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Y'mach Sh'mo: May His name be erased. A Thread.
There is perhaps no curse worse in Jewish tradition than saying someone’s name and then saying, “Y’mach Sh’mo”—may their name be erased.
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There is perhaps no curse worse in Jewish tradition than saying someone’s name and then saying, “Y’mach Sh’mo”—may their name be erased.
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It likely started with Amalek, the evil man who attacked the Israelites as they fled Egyptian slavery and brutalized those at the back of the fleeing masses—the children, the elderly, those with disabilities, the vulnerable.
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We do not say “Y’mach Sh’mo” lightly or casually; it is reserved for those who are especially and exceptionally brutal; people like Haman in the book of Esther who sought to annihilate the Jewish people;
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Adolf Hitler and Joseph Mengele who tortured and murdered millions of Jews during the Holocaust; Pol Pot who murdered two million Cambodians; and others who violated human rights and human dignity with grotesque inhumanity.
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It’s a fascinating linguistic move and a bit of creative theological gymnastics: We say “may their name be erased”-after we say their name.
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We don’t actually erase them; but we make clear our absolute disdain and disgust for what they did. We hold them to account as we remember them.
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Former President DJT disgraced the presidency with his boorish, disgusting, violent behavior and seditious incitement against our democracy. But that alone would not be enough for me to claim “Y’mach Sh’mo” after mentioning his name.
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However. Separating thousands of migrant children from their parents is torture. It is a violation of human rights. It is a violation of everything we Jews—whose father Abraham was a wandering Aramean—stand for as a people.
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His assault on truth, on science, on the free press, on GLBTQ people, on Muslims, on Black and Brown and Native people, on women, on congress January 6; his abandonment of any leadership around COVID which killed 400,000 people during his time in office;
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his vocal support for white nationalists, for the Proud Boys, for the Nazis my in-laws fled in 1939; for so many reasons I am tempted to say “Y’mach Sh’mo” every time I hear his name.
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I have not yet decided to do so permanently. I take this religious practice seriously. It is not to be done lightly.
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There are those who believe that say “Y’mach Sh’mo” is to wish death upon them. I certainly do not ascribe to that belief and I would never wish for my words to be interpreted as such.
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I am a rabbi. I’m in the forgiveness business. I believe in redemption. There is still time for Mr. Trump to repent, to atone for his massive wrong doing, to spend the rest of his life paying restitution to those he harmed throughout his wretched life.
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I am not naïve. I don’t anticipate that happening. But I cannot give up on the possibility—however remote it may be.
Nonetheless, I will not say his name aloud ever again. I will only refer to him as DJT.
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Nonetheless, I will not say his name aloud ever again. I will only refer to him as DJT.
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For the tremendous pain and suffering he caused, for those babies who are traumatized and their parents—dear God, those parents—I will never again say his name aloud.
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