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Torah Wellsprings

G-t's Numen

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The day after Yom Kippur is called G-t's numen, "Hashem's name." (ג-ט'ס נאמען). What is the reason for this title?

1) The Baal Shem Tov zy'a explains that for ten days, we've been saying המלך הקדוש, and now we go back to saying in shemonah esrei הא-ל הקדוש. Therefore, this day is called G-t's numen, "Hashem's name."

2) Rebbe Yissacher Dov of Belz zt'l offered another explanation:

On Yom Kippur, the nation heard the kohen gadol utter the shem hameforash (Hashem's name הוי"ה, pronounced as it is written). The Yerushalmi (Yoma 3:7) teaches that since the pronunciation of Hashem's name must remain a secret, revealed only to a select few (see Kiddushin 71.), so it was miraculously forgotten immediately after Yom Kippur. The morning after Yom Kippur, people asked, "Do you remember how the kohen gadol pronounced Hashem's name?" but no one remembered. And since everyone was speaking about G-t's numen, the day after Yom Kippur is called G-t's numen.

3) Rebbe Dovid of Lelov zy'a heard a melamed tell a young child, "When you see two yuds in the Chumash or the siddur, that is Hashem's name."

When the melamed reached the end of the pasuk, the student asked, "There are two yuds here (the colon (:) that appears at the end of every pasuk in the Chumash). Why don't you read it as Hashem's name?"

The melamed replied, "When two yuds are next to each other, it's Hashem's name. But when one yud is higher than the other, it's a סוף פסוק, a separator between one pasuk and the next."

Rebbe Dovid of Lelov said he learned from this that when two Yidden (two yuds) feel equal, with no one feeling greater than the other, Hashem is there. But when one feels higher than the other, it's a separator, and Hashem doesn't reside there.

Rebbe Moshe Mordechai of Lelov zt'l repeated this story and added: After Yom Kippur, everyone is cleansed from sin, so all Yidden are on the same level. That's two yuds side by side, and Hashem's name is there. Therefore, the day after Yom Kippur is called G-t's numen because everyone feels equal, and Hashem's name is there.

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