From RRW
https:
//nypost. com/2020/11/10/joe-biden-a-pro ud-catholic-also-has-a-very-je wish-family/
Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Tuesday, 10 November 2020
Nishma-Parshah: Chayei Sarah
Take a look at what's on
for Parshat Chayei Sarah
for Parshat Chayei Sarah
Parsha: Hayyei Sarah & Toldoth, "Navi vs. Halachah...
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-hayyei-sarah-toldoth-navi-vs.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-hayyei-sarah-toldoth-navi-vs.html
Monday, 9 November 2020
Sunday, 8 November 2020
Saturday, 7 November 2020
Lord Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi, dies aged 72
From RRW
It with the deepest sadness that we regret to inform you of the passing of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (HaRav Ya’akov Zvi ben David Arieh ztz’’l). Baruch Dayan HaEmet
Thursday, 5 November 2020
Rabbi Ovadia of Bertinoro- Part 2
From RRW
Guest Blogger: Mitchell First
Rabbi Ovadia of Bertinoro- Part II
Last week, I wrote that in 1488-1490 R. Ovadia wrote three letters from Israel and that CIS publishers did an English translation: Pathway to Jerusalem: The Travel Letters of Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura. From the first letter he wrote, we learn that he left the city of Citta di Castello in 1485, and stayed temporarily in Naples, Salerno, Palermo, Messina, Rhodes, Alexandria, Cairo, Gaza, and Hebron. He reached Jerusalem in 1488. He seems to have lived in Jerusalem the rest of his life (until his death in perhaps 1530), except for a short period in Hebron in 1489.
The first letter describes in detail the Jewish communities he encountered in the above places. Last week I omitted this material, and skipped to his description of Jerusalem. Below is a small selection of the material I skipped. (All are quotes or adaptations from the English translation above.)
Palermo: About 800 Jewish families live there. I would never want in all my days to live among people who loved, honored and exalted me like the Jews of Palermo. They honored me as the gentiles honor their saints. Many of them wanted a piece of my clothing as a keepsake. The woman who had the honor of doing my laundry was envied by all the other women! They did everything they could to persuade me to stay with them for at least a full year. But I did not listen to them, because my heart was set on traveling to the land of Israel.
Rhodes: Very few Jews are left in Rhodes- no more than about 22 families. They eat mostly vegetables and grains. They do not have meat or wine because the evil Greeks do not allow them to slaughter or make wine.
I never saw Jews with the good qualities possessed by these Jews of Rhodes. They are intelligent, well-spoken, ethical, cultural and well-mannered. Their hair is well-styled, and they are as handsome as princes. Similarly there are no women as beautiful. I have not breathed air as pure and wholesome as that of Rhodes. Its water is sweet as well.
Alexandria: A Rabbi came out to greet us at the city gates, and thus saved us from the Muslims there who rob and mistreat foreign Jews entering Alexandria. There are about 25 Jewish families in Alexandria. There are two ancient synagogues. Most people pray in the small synagogue, for they believe that Elijah the prophet appeared to the tzadikim in the southeast corner.
This large city is now mostly desolate. One can see that it was once very beautiful. But few people live here because of the poisonous air that has plagued the area for the past few years. Most of the people who live here have eye problems.
Every night, the Muslims lock the Christians into their houses from the outside, and let them out in the morning. They also lock the Christians in on Friday, from midday to evening, which is when the Muslims go to pray in their mosques.
The Jews in the Muslim lands welcome Shabbos as follows: On Shabbos eve, the men go to the bathhouse. When they return home, their wives give them wine, and they drink liberally. Afterwards, while it is still daylight, they eat the food that was cooked for the evening meal, until darkness falls. Then they go to the synagogue…and chant songs and praises to God, stretching out the evening prayers for two hours into the night. Then they return home, make Kiddush, eat a minimal portion of bread and conclude with Grace. The Jews in these areas do not say Minchah in a quorum on Friday afternoon. Jerusalem is the sole exception for, I have been told, the Ashkenazim annulled that particular custom. (He continues with a description of the practices of the Jews in Jerusalem: They pray Minchah and Maariv as we do, and then they go to the evening meal. They never begin Maariv before the stars come out. They keep Shabbos much more carefully than do the Jews in our part of the world. No one leaves his house on Shabbos to take a walk or for any reason, unless he is going to do a mitzvah or to the synagogue or the bet midrash.)
