Friday, September 29, 2006


A common blessing / greeting before Yom Kippur is gmar chatima tova - גמר חתימה טובה (or occasionally gmar tov גמר טוב ). I'm not sure of the origin or development of the expression, but Passing Phrase does a good job of explaining it:

Literally: A good final sealing



I would add that the root גמר does appear in the Bible with the meaning of "to complete, finish, end" - see Tehillim 12:2, 138:8. We have also seen earlier that גמר is related to גמל in the sense of "to ripen, to wean" - certainly connected to the meaning "to complete". From this meaning of the root we get the words לגמרי legamrei - "completely" and the term v'gomer - וגומר , usually abbreviated as 'וגו - meaning "the conclusion (of a verse)".

The root גמר also means "to learn", and from here we get the word Gemara גמרא (also גמרה).
Klein offers a development of the meaning that works well in English as well: he finished, he concluded, he deduced, he learned.

An unrelated term that also uses the root גמר is the word גומרה gumra - "live coal", and the related verb means "to burn spices on coal." The spices placed on the coals are called mugmar מוגמר , and the Mishna in Brachot 6:6 says that after a meal they would bring the mugmar, to perfume the house. A blessing was recited on the mugmar - בורא עצי בשמים - and from here the expression "לברך על המוגמר" l'varech al hamugmar, which today means "to bring a task to a successful completion". The more common meaning of גמר replaced the less common one.

Thursday, September 28, 2006




Here are some of the words with the root
כפר :

  • כופר - kofer: ransom
  • כפורת - kaporet: the cover of the Holy Ark
  • כפור - kfor: frost
  • כפיר - kfir: a type of lion
  • כפר - kfar: village
  • כפירה - kefira: to deny

כפרhere (and here in the original Hebrew):



However, while there is disagreement as to the meaning of






Steinberg suggests that

Klein does not offer an etymology for

A related question: why is


Wednesday, September 27, 2006








אבינו מלכנו, סלח ומחל לכל עונותינו
אבינו מלכנו, מחה והעבר פשעינו וחטאתינו מנגד עיניך
אבינו מלכנו, מחוק ברחמיך הרבים כל שטרי חובותינו

"...forgive and pardon all our iniquities"
"...erase through Your abundant compassion"

Tuesday, September 26, 2006


Leading up to Yom Kippur, we'll discuss the three common terms for forgiveness in Hebrew. Today we'll begin with selicha (or slicha) סליחה. The root סלח appears in the Tanach numerous times, always meaning "to forgive".

According to Klein, the word is related to Akkadian salahu, meaning "to sprinkle." We see a similar root in Rabbinic Hebrew - זלח , which also means "to sprinkle, to pour, to drip". According to Klein, זלח is also related to זלג - which again "to drip, to flow" - often referring to tears. The word for fork - mazleg מזלג - is also related to this root. Klein writes that it is related to Arabic zalaja - "he glided" and mizlaj - "sliding bolt".

According to this site, Gordis points out that:

The word selichah comes from the Akkadian word salachu which means to sprinkle water. Water, of course, is a universal symbol of purity, and sprinkling is used in many purification rites. Selichah, then, acts as a kind of deodorizer, not removing sin, but making the reality of it easier to bear.

I think this makes sense. Unlike mechila (which we'll look at tomorrow), selicha is only used in relation to sin (and perhaps exclusively granted by God), so a sense of "purification" for the word is appropriate.

Interestingly, the Arabic word sulha, meaning "reconciliation" is not related to selicha. The Arabic root salah means, according to Stahl, "to fix". He hints that it is perhaps therefore related to the Hebrew root צלח - meaning "to succeed."

