Hebrew Grammar's The Key, Masei מסעי Parshat Shavua

I must admit that I love grammer, Hebrew Grammar and English, too. But it's Hebrew grammar which is most important. There are so many hidden messages in words, and an enormous amount of words can't be easily translated. The name of this week's Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the Week,  Masei מסעי, is one of those words.

מסעי Numbers במדבר 33 לג

Generally people translate Masei מסעי as "journeys." The Sefaria online Tanach/Bible translate it as "march" which is a drop closer. The letters מסעי all have meaning. The root is סע travel. The word is a plural noun, signified by the י at the end. And I see the מ as conjugated in the verb form הפעיל which "activates" or "forces" the linguistic root. When you add that all together, you have a forced march/journey, which makes sense. 

The so-called "journeys" the Jewish People took in the wilderness were not of their choice or timing. They didn't just wander around out of boredom or curiosity. Gd signalled, and they moved; then Gd signalled and they stopped.

Once we arrived in the Land Gd promised us, we were to stop and build and stay. Here's how the chapter ends:

וַיְדַבֵּ֧ר יְהוָ֛ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֖ה בְּעַֽרְבֹ֣ת מוֹאָ֑ב עַל־יַרְדֵּ֥ן יְרֵח֖וֹ לֵאמֹֽר׃

In the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

51

דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֲלֵהֶ֑ם כִּ֥י אַתֶּ֛ם עֹבְרִ֥ים אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן אֶל־אֶ֥רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן׃

Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

52

וְה֨וֹרַשְׁתֶּ֜ם אֶת־כָּל־יֹשְׁבֵ֤י הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ מִפְּנֵיכֶ֔ם וְאִ֨בַּדְתֶּ֔ם אֵ֖ת כָּל־מַשְׂכִּיֹּתָ֑ם וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־צַלְמֵ֤י מַסֵּֽכֹתָם֙ תְּאַבֵּ֔דוּ וְאֵ֥ת כָּל־בָּמֹתָ֖ם תַּשְׁמִֽידוּ׃

you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land; you shall destroy all their figured objects; you shall destroy all their molten images, and you shall demolish all their cult places.

53

וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּ֥ם אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וִֽישַׁבְתֶּם־בָּ֑הּ כִּ֥י לָכֶ֛ם נָתַ֥תִּי אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָרֶ֥שֶׁת אֹתָֽהּ׃

And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land to you to possess.

54

וְהִתְנַחַלְתֶּם֩ אֶת־הָאָ֨רֶץ בְּגוֹרָ֜ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹֽתֵיכֶ֗ם לָרַ֞ב תַּרְבּ֤וּ אֶת־נַחֲלָתוֹ֙ וְלַמְעַט֙ תַּמְעִ֣יט אֶת־נַחֲלָת֔וֹ אֶל֩ אֲשֶׁר־יֵ֨צֵא ל֥וֹ שָׁ֛מָּה הַגּוֹרָ֖ל ל֣וֹ יִהְיֶ֑ה לְמַטּ֥וֹת אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם תִּתְנֶחָֽלוּ׃

You shall apportion the land among yourselves by lot, clan by clan: with larger groups increase the share, with smaller groups reduce the share. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. You shall have your portions according to your ancestral tribes.

55

וְאִם־לֹ֨א תוֹרִ֜ישׁוּ אֶת־יֹשְׁבֵ֣י הָאָרֶץ֮ מִפְּנֵיכֶם֒ וְהָיָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תּוֹתִ֣ירוּ מֵהֶ֔ם לְשִׂכִּים֙ בְּעֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם וְלִצְנִינִ֖ם בְּצִדֵּיכֶ֑ם וְצָרֲר֣וּ אֶתְכֶ֔ם עַל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַתֶּ֖ם יֹשְׁבִ֥ים בָּֽהּ׃

But if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live;

56

וְהָיָ֗ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּמִּ֛יתִי לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת לָהֶ֖ם אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃ (פ)

so that I will do to you what I planned to do to them.

