Shem HaMephorash (Hebrew: שֵׁם הַמְּפֹרָשׁ Šēm hamMəfōrāš, also Shem ha-Mephorash), meaning "the explicit name," was originally a Tannaitic term for the Tetragrammaton. In Kabbalah, it may refer to a name of God composed of either 4, 12, 22, 42, or 72 letters (or triads of letters), the latter version being the most common.
Early sources, from the Mishnah to the Geonim, only use "Shem haMephorash" to refer to the four-letter Tetragrammaton.[1]
In addition to the Shem haMephorash, b. Qiddushin 72a describes a 12-letter name and a 42-letter name. The medievals debate whether the 12-letter name is a mundane euphemism,[2] unknown,[3] YHVH-EHYH-ADNY,[4] or YHVH-YHVH-YHVH.[5] Wilhelm Bacher[6] and Adolphe Franck[7] suggest that the 12-letter name was Chokmah-Tevunah-Da'at, but the Sefirot did not yet exist in Talmudic times. A. Haffer suggests that it is אל יהוה אלהינו from Deut. 6:4.[8]
Cairo Geniza amulets (Oxford e.107:10, T-S K 1.127) contain the name א◌ׄנ◌ׄק◌ׄת◌ׄם◌ׄ פסתם פספסים ודיונסים.[9] [10] A similar amulet is included in the back of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, containing Hebrew: אנקתם פסתם פספסים דיונסים, which the commentary describes as "the 22-letter name." Its origins are unknown, with no connection to Hebrew or Aramaic being found, and no agreement on any particular Greek or Zoroastrian origin. Nathan Hannover was responsible for introducing it into popular Priestly Blessing liturgy, and also composed poems on the model of Ana b'Koach using the 22-letter name as his acrostic.[11]
Wilhelm Bacher and Adolphe Franck suggest that the 42-letter name was the full 10 Sefirot, but the Sefirot did not yet exist in Talmudic times. J. Goldberger argues that the 42-letter name was derived by gematriya, representing either אהיה אהיה or אלוה.[12] Ignatz Stern claims that it represents the names listed by Sifra d'Tziuta Ch. 4,[13] winning the support of Ginsburg, but this passage is not even as old as the Zohar.[14] Robert Eisler derives it from Ex. 34:6.[15] A. Haffer suggests that it is יהוה אחד ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד.
According to Maimonides and Rashi, the 42-letter name is unknown,[16] [17] but Hayy ben Sherira says it is the acronym of the medieval piyyut Ana b'Koach,[18] and Joshua Trachtenberg argues that Hayy's tradition may legitimately represent the Talmudic intent. By the start of the Rishonic period, the term "Shem haMephorash" could also be used for the 42-letter name and this interpretation was retrojected into the Mishnah,[19] although even Hayy did not claim to know its pronunciation. According to Hayy,
Though the letters of the 42-letter name are known, the pronunciation has not been [successfully] transmitted. Some say that it begins אַבְגִיתַץ ʾabgîtaṣ while others say that it begins אַבַגְיְתַץ ʾabagyǝtaṣ, and some say that it concludes שְׁקוּצִית šǝqûṣît while other say that it concludes שַׁקְוַצִית šaqwaṣît, and there are many more disputes besides which none can resolve.Solomon ibn Adret (1235-1310) records that:[20]
Different places have different pronunciations [of the 42-letter name]. Some pronounce it as fourteen words composed of three letters each, while others pronounce it as seven words composed of six letters each. The scholars of this land [Spain] follow the latter method, and such is the tradition received from Hayy, but I heard that the scholars of Ashkenaz pronounce it as fourteen three-letter words. There are also differences between the letters of our version and those of Ashkenaz . . . as to what you say, that each three-letter word is pronounced shewa-patah, there is one word pronounced shewa-shuruq, which is the thirteenth: the shin with a shewa and the waw with a shuruq.Piyyutim which used this 42-letter name as their acrostic were popular among the Hasidei Ashkenaz, and many different poems were composed based on different versions of the name. The only one of these to survive in Jewish liturgy is Ana b'Koach.[21]
The 72-fold name is highly important to Sefer Raziel HaMalakh. It is derived from Exodus 14:19–21, read boustrophedonically to produce 72 names of three letters. This method was explained by Rashi, (b. Sukkah 45a), as well as in Sefer HaBahir (c. 1150~1200). Kabbalist legends state that the 72-fold name was used by Moses to cross the Red Sea, and that it could grant later holy men the power to cast out demons, heal the sick, prevent natural disasters, and even kill enemies.
According to G. Lloyd Jones,
Liber Semamphoras (aka Semamphoras, Semyforas) is the title of a Latin translation of an occult or magical text of Jewish provenance attributed to Solomon. It was attested in 1260 by Roger Bacon, who complained about the linguistic corruption that had occurred in translating Liber Semamphoras into Latin from Hebrew. It is heavily indebted to Sefer HaRazim through its Latin versions, Liber Sepher Razielis idest Liber Secretorum seu Liber Salomonis, and seemingly replaced the more explicitly magical text Liber magice in the Razielis.
Johann Reuchlin (1455–1522) considered these 72 names, made pronounceable by the addition of suffixes such as 'El' or 'Yah', to be the names of angels, individuated products of God's will. Reuchlin refers to and lists the 72 Angels of the Shem Hamephorash in his 1517 book De Arte Cabalistica. According to Bernd Roling,
Reuchlin's cosmology in turn influenced Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) and Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680).
In 1686, Andreas Luppius published Semiphoras und Schemhamphoras, a German translation of the earlier Latin text, Liber Semiphoras (see previous section), which Luppius augmented heavily with passages from Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia and other sources.
