gth@erc3ba.UUCP (A.Y.Feldblum) (08/05/85)
The Dvar Torah project will be returning to net.religion.jewish. After a
summer vacation (not mine, just people in general), I hope to get the
Dvar Torah project back up and running in the next few weeks. For those
new to n.r.j or those who missed it the first time around, this is an
effort by several people to post a weekly comment on the Torah Reading
for that week. I have been co-ordinating the effort, which consists
mainly in trying to make sure we have someone posting something each
week. There is no moderation involved, each person posts whatever they
wish. If there are any people out there that are interested in joining
the effort, or any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me
at : {allegra, ihnp4}!pruxa!ayf (or pruxc!ayf). The return path of
this message (erc3ba!gth) is also forwarded to me.
Avi Feldblum
AT&T Tech. - ERC
uucp: {allegra, ihnp4}!{pruxa, pruxc}!ayf or
!erc3ba!gth
Just to make sure it starts up again, here's a short Dvar Torah on last
weeks Parsha.
Last week's Parsha(portion) contains the chapter of Shema, one
of the few portions of the Torah (Five Books of the Torah) to be
incorporated into the daily prayer. It is a central part of the
Tfilah(prayer), recited twice a day. During periods of persecution, it
was often the last words spoken by many of our martyred brethren. What
is so central about these verses? The first verse is:
Hear, Oh Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One.
In a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll), the last letters of the first word
(Ayin in Shema) and last word (Daled in Echod) are written larger than
the rest of the letters in the Torah. These two letters spell the word
"Aid", which means witness. We are the witnesses for Hashem, as He
tells us in Isaiah 43,10 - You are My witnesses. We as a people stand as
witness that there is one true God in the world. It is for this
statement that we have suffered for generations.
But there is also a hope for the future in the verse. Rashi
explains the repetition of the name of Hashem as follows: Hashem who is
now our God, and not the God of the nations of the world, He will be in
the future- Hashem is One. There is a promise that the time will come
when all nations and people will acknowledge His kingship. Other
commentators (Klai Yakar, Ketav Sofer) explain that now we see things
happening in the world that appears to either good or evil, and we
cannot see how it is all part of a divine whole, but in the time of the
world to come, we will see that 'Hashem is One' - all actions are part
of his divine will.
Thus in just this one verse, we have a mirror to both the ages
od persecution and thousands who have died as witnesses to the truth of
Hashem, as well as an assurance that sometime in the future the Oneness
of Hashem will be known in the world.slerner@sesame.UUCP (Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner) (08/08/85)
> > The Dvar Torah project will be returning to net.religion.jewish. After a > summer vacation (not mine, just people in general), I hope to get the > Dvar Torah project back up and running in the next few weeks. > of Hashem will be known in the world. Hip-Hip-Horay!!! (Can't wait :-) -- Opinions expressed are public domain, and do not belong to Lotus Development Corp. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!slerner {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!slerner slerner%sesame@harvard.ARPA
martillo@csd2.UUCP (Joachim Martillo) (08/08/85)
Just an observation on martyrdom and witness. Martyros in Greek is a literal translation of `ed meaning witness. I do not offhand believe biblical Hebrew `ed has the same connotation as modern English martyr. Interestingly enough, the `Arabic shahid is the word for witness and means martyr somewhat but of course the death in this case occurs while battling to subjugate the infidel.
teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (08/15/85)
> > > > The Dvar Torah project will be returning to net.religion.jewish. After a > > summer vacation (not mine, just people in general), I hope to get the > > Dvar Torah project back up and running in the next few weeks. > > of Hashem will be known in the world. > > Hip-Hip-Horay!!! > I heard in jewish history class a few years ago, that HIP stands for Jeusalem is subjugated ( or something similar ) and that it was the Romans victory cheer upon returning to Rome. Hardly a phrase to be used by Jews. Eliyahu Teitz.
wkp@lanl.ARPA (08/16/85)
> I heard in jewish history class a few years ago, that HIP stands for > Jeusalem is subjugated ( or something similar ) and that it was the Romans > victory cheer upon returning to Rome. Hardly a phrase to be used by Jews. > Eliyahu Teitz. References? Let's not scold someone else publicly until we make an attempt to investigate the etymological or philological sources. The word "hip" appears to be from Old English, where there are many variants of the word [Oxford English Dictionary], but the use of the exclamatory "hip" as in "hip-hip-horay" has an UNKNOWN etymology [e.g., Webster's 3rd international dictionary]. In addition, none of the Romance languages have this form, thereby indicating a non- Roman origin. According to Roman historians, the Roman soldiers came into Rome shouting "Iudaea capta!" [Judaea is conquered!]. This phrase was also coined on Roman coinage of that period. A misunderstanding might have arisen from the fact that many captive Jews died in the Roman "hippodrome". But in this case, the word has a Greek origin (ippo=horse, dromos=course) which is why many horse and chariot races were conducted in these ampitheatres. Another possibility is that the Roman greeting "eho, heus!" which Roman soldiers may have used upon returning to their friends may have been translated in some very old English books as "Hip!" which is equivalent to the modern English "Hey!" In any case, there is no evidence for Eliyahu's contention, and I believe that Jews can use the phrase "hip-hip-horay" with impunity. -- bill peter ihnp4!lanl!wkp
am@vilya.UUCP (MALEK) (08/20/85)
> > Hip-Hip-Horay!!! > > I heard in jewish history class a few years ago, that HIP stands for > Jeusalem is subjugated ( or something similar ) and that it was the Romans > victory cheer upon returning to Rome. Hardly a phrase to be used by Jews. > Eliyahu Teitz. You are referring to hep, which is the abbreviation of hierosolyma es perdita (or something like that), which means "Jerusalem is lost", an expression of grief by Christians, probably referring to their defeat in the crusades. It was used as a buzz-word in many pogroms and deserves its place of notoriety in Jewish history. Unless you can show an etymological relation between hip and hep, we must assume that the two are unrelated. I stand ready to be corrected. -- Avi Malek @ATT Bell Labs Parsippany, NJ
martillo@csd2.UUCP (Joachim Martillo) (08/20/85)
Original article follows. Eliyahu Teitz is somewhat more correct than Bill Peters. Eliyahu is referring to the Hep!Hep! riots of 1819. Hep is a Crusader rallying-cry in Europe and later an accusation accusation of Jewish collaboration with Salah ad-Din and the Ottomans in general. HEP stands for Hierosolyma Est Perdita (Jerusalem is lost). The Hep!Hep! riots took place in Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Bayreuth, Karlsruhe, Duesseldorf, Heidelberg, Wurzburg and Copenhagen. Expulsions took place in Wurzburg and throughout Franken (Franconia), Schwaben (Swabia) and Bayern (Bavaria). Whether hip and hep are related is unclear. I have seen attempts to relate hip, hip, hurrah (earlier hip, hip, huzzah) to hep, hep oyez. Oyez is Norman French for hear ye (imperative plural) still used in some courts. Oyez is pronounced o-yez or o-yey (rhyming with they). The arguments are not incredibly persuasive. /* csd2:net.religion.jewish / wkp@lanl.ARPA / 12:46 pm Aug 16, 1985 */ > I heard in jewish history class a few years ago, that HIP stands for > Jeusalem is subjugated ( or something similar ) and that it was the Romans > victory cheer upon returning to Rome. Hardly a phrase to be used by Jews. > Eliyahu Teitz. References? Let's not scold someone else publicly until we make an attempt to investigate the etymological or philological sources. The word "hip" appears to be from Old English, where there are many variants of the word [Oxford English Dictionary], but the use of the exclamatory "hip" as in "hip-hip-horay" has an UNKNOWN etymology [e.g., Webster's 3rd international dictionary]. In addition, none of the Romance languages have this form, thereby indicating a non- Roman origin. According to Roman historians, the Roman soldiers came into Rome shouting "Iudaea capta!" [Judaea is conquered!]