Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, In Judaism, the two most common names for God are Elohim and the tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H). The word Elohim (אלהים) is the plural for Eloah (אלוה) which evolved from the root LaWaH (לוה – to join, escort, guide). In Ugaritic, a Northwest Semitic language very closely related to Hebrew, Elohim means “pantheon,” a grouping of gods that they looked to for guidance. Likewise, in the Tanakh, Elohim also refers to the pantheons of other peoples. However, Elohim can also refer to a group of human counselors or judges in an analogous way. Since in Judaism there is only one God, this plural word is used with singular verbs to represent the one God. Since Elohim means counselors, allegorically, Elohim represents God as the source of infinite guidance that is interwoven into our everyday experience. On the other hand, the tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H), is a verb used as a proper noun based on the verb HaYaH (היה – to be, exist). Based on its form, it is most likely the piel or intensive form of the verb whose meaning is roughly God’s continuous bringing forth of existence. Even though the tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H) refers to all of God’s moment to moment creation, it is used allegorically to represent what a person is experiencing in a given moment. In a metaphorical way, one can view Elohim as all of the cars going both ways on a particular stretch of road where you intend to catch your ride, while the tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H) represents not only your ride, but also the cars of similar appearance that you must investigate and sift through.