A key point to consider when discussing the Hoshana ceremony is the historical context: by the time this practice was taking shape, many Jews had already refrained from vocalizing the divine name. This is critical in understanding the subtle ways the name of God was hinted at in prayers and rituals. The custom of not uttering God’s name is thought by some scholars to have developed as early as the 3rd or even 4th centuries BCE, although it is often mistakenly attributed to later rabbinic decrees.
Sara Yefet, in her work on the Book of Chronicles, suggests that the substitution of יהוה (YHWH) with אלהים (Elohim) in Chronicles and in the so-called “Elohim Psalms” reflects a shift in the people’s attitude toward the divine name. This tendency to avoid the explicit pronunciation of יהוה predates the formalized rabbinic laws and points to an earlier societal change regarding the sacredness and use of the Name. It is worth noting that while the practice is frequently associated with rabbinic decrees, its origins lie deeper in Jewish tradition.
What Are the Hoshana Prayers?
During the festival of Sukkot, Jews around the world engage in a ritual of circling the Torah reading podium (the Bimah—not to be confused with the Bamah, a high place for sacrifices) while chanting the Hoshanot. The word “Hoshana” derives from the plea “Please save us” or “Please protect/redeem us.” This practice traces its roots back to the Second Temple period, during which participants would circle the altar itself.
A key part of this ancient ceremony is found in the Talmud, which recounts the words recited as the people circled the altar:
> “Every day they went round the altar once, saying, ‘O Adonai, save us, O Adonai, make us prosper’ (Psalms 118:25). Rabbi Judah says: ‘Ani vaho, save us.’” (Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 45a)
My focus here is on the phrase ‘ani vaho. Could this be an allusion to the divine name, encoded in such a way as to avoid directly pronouncing it?
The Mystery of “Vaho”
The phrase “’ani vaho” deserves closer examination. The vav in “vaho” carries an ā sound, which may reflect one of the vowels associated with the divine name. In Hebrew, the letter vav can serve as a consonant or a vowel, often representing an ô or û sound. Still, here, we see it carrying an ā sound, possibly due to the variety of vocalizations associated with the shva vowel system and the rules of vowel point reduction which developed in Hebrew causing ā>ë and possibly û>ô to occur (yāhû/ô>yëhô).
This flexibility of vav and yod interchangeability is well attested in Biblical Hebrew. Could the vav in vaho have replaced the yod in the divine name, יהוה (YHWH), as a subtle, almost coded reference? If so, this could indicate an ancient method of hinting at the sacred name, whereby vav and yod are interchangeable in certain contexts, and the shva vocalization carries multiple interpretations, including the short a sound present here.
Further supporting this idea is the fact that ancient inscriptions, such as those found in the Elephantine papyri from the 5th century BCE, record a shortened version of the name, יהו (YHW), without the final hey. This abbreviation of the divine name reflects an early form of avoidance or abbreviation, likely to prevent its desecration in non-biblical texts. Could “vaho” be another version of this shortened form? If so, vaho would be a disguised form of יהו, providing a subtle yet intentional allusion to the divine name.
Hinting at the Name of God
This practice of hinting at the divine name rather than pronouncing it outright is consistent with Second Temple-period customs. The rendering of the name as יהו or והו reflects an effort to avoid desecration while still invoking God’s protection. By saying vaho, participants in the ritual might have been adhering to a custom of obliquely referencing the divine name without violating the prohibition against speaking it directly.
Preservation of the Name’s Vocalization in Jewish Tradition
It is essential to recognize that the vowels associated with this Talmudic phrase, like much of the Hebrew oral tradition, were passed down through generations. The vowels we see in the Aleppo Codex, particularly in relation to the divine name, represent a distinct Jewish tradition, preserved by the Masoretic system. This continuity suggests that the vocalization of vaho—and by extension, the vowels used in the divine name—was part of an unbroken oral tradition.
Thus, the Hoshanot and the phrase “’ani vaho” offer us a glimpse into the ways in which Jews of the Second Temple period and later periods found respectful, reverential ways to invoke or hint at the divine name while adhering to evolving liturgical norms. This practice of encoding the name into phrases like vaho may also serve as additional evidence that the vowels used in the Aleppo Codex’s rendering of the divine name are part of an ancient, authentic tradition, passed down through the generations.
Kutscher, Eduard Yechezkel. “Hebrew and Aramaic Studies.” Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 3, 1958, pp. 1-20.
Morgenstern, Julian.The Name of God: A Study of the Etymology of יהוה. Hebrew Union College Press, 1927.
Sperber, Daniel.Minhagei Yisrael: Origins and History of Jewish Customs in the Second Temple Period. Bar-Ilan University Press, 1998.
van der Toorn, Karel. “Yaho, Yahu, or Yahweh? The Origins and Development of the Divine Name.” In The Origins of Yahwism, edited by Jürgen van Oorschot and Markus Witte, De Gruyter, 2019, pp. 55-72.
Yefet, Sara. The Book of Chronicles: A Classified Bibliography. Brill, 1997.
Originally Published: 5 October 2015
2 comments
Pat Turner
October 8, 2017 at 7:02 pmBased on the names of some of the prophets, such as Ishiyahu, Eliyahu, what if the vav functions as a vowel? what if it carries the “oo” sound, as in ‘who’? The Yod would be followed by a short “a” sound, the middle “H” would pair with the vav as a vowel, that is to say H OO … and the final H would be silent, as it often is …blending in at the end of the sound that precedes it ??
Yoel Halevi
October 16, 2017 at 7:48 pmThis is an interesting idea, but the silent H at the end is impossible. In 1st temple spelling you would write all consonants which are used. In this case either the H was sounded, or that it represented a vowel point.