Yitzgood I support Israel against its enemies. I don't label myself a "Zionist," but it won't matter in these parts. This user account status is Approved Comments Comments Posts Posts Speaking of the word geza, see Isaiah 11:1 (5 verses before the wolf dwelling with the lamb): "Geza Yishai" On Israeli lawmaker: ‘Jewish race is the greatest human capital, the smartest’ It could be he was speaking with a bit of literary flair also. "Geza" is an example of a Modern Hebrew word adapted or evolved from a familiar older one. It's a tree word--trunk maybe. If I saw "geza Yisrael," I would just think it was a poetic way of saying "Jewish people." I wouldn't start thinking about genes and chromosomes. I'm admittedly a bad source for how Hebrew sounds to modern speakers, but the older layers of a language never completely go away. They remain available for a certain archaic flair. You probably can think of something analogous in English. On Israeli lawmaker: ‘Jewish race is the greatest human capital, the smartest’ Israelis are doped in large part because of Hebrew , a language nobody else speaks. So non-widely spoken languages are bad? Or they're fine unless they're Hebrew? Israeli morality is good only in Hebrew. For example? It is very hard to stop a society that has been so many years on a different path to the rest of humanity. What would it mean for all of "humanity" to be on the same linguistic "path"? You seem to be saying they all are except for Hebrew speakers. What if a Hebrew speaker is bilingual? Sorry about all the questions. I'm just trying to prod you to express yourself clearly. On Rightwing video says New Israel Fund supports ‘foreign agents’ who persecute Israeli soldiers So you see those references to “proto-Germanic” etc being made to match up linguistic history with somebody’s ideas of Scripture history? IIAalsoNM, proto-Semitic was not an attempt to do that either. Kasher un Freilechen Pesach On Jeremy Corbyn and ’anti-Semitism’ – making sense of the hysteria IIANM “Semitic” is a purported “proto-language”. An attempt to make linguistic history consistent with the Biblical flood. When there is a group of obviously related languages, I think linguists usually posit a "proto" language they all came from. So you see references to "Proto-Germanic," "Proto-Indo-European," etc. On Jeremy Corbyn and ’anti-Semitism’ – making sense of the hysteria Me: "Shahak is doing his usual hit-and-run on this topic. " Keith: "Yet another ad hominem attack on Israel Shahak- your intellectual and moral superior- without any supporting argument. " The statement followed my discussion of correcting and republishing the classic texts, which was an answer to Shahak's assertion that the texts were corrected "following the establishment of the State of Israel, once the rabbis felt secure," as if that's all it was. Anyway, great melt-down. Loved the part where you call Shahak my "intellectual and moral superior." I usually don't continue a conversation if I have to waste a lot of time rehashing what has already been said. Kosher and Happy Passover to those who will be making a Seder tonight. On The problem with Passover Are you claiming that passages of the Talmud weren’t modified under Gentile pressure during the period of Classical Judaism? I believe I said that myself. That doesn't mean all the things that were changed must have been hateful. Shahak makes it sound as if idol worship was always a non-issue used as a cover-up. Are you saying that the original texts have not been restored in Israel? The Vilna Shas came out in 1870, long before there was an Israel in the modern sense. It included tractate Avodah Zarah, which was sometimes entirely omitted in earlier editions. Freedom from censorship has been manifesting itself for quite some time. All things being equal, one wants the most accurate edition of a text for study. Israel has mostly made a big difference because there are so many Hebrew printers and people who can do editorial work in Hebrew. 20 years ago, sets of Shulchan Aruch still had blurry print. The flow of new editions of the classics speeds up the demand for corrected texts. Shahak is doing his usual hit-and-run on this topic. Delve into it using sources that have more expertise and impartiality than he does. I'm just asking for some intellectual curiosity. That's all I have time for--back to Passover preparations. By the way, has anyone mentioned that "Pour out Your wrath" etc. in the Haggadah is from the Book of Psalms? On The problem with Passover I had more to say on this topic... More on Shahak or more on words like Akum and Cuti and censorship? On The problem with Passover “…the expressions ‘Gentile’, ‘non-Jew’, ‘stranger’ (goy, eino yehudi, nokbri) – which appear in all early manuscripts and printings as well as as in all editions published in Islamic countries – were replaced by such terms as ‘idolator’, ‘heathen’ or even ‘Canaanite’ or ‘Samaritan’, terms which could be explained away but which the Jewish reader could recognize as euphemisms for the old expressions.” I can think of an example just off the top of my head where the term in the old manuscripts is Akum--idol worshiper. It is clear from the context often that would be the logical term. I would say use Shahak, if you must use him it all, to identify subjects for further research, but don't trust anything he says without further verification. The various terms for idolator and non-Jew in Rabbinic literature did go through many changes due to self-imposed and externally imposed censorship. It makes sense nowadays, just for scholarly reasons, to try to have the most accurate texts. Nobody is getting burned at the stake anymore. I would look into it more, but I'm in the middle of Pesach cleaning. On The problem with Passover "And Tuesday may be just as bad, and Wednesday’s worse, and Thursday’s also bad" No, Thursday's "oh so sad." May T-Bone forgive you. On War-loving, Muslim-hating John Bolton wants to give ‘pieces’ of Palestine to Jordan and Egypt load more comments
