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Possible Duplicate:
Hashems name on device
Is it permissible to erase the name of G-d from an E-reader?
What are the practical limits of shaimos in the common era?

Forgive me if I get some of the conventions wrong in this question; I'm a non-Jew. After listening to the "This American Life" podcast, specifically episode #332. I was struck by the story of young Shalom and how his rabbi would not permit him to write his name on papers. My understanding of the situation is that it is a sin to destroy the name of God unless it is done in an approved way.

Given that the internet contains many places where the name of God is referenced, is the act of closing the browser a sin since it is technically removing that word from the screen? I'm assuming that since the information still exists somewhere (on the remote side server) that the information hasn't technically been destroyed. However, at some point the pages will be revised, the wording will change, and perhaps the name of God will be removed in those future pages.

Is this a huge grey area in the realm of shemos or am I not looking at this from the right angle?

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Peter Grace
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    @ShmuelBrin He's asking the [admittidly simpler] question of regular screens not E-readers. – Double AA May 02 '12 at 16:11
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    This is a better dupe: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/10777/759 – Double AA May 02 '12 at 16:12
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    @DoubleAA more likely http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/1186/hashems-name-on-device – ertert3terte May 02 '12 at 16:14
  • @ShmuelBrin Not according to msh210's comment there :) – Double AA May 02 '12 at 16:16
  • @DoubleAA then he should open the closed and close the open – ertert3terte May 02 '12 at 16:17
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    Peter, welcome to Mi Yodeya and thank you for bringing your question here. As you can see from the other comments, this question has come up in a few different forms in the past, and we probably ought to merge all of them together. But the short answer is that displaying the divine name in pixels on a screen isn't "writing", halachically speaking, so erasing doesn't apply. – Monica Cellio May 02 '12 at 16:28
  • just some resources -- i didn't look through the other questions Avnei Yushfei 4:105, Teshuvos V’hanhugos 3:326, Ginzei Hakodesh page 298:19 quoting the opinion of Horav Elyashiv Shlita. Refer to Laws of Pesach A Digest 5766:page 727.Rabbi Mordechai Friedman, "the Sanctity of God's Name: Erasing Sacred Texts from a Computer Screen" in Alei EtZion: A Torah Periodical of Yeshivat Har EtZion, Volume 8, Adar 5759, p. 47-55 – rosends May 02 '12 at 16:50
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    @Dan I think that those sources are a bit too over-the-head of the OP. – ertert3terte May 02 '12 at 17:02
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    I see now that there are quite a few duplicates of this question, thanks to everyone for the clarification! My intellectual curiosity has been sated; thanks for the warm welcome and the wealth of info on this topic. – Peter Grace May 02 '12 at 17:46
  • For the record, I recommend that you not take everything you hear about Judaism or Jewish culture in a Shalom Auslander story at face value. I've noticed multiple times in which it seems to me that he's applying some dramatic license to make his stories more interesting. – Isaac Moses May 04 '12 at 16:00
  • (Near-)duplicate: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/35710 – msh210 Feb 23 '14 at 15:36

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