In all the Muslim lands, no one enters a synagogue wearing shoes. Even when visiting a friend’s house, people leave their shoes outside by the door.
Cairo: Cairo is filled with people speaking languages from all over the world. There are about 700 Jewish families in Cairo. 50 are Samaritan, 150 are Karaites and the rest are Rabbinic Jews.
The Samaritans only have the Five books of Moses. The Rabbinic Jews feel very hostile to them because they offer sacrifices and incense on Mt. Gerizim. Many of these Samaritans travelled with us from Cairo to their temple on Mount Gerizim to sacrifice the paschal lamb. They keep Shabbos from midday Friday to midday Saturday.
The Karaites sanctify the new moon with witnesses. Sometimes, due to conflicting testimony, the Karaites in Cairo will make Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on a different day than the Karaites in Jerusalem. Also, the Karaites in Cairo may add a month, and the Karaites in Constantinople will not. They see nothing wrong with this.
They fast on the seventh and tenth of Av. On Sukkkos, they hang a lulav (together with the other species) in the middle of their synagogue. Everyone looks at it, and they consider this sufficient to fulfill their obligation.
Jews in Muslim lands make themselves appear poor [even when they are wealthy]. They go about like an impoverished, despised people, with their heads bowed down before the Muslims.
Among the Jews in Cairo, some work as money-changers, merchants and traders, for one can easily make a profit all year round. People stay up day and night, and torches burn throughout the night to illuminate the streets and marketplaces. The people sleep on the ground outside their stores or in the street. They cook at home only once a week. They are so busy at their jobs-both men and women- that they buy whatever they need from the marketplace.
Gaza: It is a beautiful city and as large as Jerusalem. I saw the building that according to the Jews there was pulled down by Samson. There are about 70 Jewish families and 2 Samaritan families.
Hebron: I visited the cave of Machpelah. It is covered by a large mosque. The Muslims treat it with great respect, and come on pilgrimage from all the Muslim lands to worship there. In the cave itself, where the Patriarchs are buried, neither Jew nor Muslim may enter. The Muslim pilgrims throw money into the cave through the shafts. When the Muslim caretakers want to take the money out, they lower a young boy on ropes into the cave, who gathers the money and is pulled back up.
At present, about 20 Rabbinic Jewish families live in Hebron.
Every day, they distribute bread and lentils, or some other legume, to the poor, whether Muslim, Jew or Christian, in honor of our forefather Abraham.
-----
The Pathway book is very inexpensive. Everyone can buy their own copy, as I presented only a very small selection.
----------------------------
Mitchell First can be reached at MFirstAtty@aol.com. He would consider living in Palermo.
Wednesday, 4 November 2020
Nishma-Parshah: Vayera
Take a look at what's on
for Parshat Vayera
for Parshat Vayera
P V'a'eira: Hagar's Eyes Open
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/p-vayeira-hagars-eyes-open.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/p-vayeira-hagars-eyes-open.html
Parsha: Vayeira, "Tiqqun Soferim"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-vayeira-tiqqun-soferim.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-vayeira-tiqqun-soferim.html
Vayeira Destroy What Needs To Be Destroyed
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/vayeira-destroy-what-needs-to-be.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/vayeira-destroy-what-needs-to-be.html
Tuesday, 3 November 2020
Monday, 2 November 2020
A Lesson from The Satmar Rav
I was reading a biography of The Satmar, Rav, Rav Yoel Teitlebaum ztz"l, and came upon this story of what happened when he was visited by then New York City mayor Wagner during an election period. Obviously the mayor was seeking the Rebbe's support in the upcoming election and wanted to ingratiate himself before the Rebbe. What the mayor thus did was speak of his support to the Jewish People and, specifically, his admiration for and love of the State of Israel. The mayor spoke of his many trips to Israel and how he was s full supporter of the State. This is how the mayor wished to ingratiate himself with the Satmar Rav.
The thing is that it worked. During the meeting, the Rebbe greeted the many statements from the mayor regarding Israel most positively. The chassidim in the room, while maintaining their quiet composure on the outside, did not know what was happening. The mayor was expressing support for Israel and the Rebbe was expressing appreciation.
