YHWH? Adonai? Traditional Cache
RedHiker: Archiving this cache as the cache owner hasn't logged in for more than a year and this geocache has been unavailable or unfound for quite a while.
If there is still a cache container in this location, please go remove it. For more information on owner responsibilities please read here.
Thank you for your help in maintaining and keeping geocaches available.
RedHiker
Volunteer Reviewer Northern California
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
I am working on creating caches that begin with unusual letters of the alphabet, since I'm sure there are people trying to complete a challenge or personal quest to have a cache that begins with each letter of the alphabet. I love the peaceful network of roads on the southwestern side of Napa, most of which depart from Old Sonoma Road.
This cache is a test strip container, but be looking for an unusual hide location.
YHWH, pronounced Adonai and translated "Lord" is the name used by the Hebrews of the Torah (and throughout the Biblical Old Testament Genesis-->Malachi) to denote the holiest of their descriptive names for their monotheistic Deity.
Back prior to printing presses, copiests were responsible for manually reproducing books, in this case the biblical scrolls (for example those found near the Dead Sea called the Dead Sea scrolls). They would do this by listening to a "cantor" read the text alound, then copying each word that the cantor said onto a new parchment/scroll. The neat linguistic thing is that each time a copiest came to the word that we translate "Lord" (YHWH) he would hear the cantor say "Adonai." He was then responsible to pause, say a prayer of worship and reverence, then write the unpronounceable YHWH. In Jewish theology, God was too holy to have his "real name" said aloud.
Also linguistically interesting is the fact that there are NO HEBREW NAMES of people or places that begin with "Y," and scholars believe that this too echoes back to the reverence factor that religious Jews throughout the ages have had for their God -- Creator, Judge, King, and Heavenly Priest.
(I have often wondered what we have lost in the many years since this kind of reverence and respect existed....Its great that modern religious worship is much more "friendly" and "informal" in their statements of worship to God....but have we lost something as we mention only His love yet not his austire persona? Or even worse, when the term "Lord" goes from being unspeakable to a term used as part of a derisive comment? )
Now you know something in a 5 minute cache description that I had to pay $10,000 to learn -- in a college Hebrew Translation class. Now that's a time when a cache was "worth" some cache :)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
SGSref arrq gb jbex uneqre guna gur erfg.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures