Tell me more ×
Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

Possible Duplicate:
B'siyata D'shmaya or Baruch Hashem

What is the origin of putting BS"D (or Beis Samach Daled) on the top right hand corner of anything one write?

share|improve this question
related: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/8093/… -- also, perhaps the answer to this question is in that question – Menachem Aug 20 '12 at 20:39

marked as duplicate by msh210♦ Aug 20 '12 at 21:43

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

BS"D stands for b'siyata dishemaya and B"H stand for B'Ezrat Hashem, which mean "With God's help in Aramaic and Hebrew respectively."

People do this as a way to always remember that anything that they do could not be done without the help of Hashem.

EDIT:

According to this answer to a different question:

I don't know the origin, but in one form or another it goes back at least to the Rambam: he began each section of his major works with the phrase בשם ה' א-ל עולם (though this has been omitted in most later printings).

If Rambam is indeed the first Jewish source of this practice, it would likely indicate that it could be the result of influence from Muslims who have a similar practice of writing "B'smillah ilrahman ilrahim" (In the name of Allah the most merciful) on their written documents.

share|improve this answer
Do you know of any origin or is it just a custom. (I learned to do this when I learned to write and I knew this reasoning already) – shachna Aug 20 '12 at 20:25
@shachna I don't know the origin, and the internet doesn't seem to know either, which leads me to believe that it may just be a long-standing custom with no particular reason beyond the one I gave in my answer. – Daniel Aug 20 '12 at 20:42
@shachna (Which is a perfectly good reason IMO) – Daniel Aug 20 '12 at 20:43
@shachna: See edit. – Daniel Aug 20 '12 at 20:49

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.