As soon as the meeting was over and Mayor Wagner left, an elder within the chassidim raised the obvious question that was on everyone 's mind. How could the Rebbe express such gratitude for this support of Israel? The Rebbe's response, to paraphrase, was that in terms of a non-Jew, he actually wants to hear positive attitudes towards Israel. We Jews can have our disagreements over Israel but there will still be an overall commitment to the group, the Jewish People. With a non-Jew, though, one can't make a similar statement. It may be that the person may have similar issues with the country that a Jew may have. It may also be that the person is simply an anti-semite trying to find a reason to attack Jews. With such positive statements towards Israel as expressed by Mayor Wagner, however, there is no doubt that the person is a friend of the Jews.
I believe there is an important message in the Satmar Rav's response in regard to our world today. I do no think that every critique of Israel necessary indicates antisemitism but I do think that there may be some antisemitic elements in such critiques. We must, as such, approach any criticism of Israel from others hesitantly even as we may even agree with its basic principle. Does this critique of Israel truly just reflect a viewpoint with which I may also agree or, in its expression, is there also a connection to antisemitism? We must, as such, always be wary of any connection with those critical of Israel.
Rabbi Ben Hecht
Sunday, 1 November 2020
Saturday, 31 October 2020
Mussar: Life is Precious
From RRW
Wisdom from Frank Zappa who knew this 45 years ago!
"None of us have the promise of tomorrow, God forbid this is my last day on this beautiful earth, it won’t be spent listening to some news person telling me how rotten we are, how rotten life is, heck no, I’m going out and seeing how beautiful life is. As humans, our time on this planet is very limited...
Turn off, tune out and turn on your life. Peace"
~ Frank Zappa
Thursday, 29 October 2020
Rabbi Ovadia of Bertinoro
From RRW
Guest Blogger: Mitchell First
(Once you read the article, the connection to Lech Lecha is obvious.)
Rabbi Ovadia of Bertinoro
We all know of him from his commentary on the Mishnah. But what about his biography?
We would know very little of his life except that fortunately, in the years 1488-1490, he wrote three letters from Israel about his journey from Italy and his early impressions of Israel, and copies of these letters (not the originals) have survived. We also have a letter by a student of his in Jerusalem, composed in 1495.
These letters were written in Hebrew, but CIS publishers published an English translation: Pathway to Jerusalem: The Travel Letters of Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura (1992).
We do not know the year or decade of his birth. We know practically nothing about those first decades of his life in Italy since he does not discuss them in these letters. He mentions that his last position was in Citta di Castello. Perhaps he was a rabbi in Bertinoro before that.
From the first letter he wrote (to his father, in Elul 1488), we learn that he left Citta di Castello in 1485, and stayed temporarily in Naples, Salerno, Palermo, Messina, Rhodes, Alexandria, Cairo, Gaza, and Hebron. He finally reached Jerusalem on the 13th of Nissan in 1488.
The first letter describes in detail the Jewish communities in the above places. He had promised his father that he would describe the communities he saw along the way and fortunately, he kept his promise. His descriptions of these communities are of tremendous interest. I will discuss them next week. This week I will limit myself to his comments about Jerusalem. I include only a very small selection.
-There are only 70 Jewish families. They are very poor. The total number of families in Jerusalem is 4000. The city has no wall. [MF: This is before the Turkish conquest of the city in 1516.]
-There are in addition many old and lonely widows, “seven women to a man.”
-Earlier, there had earlier been 300 Jewish families. But the Sultan had appointed certain Jewish elders to collect taxes and the elders became corrupt. Any Jew of stature decided to leave. The elders sold almost all the Torah scrolls to Christian merchants. More recently, the elders regret what they did and are trying to get people to return.
-The Muslims come from very distant lands to bow down at the site of the Beit Hamikdash, which they regard with great awe.
-Most people who come to Jerusalem from distant lands become ill because of the change of atmosphere and rapid changes of temperature.
-The Jews in Moslem countries have been brought up for many generations to be more God-fearing than the Jews in Italy.
-False witnesses are common among both the Christians and the Muslims. The Muslim courts do not cross-examine witnesses. The courts believe and immediately act on their testimony. (He adds that if such laws existed in Christian countries, people would swallow each other alive!)
-The legal system allows Muslims to twist things. A Muslim in Jerusalem murdered his mother. He claimed he acted under the influence of alcohol. The judges decided that the Jews and Christians were responsible, because they were the only ones who made wine there. The Jews and Christians were fined and the Muslim went free.