. This phrase was also coined on Roman coinage of that period. A misunderstanding might have arisen from the fact that many captive Jews died in the Roman "hippodrome". But in this case, the word has a Greek origin (ippo=horse, dromos=course) which is why many horse and chariot races were conducted in these ampitheatres. Another possibility is that the Roman greeting "eho, heus!" which Roman soldiers may have used upon returning to their friends may have been translated in some very old English books as "Hip!" which is equivalent to the modern English "Hey!" In any case, there is no evidence for Eliyahu's contention, and I believe that Jews can use the phrase "hip-hip-horay" with impunity. -- bill peter ihnp4!lanl!wkp /* ---------- */
martillo@csd2.UUCP (Joachim Martillo) (08/20/85)
Original article follows. Eliyahu Teitz is somewhat more correct than Bill Peters. Eliyahu is referring to the Hep!Hep! riots of 1819. Hep is a Crusader rallying-cry in Europe and later an accusation of Jewish collaboration with Salah ad-Din and the Ottomans in general. HEP stands for Hierosolyma Est Perdita (Jerusalem is lost). The Hep!Hep! riots took place in Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Bayreuth, Karlsruhe, Duesseldorf, Heidelberg, Wurzburg and Copenhagen. Expulsions took place in Wurzburg and throughout Franken (Franconia), Schwaben (Swabia) and Bayern (Bavaria). Whether hip and hep are related is unclear. I have seen attempts to relate hip, hip, hurrah (earlier hip, hip, huzzah) to hep, hep oyez. Oyez is Norman French for hear ye (imperative plural) still used in some courts. Oyez is pronounced o-yez or o-yey (rhyming with they). The arguments are not incredibly persuasive. /* csd2:net.religion.jewish / wkp@lanl.ARPA / 12:46 pm Aug 16, 1985 */ > I heard in jewish history class a few years ago, that HIP stands for > Jeusalem is subjugated ( or something similar ) and that it was the Romans > victory cheer upon returning to Rome. Hardly a phrase to be used by Jews. > Eliyahu Teitz. References? Let's not scold someone else publicly until we make an attempt to investigate the etymological or philological sources. The word "hip" appears to be from Old English, where there are many variants of the word [Oxford English Dictionary], but the use of the exclamatory "hip" as in "hip-hip-horay" has an UNKNOWN etymology [e.g., Webster's 3rd international dictionary]. In addition, none of the Romance languages have this form, thereby indicating a non- Roman origin. According to Roman historians, the Roman soldiers came into Rome shouting "Iudaea capta!" [Judaea is conquered!]. This phrase was also coined on Roman coinage of that period. A misunderstanding might have arisen from the fact that many captive Jews died in the Roman "hippodrome". But in this case, the word has a Greek origin (ippo=horse, dromos=course) which is why many horse and chariot races were conducted in these ampitheatres. Another possibility is that the Roman greeting "eho, heus!" which Roman soldiers may have used upon returning to their friends may have been translated in some very old English books as "Hip!" which is equivalent to the modern English "Hey!" In any case, there is no evidence for Eliyahu's contention, and I believe that Jews can use the phrase "hip-hip-horay" with impunity. -- bill peter ihnp4!lanl!wkp /* ---------- */
michaelm@3comvax.UUCP (Michael McNeil) (08/21/85)
> > > > Hip-Hip-Horay!!! > > > > I heard in jewish history class a few years ago, that HIP stands for > Jeusalem is subjugated ( or something similar ) and that it was the Romans > victory cheer upon returning to Rome. Hardly a phrase to be used by Jews. > > > Eliyahu Teitz. The *American Heritage Dictionary* reads as follows: hip[4] (hip) *interj*. Used as a cheer or a signal for a cheer: *Hip, hip, hurrah!* [Origin uncertain.] I'm not a Jew, but the origin of this phrase doesn't seem settled to me. -- Michael McNeil
ecl@mtgzz.UUCP (e.c.leeper) (08/26/85)
(From THE SOURCE, so possibly not true, but...) HEP: Hierosolyma est perdita (Jerusalem is lost), a cry used during the pogroms to signify Jerusalem's loss to Christianity (to the Moslems, one might add, not to the Jews), *not* its capture by Crusaders or any such. (Page 897 of the Fawcett paperback version.) Evelyn C. Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl