21
votes
Accepted
"Anyone who saves a life is as if he saved an entire world": Jewish life or any life?
In the manuscript Parma 3173 there is no "מישראל";
In the manuscript Budapest Kaufman A50 no more;
The Mishna of Mechon Mamre, Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5 based on Rambam manuscript idem;
לפיכך נברא ...
- 22.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Source and etymology of כפירה kefirah ‘heresy’
Edits in italics:
Balashon blog discusses it at length here, and provides many sources, as well as a look at one example of it by various Rishonim. I have added some content from there during this ...
- 20.9k
14
votes
Accepted
Source that hearing the Megillah does not require Hebrew understanding?
The Mishna in Megillah (2:1) states:
והלועז ששמע אשורית יצא
A foreigner who heard [it] in Hebrew fulfills his obligation.
The Talmud (18a) elaborates:
והלועז ששמע אשורית יצא וכו', - והא ...
- 35.4k
13
votes
Moses' Hebrew name was given to him in Egyptian?
You had a number of very good suggestions.
Ibn Ezra to Exodus 2:10 suggests 2 possibilities, namely, that Pharaoh's daughter had learned the Hebrew language, or that she asked someone how to say this ...
- 20.9k
13
votes
What ancient prayer contains the term "Osem" (אֹסֶם)?
In the Prayer which the Cohen Gadol (high priest) said on Yom kippur after he exited the קודש הקדשים (Holy of Holies), (Found in the Machzor of Yom-kippur toward the end of the Avodah prayers], we ...
- 6,919
13
votes
Why is sleep spelled with an aleph in Tehillim 127?
Note: As Michlol Yofi points out, there are a few other words in Tanach spelled with an Alef instead of a Heh or a Vav. For example: זרא, מרא, כלא.
As @Double AA wrote, Minchat Shai on the pasuk ...
- 24.8k
13
votes
Reason for different punctuation of the prefix vav?
In biblical Hebrew:
When preceding an imperfect (future-form) verb to make it past tense, the vav has a patach.
However, that patach becomes a kamatz before an alef.
Otherwise, when the word is the ...
- 73.7k
12
votes
Accepted
Are these vowels?
Based off your comments, I have concluded that the symbols you are seeing are helpful aids that have been put in the Sefaria Siddur, apparently based on the Metsuda Siddur.
The three dots are to ...
- 19.6k
11
votes
Accepted
What are these marks with the numbers designating the Jewish years on this calendar?
They are a Gershayim, a Hebrew diacritic used in a number of ways, but generally to indicate that a certain set of letters does not spell a word in the ordinary sense. In this case, it is used to ...
- 97.2k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is a patach chet at the end of the word pronounced "sdrawkcab" (backwards)?
Essentially there should be no vowel, but for certain guttural consonants (specifically, Hei, Chet, and Ayin) it's hard to end a word like that ("NoH"?), so an extra half-vowel is placed before the ...
- 97.2k
11
votes
Interchangeable usage of Hebrew letters (such as Beis and Vav, etc.)
There is more than one answer to this question. But here's one, albeit a long one.
According to the Sefer Yetzirah (02:03), the letters of the Hebrew alphabet can be grouped in five categories ...
- 2,217
11
votes
Accepted
Is the letter Aleph (א) also a word that means "to teach, inculcate"?
Indeed it does!
One source in Tanach that illustrates this is Iyov 33:33:
אִם־אַ֭יִן אַתָּ֥ה שְֽׁמַֽע־לִ֑י הַ֝חֲרֵ֗שׁ וַאֲאַלֶּפְךָ֥ חׇכְמָֽה׃
If not, hearken thou unto me; Hold thy peace, and I will ...
- 20.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Understanding a Hebrew expression: בטלה דעתו אצל כל אדם
This is a rather common expression (it appears eight times in Shas according to my search, but I know that it's very commonly found among the commentators).
As you thought, בטלה refers to the ...
- 21.8k
10
votes
Is the shiur called a "k'beiah" or a "k'beitzah"?
Yam Shel Shlomo in chapter 4 of Bava Kamma says to pronounce it beya as the other word is not nice.
This is subsequently brought in the Magen Avraham in siman 156 which is probably where it picked up ...
- 33.3k
9
votes
Difference between אֲנִי and אָנֹכִי
Notice that the 10 Commandments begin "Anokhi Hashem Elokekha", while Shema ends "Ani, Hashem Elokeikhem." And how Yaakov says "וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל אָבִיו, "אָנֹכִי עֵשָׂו בְּכֹרֶךָ עָשִׂיתִי ...
- 9,368
9
votes
Did the Masoretes add the yud symbols?