- At the beginning and the end of this letter, he writes how bad he feels that he left his father in his father’s old age. (Feeling guilty about leaving ones parents when making Aliyah is not just a modern problem!) It has been suggested that he was a widower when he left for Israel.
His second letter was written to his brother in 1489. Some selections:
-“You asked me about the miracles that you have heard about that are supposed to occur at the site of the Beit Hamikdash and at the gravesites of the tsaddikim. What can I tell you? I myself did not see any such miracles.”
-“I deliver a sermon to the community twice a month in the synagogue in Hebrew, which most of the people understand. Unfortunately, the people regard my speeches primarily as entertainment. They praise my sermons but they do not really change.”
-“I am happy with my work here in Jerusalem and no one bothers me. We gather in the morning and evening to learn Halachah. Two Sephardi students learn with me regularly, and now two Ashkenazi rabbis have joined us.”
-“The king had demanded that the Jews pay four hundred ducats a year, regardless of the number of Jews living here, causing each one to be at the other’s throat. But God has had mercy and influenced the king to charge a poll tax- that is, to tax each individual separately, and not the community as a whole. This is a great improvement which has made things better than they have been for fifty years. Many people who had left Jerusalem are now returning. Perhaps, with God’s help, the city will be rebuilt.”
From his third letter in 1490 written in Hebron:
-“I had gone to Hebron for an extended period. I ultimately came to enjoy living in Hebron more than Jerusalem because Hebron is populated by a small elite of Jews with excellent traits. They comprise about twenty families in all.”
Regarding the letter from R. Ovadia’s student, it was written shortly after the student’s arrival in Jerusalem. This student had left Italy earlier that year in order to study with R. Ovadia. This letter first describes the dangerous trip in detail. Finally, the youth arrives in Jerusalem and meets R. Ovadia: “The man is very great, ‘ve-al piv yishak kol ha-aretz’. No one argues with him. From the ends of the earth [Jews] stream to him and do exactly what he says. When he makes a decree, it is enforced as far away as Egypt and in all the [surrounding] lands. Even the Yishmaelim honor him and are in awe of him…. He is very humble and he knows how to deal with people in a pleasant way.…. About him, it is said: ‘ein zeh yelod ishah’.”
The student also mentions that R. Ovadia helped him find a place to live, and to reduce a tax placed on him.
He continues that Jerusalem has about 200 families, most of whom are reliant on charity. A certain elderly sage spoke daily after Shacharit and Maariv, but only for 15 minutes, so as not to impose on anyone. (R. Ovadiah would give beautiful speeches, but only spoke on the holidays.) Every day, after Shacharit and the sermon, the people sit in the bet midrash and learn Mishnah or Talmud for about 3 hours.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica gives the year of R. Ovadia’s death as “before 1516.” But Pathway cites a passage from Chida (18th cent.) that gives the year as 1530. It also cites a letter from a rabbi who came to Jerusalem in 1516 that mentions that R. Ovadia was still conducting a yeshivah there at that time.
According to the EJ entry, “other works and exchange of letters as well as poems and prayers remain in manuscript.” Pathway also mentions that there may be more letters that he wrote from Jerusalem that have never been published. (Mossad Harav Kook published a biography. But there is little information there aside from what I have written here. The book largely addresses his commentary on the Mishnah.)
----------------------------
Mitchell First can be reached at MFirstAtty@aol.com. When starting this topic, he thought he would be learning about Bertinoro. Instead, writing this article was an education in everything else! Please visit his website at rootsandrituals.org.
Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Nishma-Parshah: Lech Lecha
Take a look at what's on
for Parshat Lech Lecha
for Parshat Lech Lecha
Parsha: Lech Lecha, "Skin-Garment-House"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-lech-lecha-skin-garment-house.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-lech-lecha-skin-garment-house.html
Lech Lecha: The Personality of Blessings
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/lech-lecha-personality-of-blessings.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/lech-lecha-personality-of-blessings.html
Lech Lecha: The Involvement of Self
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/lech-lecha-involvement-of-self.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/lech-lecha-involvement-of-self.html
Parsha: Lech Lecha, "Leaving Israel"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-lech-lecha-leaving-israel.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-lech-lecha-leaving-israel.html
Parsha: Lech Lecha, Galut Mitzrayim - 400 Years or 210 Years?
