Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

Not to destroy things upon which His name, may He be blessed, are called: That we should not destroy and erase the things upon which the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, are called, such as the Temple and holy books and His precious names, blessed be He. And about all this is it stated (Deuteronomy 12:4), “Do not do this to the Lord, your God.” After it was preceded by the commandment to destroy idolatry and to erase its name and to demolish all of its houses and altars, it prevented [it here] and stated, “Do not do this to the Lord, your God.” And at the end of Tractate Makkot 22a, they, may their memory be blessed, said, “One who burns consecrated wood is lashed, and its warning is from ‘and you shall destroy their name from that place[...] Do not do this, etc.’” And so too did they say there that one who erases the name [of God] is lashed, and its warning is from the very same verse.

The root of the commandment is revealed. As when people approach the holy with fear, with trembling and with perspiration — through that, they will bring into their hearts great fear and awe towards God, blessed be He.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Shevuot 35a) that there are seven names in the prohibition of this negative commandment. And these are them: the name of yud, hei — vav, hei which the sages called the explicit name; and so [too] the name that is written alef, dalet, nun, yud and El, Eloha, Elohim, Shaddai and Tsevaot.

And they, may their memory be blessed, also said (Shevuot 35a) that any letter that serves as a prefix before the name is permitted to erase, for example the lamed (to) from, “to God.” But what serves as a suffix after the name — such as the khaf (your) of “your God” or the mem (your — plural) of “your God,” and similar to them — are not erased, since the name [of God] consecrates them. And one who writes [only] El from the word Elohim [that he planned to write], or Yah from yod, hei — vav, hei cannot have it erased because these are names [of God] on their own. But one who writes shad from Shaddai or tsev from Tsevaot — behold, it can be erased. And the rest of the appellations that are used to praise God — for example, Merciful, Graceful, Great, Powerful, Awesome and similar to them — behold, they are like the rest of the holy writings (Biblical texts), which are permitted to erase for the sake of any thing. And [also] that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 115a) that that which all holy writings (Biblical texts) and their commentaries are included in this prohibition, is from the words of the scribes (rabbinic) — that it is forbidden to destroy them or to burn them. And all of this that we have said is when it is written by a [proper] Israelite, but we burn — and it is a commandment to burn — everything that is written by an Israelite heretic, so as not to leave a name for (remembrance of) the heretics and all of their deeds. Whereas that which was written by a gentile, we put away (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Foundations of the Torah 6:8). And [also] that which they said (Shevuot 35b) that all of the names with Avraham in the matter of the angels that came to him are holy, and those stated with Lot are profane, except for “Behold now Your servant has found favor in Your eyes” (Genesis 19:19); all the names stated with the mountain of Binyamin (Judges 19-21) are holy, but from all those stated with Mikhah (Judges 17-18), some are profane and some are holy — el is profane, Yah is holy, except for one El which is holy, and that is “all the days that the house of El was in Shiloh” (Judges 18:31); all that are stated with Navot (I Kings 21) are holy; every Shlomo that is stated in the Song of Songs is holy — and it is like the rest of the appellations — except for “a thousand to you, Shlomo” (Song of Songs 8:12); and all kings stated in Daniel are profane except for one, “You are the King, the King of the kings” (Daniel 2:37) — and behold it is like the other appellations. [These] and the rest of its details are found in Tractate Shevuot.

And this prohibition is forbidden in every place and at all times by males and females. And one who transgresses it and erases even one letter from the seven names that we mentioned is liable for lashes. But if he removed one letter from the letters that served as suffixes after them, he would [only] be lashed with lashes of rebellion. And so [too,] one who removes even one stone in a destructive way from the altar or from the chamber or from the rest of the [Temple] yard is liable for lashes.