Crying Out To Nullify Avoda Zara - What To Tell A J Witness - What Name To Use For Yichud Hashem

The gemara on Yoma [69b] quotes the pasuk in Nechemiah [9/4] ויזעקו בקול גדול - They cried out in a loud voice [as I did today at mikva when all of the showers were taken and the guys weren't getting out and I had to get to shachris]. The gemara explains that this relates to the episode of nullifying the yetzer hara people had to serve idols. The gemara then says that in Eretz Yisrael the pasuk they used was ויברך עזרא את ה' הא-להים הגדול - Ezra blessed the great [גדול] Hashem Elokim. Rav Gidal commented on this pasuk that the word גדול is an allusion to the fact that Hashem was made great with the שם המפורש - the explicit name of Hashem as it is written. [Next time you meet a "J---- Witness" tell him that if he can't even get the name right then you are not converting to his religion. G-d's name doesn't start with a "J"..... ] They nullified the yetzer for עבודה זרה with the שם המפורש.

This is deep.

According to the Vilna Gaon, when we say the name Ado-nai, our kavana should be that Hashem is אדון הכל - the Master of everything. We think about the word as it is written. However, when saying the first pasuk of Shema we must also have the kavana that Hashem "was, is and will be" - היה הווה ויהיה. Meaning, the name as it is written [י-ה-ו-ה].

We see that when it comes to proclaiming Yichud Hashem [the One-ness of G-d] we must go with the holy name as written. So when the rabbis nullified Avoda Zara, a great time of Yichud Hashem, they had to use the name as it is written - the שם המפורש and not as we pronounce it - א-ד-נ-י.

Ahhhhhhh!!!

עפ"י מרן באגרותיו עמ' ע"ט