Shabbos 36

 “We too shall speak of matters whose name changed over the generations.” 

We are taken on a journey today of the etymology of biblical words. Rav Ashi provides us with a lesson in name changes over generations starting with the city known as “Babylon that was called Bursif in later generations.”  Somehow, the plight of a divorced woman is intertwined with the importance of being cognizant of the city’s name change because it is critical that the “get” includes the exact name of the location where it was executed.

We are told that the word shofar was called trumpet in previous generations, although I found an article that says this is a mistranslation; various online dictionaries trace the origin of the word trumpet to 14th  century Old English and 13th century Old French. We are provided with a list of biblical words that changed over time, including willows, first and second animal stomachs and spices. 

A history of a region, city, or culture can be found in the study of the etymology of certain words. As a young literature graduate student, I splurged on a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary (I bought the compressed set with a magnifying glass because I lived in a tiny studio apartment.) I would read the history of certain words and then imagine what life was like at the time of their origin. I was especially fascinated with the difference between words with Latinate and Anglo-Saxon origins. I love the flow of Latinate words, but when I want to make a point, I gravitate to blunter Anglo-Saxon words. I can feel the dense beat of certain Anglo-Saxon words in my body as I repeat them, while I allow the rhythm of Anglo-Saxon to words flow through me.

Words have meaning. We are told casually to have hope during these difficult times. I was especially moved by Rabbi David Ingber’s sermon last night at Romemu’s online service who said he could tell us to have hope during this difficult time, but that would be an added burden. He mentioned what we have learned from earlier readings in Berakhot that tell us we are not obligated to say the Shema if we are in the presence of a dead body. Rabbi Ingber suggested that to even be told to have hope (which traces its origins to the Old English word “hopa”) when there is so much illness and death in New York City right now, would be a burden he did not want to ask of us. Rabbi Ingber was giving us permission to acknowledge the pain we are living through right now.

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Shabbos 37

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Shabbos 35