Sponsored by Sharona and Josh Halickman in Honor of their 16th
Wedding Anniversary
Living in
we get used to speaking Hebrew. After a while, we begin to take the Hebrew
language for granted. Of course there is a Hebrew word for bicycle, doll, ice
cream and laundry but how many of these words are originally from the Torah?
Let’s take laundry for example. Nobody likes it (except for
the Laundromats, Dry Cleaners, appliance stores and detergent companies) but
everyone has to do it.
The word for laundry in Hebrew is “kvisa”. Where does the
word originate from? Believe it or not the words “yichaves begadav”, “he shall
wash his clothing” are mentioned often in the Torah especially in relation to ritual
purity.
In Parshat Chukat, Bamidbar 19:7-8 we see that both the
Kohen as well as the person who burns the red cow should wash their clothing.
A Laundromat in Modern Hebrew is a Michbasa. Both kvisa and
michbasa come from the biblical word “yichaves”.
We have Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922) to thank for reviving
the Hebrew language.
Ben Yehuda felt that whatever words he could find in the
Torah he would use for Modern Hebrew and whatever he could not find in the
Torah he would create by borrowing words from other languages.
Ben Yehuda insisted on giving his children Hebrew names as
well as only speaking Hebrew to them. Although they were first looked at as
outcasts (since the religious community felt that he was not being respectful
to the Jewish religion by taking words from the Torah), eventually some of his
friends joined him in speaking Hebrew and helped him develop Modern Hebrew as
we know it today.
One of my students in a
me that her father was friends with Eliezer Ben Yehuda. When she was born, her
father tried to give her a Modern Hebrew name and when he was called up to the
Torah for her naming, the Gabbai insisted that she be named a more traditional
name, Sara so she ended up with two names (Adina Sara). Today, thanks to the
work that their generation did to develop Modern Hebrew, names like Adina are
very common, almost as common as Sara was one hundred years ago and now many
Israelis choose to give their children names which are even more modern,
actually just words such as Tal (dew) or Shaked (almond).
Thanks to Eiezer Ben Yehuda we were able to revive and
continue to revive the Hebrew language. As technology continues to advance,
there will always be more words that will need to be created.
When you speak Hebrew, even doing your laundry becomes holy!
