Aligned sentence by sentence
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Part One · Chapter Sixty-Two — The Tetragrammaton: Transmission, Sanctity, and the 12- and 42-Letter Names
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We mentioned the Priestly Blessing, and in it is the name of the Lord as it is written — which is the Explicit Name — and it was not known to everyone how it is pronounced, and with what vowels each letter of its letters is voweled, or whether any of its letters has a dagesh. So the scholars would transmit this — I mean the manner of its pronunciation — and teach it to no one except a fitting disciple, once per week. And I believe that what they said — 'the four-letter Name: the sages transmit it to their sons and their students once per week' — is not only about how it is pronounced, but also includes the teaching of the meaning for the sake of which this name was coined; so that there would also be a divine secret in this.
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Now they also had a name containing twelve letters, and it was in sanctity below the four-letter Name. My closest view is that it was not a single name but two or three words whose letters totaled twelve; and it was used as a substitute whenever the four-letter Name occurred in reading, just as we today use Alef Dalet. And this name too — the twelve-letter name — it is without doubt that it indicated a meaning more specific than the indication of Alef Dalet; and it was not forbidden nor kept secret from any of the scholars — rather whoever sought to learn it was informed of it. Not so the four-letter Name, for no one who knew it ever taught it except to his son or his disciple, once per week. When dissolute persons began to learn this twelve-letter Name and thereby corrupt beliefs — as happens to every imperfect person when he learns that the matter is not as he had first imagined — they sealed up this name as well and taught it only to the modest among the priesthood, that they might bless the people in the Temple with it; for they had also ceased to mention the Explicit Name in the Temple because of the corruption of the people. They said: 'From the time Shimon the Righteous died, his fellow priests ceased to bless with the Name' — for they had been blessing with this twelve-letter Name. They said: 'Originally the twelve-letter Name was transmitted to everyone; when the dissolute multiplied, it was transmitted only to the modest among the priesthood; and the modest among the priesthood would swallow it within the melody of their fellow priests.' Rabbi Ṭarfon said: 'Once I went up after my mother's father to the platform, and I bent my ear toward a priest and heard that he swallowed it within the melody of his fellow priests.'
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They also had a Name of forty-two letters — and it is self-evident to anyone capable of reflection that forty-two letters cannot form a single word under any circumstances. Rather these were multiple words whose letters totaled forty-two; and there is no doubt that those words indicated certain meanings, and those meanings bring one close to the precise conception of His essence, exalted be He, in the manner we have described. These multiple-lettered words were only called a 'Name' because they indicate a single meaning — just like other coined names — and the words multiplied only to convey the meaning, for a single meaning may sometimes be conveyed through many words. Understand this.
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Know that what was transmitted was the teaching of the meanings indicated by these names — not the mere phonetic pronunciation of the letters stripped of all conception. And neither the twelve-letter Name nor the forty-two-letter Name was ever given the designation 'the Explicit Name'; for the Explicit Name is the one unique to Him, as we explained. These two, by contrast, conveyed some divine knowledge necessarily — and proof that they conveyed knowledge is their statement regarding it: 'The forty-two-letter Name is holy and sanctified, and is transmitted only to one who is modest, stands in the midpoint of his years, is not irascible and not given to drinking, does not insist on his ways, and his speech with people is gentle; and whoever knows it and is careful with it and guards it in purity is beloved above and desired below, and awe of him rests upon the creatures, and his learning stays in his hand, and he inherits two worlds, this world and the world to come.' This is the Talmudic text. How far from what this saying is actually about is what most people understand from it — namely, that it is letters one pronounces and nothing more, with no meaning considered for them, and by which one attains these great matters, requiring this natural preparation and great readiness that he mentioned. What is evident is that all of this is the teaching of divine meanings, among the meanings that are the hidden matters of the Torah, as we have clarified. And it has been shown in the books composed in the divine science that this knowledge cannot be forgotten — meaning the apprehension of the active intellect; and that is the meaning of his statement 'and his learning stays in his hand.'
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When the wicked and ignorant people found these texts, falsehood and fabrication became easy for them — claiming that by combining whatever letters they wished, 'this is a Name that acts and does' when written or when said in such-and-such a manner. Then those falsehoods that the first wicked and ignorant person invented were written down, and those writings passed into the hands of good and pious but naive people who had no scales by which to distinguish truth from falsehood; so they sealed them up, and they were found in their estates, and people thought them correct. In general, a simpleton believes every word.
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We have digressed from our noble purpose and attended to the precise refutation of a nonsense whose invalidity is obvious to every beginner in speculation; but we were compelled to it by the necessity of mentioning the names and their meanings and what has become widespread among the multitude concerning them. Let me now return to my purpose.
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We have noted that all names of Him, exalted be He, are derived — except the Explicit Name. And we ought to speak of this name, which is 'Ehyeh asher Ehyeh,' in a separate chapter — because of the subtle meaning it contains that we are occupied with, namely the negation of attributes.