A Thought about Adonai

While praying this past weekend in temple, I had a flash of insight. We were praying the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4, when like millions of other times we said the word “Adonai”. All of a sudden, it hit me. The word “Adonai” (Lord) itself, I believe, is related to the word “Adon”, meaning “lord”, “mister”, or “Mister” (Mr.). In other words, it occurred to me that Adonai is about the G-d inside of me. We say “Adonai echad”, which translates as “The Lord is One”. I then thought, basically what He was telling us in the Torah is that G-d is inside of each of us, and we are all connected together as one.

So I looked up the words “Adonai, and Adon” in my Shilo Pocket Dictionary, which has Hebrew-to-English and the reverse. The definitions of these words have been spelled out in the first paragraph.

I believe I am indeed on to something!

First, a brief introduction to Hebrew letters and their meanings is in order. If you are not yet familiar with them, I hope they shed light on your growing curiosity! “Y” is “yud”, “H” is “heh” (pronounced “hay” in English), and “V” is “vav”. When you see them together, they appear as “yud”, “heh”, “vav”, “heh”.

We Jews see the tetragrammaton, YHVH, and read it as “Adonai”; more accurately, in Hebrew it appears as ( יהוה ). For those who study Kabbalah, you may be familiar with the concept that these letters, when placed vertically, form the shape of a human:

י

ה

ו

ה

This can be interpreted in different ways, (i.e., 10 Jews, 11 opinions!), but to me it definitely represents G-d inside of me. This can also be used as a very powerful meditation. It supports my thesis - if you will - that when we pray the Shema, i.e., Shema Yisrael, Adonai Ehloheinu, Adonai Echad; in English: “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One”, we are assuring ourselves and G-d that we are aware of His holiness everywhere, including inside each one of us. Additionally, that holiness is connected, and we are all one.

I’d love to know what you think!

Spiritually Yours,

Laura Weakley