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During Hallel on Sukkos, we shake the lulav during the הודו לה' כי טוב and אנא ה' הושיעה נא. The standard practice I've seen is the one the Mishna Berurah describes there - one direction per word in הודו and two in אנא, except for Hashem's name.

Of course it's difficult to do that without streching out the words, especially נא. The result sounds like

Hooooooooooooduuuuuuuuuuuu laHashem kiiiiiiiiiiiiiii tooooooooooooov kiiiiiiiiiiii leooolaaaaaaaaaaam chaaasdoooooooooo

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Hashem hooooooshiiiiiiiiaaaaa nnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

The way it sounds always strikes me as odd. Hashem's name sounds rushed in comparison to all the other words, and (this may be an illusion) chazzanim seem to rush it even more than is unavoidable by not stretching it out.

Would it be more respectful to say Hashem's name more slowly to avoid this effect? Or, in the opposite direction, are you supposed to do it this way to avoid a hefsek in waving the lulav? Or does it not matter?

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  • I think there's some sort of problem with drawing out G-d's Name like that – ezra Sep 26 '18 at 15:24
  • @ezra even if you draw it out specifically to make it sound natural and match up with the rest of the words? – Heshy Sep 26 '18 at 15:29
  • @ezra the Kohanim purposefully obfuscated God's name by extending it when blessing the people in the mikdash – Double AA♦ Sep 26 '18 at 16:46
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    +1 for the fun and accurate transliterations. – Dr. Shmuel Sep 26 '18 at 20:49
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    @Orangesandlemons in [kabbalistic] services with Kavanot, it is stretched out quite frequently. – Dr. Shmuel Sep 27 '18 at 12:51

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