Star of The Purim Story Esther, Not Haddassa

I have my "differences" with the accepted Biblical commentaries in a lot of issues. And I see things in the linguistics of the Tanach/Bible in ways that others don't. It's hard to say why, but for sure, one of the main reasons is that I didn't grow up with the "Torah stories" that most others grew up with.

Almost everything I know about the Tanach/Bible I learned as an adult. Add that to the fact that my mind does work a bissell differently from others, and you shouldn't be surprised.

Unlike EVERYONE ELSE, I read the line I've circled here as:

"And he raised Hadassa, actually named Esther..."

Standard commentary of her name is that her Persian name was Esther, but her real name was Haddassa.

It's a well known fact that there's a Hebrew root to the name Esther סתר.  סתר S-T-R means "secret." And the same linguistic root להסתיר lihastir means to hide.  Those who claim the root to be Persian, say it's "star." I have a question for you:

When are stars out?

Did you answer "at night"?

Think again, please. Stars are always surrounding the earth. It's just that daylight hides them. Clouds and rain hide them even at night. Yes, stars are mostly hidden.

Not only did Esther hide her national identity when in the palace; she hid her intelligence, too. Ester was a woman of secrets, just like her name in Hebrew, Esther סתר , אסתר S-T-R means "secret."

There's a linguistic theory that Hebrew is the root of all languages. What do you think?

Purim: Mordechai and Esther, The Rebel and The "Sleeper"

One of the great things about the Hebrew language is that pretty much every single combination of two or three letters can be understood as words.

Waiting to hear the Megilla, the Scroll of Esther

Chaz"al, our sages, have been debating and discussing the meanings of the two most crucial names in Megillat Ester, Mordechai and Esther. Most claim that neither are actual Jewish/Hebrew names. Maybe it's a bit chutzpadik of me to add my two cents 2¢ to the discussion, but very learned teachers and friends do respect my opinions, so here goes:

Megillat Ester, Chapter 2, Verse 7זוַיְהִ֨י אֹמֵ֜ן אֶת־הֲדַסָּ֗ה הִ֤יא אֶסְתֵּר֙ Hadassah, that is Esther

I agree with those who say that the name Esther/Ester is Hebrew/Jewish, not a version of "star." It is derived from the Hebrew linguistic root  סתר, s, t, r, which means hide. In the megillah narrative, Esther is planted as a spy, a "sleeper," by her uncle Mordechai. In the line in which she is introduced to us, I don't think that the הדס hadas, myrtle plant is used as a noun, name of the bush.  The myrtle is a hardy, evergreen plant. The fact that in the megillah, it's written with a ה "h" at the end to make it feminine, I consider it an adjective. So I'd translate it as:

"strong/hardy is Esther"

We have some myrtle in our garden, and they thrive in the most difficult of weather. Yes, that is very much like Esther who rose so magnificently to the challenges she was faced with.

Mordechai is considered by most as a totally non-Jewish, non-Hebrew name. It is even suggested that he is the Navi, Prophet Malachi. But I see a Hebrew name very clearly. Actually, so did Haman. Haman accused Mordechai of being rebellious. And what is the meaning for the first three Hebrew letters in מָרְדֳּכַ֛י Mordechai?

מרד mered, rebellion

Now go over Megillat Ester with this new information. What do you think?

Chag Purim Sameach!

Israeli EFL has a Lot to Learn

This morning I posted about this topic more from the aspect of parents' responsibility to demand change. EFL Teaching in Israel, Sigh... Now I want to write about how the Israeli EFL teachers and the school administrations must demand change.

When I was teaching remedial English in a yeshiva high school I didn't expect my students to know much in terms of basic language skills, but when I started getting regular and even top English groups I was really horrified. There were almost no actual English speakers in these groups; they were the elite, the success stories of the system. And not only were they above average in English, but they were supposedly good or excellent students in other subjects, especially, those to do with Hebrew.

