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| Parashat Hashavua |
| Tazria 5771 |
The Old Shall be Renewed and the New Shall be Sanctified (HaRAYaH Kook)
Dalia Marx 29.3.2011
Even in these troubled times, I think everyone would agree that there is one area in which Zionism's success has not only been unquestionable - it has exceeded all expectations. I refer, of course, to the revival of Hebrew as a spoken and living language. The efforts of other cultures to follow the example of Hebrew's champions and revive their own ancient languages have been greeted with failure. As a result, many view the revival of Hebrew as a kind of miracle.
The parashiyot we read today offer us an opportunity to observe one of the central mechanisms of Hebrew's rebirth - the novel employment of grammatical schemas and roots that already exist in the language in order to express new meanings. Let us inspect a few examples:
In the course of discussing various afflictions and the methods of their purification, parashat Tazria lists a number of diseases and bodily conditions: baheret ["white discoloration"] (13:4), tzarevet ["scar"] (13:23), sapahat ["swelling"](13:2), tzara'at ["leprosy"], karahat ["baldness of the top of the head"] (13:42), gabahat ["baldness of the sides of the head"] (13:42). These terms all share a common grammatical form: although some of the words vary from it slightly due to the presence of a guttural stop.
When spoken Hebrew awoke to life in the end of the nineteenth century it needed new words to describe new diseases. Rabbi Aharon Meir MaZIA, an ophthalmologist and aboriculturalist who chaired the Language Committee (which eventually became the Academy for the Hebrew Language) from 1926 until his death in 1930, composed a lexicon of medical and scientific terms.
In order to invent names for diseases that were never mentioned in classical Hebrew sources, MaZIA and others following him used the biblical form for disease names - , a form exemplified repeatedly in our parashiyot - in combination with new roots. For instance; rubella, a disease that causes redness of the skin, is called ademet [adom = red]. Hepatitis, which causes the eyes to acquire a yellow hue (we will come soon to Hebrew's new color-terms), is called tzahevet [tzahov = yellow]. Edema, the pathological retention of fluids in the body, is called batzeket [batzek = swollen]. Rabies, a viral disease often found in dogs is called kalevet [kelev = dog]. One who coughs [mishta'el] may be suffering from sha'elet [pertusis]. The term influenza originates from reference to the occult influence [hashpa'a] of the stars, and so it is called shapa'at. Many suffer tiredness [ayeifut] from jet-lag, or ya'efet, one of the more recent words to be invented by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
Sometimes it took a while for a word to really enter the language; some never make it at all. For example, Eliezer Ben Yehudah, the greatest reviver of Hebrew, wished to call tuberculosis (a disease from which he personally suffered) genihat hadam ["groaning of the blood"], but the term shahefet - which follows the standard form for disease-names and is of biblical origin - ended up taking its place.
The vitality of Hebrew is evidenced by the way names for social ills are invented in accordance with the schema mentioned above. For instance: sahevet [taking too much time to execute an action, from sahev = to drag or carry with effort] and sagemet [megalomania of young officers, from sagam = second lieutenant]. Many public speakers are chronic suffers of daberet [loquaciousness, from dibbur = speech], or worse yet, barberet [speaking nonsense, from levarber = to babble].
So much for diseases. May we all enjoy good health!
The schema for color terms is another grammatical form found repeatedly in our parshiyot which has been resurrected in the period of Hebrew's renaissance. Scripture lists many shades of red (argevan, argeman, shani, po'eh, etc.), but many other colors are conspicuous in their absence, such as the colors of the sky and the sea. This linguistic lacuna brought one nineteenth century European philologist to speculate that the ancient Semitic peoples may have not been able to discern the "radiant colors."
The writer, educator, and historian Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz (1847-1924), who, too, was a member of the Language Committee, employed the schema to fill this lexical gap. This grammatical form is frequently the basis for the terms used to describe the colors associated with different afflictions and diseases in our parashiyot: tzahov (13:30) and shahor (13:31). Elsewhere we find adom (Bereishit 25:30) and yarok (Job 39:8). Yavetz used the schema to create two new color-terms, which, years later, would come to symbolize the range of Israeli political discourse: katom [orange] and kahol [blue].
