Tagged Questions
6
votes
1answer
84 views
What does מִלְמַעְלָה in Gen 7:20 mean?
Genesis 7:20, describing the flood, says:
חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה אַמָּה מִלְמַעְלָה, גָּבְרוּ הַמָּיִם; וַיְכֻסּוּ, הֶהָרִים.
Almost everybody translates the first clause as some approximation of ...
2
votes
0answers
62 views
Onkelos on Deut. 4:19
In Devarim 4:19, Onkelos translates ונדחת as ותטעי and והשתחוית as ותסגוד.
First, what exactly is he trying to convey with ותטעי? I think of טעות as "whoops", and hopefully there's no serious damage, ...
-1
votes
1answer
211 views
What are the possible reasonable meanings of “Love thy neighbor”?
What are the original Hebrew words for "love", "thy", "neighbor", "as", "you", "love", "yourself" in "love thy neighbor as you love your self"?
What's the transliteration of those words in English ...
1
vote
0answers
45 views
Leaving the King's road?
We say in Bemidbar 20:17 to Edom:
Let us now pass through your land: We won't pass through the fields
and vineyards and we won't drink well-water; on the road of the king
we will go, we won't ...
7
votes
1answer
136 views
Published Ladino version of Meam Lo'ez?
The Me'am Lo'ez (מעם לועז), begun by Rabbi Yaakov Culi in 1730, is a commentary to Tanakh written in Ladino. It was subsequently translated to Hebrew and translated from the Hebrew to English in a ...
7
votes
2answers
126 views
What does the aramaic “pon” mean?
Once in a while, Onkelos will throw in the word pon (פּוֹן) that doesn't directly translate from the Hebrew.
Avimelech to Yitzchak: k'z'eir pon shachiv d'm'yached b'ama (Toldos 26:10)
Lavan to ...
8
votes
3answers
369 views
What is Rashi proving with words in different languages
There are many places in Rashi's commentary where he uses a foreign language to translate a word used in the Torah.
For example, Bereshit 6:14:
בכפר: זפת בלשון ארמי. ומצינו בתלמוד כופרא
With ...
7
votes
1answer
149 views
On Deuteronomy 28:23, Rashi says copper is “mazi'a”. What does this mean?
I have this question on Rashi every year in Ki Savo. Deuteronomy 28:23 says: "And the heavens above your head will be like copper and the earth that is beneath you, iron."
Rashi says that the heavens ...
1
vote
3answers
190 views
What does the term “sons of G-d” mean?
The term "sons of G-d" בני האלהים is found 3 times in the Hebrew Bible, once in Genesis (6:2), and twice in Job (1:6 and 2:1). What does it mean? Does it have the same meaning in both instances? What ...
4
votes
3answers
201 views
who spoke in Bamidbar 12:1?
In B'ha'alotcha Miriam and Aharon complain against Moshe, and Miriam
(alone) is punished with tzara'at. In looking at this passage I found
problems with the translations I had available.
JPS, the ...
2
votes
1answer
95 views
9
votes
2answers
120 views
verb + its infinitive
Many, many times in Tanach, including Chumash, a verb has its infinitive nearby. Examples include B'reshis 2:16 מִכֹּל עֵץ הַגָּן אָכֹל תֹּאכֵל (I think that's the first example in Chumash) and ...
5
votes
2answers
88 views
Why did Yosef's brothers speak freely in the presence of the interpreter?
In Parashat Miketz, Yosef's brothers encounter him disguised as the viceroy of Egypt, and he accuses them of espionage, jails them for three days, and makes a demand that they know their father would ...