The standard, non-remedial, English curriculum expects/demands that the students write compositions in the 9th grade, if not earlier. One of the early chapters in the book from which I taught aimed to make the students aware of the difference between fact and opinion, objective and subjective. I was very excited by the high level and relative sophistication of this text book. But then I was shocked and rather devastated to discover that:

• They hadn't a clue as to how to write a composition.
• They had no idea of what the concept of "objective" meant.

That was just the beginning of my disillusion. I "reported" the problems to the administration and was brushed off.

Me: "How can it be that my top 9th grade students can't write compositions in Hebrew when they need them for English already?"
Boss: "Don't worry. They will learn how in the 12th grade for their Hebrew Composition Bagrut."
Me: "Duh?"

Then I discovered that even these "top" students barely understood the brilliantly simple and logical Hebrew grammar, which is easily divided into active and passive verbs and even adjectives. My horror only grew. These unfortunates had to learn Hebrew grammar from yours truly. So I tried a different "campaign."

If you want the students to do better in English, improve their Hebrew Language skills. 

For that idea, I was basically persona non grata.

The English Department in the Education Ministry also noticed the low level of basic language skills, including how your typical Israeli student has been learning literature. But, unlike my suggestion that this be remedied in their native tongue, the English Department has developed a curriculum that mimics an English language country. They pretend to be in "New Jersey."

You don't have to be a PhD, or maybe it helps not to be, in Linguistic Pedagogy to know that language skills, grammar, literature, composition etc are most easily taught, learned and kept in the brain when it's done in one's native tongue. When these things are taught in native tongue, then they internalized and are easily transferred to foreign languages. But the opposite isn't true. If someone learns these skills in a foreign language, they usually stay in that part of the brain. You'd be totally horrified to know what percentage of my students insisted that "there's no passive in Hebrew."

I titled this post as "Israeli EFL has a Lot to Learn," because there is something very crucial that the heads of the Israeli EFL bureaucracy must learn, and that's Hebrew. They must raise their Hebrew to a level in which they can enter the regular Hebrew-language system and teach all of their wonderful ideas and language skills in Hebrew to teachers and students.

Then the EFL departments can do what they should be doing, teach English.

אֱמֶת Emmet, The Only Truth

It's rather ironic that although my written Hebrew is awful, I see, hear and think about Hebrew linguistics a lot.  Most people are rather surprised at my grasp of Hebrew linguistics and the meanings I find in words.

The word אמת  emmet, truth, written without Hebrew vowels, unlike the way I wrote it in this post's title, can mean something which really is the emmet, truth.  That is אמות amute I will die.  The actual Hebrew root for die is מ ו ת which has a "ו" but the "ו" is dropped in some of the conjugations of the verb, such as past tense.

It may sound a bit strange, but the only certainty in life is that we will one day die.

Why is death so on my mind today?  That's because it's Israel's Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day. After two totally mesmerizing moving ceremonies, last night and this morning, all I can do is think of the victims, those dead from Arab terror or war. 

After seeing and hearing and talking to all the parents, spouses, siblings, children, grandchildren, grandparents, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends (did I leave anyone out?) of the dead how can anything other than death be on my mind?

They may not be among the living, but they certainly cast a long shadow on us and our lives.

In the speeches, it was clear that time doesn't heal the pain.  Everyone I spoke to afterwards agreed that each year it gets harder.  The mourning comes in waves.

From the comments on my One of The Very Best Things About Israel  and the comments on facebook about the post, I see that not everyone agrees with me that it's good to combine Independence Day with Memorial Day.  I treasure the fact that I'm taking intense memories of the dead with me to the celebrations.  I don't think it is good to just celebrate our independence.  It's too much like those who think that all you have to do is "write a check" to buy something and don't realize that the check must be covered by money in the bank.

It's important to realize the cost of something, and that includes the State of Israel.  Our country isn't just a money budget.  We've invested many lives in building it.

We are Jews, יהודים Yihudim. In the word יהודי yihudi Jew we can find the להודות lihodote, to thank, and we must thank G-d and all of those who gave their lives for the defense of the State of Israel and the Jewish People.

And tonight we will celebrate the G-d given victory...

חג העצמאות שמח

Chag Ha'Atzmaut Same'ach

Happy Independence Day