Monday, September 25, 2006


Is there a connection between tzom צום - "a fast" and tzama צמא - "thirst"? Klein makes no connection between the two, yet he does not provide etymologies for either - only related words in Semitic languages. Steinberg, however, makes an interesting case for a two letter base root - צמ - that creates many words with similar meanings. They all appear to be related to the sense of "to draw together, to bind together, to contract". We find:

  • צום - to fast. Steinberg describes fasting as "wrapping oneself in hunger, abstaining from eating food", as in Tehilim 107:5. Jastrow offers "to restrain one's self."
  • צמא - to be thirsty. The tongue and throat contract from lack of water.
  • צמד - to join, couple. Klein here says that the meaning is "he bound up, bound together". From here we get the words tzemed צמד - pair, and tzamid צמיד - bracelet, which according to Klein means "that which is bound on the wrist."
  • צמה - lock or braid of hair, also a veil. The hair is drawn together.
  • צמצם - to press, reduce, contract. From here, according to Klein, Rashi coined the word tzimtzum צמצום - restriction, limitation, which was later adopted by the Kabbalah.
  • צמק - to shrink, shrivel. Raisins in Hebrew are צימוקים tzimukim.
  • צמת - one meaning is "to join, attach, contract". From here the word tzomet צומת - juncture. Another meaning is "to oppress, subdue, destroy". Steinberg associates the pressure with the sense of contraction we see in other words with this root.
  • צמח - to grow, to sprout. Steinberg connects this meaning as well, although I fail to see how. His only explanation is the somewhat cryptic comment: מיסוד צם - צמוק והתגשם

Friday, September 22, 2006


After discussing shofar, we'll now talk about a synonym - yovel יובל. We find yovel being used as another term for a shofar in Shmot 19:13:

בִּמְשֹׁךְ, הַיֹּבֵל, הֵמָּה, יַעֲלוּ בָהָר - "When the yovel sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain."

How do we know that yovel refers to a ram's horn? We see in Yehoshua chapter 6 that the yovel is an animal. And Rabbi Akiva in Rosh HaShana 26a says:

"When I visited Arabia I discovered that there they call the male ram 'Yovela'"

Steinsaltz points out that the word yovela does not appear in Arabic. However, it does appear with that meaning in Phoenician and Punic (for example in the
Punic Marseilles Tariff, line 7.) Kutscher points out that the region called "Arabia", actually meant Arabia Petraea, whose capital was the famous town of Petra, where they spoke a dialect of Aramaic-Hebrew.

Klein writes that yovel's meaning of ram derived from the root יבל, meaning "to bear, carry" and therefore the word originally meant "leader of the flock, bellwether".

So yovel at first meant "ram", and the meaning was later limited to "ram's horn". The word's meaning developed even further. In Vayikra 25 we have the description of a special year of emancipation, held every 50 years. The advent of the year was proclaimed by the sounding of the shofar (Vayikra 25:9), and was called the yovel (25:10). So, as Kutscher points out, when the Torah discusses the yovel, it really means "[the year of the blowing of the] yovel." (For further discussion, see Ibn Ezra and Ramban on 25:10).

The Hebrew word made its way into Greek - iobelos and iabelaios - and from there to Latin - jubilaeus. From here we get the English word jubilee, which was influenced by an unrelated Latin word - jubilare (source of jubilant), meaning "to call to someone" and later "to shout for joy". Kutscher writes that the later meaning of jubilare might have been influenced by the joyous nature of the yovel year, but certainly the word jubilee has a festive connotation, due to convergence of two similar sounding words. From Latin the word entered European languages with a meaning of "celebration of an anniversary" - often 50 years, but not always (as discussed here.) Modern Hebrew has adopted the European sense of the word, and a yovel can mean the marking of any anniversary.

On a personal note, our son was born in 1998 - the 50th year of the founding of the State of Israel. We considered naming him Yovel, but figured that without nikkud, he would be more often called by the popular Hebrew name Yuval. At the time, I didn't think Yuval was related to yovel, but in researching this post, I have found a connection. Yuval was the son of Lemech, and was known as "the ancestor of all who play the lyre and the pipe" (Bereshit 4:21). The Daat Mikra mentions a number of theories as to the origin of his name. One of them makes a connection between Yuval and yovel - an early musical instrument.

Thursday, September 21, 2006



Philologos dealt with this in a column in 2004:











Wednesday, September 20, 2006

kivnei maron

I was going to research and write a post about the phrase "bnei maron" as in appears in the Mishna in Rosh HaShana (1:2) -

בראש השנה, כל באי עולם עוברין לפניו כבני מרון

But then I found this comprehensive article by Prof. Golinkin, which deserves being quoted in its entirety:

The most moving piyyut or liturgical poem of the High Holy Day liturgy is entitled "Unetaneh Tokef." The middle of the poem reads: "Behold, the Day of Judgment!"... All who enter the world You will cause to pass before You kivnei maron [like b'nai maron]. As a shepherd examines his flock passing his sheep beneath his staff, so do You make pass, count, enumerate and remember every living soul, decreeing the measure of every creature's life and writing their verdict..."

