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The most frequently used names that refer to G-d in the Torah are the tetragrammaton (YHWH), Elohim, El and El Shaddai. In the previous parshah, the text connects the tetragrammaton with the verb HaYaH (היה – to be, exist). The YHWH, being the piel form of the verb, therefore translates as “G-d’s bringing forth of existence.” The words El (אל – G-d) and Elohim (אלהים) predate Judaism and were used in the Hebrew and Ugaritic of the Canaanite pantheon. El (אל – G-d) was the first of the gods. Etymologically related to the words el (אל) to, toward; ayil (איל) ram, one who rams forward; and Ya/aL (יאל) to endeavor to advance forward; the word El (אל – god) means the initiator or the one advancing existence forward. In the Canaanite religion, Elohim (אלהים) referred to all of the gods, the divine council or the pantheon. A plural of Eloah (אלוה), it is an expansion of the root LaWaH (לוה – to guide, escort) and not of El (אל – G-d). Therefore, depending on the context, Elohim (אלהים) translates as G-d’s Guidance, the pantheon (of others), a council of humans or angels, or a person such as Moshe who serves as a counselor (to Pharaoh). Shaddai (שדי) or El Shaddai is related to the verb ShaDaD (שדד) which in Hebrew means “to overpower, plunder, ruin, and destroy.” However, its Akkadian cognate means “to drag, tow, stretch a rope, draw a line, draw up/ in/down/away and extend time.” Likewise, its Arabic cognate means “to draw taught, pull tight, tense, be/come firm, to pull, drag, and tug.” Furthermore, related roots demonstrate an essential idea of “going back and forth” as can be seen in the verbs ShaDaKh (שדך – to haggle, negotiate) and ShaDaPh (שדף – to make swing back and forth, to blast). Although El Shaddai could be translated as “the initiator that overpowers by throwing back and forth,” I think “the initiator that tugs a person along” is a more appropriate fit.