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Bidding "Shalom" to Aunt Jemima

06/18/2020 07:29:12 AM

Jun18

And now a word from our sponsor…

 

I know that much of the “real estate” of this blog, of late, has been comprised of musings and analysis (hopefully more of the latter than the former) on important and salient current topics. While COVID and racism remain crucial issues that are framing much of our day to day experience, I thought it would be a good momentary detour to talk about Hebrew!  (Don’t worry, as I hope you have heard, our theme for this Shabbat, tomorrow evening, led by JB Levine and me, is “Juneteenth” when we will pray, focus our efforts on Tikun Olam, and discover why the world is finally ready to bid farewell to “Aunt Jemima.”)

 

But for the moment, at least, I wanted to ask you a few questions:

  1. Are you aware that Hebrew ceased being a spoken language around the 4th century CE?
  2. Did you know that Hebrew as a spoken language ultimately came to be the official national language of Israel, thanks to the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) and generally secular leaders of the 19th century?
  3. Have you ever heard of Eliezer ben Yehuda?  Born Eliezer Perelman in the 19th century, to a Hasidic, extremely observant Jewish family, Eliezer moved to “Palestine,” and changed his name to Eliezer ben Yehuda (Eliezer “son of Judah” – son of the Jewish people from the land historically known as Yehuda).
  4. Did you know that the Hebrew word for “Cold” is Kar and that the Hebrew word for “Refrigerator,” is M’karrer, “cold-maker?”  (how else might one be able to create a word for a 20th century appliance from a thousands-year old document - The Torah?)

 

Hebrew, which remained a significant part of Judaism through prayer and Torah study for centuries, eventually came to be practiced as the lashon kodesh, holy tongue of Diaspora Jews.  This transformation from the spoken, every day Hebrew of ancient Judah, into a language that most communities forbid anywhere but the shul, was so significant that its eventual recognition as the official language of Palestine, and then, Israel, is considered by many, miraculous!  There’s much to learn about this online.  I encourage you to dig in.  Here is a good place to start.

 

In the meantime, though, if you can “decode” Hebrew letters and vowels (meaning, you are knowledgeable enough to sound out Hebrew letters and vowels, you should join us for “HaShoresh – the Root of it all.”   With only one session behind us, this lunchtime, online course will help you do two things:

  1. Become more fluent in the reading and chanting of Jewish prayer.
  2. Hone the skills needed to decipher the meanings and ideas portrayed in Jewish prayer by way of roots, suffixes and prefixes.  We provide the text and the teaching! 

 

HaShoresh – the Root of it all”

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30 – 1:30 pm, via Zoom (Today and Forward!)

 

Inspired by the mandates of our tradition, we will be ever better able to stand for the causes of others, the deeper we come to know ourselves.

 

Dig in with us.  It’s very much worth the effort.

To sign up and for more information: click Here.

 

Rabbi Scott

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784