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#1: Valerie Mates (valerie) on Nov 24, 2019 [SPOILER]

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Translate the phrease "four letters" to Greek and look for proto-Hebrew alphabet.

I am with Valerie.

I do read Hebrew, am Jewish, and find this unreadable. I am also put off by the title.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#/media/File:Tetragrammaton_scripts.svg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffwFXGPRDu4

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Fun fact: the name Jehovah was invented by combining the consonants of YHWH with the vowels of Adonai.

Jew here. Also extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely uncomfortable with the title of this puzzle. Could you at the very least edit it to be a little less racist-sounding?

Of course Alisa, but I really don't get what's offensive.

YHWH (a.k.a. Tetragrammaton)is the four letter that is the personal name of the God according to the Judaism.

Since it is made of only consonants and no vowel it's unreadable, if you don't know the actual pronunciation.

The actual pronunciation is lost to us, and we don't know the real pronunciation of the word. There are several interpretations like Jehovah, Yahweh.. etc.

If anyone could find the correct pronunciation with the vowels would be a hero.

It is forbidden to speak the God's personal name in Judaism, so it's read as Adonai (my lord).

According to the Judaic Inscriptions, it's also a blasphemy to utter the God's true name.

Here is a story from the Torah:

Leviticus 24:10–24:10
10A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the people of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp.

11The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name in a curse. And they brought him to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan— 12and they put him in custody, until the decision of the Lord should be made clear to them. 13The Lord said to Moses, saying: 14Take the blasphemer outside the camp; and let all who were within hearing lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation stone him. 15And speak to the people of Israel, saying: Anyone who curses God shall bear the sin. 16One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as citizens, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death.

I would love to hear your suggestions about a new title because I really don't get it.

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Sanane -- What's offensive about the title is that it implies that any modern Jewish person would join into a mob that would stone people to death. *I* would not! And I don't think I know *anybody* of *any* religion who would.

Is it ok if I replace "...by an angry Jewish mob"... with "according to Torah"?

What the heck!!! What is the motivation behind this title? And what is the "award" to be bestowed by historians?

Sanane -- That change would still make me uncomfortable. Less uncomfortable, but still very uncomfortable.

Thank you for being willing to consider renaming the puzzle.

I am changing the title from "If you could read this you would be awarded by historians and stoned to death by an angry Jewish mob." to "If you could read this you would be awarded by linguists and commit blasphemy."

Thank you very much for renaming it!

No problem.

I'm glad you renamed it, Sanane...the stoning thing is actually still done to women in some countries I think...India maybe? Saudi Arabia? for adultery...I can't remember, but it seems to me I read something awhile back about that...I need to look it up.

...evil, plain and simple....

Thank you for changing the title. I am not Jewish, and I have been a fan of Web Pbn for several years. However, this puzzle's original title disturbed me so much, that I considered boycotting this entire site. I'm glad I checked back here and saw that the title had been changed. I wish you a peaceful Thanksgiving.

Christian here -- also disturbed by the (changed?) title. Considered not doing the puzzle.

What does offend you? Please explain.

It was only blasphemous to the Jews. Maybe that's the disconnect? Christians sometimes forget that millions of people follow other religions besides Christianity, and they may each have their own set of heretical practices.

Everything offends somebody in the world. Political correctness is intolerance in disguise.

I solved the puzzle under the revised title, which deleted the word "Jewish" and was only seeing the word "blasphemy". Right Kristen, different religions have different ideas on what consitutes blasphemy, but I think it is a serious offense in any religion.

A Hindi wouldn't care if you correctly pronounce YHWH :)

Maybe people need to own their feelings.
The symbol and title are what they are - how you react to it and feel about it belongs to you.

Unfortunately, Sanane has since been bullied off the site.

Well, he made a puzzle that looked to some people like Nazi propaganda against Jewish people before the Holocaust. Those people asked him to take down the puzzle. And he left the site. Is that the same as being bullied off the site? I'd say it's more complicated than that, with hurt people on all sides.

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