he'

(thing) by ariels (2.7 hr) Mon Jun 19 2000 at 10:59:55

Hebrew written abbreviation for "ha-shem", used to avoid writing that down (so in practice it's used instead of writing YHWH!). It's merely the first letter of that word, marked as an abbreviation by the apostrophe. The English equivalent would be to write "T.", as an abbreviation for "the Name".

Orthodox Jews might use daleth' instead, to avoid writing anything that close to the literal name of God.

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