Rabbi Yavetz's nephew, David Yellin, who was also involved in reviving the language, wrote of his matter:
In my conversation with my uncle, the Rabbi, Gaon, and wonderful researcher, Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz, may his lamp give light, told me that he wants to fill the gap in our language in connection with the names for light blue [tekhelet] and the color of egg-yolk, for in his opinion kahol is the first color, as Midrash Rabbah (Bamidbar Rabbah 2:7) states that sapphire is "bluish black" [shahor hadomeh le'kakhol]; sapphire is a deep tekhelt and there is no color close to black besides it and the ketem of scripture (see, for example, Lamentations 4:6) - it seems to him that they used it to describe the color "gold" and not gold itself...I have found support for his views in the Arabic language, which uses the word kuh'l to describe the cloudless sky which is purely tekhelet. Ketem in the hitpa'el form means in Arabic: "It appeared with the color of egg-yolk." Now we can say kahol and katom in the same way that we say adom and yarok. (David Yellin, HaTzvi, 11 Sivan 5647, quoted by Reuven Sivan in "Mi'Hayey ha'Milim", Leshoneinu la'Am 18 (5727), pg. 3)
The color of the flower sigalit [violet, from the Aramaic sigla] was similarly renewed and renamed sagol. The color of efer [ashes] was named afor [grey], and the color of the rose [vered] was now called varod.
Eliezer Ben Yehudah's second wife, Hemda, was a fashion critic (and inventor of the Hebrew word for fashion, ofna). She described a social event that took place in the year 1900 with these words: "The women in colorful garb, white, pink [varod] and tekhelet, with flowers on their chests" (Hashkafa 12 Iyyar, 5660, quoted by Reuven Sivan in "Mi'Hayey ha'Milim", Leshoneinu la'Am 23 (5733), pg. 209). In this way she helped to acculturate the name of the favorite color of today's young daughters of Zion.
In parashat Tazria we find another schema for color-names: yerakrak and adamdam (it is interesting to mention that yerakrak seems to have been used to refer to the color yellow - see Psalms 68:14. Yalkut Shimoni Esther 1053 says that "Esther was yerakroket and a strand of grace was drawn upon her." The point is not that her face was drained of blood due to anger or jealousy, but rather that she was a blond.) The renewers of Hebrew were unsure whether this schema implies emphasis, and thus refers to a stronger shade, or whether it refers to a more delicate shade. They decided to accept the latter interpretation, and invented the terms tzehavhav [yellowish], veradrad [pinkish], etc., as well as other diminutives, such as klavlav [puppy].
God commanded Noah, tzei min ha'teiva [take leave of the ark]. Sometimes we must take leave of the teiva [in this instance meaning "the word"], in order to find a creative solution. We have seen how biblical words inspired the coining of new terms for diseases and colors that were not present in classical Hebrew and which were needed by Modern Hebrew.
The Sages understood the word metzora [leper], the name of next week’s portion, as containing the words motzi [shem] ra ["one brings forth an evil name," i.e., a defamer]. From this they concluded that leprosy is caused by social ills such as gossip (see, for example Vayikra Rabba 16:2-6). In the present article, we have seen examples of the bringing forth of good, new names - names that are evidence of social well-being.
One of the principles that guided those who revived the classical language may be expressed by HaRa'AYaH Kook's formulation: "The old shall be renewed and the new shall be sanctified." Preference is given to neologisms that pour new nectar into old bottles, new combinations that instill Hebrew's ancient grammatical schemas and roots with new meanings - as we have seen in the examples of disease-names cited above - rather than to completely ex-nihilo linguistic creations.
This connection to early linguistic traditions can serve as a model for cultural continuity in a tradition experiencing renewal. May we derive goodly names from our ancient, living tongue! May these names be sweet in our mouths and in our hearts so that they may guide us and our leaders to choose the good and to do the good!