Blaise de Vigenère (1523–1596), following Reuchlin, featured the 72 angels in his writings. De Vigenère's material on the Shemhamphorash was later copied and expanded by Thomas Rudd (1583?–1656), who proposed that it was a key (but often missing) component to the magical practices in the Lesser Key of Solomon, as a balancing force against the evil spirits of the Ars Goetia or in isolation. Skinner and Rankine explain that de Vigenère and Rudd adopted these triliteral words with '-el' or '-yah' (both Hebrew for "god") added to them as the names of the 72 angels that are able to bind the 72 evil spirits also described in The Lesser Key of Solomon (c. mid-17th century).
Blaise de Vigenère's manuscripts were also used by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918) in his works for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Mathers describes the descent of power from Tetragrammaton through 24 thrones of the Elders of the Apocalypse, each with a crown of three rays:
Contemporary books on Hermetic Qabalah which discuss the subject include Lon Milo DuQuette'sThe Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Ben Clifford.
| Angel | Biblical verse | Demon ruled | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Vehuiah | 3:3 | Bael | |
| 2. Ielial | 22:19 | Agares | |
| 3. Sitael | 91:2 | Vassago | |
| 4. Elemiah | 6:4 | Gamigin | |
| 5. Mahasiah | 34:4 | Marbas | |
| 6. Iehahel | 9:11 | Valefar | |
| 7. Achaiah | 103:8 | Aamon | |
| 8. Cahethel | 95:6 | Barbatos | |
| 9. Haziel | 25:6 | Paimon | |
| 10. Aladiah | 33:22 | Buer | |
| 11. Laviah | 18:46 | Gusion | |
| 12. Hahaiah | Matthew 22:44 | Sitri | |
| 13. Iezalel | 98:4 | Beleth | |
| 14. Mebahel | 9:9 | Leraje | |
| 15. Hariel | 94:22 | Eligor | |
| 16. Hakamiah | 88:1 | Zepar | |
| 17. Loviah | 8:9 | Botis | |
| 18. Caliel | 35:24 | Bathin | |
| 19. Levuiah | 40:1 | Saleos | |
| 20. Pahaliah | 120:1-2 | Purson | |
| 21. Nelchael | 31:14 | Morax | |
| 22. Ieiaiel | 121:5 | Ipos | |
| 23. Melahel | 121:8 | Aim | |
| 24. Haiviah | 33:18 | Naberus | |
| 25. Nithhaiah | 9:1 | Glasya-Labolas | |
| 26. Haaiah | 119:145 | Bune | |
| 27. Ierathel | 140:1 | Ronove | |
| 28. Saeehiah | 71:12 | Berith | |
| 29. Reiaiel | 54:4 | Astaroth | |
| 30. Omael | 71:5 | Forneus | |
| 31. Lecabel | 71:16 | Foras | |
| 32. Vasariah | 33:4 | Asmodeus | |
| 33. Iehuiah | 94:11 | Gaap | |
| 34. Lehahiah | 131:3 | Furfur | |
| 35. Chavakiah | 116:1 | Marchosias | |
| 36. Manadel | 26:8 | Stolas | |
| 37. Aniel | 80:3 | Phenex | |
| 38. Haamiah | 91:9 | Halphas | |
| 39. Rehael | 30:10 | Malphas | |
| 40. Ieiazel | 88:14 | Raum | |
| 41. Hahahel | 120:2 | Focalor | |
| 42. Michael | 121:7 | Vepar | |
| 43. Veualiah | 88:13 | Sabnock | |
| 44. Ielahiah | 119:108 | Shax | |
| 45. Sealiah | 94:18 | Vine | |
| 46. Ariel | 145:9 | Bifrons | |
| 47. Asaliah | 92:5 | Vual | |
| 48. Mihael | 98:2 | Haagenti | |
| 49. Vehuel | 145:3 | Crocell | |
| 50. Daniel | 145:8 | Furcas | |
| 51. Hahasiah | 104:31 | Balam | |
| 52. Imamiah | 7:17 | Allocer | |
| 53. Nanael | 119:75 | Caim | |
| 54. Nithael | 103:19 | Murmur | |
| 55. Mebahaiah | 102:12 | Orobas | |
| 56. Poiel | 145:14 | Gremory | |
| 57. Nemamiah | 115:11 | Ose | |
| 58. Ieialel | 6:3 | Auns | |
| 59. Harahel | 113:3 | Orias | |
| 60. Mizrael | 145:17 | Vapula | |
| 61. Vmabel | 113:2 | Zagan | |
| 62. Iahhael | 119:159 | Valac | |
| 63. Anavel | 100:2 | Andras | |
| 64. Mehiel | 33:18 | Flauros | |
| 65. Damabiah | 90:13 | Andrealphus | |
| 66. Mavakel | 38:21 | Cimeries | |
| 67. Eiael | 37:4 | Amduscias | |
| 68. Habuiah | 106:1 | Belial | |
| 69. Roehel | 16:5 | Decarabia | |
| 70. Yabamiah | 1:1 | Seere | |
| 71. Haiaiel | 109:30 | Dantalion | |
| 72. Mumiah | 116:7 | Andromalius |
Shem HaMephorash figures in the legend of the golem, an animated anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore that is created entirely from inanimate matter (usually clay or mud). The earthen figure is then animated by saying the Shem Hamephorash over it. Jorge Luis Borges refers to this legend in his poem The Golem and in his essay The Golem. The Shem haMephorash also appears in Borges' stories Three versions of Judas and The Circular Ruins.