Simple Hebrew words that are central in Judaism but often totally misunderstood

Modern Hebrew is built after European languages and typically won’t help

We must ‘revolutionize’ Orthodox Judaism. I don’t mean to change it, but to return to what we were told. Let’s dust off our Hebrew and shake off confusions, which are, no doubt, the result of our dispersion. Don’t blame the Rabbis or Judaism if you dislike what I write. Many are just my ideas.

Who is Who—Biblical Hebrew Word Order

Beyond words, let us first look at word order. Modern Hebrew, as I will mention below again, is shaped after modern English languages. Ego-enlarging as they seem to be, they have the subject come before the verb. I walked. Biblical Hebrew tries to keep us humble and generally finds the act (walking) more important than the one who does the action. Walked I.

The Torah says HaAdam Eitz HaSadey, literally, the human [is a] tree of the field. This makes no sense like that. And since G^d gave us the Torah to teach us, when it doesn’t make sense at all, we must have mistranslated it.

A cow is an animal; an animal is (not always) a cow. Word order matters. The verse simply means, The wild (fruit) tree is [like] the human. That can be intelligible and mean that each individual tree is unique. Treat it as if irreplaceable. You can’t just cut those down like you can’t just kill people.

לב Confessions—The Unemotional, Aware Heart

When we confess our sins, we regret our own misbehavior, the misdeeds we (helped) cause(d) in others, and the faults of all other Jews and people. As much as it must keep us aware of what is sinful, it must help us change ourselves, the ones we could influence directly, and humanity as a whole.

When we confess, we bang our chests on top of where our hearts are. Yet, the heart in classical Hebrew thought is not the seat of our feelings or love (‘With all my heart’) but the seat of our awareness (‘Lasim lev’)!

להתפלל To Pray—To a Therapist Who Believes in You

Jews pray to help us keep the course and move ourselves to betterment. G^d is our Therapist. Just imagine talking to a therapist to move him to make our lives better. As long as you try to change your therapist, you have no idea what therapy is for. The ones who, first of all, need to hear our prayers are we ourselves. G^d already decided how to help our lives. His listening ear is there to help us shape up and meet our challenges. G^d already knows us and our wishes and loves us deeply. Trying to appease or beseech G^d in prayer is idolatry, an attempt to please hostile, angry idols.

עליון Above—Or Beyond

Why does the Torah harp on idolatry? It should only have Commandments valid at all times. How important is idolatry today, in everyday life?

My answer is that the Injunction against making an image of G^d is most actual now too. G^d isn’t a judge, king, or father, nor has an outstretched hand or breathing nostrils. Rather, we cannot relate to something beyond the physical. (Even a vacuum is in the physical world.) So, to help us, the Torah and our Prayers use these nouns, but our Daily Main Prayer directly lets us say He’s beyond, followed by seven verbs of what G^d does. Seven is the number of weekdays and stands for our mundane, earthly lives.

אחד One—The One Who Came First

Echad in Biblical Hebrew often means not One but the First. This can be the first in time, first in importance, or the prime place.

What does G^d is Echad mean? 1. One, unlike as in polytheism. 2. One as in unique, only. 3. One as an indivisible unit without separate parts. 4. And think of our opening paragraph on word order! It means One (only) is G^d.

Yet, most prominently, Echad also means the First. As our Prayerbook makes us sing, ‘He’s First, there’s no Second.’ How can He be the First, if there is no other, perish the thought? It means, He preceded Creation!

ברוך Blessings—That Aren’t

The Hebrew baruch doesn’t mean blessed. How could we bless G^d?! It means Source of all blessings. Jewish Blessings acknowledge, declare G^d as Creat^r and Owner. After that, He agrees we partake of His abundance.

אמן\שמע Prayers—That Aren’t

When we say Amen, we declare that we agree and hope so. It’s not a (silent) prayer to G^d. It must be said out loud. When we mumble it, it sounds as if we disagree, as if we say, Sure, whatever—Heaven forbid.

When we say the Shema’, we don’t pray. We declare to all Jews a belief and trust we have or should have in G^d as the Source of everything. We might even overhear ourselves, especially when we are part of ‘all Jews.’

לחם Eating—The Bread that Isn’t

The normal word for bread in modern Hebrew is Lechem. That’s confusing! A bread in the Bible is pat or kikar. Lechem there means food. Now, the staple of human food is bread. Therefore, we acknowledge the Source of all food at the start of a meal over bread. But we don’t say, He makes the bread come from the ground. It’s the food He brings forth. (White bread is junk food, so it may be better to make this blessing over nutricious bread.)

אתה\אתם Bible—The Plural and the Singular Reversed

When the Torah talks to the Jews in the plural, the meaning is: each of you, not: all of you. And when we are addressed in the singular, the meaning is: you as a collective, the whole People, not you personally.

So, a singular ‘Don’t you murder’ means that as a Nation and a community, we must stop murder. A plural ‘Don’t you murder’ means you each must not murder. This is the very opposite of what a superficial reading tells us.

אדם Adam—Was Only Human

Adam is generally translated as man. But man is related to mental, smart, intellect. Yet, adam is related to adamah, humus, soil. The corresponding, humbling English word for adam is human, which too is related to humus.

משכבי אשה Sexuality—The Absent Women

When the Torah forbids intercourse with a man, it’s not talking to women. Neither are homosexual men addressed as that would be absurd. G^d isn’t cruel, perish the thought, to create one million Jewish men and half a billion Gentile men needing a man ‘to become one flesh,’ but who should stay celibate. That violates all Judaism stands for. The Torah itself labels all Commandments are doable. It tells men not to seek intercourse with a man as with a woman. But men interested in a male partner don’t try to imitate heterosexual sexuality. Women are not on their minds at all. The Torah only (but sternly) forbids Straight men’s ’emergency homosexuality,’ for them fake sex that enslaves them. How can anyone believe that people could have composed something so insightful into the human psyche, 3,000 years ago, when sexual orientation wasn’t thought of, and pleasure was pleasure?! No one in the world thought any man having sex with a Straight man would be bad! But, explains the Talmud, it leads him astray!

על\ב Locations—Misplaced Positions 

The Torah uses ‘Al for spread out over, opposite, or close to. Generally, unlike modern Hebrew, it doesn’t mean Upon since only G^d is upon.

Modern Hebrew uses the prefix B- to indicate inside, but the Hebrew Bible uses B- for upon. BeHar Sinai means upon Mount Sinai, not in. ‘Al haYe’or means next to the canal. ‘Al Har Grizim means opposite Mount Grizim. As all who watched Apollo fights know, G^d is BaShamayim, above the sky.

י\נו Whose—Relationally, Not Possessively

My car is possessive, but not so my child, my partner, my rabbi, or my G^d. These are relational. ‘Elokeinu means our G^d, the all-powerful G^d we pray to, Who knows and loves us and wakes over us. We don’t own Him. We are His People and He is our G^d. We’re connected in love.

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