Hot answers tagged language
12
In his commentary to I Kings 6:7:
ומקבות" - דלוט"א בלשון רוסיא"
Although it seems quite likely that this is a later interpolation; it doesn't appear in early prints of Rashi.
In several places, though, Rashi refers to לשון כנען, which was a popular term at the time for the Slavic languages (based on the equation of "Slav" with "slave" and the ...
10
The Talmud (Shabbos 33a) states (using Is. 9:16 as a prooftext) that obscene speech causes various national troubles, G-d forbid. It then goes on to say:
"Rabbi Chanan bar Rava says: Everyone knows why a bride enters the bridal chamber. Nevertheless, if one speaks obscenely about it, even if there was a Divine decree that he enjoy seventy years [the average ...
9
The following is adapted from Dovid Katz, "The Phonology of Ashkenazic," in Hebrew in Ashkenaz: A Language in Exile, ed. Lewis Glinert (Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 61-65.
Apparently, at least from the 16th century onwards, there was a distinction among (some) Ashkenazim between the sounds of kubbutz and shuruk, with the former being pronounced like ...
9
"I davka haven't seen that movie."
I purposely haven't seen that movie.
or
I specifically have NOT seen that movie.
"He doesn't eat peanut butter, b'shita"
He doesn't eat peanut butter, on principle. (or "as a matter of principle").
"Mamash" in proper Hebrew usage should translate as "tangible"; that works sometimes.
"He's mamash the ...
8
The Rambam in Perush Hamishnayos Avos Perek 2:1 says that a Mitzva Kala is learning Loshon Kodesh.
Harav Yitzchak Yosef in Yalkut Yosef Hilchos Talmud Torah Seif Koton 78 also says it is a Mitzva.
8
Whether that statement means that the angels don't understand Aramaic, or that they can understand it but consider it vulgar, is a topic of debate among the various commentaries. There is a summary of the whole issue, with extensive sources, in Beis Aharon, s.v. אין מלאכי השרת מכירין בלשון ארמי.
Maharsha (to Sotah 33a) explains that the specific mention of ...
8
Evidence against there being such a prohibition includes:
Speaking (and writing) other languages has been widespread practice for more than two millennia. While it's hard to prove a negative, I've so far never heard of an objection to this.
Some prayers were specifically written in Aramaic, the language of the people, rather than Hebrew.
As pointed out by ...
7
The rumor is false.
The earliest I can find the phrase 'Shimshon HaGibur' goes back to 1831, long before modern zionism or Hertzl.
It can be found in the book צמח דוד
Google books also shows other phrases such as Shimshon our Hero from books in 1801, but those are in English and not the exact phrase. I would not be surprised to find it occurring even ...
7
If I'm not mistaken, Dayan Gukovitzky's Targum HaLaaz has a transliteration guide. It seems that Rashi did have a specific set of rules for doing this.
6
See Igros Moshe Even Haezer 3:35 where he says it is a mitzvah to speak lashon hakodesh based of Sifri (Devarim Piska 46) which is quoted by Rashi on the verse of l'daber bam (Devarim 11:19). (The tshuvah is focused on non Jewish names.)
5
The Fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe writes that one should not speak Lashon Hakodesh as a day-to-day language.
As Lashon Hakodesh is a holy language, one shouldn't use it for mundane speech. Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai said that if he would have been by Mt. Sinai, he would have asked for Jews to have another mouth, one to talk about one's needs and one with which to ...
5
The Maskil LeDavid on this Rashi asks the same thing. If changing clothes is easier, than why didn't the Amalekim do it?
He gives an answer that he admits is a stretch. He says that it is possible that they didn't change their clothes because they had some kind of witchcraft in their clothes, and didn't want to give that up. [My note - Rashi in Shemot 17:9 ...
5
This is addressed directly in the link to Rashi you provide:
[Midrash Aggadah , Yalkut Shimoni from Midrash Yelammedenu . Note that in these sources, the Amalekites changed their dress as well, and that version is found also in the Reggio edition of Rashi . The Yemenite manuscript, however, conforms with our reading. See Chavel fn. 87, Yosef Hallel , ...
5
Quick answer: Yes and no. Any religious or doctrinal aspects of a kesubah itself cannot be enforced under American laws because of Constitutional issues involving the free exercise and establishment clauses to the First Amendment. However, courts have and can enforce strictly secular sections of kesubahs or separate secular agreements between a Jewish ...
5
Both words are Aramaic, and while etymologically distinct they have coalesced in this form and both possess (effectively) the same meaning. The information below comes from Jastrow's Talmudic dictionary, Alcalay's "Complete Hebrew-English Dictionary" and morfix.co.il:
להלן has as its root the word הלן, cognate to Hebrew הלא, meaning "[over] there". הלאה, ...