Dalia Marx 29.3.2011
Wikipedia: Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
The parashiyot we read this week, as well as the new scandals of corruption and bribery that are revealed in our country on a daily basis, require us to deal with the afflictions [nega'im] spreading through the body and the home of the nation. Perhaps this is precisely the time to take account of our positive achievements.
Even in these troubled times, I think everyone would agree that there is one area in which Zionism's success has not only been unquestionable - it has exceeded all expectations. I refer, of course, to the revival of Hebrew as a spoken and living language. The efforts of other cultures to follow the example of Hebrew's champions and revive their own ancient languages have been greeted with failure. As a result, many view the revival of Hebrew as a kind of miracle.
The parashiyot we read today offer us an opportunity to observe one of the central mechanisms of Hebrew's rebirth - the novel employment of grammatical schemas and roots that already exist in the language in order to express new meanings. Let us inspect a few examples:
In the course of discussing various afflictions and the methods of their purification, parashat Tazria lists a number of diseases and bodily conditions: baheret ["white discoloration"] (13:4), tzarevet ["scar"] (13:23), sapahat ["swelling"](13:2), tzara'at ["leprosy"], karahat ["baldness of the top of the head"] (13:42), gabahat ["baldness of the sides of the head"] (13:42). These terms all share a common grammatical form: although some of the words vary from it slightly due to the presence of a guttural stop.
When spoken Hebrew awoke to life in the end of the nineteenth century it needed new words to describe new diseases. Rabbi Aharon Meir MaZIA, an ophthalmologist and aboriculturalist who chaired the Language Committee (which eventually became the Academy for the Hebrew Language) from 1926 until his death in 1930, composed a lexicon of medical and scientific terms.
In order to invent names for diseases that were never mentioned in classical Hebrew sources, MaZIA and others following him used the biblical form for disease names - , a form exemplified repeatedly in our parashiyot - in combination with new roots. For instance; rubella, a disease that causes redness of the skin, is called ademet [adom = red]. Hepatitis, which causes the eyes to acquire a yellow hue (we will come soon to Hebrew's new color-terms), is called tzahevet [tzahov = yellow]. Edema, the pathological retention of fluids in the body, is called batzeket [batzek = swollen]. Rabies, a viral disease often found in dogs is called kalevet [kelev = dog]. One who coughs [mishta'el] may be suffering from sha'elet [pertusis]. The term influenza originates from reference to the occult influence [hashpa'a] of the stars, and so it is called shapa'at. Many suffer tiredness [ayeifut] from jet-lag, or ya'efet, one of the more recent words to be invented by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
Sometimes it took a while for a word to really enter the language; some never make it at all. For example, Eliezer Ben Yehudah, the greatest reviver of Hebrew, wished to call tuberculosis (a disease from which he personally suffered) genihat hadam ["groaning of the blood"], but the term shahefet - which follows the standard form for disease-names and is of biblical origin - ended up taking its place.
The vitality of Hebrew is evidenced by the way names for social ills are invented in accordance with the schema mentioned above. For instance: sahevet [taking too much time to execute an action, from sahev = to drag or carry with effort] and sagemet [megalomania of young officers, from sagam = second lieutenant]. Many public speakers are chronic suffers of daberet [loquaciousness, from dibbur = speech], or worse yet, barberet [speaking nonsense, from levarber = to babble].
So much for diseases. May we all enjoy good health!
The schema for color terms is another grammatical form found repeatedly in our parshiyot which has been resurrected in the period of Hebrew's renaissance. Scripture lists many shades of red (argevan, argeman, shani, po'eh, etc.), but many other colors are conspicuous in their absence, such as the colors of the sky and the sea. This linguistic lacuna brought one nineteenth century European philologist to speculate that the ancient Semitic peoples may have not been able to discern the "radiant colors."
The writer, educator, and historian Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz (1847-1924), who, too, was a member of the Language Committee, employed the schema to fill this lexical gap. This grammatical form is frequently the basis for the terms used to describe the colors associated with different afflictions and diseases in our parashiyot: tzahov (13:30) and shahor (13:31). Elsewhere we find adom (Bereishit 25:30) and yarok (Job 39:8). Yavetz used the schema to create two new color-terms, which, years later, would come to symbolize the range of Israeli political discourse: katom [orange] and kahol [blue].
