QUESTION

Riverdale, NY

Can I assign blackout poetry assignment for my chumash students to use the Torah text for their blackout poems — issues of blacking out God’s name. Do I just ensure the initial document is not sheimot? It would be black marker over printed paper so כתב על גבי כתב. I assume with English “God” vs. “G-d” is not nearly as big a deal as having אלהים.

ANSWER

Independent of the status of sheimot, the actual act of blacking our Gods name is deeply problematic religiously