Prayer Posture Looks Like a 'W'

The Hebrew word for "name" is sheme. Ha-Shem is still used sometimes as a "meta-word," part of a prayer pattern, used to avoid saying the most sacred name. In Judaism the "sh" (which in English looks like a "W') has often had ritual importance because it pictures a position of prayer—arms raised above the head.** Thus one symbolizes the name in prayer whether or not he uses it.

One Psalm declares, "I have seen thee in the sanctuary . . , , my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name" (Psalm 63:2—4; see Psalm 88:9).

**The prayer posture symbolized by the Hebrew letter for "sh," "shin," may be traced to an Old Testament verse; Abraham replies to the king of Sodom, "I have lift[ed] up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high" Genesis 14:22. In Hebrew it means literally, "I raised up my hand." It is an oath formula. (Speiser, Genesis, 104—5, n. 22.)(Putting on the Names: A Jewish-Christian Legacy by Truman G. Madsen; Note 12.)

See Also:
Jewish Twice Daily Prayer-The Shema