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-lech-lecha-galut-mitzrayim-400.html
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/11/parsha-lech-lecha-galut-mitzrayim-400.html
Tuesday, 27 October 2020
Monday, 26 October 2020
TORAH PATHS with Rabbi Michael Skobac
It is a pleasure and an honour to inform everyone of a new Torah website from Rabbi Michael Skobac, noted Torah scholar and teacher -- and a long-time friend of Nishma.
TORAH PATHS
https://torahpaths.com/
Rabbi Skobac, of course, is one of the foremost anti-missionaries in the world today, having spoken in numerous locales internationally in response to the global effort by various Christian entities to convert Jews. His knowledge and teachings are, however, not just limited to this subject. As experienced by many, his unique method of teaching Torah is of value to all.
Sign up for his free e-book -- A Guide to Torah Literature -- available on the site and through this work and this site enjoy and experience the benefit of Rabbi Skobac's Torah.
Sunday, 25 October 2020
Saturday, 24 October 2020
Attacking ad hominem Attacks
Originally posted 9/7/07, 4:30 PM, Eastern Daylight Time.
RRW: So what is it with Professor X? Is he a kosher Jew or what?
My Rebbe [MR]: Well he keeps Shabbes, puts on Tefilin keeps Kosher, etc.
"I cannot STAND rabbi X. He always uses Ad Hominem atacks. How can I take him seriously!?Dear Readers,
I hope you sense the irony and self-contradictory nature of the previous statement. Regardless of your reaction [or perhaps lack thereof!] Rabbi Hecht and I have both agreed to eschew Ad Hominem attacks. We feel this policy serves this blog better.
Why?
Why?
- We avoid personalizing attacks in order to focus upon the issue at hand
- Furthermore, many of us are potentially guilty of the behavior in question
- Finally, as Bruria has taught us: "Learn to HATE the sin and to LOVE the sinner."
Illustrations:
I had a rebbe in yeshiva who would attack many of the Modern professors at Yeshiva University. His attacks were sharp, entertaining, and informative. The targets seemed clear to the entire class. Nevertheless - in order to remove any doubt about his intentions - I confronted my rebbe privately after Shiur.
RRW: So what is it with Professor X? Is he a kosher Jew or what?
My Rebbe [MR]: Well he keeps Shabbes, puts on Tefilin keeps Kosher, etc.
After some back and forth, I realized that MR would attack this professor all day long in his Shi'ur but not mean to personally assail the man. Later on, I would discover that perhaps he meant not to attack the professor per se, just his teachings. That he really did like the guy, but was eschewing his methodology alone!
Fast Forward Many years Later
I was reading Artrscroll's biography of R. Baruch Ber Lebowitz. [FWIW, he was acquainted with MR above]. In this book, R. Baruch Ber is described as having lashed out at many secularists and Maskillim whom he felt were damaging Judaism during his era. Nevertheless, he refrained from naming names. Why? He was attacking their behavior not their persona.
Rav Schwab ZTL reputedly attacked a certain behavior. When confronted by a congregant re: the intended target of his article, he coyly responded: "If the shoe fits -wear it." Rav Schwab was out to make a point about something he opposed. He did not mean it to get personal, and certainly not personal in the PUBLIC domain.
As a personal Policy I have avoided politics from the pulpit. Why? I feel that it dilutes my position of spiritual leader to get involved with politics. I did make an exception when an obvious anti-Semite ran for City Council and I recommended that he be opposed for that very specific reason. As I see it [AISI] making only 1 exception in 16 year enhanced my "moral authority."
Similarly, when the shenanigans of a recent President of the USA who engaged in questionable moral conduct became all the rage, I described in very general terms what was wrong and why it should be condemned. I named no names and just referred to a political leader who was involved in misbehavior with an intern . Although it was quite obvious to whom I was referring, I avoided naming names.
I feel that personalizing the attack by naming names weakens the message. Frankly, I am also not sure if the aforementioned politician behaved significantly worse than many of his colleagues. I instead attacked his overall lack of morality, but did not name him. Furthermore - other than this misbehavior - I really had no personal animus for the guy, and there were probably other politicians that I liked even better who may have even done worse. So why start name calling?!
