Editing Names of God in Judaism (section)

==Erasing the name of God==
{{Blockquote|3 And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place. 4 Ye shall not do so unto the {{LORD}} your God.|Deuteronomy 12:3–4<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|12:3–4|HE}}</ref>
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From this it is understood by the rabbis that one should not erase or blot out the name of God. The general [[halacha|halachic]] opinion is that this only applies to the sacred Hebrew names of God, not to other euphemistic references; there is a dispute as to whether the word "God" in English or other languages may be erased or whether Jewish law and/or Jewish custom forbids doing so, directly or as a precautionary "fence" about the law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shaimos.org/guidelines.htm |title=Shaimos guidelines |publisher=Shaimos.org |access-date=2011-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227045319/http://www.shaimos.org/guidelines.htm |archive-date=2011-12-27 }}</ref>

The words ''God'' and ''Lord'' are written by [[chumra|some]] Jews as ''G-d'' and ''L-rd'' as a way of avoiding writing any name of God out in full. The hyphenated version of the English name (''G-d'') can be destroyed, so by writing that form, religious Jews prevent documents in their possession with the unhyphenated form from being destroyed later. Alternatively, a euphemistic reference such as {{transliteration|he|Hashem}} (literally, 'the Name') may be substituted, or an abbreviation thereof, such as in {{transliteration|he|B{{'}}{{'}}H}} ({{lang|he|בְּעֶזרַת הַשֵׁם}} {{transliteration|he|B'ezrat Hashem}} 'with the help of the Name').<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davidson |first=Baruch |date=2011-02-23 |title=Why Don't Jews Say G‑d's Name? - On the use of the word "Hashem" - Chabad.org |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1443443/jewish/Why-Dont-Jews-Say-Gds-Name.htm |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=[[Chabad.org]] |archive-date=2023-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415162249/https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1443443/jewish/Why-Dont-Jews-Say-Gds-Name.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{See also|Tetragrammaton#Written prohibitions|:de:G'tt{{!}}G'tt&nbsp;<small>[de]</small>}}