4
See this YU lecture and I believe this one summarizing it.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote that all pronunciations are legitimate (even vis-a-vis the chalitza ceremony, which must be performed in Hebrew), and added that there's no way to tell which are more accurate than any other. (Which may sound naive to some linguists.)
Rabbi J. David Bleich, ...
4
The Sifsei Chachamim on that Rashi explains that the interpreter had been there in previous conversations, but right now wasn't present. I think that's what Rashi meant -- the interpreter had been there for all conversations WITH YOSEF -- but as those conversations had ended, he wasn't there now.
4
The first thing that comes to mind is the Me'am Lo'ez, by R' Yaakov Culi. It's a commentary on the Bible written in Ladino. In the course of commentary, it ranges widely into exposing all areas of Torah.
There's an English translation called The Torah Anthology, by R' Aryeh Kaplan.
4
"Beseder"
OK
"Gevaldik"
Great
"It was bizyonos"
It was embarrassing (Givaldiger bizyonos would be greatly embarrassing. Are you catching on?)
"I can't be masig why he'd do such a thing."
I can't fathom why he'd do such a thing.
"Lchoyra it was because it wasn't shayach."
Presumably, it was because it wasn't possible.
...
4
The question I believe can be broken rephrased into the following 2 questions.
How does one understand the prayers rather than just know what they mean?
How much understanding is needed when saying the prayers?
The answer to the first question is really very simple. One has to study the tefilot outside of shul and prayer. Learn the history of the ...
4
How and when did the word “Kollel” come to mean “an institution for paying scholars to study Torah”?
Those that were helped were included in the booklet (Pinkas).
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9D
ביישוב הישן, המונח כולל שימש לציין ארגוני חסד ובעיקר 'חברה' (או כיום
מעין עמותה) שאליה השתייכה קבוצה מאורגנת, בדרך כלל מעיר או ארץ מוגדרת.
יהודי חוץ לארץ תרמו להחזקת הכוללים, כדי לממן את ישיבתם של ...
4
I'm posting this answer, not because I think it is true, but because I think it is a neat idea. (I am also not using the word "perhaps" when I should, to make it more compelling :) )
The Talmud tells us that Angels understand Hebrew but they do not understand Aramaic. Because of this, certain prayers are only said with a minyan when the Schechina is ...
4
It seems that according to scholars of history it isn't, though, on a theological level, Hebrew represents the primary language with which Hakadosh Barukh Hu (God) communicates. Perhaps we can say that Hebrew is therefore the spiritual root of all languages.
Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn the
Canaanite languages are a ...
4
Maybe the Poles in the Jewish areas were generally lower-class peasants with whom the Jews had little interest in culturally assimilating? I recall a story about Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz zt"l, where he greeted a man working in his house with "Good Morning" in Polish, and then apologized profusely after realizing that the man was actually Jewish. Apparently ...
4
Many Jews spoke Hungarian in Hungary because there was a very successful policy of Magyarization in Hungary. This is one of the explanations for the rise of ultra-orthodoxy in northeast Hungary (the 'Unterland'), and the invention of a new Halakhic tradition under the disciples of the Hatam Sofer (d. 1839), as a reaction against the great transformation of ...
4
I searched the Bar-Ilan books. There are no results.
Craig Conley (Magic Words p. 66) writes:
More popularly, abracadabra is associated with a Hebrew-Aramaic expression, variously transliterated: ibra k'dibra ("I create through my speech"[49]) ... Abra kadavra ("I will create with words"[51]).
[49] Estelle Frankel, Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual ...
4
Ralbag suggests a fascinating approach to understanding the incident. He explains that
these people did not sin in any way. They were not dispersed as a punishment. Instead, they
were dispersed in order to assure the preservation of humanity. Concentration of the entire
human race in a single location created the possibility of sudden extinction. A localized ...
4
Considering that both the current Sephardi and Ashkenazi rites came from the Siddur Rav Amram Gaon a copy of his siddur with Haggada was printed in 1921. According to various sources
Jewish Viritual Library
Jewish Agency
There was no codified nusach before then. So that would make Rav Amram Gaon the codefier of the Haggadah and his Hagadah written around ...
4
Tzefanya 3:9 states:
כי אז אהפך אל עמים שפה ברורה לקרא כלם בשם ה' לעבדו שכם אחד
For then I will convert the peoples to a pure language that all of them call in the name of the Lord, to worship Him of one accord.
The Metzudos there explains that "a pure language" refers to Loshon Kodesh, which even the gentiles will change to speak in when Moshaich ...
3
The Library of Congress has a large catalog of works written in Ladino, many of which were written by prominent scholars. It might take a while to sift through the database, as there is a lot of material there.
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