The question is: what does "kivnei maron" mean? The phrase is taken from the Mishna (Rosh Hashana 1:2), but there, too, the meaning is unclear: The world is judged at four seasons: At Pessah – for grain; at Shavuot – for the fruit of the trees; on Rosh Hashana – all who enter the world pass before Him kivnei maron; and on Succot – for water.

The Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashana 18a) gives three different explanations for kivnei maron: (1) Here [in Babylonia] they translate: "like b'nai imrana"; (2) Resh Lakish said: like the ascent of Beit Maron; (3) Rav Yehuda said in the name of Samuel: like the troops of the House of David.

LET'S EXAMINE each of these explanations. What does "like b'nai imrana" mean? Rashi says: "Like sheep who are counted in order to give a tithe, and they go out one after the other through a narrow opening where only one can pass through." Even someone who did not grow up on a kibbutz has seen in the Westerns how they count cattle: They pass them through a narrow opening in order to count them one by one.

In the 19th century, a number of scholars explained that in Syriac, a Christian dialect of Babylonian Aramaic, there is a word "emruna," which means young sheep. Therefore, in Babylonia they explained that on Rosh Hashana we pass before God like the sons of sheep and He counts us one by one.

Now let us examine the second explanation found in the Talmud: "Resh Lakish said: like the ascent of Beit Maron." Resh Lakish, who lived in Eretz Yisrael (ca. 250 CE), is no doubt referring to a specific place in Israel which was well known to his listeners. According to the manuscripts of the Talmud and the medieval commentators, this sentence should read "like the ascent of Beit Horon", and, indeed, "the ascent of Beit Horon" was a well-known place for more than 1,500 years.

It is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (10:10-11), II Chronicles (8:5), I Maccabees (3:13-26), Josephus (Wars 2,19,2) and Eusebius (ed. Melamed, 1950, p. 212), but the most important source for our purposes is found in Sanhedrin 32b: "Two camels who are going up the ascent of Beit Horon meet each other. If they both ascend, they both fall off; if they ascend one after the other – they both ascend." In other words, the ascent of Beit Horon is such a narrow path that two camels cannot pass each other going up or down. If they ascend side by side, they will both fall off, but if they ascend single file, they will both ascend successfully.

Now, the words of Resh Lakish are entirely clear: God counts us on Rosh Hashana just as people climb up the ascent of Beit Horon, one at a time.

And now let's examine the third explanation: "Rav Yehuda said in the name of Samuel [ca. 220-250]: like the troops of the House of David." Samuel does not explain himself, but we can surmise that God counts us on Rosh Hashana as soldiers are counted in the army.

TO SUMMARIZE the Talmudic passage, the Amoraim explained kivnei maron in the Mishna in three ways: (1) like sheep who pass under the staff of the shepherd, (2) like the ascent of Beit Horon, (3) like the soldiers of the House of David.

All three apparently mean the same thing, but we still have not clarified the exact meaning of the expression kivnei maron. Indeed, for hundreds of years, rabbis tried to explain this expression without success, until Nehemiah Brull published a suggestion in his Jahrbuecher fuer Juedische Geschichte und Literatur in 1874. He suggested that perhaps kivnei maron is a corruption of ki[vi]numeron, like a numeron, and numeron is a Greek (and Latin) word which means "a cohort, a legion, a troop of soldiers." In other words, the Mishna says that God counts us on Rosh Hashana as soldiers are counted, one at a time.

Nehemiah Brull gave his explanation as a suggestion (vielleicht, in German "perhaps"), when Jewish scholars still had no access to Mishna manuscripts and such a suggestion was simply a guess. Now we can prove that Brull was absolutely correct on the basis of manuscripts of the Mishna, Tosefta, Babylonian Talmud and piyyut. In the Kaufmann manuscript of the Mishna (Italy?, 11th-13th centuries?), which was only published in a facsimile edition in 1929, it says very clearly in our Mishna: kivno meron with vowels. There is still a space between the words, but there is no doubt that it was originally one word, as we shall presently see.