Rabbi Yavetz's nephew, David Yellin, who was also involved in reviving the language, wrote of his matter:
In my conversation with my uncle, the Rabbi, Gaon, and wonderful researcher, Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz, may his lamp give light, told me that he wants to fill the gap in our language in connection with the names for light blue [tekhelet] and the color of egg-yolk, for in his opinion kahol is the first color, as Midrash Rabbah (Bamidbar Rabbah 2:7) states that sapphire is "bluish black" [shahor hadomeh le'kakhol]; sapphire is a deep tekhelt and there is no color close to black besides it and the ketem of scripture (see, for example, Lamentations 4:6) - it seems to him that they used it to describe the color "gold" and not gold itself...I have found support for his views in the Arabic language, which uses the word kuh'l to describe the cloudless sky which is purely tekhelet. Ketem in the hitpa'el form means in Arabic: "It appeared with the color of egg-yolk." Now we can say kahol and katom in the same way that we say adom and yarok. (David Yellin, HaTzvi, 11 Sivan 5647, quoted by Reuven Sivan in "Mi'Hayey ha'Milim", Leshoneinu la'Am 18 (5727), pg. 3)
The color of the flower sigalit [violet, from the Aramaic sigla] was similarly renewed and renamed sagol. The color of efer [ashes] was named afor [grey], and the color of the rose [vered] was now called varod.
Eliezer Ben Yehudah's second wife, Hemda, was a fashion critic (and inventor of the Hebrew word for fashion, ofna). She described a social event that took place in the year 1900 with these words: "The women in colorful garb, white, pink [varod] and tekhelet, with flowers on their chests" (Hashkafa 12 Iyyar, 5660, quoted by Reuven Sivan in "Mi'Hayey ha'Milim", Leshoneinu la'Am 23 (5733), pg. 209). In this way she helped to acculturate the name of the favorite color of today's young daughters of Zion.
In parashat Tazria we find another schema for color-names: yerakrak and adamdam (it is interesting to mention that yerakrak seems to have been used to refer to the color yellow - see Psalms 68:14. Yalkut Shimoni Esther 1053 says that "Esther was yerakroket and a strand of grace was drawn upon her." The point is not that her face was drained of blood due to anger or jealousy, but rather that she was a blond.) The renewers of Hebrew were unsure whether this schema implies emphasis, and thus refers to a stronger shade, or whether it refers to a more delicate shade. They decided to accept the latter interpretation, and invented the terms tzehavhav [yellowish], veradrad [pinkish], etc., as well as other diminutives, such as klavlav [puppy].
God commanded Noah, tzei min ha'teiva [take leave of the ark]. Sometimes we must take leave of the teiva [in this instance meaning "the word"], in order to find a creative solution. We have seen how biblical words inspired the coining of new terms for diseases and colors that were not present in classical Hebrew and which were needed by Modern Hebrew.
The Sages understood the word metzora [leper], the name of next week’s portion, as containing the words motzi [shem] ra ["one brings forth an evil name," i.e., a defamer]. From this they concluded that leprosy is caused by social ills such as gossip (see, for example Vayikra Rabba 16:2-6). In the present article, we have seen examples of the bringing forth of good, new names - names that are evidence of social well-being.
One of the principles that guided those who revived the classical language may be expressed by HaRa'AYaH Kook's formulation: "The old shall be renewed and the new shall be sanctified." Preference is given to neologisms that pour new nectar into old bottles, new combinations that instill Hebrew's ancient grammatical schemas and roots with new meanings - as we have seen in the examples of disease-names cited above - rather than to completely ex-nihilo linguistic creations.
This connection to early linguistic traditions can serve as a model for cultural continuity in a tradition experiencing renewal. May we derive goodly names from our ancient, living tongue! May these names be sweet in our mouths and in our hearts so that they may guide us and our leaders to choose the good and to do the good!
Shabbat shalom
Dalia Marx
 |
Rabbis for Human Rights | rehov harekhavim 9 - Jerusalem, Israel 93462
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