On the other hand, I cannot condone the behavior. To my mind, it was clearly reprehensible and called for a statement. I framed it more as a teaching rather than preaching, through pointing out a topical moral lesson in that week's Parsha. By presenting the Torah point of view first, and then following up with a tangential reference to the behavior, I feel that I got my point across without making it into a personal attack. Personal attacks carry with them an animus that I feel undermines the message.
Rav Schwab ZTL reputedly attacked a certain behavior. When confronted by a congregant re: the intended target of his article, he coyly responded: "If the shoe fits -wear it." Rav Schwab was out to make a point about something he opposed. He did not mean it to get personal, and certainly not personal in the PUBLIC domain.
As a personal Policy I have avoided politics from the pulpit. Why? I feel that it dilutes my position of spiritual leader to get involved with politics. I did make an exception when an obvious anti-Semite ran for City Council and I recommended that he be opposed for that very specific reason. As I see it [AISI] making only 1 exception in 16 year enhanced my "moral authority."
Similarly, when the shenanigans of a recent President of the USA who engaged in questionable moral conduct became all the rage, I described in very general terms what was wrong and why it should be condemned. I named no names and just referred to a political leader who was involved in misbehavior with an intern . Although it was quite obvious to whom I was referring, I avoided naming names.
I feel that personalizing the attack by naming names weakens the message. Frankly, I am also not sure if the aforementioned politician behaved significantly worse than many of his colleagues. I instead attacked his overall lack of morality, but did not name him. Furthermore - other than this misbehavior - I really had no personal animus for the guy, and there were probably other politicians that I liked even better who may have even done worse. So why start name calling?!
On the other hand, I cannot condone the behavior. To my mind, it was clearly reprehensible and called for a statement. I framed it more as a teaching rather than preaching, through pointing out a topical moral lesson in that week's Parsha. By presenting the Torah point of view first, and then following up with a tangential reference to the behavior, I feel that I got my point across without making it into a personal attack. Personal attacks carry with them an animus that I feel undermines the message.
Another Illustration:
Some prominent members of my former congregation were suspicious of a prospective convert. Without confronting any individual I taught a class on the Aggadita concerning Hillel and the three prospective Roman converts. I'm not sure if all of my targeted audience made the connection, nevertheless I felt I had disabused many of some highly erroneous notions about potential Geirei Tzedek. Had I resorted to personal attacks, I would have triggered a certain lose-lose situation.
BEH, I will follow up with some illustrations of Ad Hominem attacks that I consider misguided and counterproductive!
Shana Tova!
RRW
BEH, I will follow up with some illustrations of Ad Hominem attacks that I consider misguided and counterproductive!
Shana Tova!
RRW
Friday, 23 October 2020
Parshas Noach - Say What You Mean. Words Matter
From RRW
Rabbi Eliyahu Safran on the parsha -- hope you enjoy
Baltimore Jewish Life | Parshas Noach - Say What You Mean. Words Matter
Thursday, 22 October 2020
Origin of Y-Sh-N (Sleep, Old) and Saba (grandfather)
From RRW
Guest Blogger: Mitchell First
The Two Meanings of Yod-Shin-Nun: Sleep and Old
There are two Biblical roots with the letters ישׁן. One has the meaning “sleep.” The other has the meaning “old.” An issue had always been whether they were related.
The traditional view had been that the two were related. But the exact nature of the relationship was debated. In a mainstream view, the original meaning of the root was “sleep” and “old” was just a later expansion.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (1906) had suggested that the original meaning of “old” was “withered, flabby, like a lifeless plant with top hanging down, as if in sleep.” (This seems very farfetched!) Another suggestion was that the basic meaning of the root was “be quiet.” This also could explain both meanings in some (unsatisfying) way.
But then the language of Ugaritic was discovered in the early 20th century in archaeological finds on the western coast of Syria. Ugaritic is a Semitic language that is closely related to Hebrew. It dates from the early Biblical period (and earlier).
It turns out that our two ישׁן roots had different letters in Ugaritic. “Old” was Y-Th-N and “sleep” was Y-Sh-N. See, e.g., The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, pp. 447-48, and Edward Horowitz, How the Hebrew Language Grew, p. 107. (Everyone can learn tremendous amounts from this book by Horowitz.)