Our Mishna also reads "kivnu maron" in the first edition of the Palestinian Talmud (Venice, 1523-1524, fol. 56a), while Tosefta Rosh Hashana reads "numeron" in the Vienna manuscript (ed. Lieberman 1:11, p. 307).

And now we can add new proof for Brull's theory from my book Ginzei Rosh Hashana, which was published in 2000. It is a collection of all the Geniza fragments of the tractate of Rosh Hashana in the Babylonian Talmud. In Manuscript G1, which was copied in the east between the 10th and 12th centuries, it says very clearly "kivnu maron."

We have progressed from the piyyut to the Mishna and from the Mishna to the Tosefta and from the Tosefta to the Talmud. If we return now to the piyyut, we shall discover that the original reading in "Unetaneh Tokef" was also "kivinumeron."

This was proved by Prof. Naphtali Wieder (1906-2001) in an article published in the Journal of Jewish Studies in 1967. He showed that the reading "kivinumeron" is the original reading in the piyyut "Unetaneh Tokef" as found in a number of manuscripts, and one of them even has vowels. Furthermore, Wieder quotes a number of lesser-known piyyutim which also contain the word "kivinumeron," including a geniza fragment of the piyyut "Hayom Harat Olam" which we sing three times during the Musaf service.

In other words, the correct reading of the word "kivinumeron" has been preserved not only in manuscripts of the Mishna, Tosefta and Talmud, but also in manuscripts of "Unetaneh Tokef" and other medieval poems.

What can we learn from this detective story?

It shows us how the academic or scientific approach to Jewish studies can help us to arrive at the peshat (simple meaning) of our sacred texts. We now know that, according to the Mishna and "Unetaneh Tokef," on Rosh Hashana, all who enter the world You will cause to pass before You kivinumeron – like a cohort of soldiers (being counted).

Now, as we enter the Days of Awe, it is up to all of us to engage in teshuva, tefilla and tzedaka – in repentance, prayer and acts of lovingkindness.

The same author also wrote this article, which is similar and contains additional footnotes.

Steinsaltz also mentions the kivinumeron explanation, however, he does not think Resh Lakish is referring to Beit Horon, but rather the mountain of Meron, which is the highest in the Galil.

What about the etymology of imar אימר - Aramaic for "sheep"? Steinberg provides two theories. The first one (also mentioned by Jastrow) is that it is related to amar עמר - Aramaic for wool. In Hebrew the ayin switches to a tzade, and we get the word tzemer צמר. Interestingly, the gemara in Eruvin 53b mocks the Galileans for not differentiating between alef and ayin, and therefore mixing up the words imar and amar.

Steinberg's second theory is based on the idea that the root מר means "to send out". He derives the word אמר - "he said" - from the meaning "he put words out of his mouth". Therefore imar can mean sheep in the sense of "animals driven out", and he says there is a similar etymology to the word tzon צאן - it comes from the root יצא, "went out". We have seen earlier a connection between migrash מגרש - field and גרש - to expel.

Sunday, September 10, 2006


I'm going away for a few days - I'll be back home on September 19th. I might post something while I'm gone, but it will probably be a little different than the more researched posts that I usually do. Please feel free to continue to comment on earlier posts - but know that if I need my books to answer you, it might wait for a few days.

In the meantime, I'd like to take advantage of this downtime to get your feedback on this site. What would you like to see more of? What needs change or improvement? I'm particularly interested in hearing what you think of the look and feel of Balashon. What do you think of the text and background colors? What about the fonts? Should they be larger? Do you prefer serif? How about the Hebrew font? Should there be more white space? Different graphics?

I'm not a big expert in web design, but I'll be happy to try to improve the site based on your response.

Thursday, September 07, 2006


Is the Hebrew word ta'arif תעריף related to the English word "tariff"? Well, of course it is. Not only do they have the same meaning, but the Hebrew actually derived from the English (or one of the European counterparts - French tarif, Italian tariffa, Spanish tarifa).

