While doing some paperwork, I came accross this article in the Jerusalem Post which appeared a few weeks ago:

Zev Kesselman of Moshav Elazar tells us of a bizarre debate that arose during a Hebrew-language Scrabble game. His 12-year-old son Danny had just won a close game. His opponent, a friend named Yinon, challenged the last play, claiming that Danny's spelling of God's name (yod-heh) is against the rules. He pointed out that it would be capitalized were it English, and was therefore unacceptable. But Hebrew has no capital letters, Danny argued, and they consulted his father. Zev, a former Israel Scrabble champion (in English), looked it up in a standard reference dictionary and found three definitions:

(1) God's name;
(2) a suffix indicating greatness, as in 'shalhevetyah' - a great flame (clearly not a stand-alone word);
(3) an exclamation of grief, cited in the Midrash.

Zev allowed the play on the basis of the third definition. But Yinon then made a second claim: since 'yod-heh' is an Ineffable Name, Danny is not *allowed* to write it. Zev, who like the two players, is Orthodox - ruled that since they were playing on the Sabbath, there was a tacit agreement that placing letters on the board was not writing[1].

Yinon walked off in a huff, saying: "Well, if you want to win on the basis of sacrilege, then go right ahead!"

[1] According to Jewish law, writing is forbidden on the Sabbath.

Last Modified 3/5/01

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