El-him or El-kim?

Question

I have seen commentaries on Torah assign the name El-kim to Hashem when referring to him despite Genesis 1:1 being written as El-him. What is the deal with this and why is there a change?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Elokim is used when a person does not want to use the real Name of God. We are commanded not to take the Name of God in vain and not to use it outside of prayer. Subsequently, the Rabbis introduced the concept of substituting for the letter ‘heh’ a ‘kuf’ as it is not considered to be one of the official Names of God.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team