Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: יהוה, אֲדֹנָי, אֵל, אֱלֹהִים, שַׁדַּי, and צְבָאֽוֹת ; some also include I Am that I Am. Early authorities considered other Hebrew names mere epithets or descriptions of God, and wrote that they and names in other languages may be written and erased freely. Some moderns advise special care even in these cases, and many Orthodox Jews have adopted the chumras of writing "G-d" instead of "God" in English or saying Ṭēt-Vav instead of Yōd-Hē for the number fifteen or Ṭēt-Zayin instead of Yōd-Vav for the Hebrew number sixteen.
Hebrew name of God inscribed on the page of a Sephardic manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (1385)
Biblical text on a synagogue in Holešov, Czech Republic: "HaShem (ה׳) kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up." (1 Samuel 2:6)
Sign near the site of the Safed massacre, reading הי״ד (H.Y.D., abbreviation of הַשֵּׁם יִנקּוֹם דָּמו HaShem yinkom damo, 'may HaShem avenge his blood').
In Judaism, God has been conceived in a variety of ways. Traditionally, Judaism holds that Yahweh—that is, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel, and the national god of the Israelites—delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses at Mount Sinai as described in the Torah. Jews traditionally believe in a monotheistic conception of God, characterized by both transcendence and immanence.
The Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the main Hebrew name of God inscribed on the page of a Sephardic manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (1385)
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite god Yahweh.
The mass revelation at Mount Horeb in an illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1907