(1) No, the Masoretes did not add this י in the way you suggest. It is simply part of the base consonantal text.
(2) You are confusing the pronominal suffix ("my") with the masculine plural construct ...
- 350
9
votes
Accepted
How to apply the Masoretic note, "2x, once plene and once defectively" to Ruth 1:1?
The Masoretic note you have is from the Leningrad Codex. However, the Aleppo Codex indicates in the masorah gedolah in Chronicles that there are 3 instances of the word (see also Mikraot Gedolot ...
- 7,434
9
votes
What does שליט"א stand for?
For what it's worth, the Otzar of Roshei Teivot on Bar Ilan lists both שיחיה לאורך ימים טובים ארוכים and שיחיה לאורך ימים טובים אמן. I prefer the latter, because the former is redundant, as pointed ...
- 20.9k
9
votes
Accepted
What is the history behind ascribing a heading to each of the Psalms?
Yes, these headings appear in Hebrew manuscripts. Here are two of the most famous manuscripts with the heading for your psalm: למנצח אל־תשחת לדוד מכתם בשלח שאול וישמרו את־הבית להמיתו.
Leningrad Codex ...
- 9,777
9
votes
Accepted
Where can I find the original Hebrew text for this quote?
That'd be a reference to Lamentations Rabba to chapter 1 verse 14.
Here's the Hebrew of your quote from Sefaria's edition:
אָמַר אִם אֲנִי מַגְלֶה אוֹתָם דֶּרֶךְ מִדְבָּר, הֵם מֵתִים בָּרָעָב, אֶלָּא ...
- 97.2k
8
votes
Accepted
What's the etymology of the Hassidic term "b'sho'oh" for a chaperoned quasi-date?
The etymology is from the German "beschau," to inspect.
8
votes
Accepted
Using hebrew as a day-to-day language
Is there an argument against this prohibition?
It contradicts an explicit Gemara in Shabbat 40b:
"והאמר אביי "דברים של חול מותר לאומרן בלשון קודש, של קודש אסור לאומרן בלשון חול
To which Rashi ...
- 42.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Ma'ariv vs. Arvit - when did these terms first appear?
תפלת ערבית is mentioned in the Tosefta Berakhot (3:6), and several places in the Talmud, e.g. Berakhot 4b, 6b, 26b, etc. תפלת מעריב does not appear in Hazal (at least none of the works included in the ...
- 35.4k
8
votes
Why do we use the masculine form in a Shabbat greeting?
With respect to your friend, the fact that shabbat pluralises as shabbatot is itself insufficient for demonstrating that it's a feminine word. Lots of masculine words take that plural - such as אבות, ...
- 18.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Is there a standard for writing Hebrew words in English letters
The challenge is that there are different ways to pronounce Hebrew. Ashkenazim, Sefaradim, Teimanim, etc. all pronounce words differently.
There is a very interesting project called OpenSiddur which ...
- 47.5k
8
votes
Accepted
LXX transliteration of יהושע
The name Ἰησοῦς is used consistently for both Joshua and Jesus in the LXX (not Ιησούς, which is the modernized spelling, though accents weren't marked in the oldest texts). To my knowledge, this is ...
- 24k
8
votes
Accepted
Hebrew/Aramaic names with Nekudot for Mishna Tractates
Here are the mishnayos (and their titles) with nikud, based on the Kaufmann manuscript from "late 11th - mid-12th c.".
- 23.6k
8
votes
הָהֵ֔ם and הָאֵ֑לֶּה difference
אֵלֶּה is a demonstrative pronoun, the plural of the singular demonstrative pronouns זֶה and זֹאת (masculine and feminine respectively). הָאֵלֶּה is the same word, but with the definite article ...
- 24k
8
votes
Where is the root A-D-N (Alef-Dalet-Nun) used as a verb?
According to the Even-Shushan dictionary, there are no verbs based on that root.
אדן in Hebrew means base, pillar, like in "אדני המשכן" - pillars of the tabernacle (Shemot 38:31 thanx mbloch).
The ...
- 25.7k
8
votes
Is there any particular reason why Haran (חָרָן) is spelled as חָרָנָה in B'resheith 27:43 & 28:10?
The Talmud (Yevamot 13b) states:
ובית הלל
כיון דכתיב חוצה כמאן דכתיב לחוץ דמי דתניא ר׳ נחמיה אומר כל תיבה שצריכה למ״ד בתחלתה הטיל לה הכתוב ה״א בסופה ותנא דבי
ר׳ ישמעאל כגון אלים אלימה מחנים מחנימה ...
- 49k
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