{"id":58201,"date":"2020-12-03T21:54:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T03:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=58201"},"modified":"2020-12-03T21:54:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T03:54:30","slug":"off-the-pulpit-speaking-gods-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-speaking-gods-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Speaking God’s name"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

There are various legends of the Golem, the creature of clay who is brought to life by a wonder working rabbi. The most famous involves that of Rabbi Judah Loew, the famed Maharal of Prague.<\/p>\n

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The Golem was the fantastically powerful hero of a powerless people, but the way it came to life also teaches us something about the Jewish sense of destiny. So long as God\u2019s name was in our mouths, on our foreheads (reminiscent of the tefillin), we could sustain ourselves. Should the day come that we no longer spoke God\u2019s name, we would return to dust.<\/p>\n

There is deep wisdom in folktales. The Jewish people always understood itself to have a mission in this world, and that was why God brought us into being. May God\u2019s name never leave our mouths.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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