with even harsher retaliatory consequences. Curiously, in Judaic practice, celebrants of the Lord have gone further in obeying the prohibition against saying God’s name insofar as supplicants do not even utter ‘the Lord’ (Heb. Adonai) but rather ‘the Name’ (Heb. Hashem) when practising prayer or in discourse about benedictions. Thus, they are now twice removed from the proper name of God.