The English word tariff, however, does have Semitic roots. It comes from Arabic:


When I first saw this, I thought - hey, maybe it's related to the Hebrew word oref עורף, meaning "neck", or the root ערף meaning "to drip" (and the source of arafel ערפל - cloud, fog). But one of the advantages of my acquiring Stahl's Arabic etymological dictionary is that I don't have to guess. And he clearly states that there is an Arabic root ערף meaning "to know".

Stahl doesn't connect the Arabic ערף to either of the Hebrew roots, and I imagine that if he could have, he would have. He does, however, mention that in Medieval Hebrew, ma'aruf מערוף meant "customer, clientele", from the Arabic root. In modern Hebrew slang, ma'aruf means "a favor", as in "do me a favor". This meaning is also taken from Arabic, and Stahl suggests that the development might have been from "to know" to "befriend" to "do a favor".

Wednesday, September 06, 2006


The tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is yod (or yud or yodh). The origin of the letter's name is clear - it looks like a yad יד - arm or hand (see here and here.) It is the smallest of the Hebrew letters, and due to its size the Greek version of the name - iota - came to mean "a very small amount" and from iota came the word jot, which later meant "to make a short note of."

Yad is a very common word in the Tanach - Even Shoshan gives 1617 listings. So it is a bit beyond the scope of this post to deal with every nuance of the word. Besides hand or arm, it can also mean: handle, stem (of a fruit), monument / place, power / strength, part / portion, side, pointer (some Biblical examples here.) It is part of a large number of prepositions in Hebrew:

  • ביד - by, through
  • כיד - according to the power of
  • ליד - near
  • מיד - immediately
  • לידי - to
  • מידי - from
  • על יד - next to
  • על ידי - through
There is also a verb derived from yad - ידה - meaning "to throw, hurl, cast". Throwing of stones is יידוי אבנים - yidui avanim. The commentary Haketav Vehakabbalah on Vayikra 5:5 says that the verb והתוודה - "he will confess" derives from ידה - he throws away the sin. In this sense, vidui וידוי (confession) is identical with tashlich תשליך - both mean "throwing away." (I was planning on talking about vidui closer to Yom Kippur, but we're in Elul, so it's close enough.)
But while Haketav Vehakabbalah tries to explain how vidui is different than hodaah הודאה - praise (which would seem to be from the same root), Steinberg connects all three meanings. First of all, he writes that vidui is identified with bowing, prostrating oneself, throwing oneself on the ground - as in Nechemia 9:3 - מִתְוַדִּים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים and Ezra 10:1 - וּכְהִתְוַדֹּתוֹ, בֹּכֶה וּמִתְנַפֵּל.
He then goes on to write that the verb הודה - to give praise, thanks (and the root of todah תודה - "thank you") - was also connected with bowing. As a proof, he shows how the Targum translates Shmuel II 16:4 - הִשְׁתַּחֲוֵיתִי as מודינא. He writes that only once in the Tanach is הודה used towards a person - יְהוּדָה, אַתָּה יוֹדוּךָ אַחֶיךָ - "Yehuda, your brothers will praise you" (which is a play on words on the name Yehuda.) In all other places, the verb is used towards God, where bowing and prostration are very appropriate. This concept was carried forward in to the Amida prayer, where we bow when we say מודים אנחנו לך.
From the Daat Mikra on Yoel 4:3, it would seem that perhaps there is a connection between ידה - to throw away - and נדה - the root of nidah נידה and nidui נידוי, both referring to a person cast away. But it's not entirely clear from that source, and the other sources I've checked are ambiguous at best. (For example, Klein says that נדה is related to Akkadian nadu ("to throw"), but doesn't connect it back to ידה.)
Lastly, just in case you were wondering, Philologos shows that yad is not connected to "yadda, yadda, yadda."

Tuesday, September 05, 2006


Reader Yoel asks:







Literally: The third time, ice cream.
Idiomatically: We meet again!


One more reasonable option, as mentioned in the above thread:



Monday, September 04, 2006






  • חמרמר - to be in a ferment.
  • chomer חומר- heap, name of a dry measure.

Saturday, September 02, 2006



On charutz, Klein writes:

