Avodah Mailing List

Volume 39: Number 15

Fri, 19 Feb 2021

• 1. For trolley enthusiasts (Rich, Joel)
• 2. Is it Hebrew or is it Aramaic? (Akiva Miller)
• 3. When Does the Day Begin and End According to Halacha? (Prof. L. Levine)
• 4. Re: When Does the Day Begin and End According to Halacha? (Micha Berger)
• 5. Re: Is it Hebrew or is it Aramaic? (Micha Berger)
• 6. Re: Is it Hebrew or is it Aramaic? (Akiva Miller)
• 7. What is the reason for the mitzvah of giving Mishloach Manos on Purim? (Prof. L. Levine)

For trolley enthusiasts: Reuvain (falls, jumps off from) the sixth floor
balcony. As he passes by the fourth floor a bullet from Shimon's fourth
floor apartment is released (maybe accidentally, or just to let off steam,
or to kill Levi across the street) piercing Reuvain's brain and destroying
it. As Reuvain's body passes the third floor and awning (which he and
Shimon were aware of or unaware of) (was open, or is opened/before Reuvain
reaches it) and breaks his fall. In each case what is the (secular,
halachic) cause of death? What liability is cast on each participant?
KT
Joel Rich

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.
The point of this post is to ask if there is a way that a
non-linguist might be able to determine whether a given word is Hebrew or
Aramaic. This question came to me from two different things that I was
learning this week.

I have mentioned a few times recently that in my learning of Shnayim Mikra
v'Echad Targum, I've seen Onkelos translating a word into what I *thought*
was a Hebrew synonym, but is now clearly the Aramaic translation. A good
example is the word "techum", which we are familiar with from the phrase
"techum Shabbos". But as it turns out, "techum" appears nowhere in Tanach,
and it is how Onkelos consistently translates the word "gevul". I am led to
conclude that "techum" was not originally a Hebrew word at all, even if it
was absorbed into Mishnaic Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew.

I found a similar word tonight, where Parshas Terumas teaches us about the
loops which were at the edges of the Mishkan's curtains. The Torah uses the
word "lulaot" for these loops in Shemos 26:10 (and many other pesukim),
which Onkelos translates as "anuvin". It is obvious to me that this is a
form of the word "anivah", which is familiar to me from Hilchos Shabbos: A
"kesher" (knot) is more problematic than a mere "anivah" (bow or loop).
[See, for example, Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchata 15:53.] I was unable to find
this meaning of ayin-nun-beis in Tanach, and now I suspect that it is
actually an Aramaic loanword like techum.

On a related note, the Gemara Megilla teaches that a Megillas Esther must
be written without translations: One's megilla will be pasul if it has any
Aramaic words that are supposed to be written in Hebrew, or if it has any
Hebrew words that are supposed to be Aramaic. Of course, the megilla has
many many Hebrew words in it, and if the sofer would translate any of them,
the result would be a pasul megilla. But, asks the Gemara Megilla 9a, what
Aramaic is there that one might wrongly translate into Hebrew? Rav Pappa
cites the word "pisgam" in Esther 1:20; if the sofer would substitute
"davar", then the megilla would be pasul. But Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak
claims to have found a different Aramaic word in the Megilla: That same
pasuk (1:20) has the word "yakar". (Indeed, I have noticed many times, that
Onkelos translates "kavod" as "yakar".) Incidentally, "yakar" appears in
about 9 other places in Megillas Esther also.

My problem is this: How can Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak think that yakar is
Aramaic? It doesn't appear in the Chumash, but it does appear in a few
places in Tanach, such as Tehillim 49:13 and 49:21. My guess is that
whereas "techum" is an Aramaic word that was adopted by Hebrew in the days
of the Amoraim, "yakar" was already adopted into Hebrew during the Neviim,
and that for purposes of writing a Megilla, it still counts as Aramaic even
today.

Is it possible that some Aramaic words were adopted into Hebrew even
earlier? Might they even appear in the Chumash? How might we recognize them?

Akiva Miller

(As long as we're talking about foreign words showing up in our texts,
here's an interesting trivia question: There is a Latin word in the siddur.
I've seen it in nusach Ashkenaz, Sefard, and Edot Hamizrach siddurim. It's
not in the daily tefilos, though, just one particular holiday paragraph.
Anyone who wants to know which word and which tefila - or if you want
another clue - write me offlist, and we'll keep the rest of the chevra
guessing. Happy Adar!)
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There is no simple answer to this question.  The times could be different depending on where you live and the day of the year.

For a detailed discussion of this issue see

https://seforimblog.com/2021/02/depression-angles/

YL


Depression Angles ? The Seforim Blog<https://seforimblog.com/2021/02/depression-angles/>
Depression Angles By William Gewirtz. Introduction: Depression angles
measure the level of darkness or illumination prior to sunrise and, in a
parallel fashion, after sunset.
seforimblog.com

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On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 01:04:17PM +0000, Prof. L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
> There is no simple answer to this question. The times could be different
> depending on where you live and the day of the year.
> 
> For a detailed discussion of this issue see
> https://seforimblog.com/2021/02/depression-angles/

Only end. The day begins at sheqi'ah. 0 minutes after sunset equals the
sun declining 0 degrees below the horizon. No difference in when the day
starts between computing a fixed interval or degrees below horizon.

In any case, computing tzeis isn't siginificantly more complex. It's as
easy to compute sunset (0 deg below the horizon) and add 36 minutes as
it is to compute when the sun is 7.12 deg below the horizon.

See the page I wrote at http://aishdas.org/luach
Or the widely used http://mysmanim.com
Both use declination. But I like my formatting. One page per month in
normal 7x4 or 7x5 calendar format. At the cost of not having every zeman
published for every day, and having to split the difference between the
zeman as it was two days before today and two day after. (I even threw
in the Molad on days that have one. One known bug -- doesn't know which
cities light 40 min before sheqi'ah.) Suggestions invited.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 07:13:42AM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> The point of this post is to ask if there is a way that a
> non-linguist might be able to determine whether a given word is Hebrew or
> Aramaic...

Shorashim, likely not. So I can't help you with cases like "techum".
But it shouldn't take that much diqduq knowledge to recognize which way
the word is conjugated, so, more hope for verbs.

Then the easy things, like .... I say "like", but I only can think of
this example:

No suffix for zakhar and a final h "-ah" for neqeiva in Hebrew.
A final alef "-a" for zakhar nouns ans "-isa" for neqieva in Aramaic.
Eg:
Malkah with a hei is Lh"Q for queen.
Malka with an alef - Aramit for king.

For that matter, once we get to rabbinic Hebrew, the shorashim they both
got from before the split between the languages is compounded by Leshon
Chazal's heavy borrowing of shorashim from Aramit. The question of which
language a shoresh belongs to itself becomes blurry. More like asking
"when did this enter Hebrew". Like "techum", which is used in Mishnayos,
in Hebrew. So, it's a Hebrew word, but a later addition, borrowed from
Aramaic.

(Then there is always sefaria. When you search for the word, which books
dominate the search results? If the answer is Targumim, the Talmuds,
Zohar, etc... you know it's Aramaic. Of course, so much of gemara (TY &
TB) is in Hebrew, finding a word in gemara alone wouldn't make the
point.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 You cannot propel yourself forward
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   by patting yourself on the back.
Author: Widen Your Tent                      -Anonymous
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF

> The point of this post is to ask if there is a way that a
> non-linguist might be able to determine whether a given word is Hebrew or
> Aramaic. This question came to me from two different things that I was
> learning this week.
> 
> I have mentioned a few times recently that in my learning of Shnayim Mikra
> v'Echad Targum, I've seen Onkelos translating a word into what I *thought*
> was a Hebrew synonym, but is now clearly the Aramaic translation. A good
> example is the word "techum", which we are familiar with from the phrase
> "techum Shabbos". But as it turns out, "techum" appears nowhere in Tanach,
> and it is how Onkelos consistently translates the word "gevul". I am led to
> conclude that "techum" was not originally a Hebrew word at all, even if it
> was absorbed into Mishnaic Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew.
> 
> I found a similar word tonight, where Parshas Terumas teaches us about the
> loops which were at the edges of the Mishkan's curtains. The Torah uses the
> word "lulaot" for these loops in Shemos 26:10 (and many other pesukim),
> which Onkelos translates as "anuvin". It is obvious to me that this is a
> form of the word "anivah", which is familiar to me from Hilchos Shabbos: A
> "kesher" (knot) is more problematic than a mere "anivah" (bow or loop).
> [See, for example, Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchata 15:53.] I was unable to find
> this meaning of ayin-nun-beis in Tanach, and now I suspect that it is
> actually an Aramaic loanword like techum.
> 
> On a related note, the Gemara Megilla teaches that a Megillas Esther must
> be written without translations: One's megilla will be pasul if it has any
> Aramaic words that are supposed to be written in Hebrew, or if it has any
> Hebrew words that are supposed to be Aramaic. Of course, the megilla has
> many many Hebrew words in it, and if the sofer would translate any of them,
> the result would be a pasul megilla. But, asks the Gemara Megilla 9a, what
> Aramaic is there that one might wrongly translate into Hebrew? Rav Pappa
> cites the word "pisgam" in Esther 1:20; if the sofer would substitute
> "davar", then the megilla would be pasul. But Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak
> claims to have found a different Aramaic word in the Megilla: That same
> pasuk (1:20) has the word "yakar". (Indeed, I have noticed many times, that
> Onkelos translates "kavod" as "yakar".) Incidentally, "yakar" appears in
> about 9 other places in Megillas Esther also.
> 
> My problem is this: How can Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak think that yakar is
> Aramaic? It doesn't appear in the Chumash, but it does appear in a few
> places in Tanach, such as Tehillim 49:13 and 49:21. My guess is that
> whereas "techum" is an Aramaic word that was adopted by Hebrew in the days
> of the Amoraim, "yakar" was already adopted into Hebrew during the Neviim,
> and that for purposes of writing a Megilla, it still counts as Aramaic even
> today.
> 
> Is it possible that some Aramaic words were adopted into Hebrew even
> earlier? Might they even appear in the Chumash? How might we recognize them?
> 
> Akiva Miller
> 
> (As long as we're talking about foreign words showing up in our texts,
> here's an interesting trivia question: There is a Latin word in the siddur.
> I've seen it in nusach Ashkenaz, Sefard, and Edot Hamizrach siddurim. It's
> not in the daily tefilos, though, just one particular holiday paragraph.
> Anyone who wants to know which word and which tefila - or if you want
> another clue - write me offlist, and we'll keep the rest of the chevra
> guessing. Happy Adar!)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 You cannot propel yourself forward
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   by patting yourself on the back.
Author: Widen Your Tent                      -Anonymous
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF

.
R' Micha Berger wrote:
> No suffix for zakhar and a final h "-ah" for neqeiva in Hebrew.
> A final alef "-a" for zakhar nound ans "-isa" for neqieva in Aramaic.

When I was in yeshiva, I had a friend who had more than a few seforim
published with Hebrew fonts, but not Hebrew language. I ended up developing
a set of rules by which I could determine a book's language at just a
glance:

Lots of words ending with Heh - Hebrew
Lots of words ending with Aleph - Aramaic
Lots of words starting with Aleph - Arabic
Lots of words with aleph or ayin or double-yud in the middle - Yiddish

I had a rule for Ladino too, but I've forgotten it.

Akiva Miller
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From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis


Q. What is the reason for the mitzvah of giving Mishloach Manos on Purim?

A. This is the subject of a well-known dispute. Manos Halevi (Megillas
Esther 9:16-17) explains that the Purim story took place because Haman
maligned the Jews, saying that they engage in personal feuds and do not get
along with one another. This is alluded to in the verse ?yeshno am echad
mefuzar umeforad bein ha?amim?, there is one nation which is dispersed and
scattered among the nations, i.e., lacking unity. To demonstrate the
falsehood of this libelous charge, Mordechai and Esther instituted that
Mishloach Manos should be given to one?s friends and acquaintances, to
foster camaraderie and good will among the Jews. This demonstrates that we
do not engage in personal feuds; on the contrary, we engage in acts of
friendship, by gifting our food to others. Terumas HaDeshen (1:111),
however, explains that the purpose of giving one?s acquaintances Mishloach
Manos is to ensure that poor people enjoy a festive and lavish Seudas
Purim. Although most people are not poor and therefore do no
 t need food given to them for their Seudah, Chazal instituted that
 Misloach Manos be given to wealthy people as well, so as not to embarrass
 the poor (Teshuvos Chasam Sofer OC 196).

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