To explain further, our present letter שׁ is the result of a merger of two different letters that were in the original 29 letters of Proto-Semitic (=the hypothesized original Semitic language). One of the original letters was pronounced “sh.” The other was pronounced “th.” Eventually, both merged into שׁ in our 22 letter Hebrew alphabet (misleading all of us who have the practice of attempting to unite words with similar looking roots).
That our Hebrew שׁ is the result of a merger of two different root letters explains why we do not have to stretch to find a relationship between other words as well such as: “shemen” and “shemonah,” “cheresh” (=deaf) and “charash”(=cut, plow), “shelach” (send) and “shulchan,” and “she’ar” (remainder) and “she’eir” (kin). In all of these pairs, the latter most likely had an original “th.” See Horowitz, pp. 106-07. (Usually, it is Ugaritic that helps us determine the original Proto-Semitic letter.)
We can also now explain why the Hebrew word for “three” is שׁלשׁ while its Aramaic counterpart is תלת. Both Hebrew and Aramaic share the same 22 letter alphabet. The Proto-Semitic letter that was pronounced “th” usually became a “shin” in Hebrew, while it usually became a “tav” in Aramaic. Most likely, this “th” letter was the first and third letter in the Proto-Semitic word for “three.”
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On the subject of ישׁן and its “advanced in years” meaning, perhaps now is a good time to talk about the words for grandfather and grandmother in modern Hebrew: סבּא and סבתא.
If one looks through Tanach, surprisingly there is no word for either grandfather or grandmother. (For example, at I Kings 15:10, אמו seems to mean “his grandmother.” See Radak and Soncino. See also Daat Mikra. At I Kings 15:11, אביו seems to mean “his grandfather.”)
In the modern period, the words seem to have gone through some evolution.
The 1943 official dictionary of kinship terms in Hebrew lists grandfather as סב (sav) and grandmother as סבה (savah). But then it adds that “saba” and “sabta” are permitted as terms of affection, due to their similarity to the word “abba.” A smaller line adds that “saba” and “savta” are permitted for general use as well (even when not involving affection).
Edward Horowitz describes the origin of the word סבּא as follows: “It is a word created by the little children in Israel, following closely the word “abba.” The children were told to call this relative סב but it was simply much easier for them to link both these older loving male adults with these two similar sounding names: “abba” and “saba.” See his How the Hebrew Language Grew, p. 100.
The seventeen-volume Ben-Yehuda dictionary (begun by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in 1910, and continued after his death in 1922 by his wife, son and other scholars) does not include “sav,” “saba,” “savah” or “savta.” But one of the definitions of זקן mentioned was “grandfather.”
Of course זקן could never take off as a word for “grandfather” because it would confuse people who would think it is a reference to advanced age and limited abilities.
The word סב, suggested for “grandfather” by the 1943 official dictionary of kinship, is related to the Biblical word שׂיבה. (The Bible has שׂב at Job 15:10. See also 1 Sam. 12:2.) This Biblical word means “old” and “gray hair” but never “grandfather.”
In the Talmud, one can find סבא (sava) as “grandfather.” See, e.g., Ketubot 72b, and Yevamot 38a and 40b. (“Zaken” and “avi av” are also used in the Talmud.) One can also find סבתא (savta) as grandmother. See, e.g., Bava Batra 125b.
Finally, the latest challenge for modern Hebrew is a word for great-grandparents. The 1943 official dictionary of kinship suggested שילש-אב and שלשה-אם . But people today use רבּא-סבּא (saba raba) and רבּא-סבתא. (Both words could be spelled with ה at the end as well.) The more grammatically correct term for great-grandmother would be רבּתא-סבתא (savta-rabta), but this is rarely used today.
My discussion of “saba” and “savta” has been based on the post on this topic at balashon.com of 9/2/08. The author, David Curwin of Efrat, writes that he really would like to know what the common Hebrew words for grandfather and grandmother were in the first half of the 20th century because he cannot tell from the sources he has seen. He awaits a digital compilaton of Hebrew literature from this period so computer searches can be performed!
I would like to thank Steve Schaffer for getting me interested in the word “saba.”
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Mitchell First can be reached at MFirstAtty@aol.com. He has two grandchildren, the oldest is two. She is not (yet!) interested in these etymological discussions and merely calls him “Zeidie.” His mother is over 90 but has endless energy and refers to her age as “three time 30.”
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