by Dave Sherman, with ruling by Rabbi David Schochet

In August 1983, Dave Sherman posted to the net.religion Usenet newsgroup (before net.religion.jewish existed) with a question that no rabbi in history had previously faced: is digital storage a form of "writing" for halachic purposes? Specifically, if God's name appears in a computer file, is deleting that file prohibited under the same law that forbids erasing divine names from parchment? Sherman had consulted Rabbi David Schochet, senior rabbi of the Lubavitch community in Toronto, and received a detailed responsum. This may be one of the earliest recorded halachic rulings on digital technology. The post was preserved and redistributed within the early net.religion.jewish community, which recognized its historical significance.

A few weeks ago I posted an article about the origin of "Amen" in which I mused over the problem of destroying sacred names which are "written" in digital form. I got a number of replies by mail which expressed interest in hearing the answer, so here it is for the net.

I spoke with Rabbi David Schochet, who is the senior Rabbi (the rav) of the Lubavitch community in Toronto. Rabbi Schochet's answer can be summarized as follows:

The Ruling

1. The translation or transliteration of a holy name into English is not the same as the original, but it is still holy, and if written on paper should not be destroyed. One should write "G-d" instead.

2. "Writing" on disk is not the same as making a writing (k'sivah). Therefore, it is permissible to destroy a holy name — in Hebrew or in English — which is written on disk. However, one should not erase simply the name itself; one should do so only when destroying or erasing the entire document or paragraph.

3. Records (the record-player type), audio tapes, and magnetic tape fall into the same category as disks. They are not k'sivah. (Thus a tape of someone reciting prayers with sacred names can be destroyed.) Microfilm, however, is k'sivah, even though you may need a special reader or microscope to read the writing.

4. If you are creating a file on disk and put a holy name into it, it is not your responsibility if someone chooses to print it to hardcopy and then destroy the hardcopy. The same goes for sending someone private mail, if you know they will be reading the mail on a screen rather than on a hardcopy terminal.

5. When posting to Usenet news, you can be fairly certain someone out there will be reading the news either with a hardcopy terminal or via "readnews -p" to the line printer. Accordingly, you should not put holy names into news articles, because they will certainly be printed on paper and then destroyed as a result of your actions.

6. Even when sending private mail, it is better to use hyphens (writing "G-d") so that you are not spelling out the name in full — out of greater caution and respect for the holiness of what you are writing. However, as outlined in point 4 above, it is not prohibited to spell out the full name in private correspondence.

Hope this was useful to some of you. It's a change from the usual debates, anyway.

Colophon

Originally posted by Dave Sherman (Toronto) to the net.religion Usenet newsgroup, August 1983. Based on a personal consultation with Rabbi David Schochet, senior rabbi (rav) of the Lubavitch community in Toronto. Redistributed in 1985 by Asher Meth (New York University) to the net.religion.jewish newsgroup, in response to a discussion about the use of full divine names in posted Dvar Torah texts.

This document is among the earliest recorded halachic responses to the question of digital storage and sacred text. The ruling distinguishes between digital media (not k'sivah) and microfilm (which is k'sivah), and introduces the concern about Usenet news printing — a consideration specific to the technology of 1983.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: preserved within [email protected] (Asher Meth's redistribution post).

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