Counting the uncountable

the light of 12 Tishrei 5781

The Hubble spacecraft took this pic on its 28th "birthday" in 2018. Can you find all the stars here?

 Since Israel came back into existence as a nation in its designated land, the Hebrew language we use has been discussed, with both praise and criticism, by people everywhere since the days of Eliezer ben Yehuda (who is credited with bringing it back "from the dead"). Here is a smattering of the current conversation in English:

Why is Ivrit not considered an artificial language? | Does Modern Hebrew/Israeli count as a constructed language? | How Yiddish influenced Modern Hebrew | An overview of the Hebrew language (Wikipedia) | 

(I wish I could see an article by someone more familiar with Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) or Judeo-Arabic.)

Remember where it comes from. Hebrew is one of the "classical" languages that used to be studied in the West along with an ancient form of Greek, and Latin. Easterners may have studied Arabic, Sanskrit, and others. Hebrew is a deep language with lots of meaning for those who give it the respect it deserves, even in its modern form. 

As a non-native speaker with over 50 years of a foreign language (this one, that I'm using right now) prior to my move to Yerushalayim, after my time in Hebrew language school (called ulpan, which is an Aramaic word), I could read and understand parts of the Book of Genesis (Bereshith - really ancient Hebrew there) easily. Not so with Old English, which is not nearly as old as Biblical Hebrew (which we call lashon hakodesh, the holy tongue). Native speakers and people who spent a greater percentage of their lives learning it, of course, understand it far better than I.

But I am not completely language-illiterate. I am still working on making my spoken Hebrew more fluent. I learned Spanish as a high-schooler and college student way-back-when, and became more fluent and literate later; also, to a lesser extent, I learned some Russian in high school. Upon reflection later, I realized that this reflected my dual Jewish background as both Sephardia and Ashkenazia. No Orthodox synagogues nearby, therefore no available Hebrew education for me!

For about a year recently, I attended "seminar" (a borrowed word used for the women's equivalent of a yeshiva) with a group of Spanish-speaking women, of varying ages and was thus prompted to revive my own Spanish, and I became fluent again, even more so, BC (before "corona"). So I am used to thinking of the words I use in different ways other than my first language.

Turning back to Hebrew, I have found that I could find meanings in old words that don't seem to appear in these discussions. The process is ongoing, and I've only just begun.

Here is only one example of defining a Hebrew word that even highly learned scholars (mostly non-Jews) have missed completely: limnót למנות, to count, is the infinitive, from which I'd like to look at several forms over the course of time, be"H, b"n (with the help of G-d, and I'm not vowing - that's a very serious matter Biblically.).

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UPDATE: I have a debt to pay here: I had forgotten to give credit for this idea where credit is due, until the day after I posted this article. The class above that I had attended was actually a return to an old class I had attended 10 years ago, but it was an English program for the most part then, until the pause in my journey there, as the Spanish program was starting up.

Machon Roni was the place in the Old City of Yerushalayim, where the Spanish program continues, and Rabbanit Mollie Goldstein was my teacher, both 10 years ago and in the last year or so before corona. 

We were studying the book of Bereshith, where the first mention of limnót למנות occurs in parashath VaYetze, as a noun. It is where Ya'acov Avinu accuses Lavan of changing his wages 10 moním (where the usual word for times would be pa'amím) - we learned that each mon does not refer to a single instance, but multiple. I hope to go into more detail when the parashah comes around again this year, be"H, b"n.

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Here it is, from the Book of Psalms: 

Tehillim 147:4 (Sefaria)

We're not going to go over the entire verse; it's more than I'd planned on writing this time around. 

The first word (on the far right), monéh, is actually the third person singular present tense (Sefaria translates the entire verse in the past tense. I prefer more the translation in my favorite Psalms book, also in both languages, that, in present tense, says: He counts the number of the stars; to all of them does He give names. It is more literally correct...), just as the verses before and after it are. 

I think this may mean He constantly keeps a count of the stars — which is a lot more than we can do, even with our most sophisticated equipment. Here is more about the Hubble craft, which circles the earth and takes all its pictures (more than 1.3 million since 1990) from a low earth orbit (LEO).

For us it is enough to know that the usual word for counting, lispór לספור, is not being used here. As far as anyone in the world is concerned, even the most dedicated space scientists, we cannot count the number of the stars in space. Can we even count the stars in the Milky Way without missing one or more? 

Include the fact that stars are born and die, and that it takes a long time for us to see and note the occurrence, due to the "slowness" of the speed of light across the universe.

Has any medical researcher counted the exact number of cells in a given human being? Or do we make do with mere estimates?

 I could ask similar questions about the number of water molecules in each of the many types of clouds or earth molecules in a dust cloud, the number of insects in a swarm, the number of air molecules that enter our lungs with each breath. I believe it is highly likely that researchers in all fields would (and if not, they should) use the infinitive limnót rather than lispór to describe their acts of counting.

For us the stars are still uncountable, as are many other things; and there are even more uses for the infinitive and the words that come from it. That's why I define limnót למנות as "to count by moním" or "to count in terms of magnitude or uncountable quantities." Maybe H' counts the stars by galaxy? Who knows? I have no idea, but this is just to convey the magnitude of what, and how, we're counting whenever this word is used.

By the way, even the days of our lives are uncountable until they're over. That one's in Psalm 90:12. The infinitive limnot is the first word in the Hebrew verse. 

[I should note here that I don't hold responsibility for the English translations of these verses. I only provide them because I think it might make my readers (and me) more comfortable, with the caveat that we shouldn't rely on them to relay the true meaning of King David's prayers. This also applies to other parts of the Tana"kh as well.]

All this, and much more, points to the Kingship and magnificence of the One True G-d of the Universe. Only He can count the uncountable. Is there another language that expresses this, other than Hebrew?

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NOTE: I apologize for not finishing this essay before Yom haKippurim, let alone Rosh haShana. If I have offended anyone unnecessarily or caused stumbling by not updating parts of the blog on time (which I'm sure I did at some point), I beg forgiveness. I forgive others of the same. May we all be blessed and merit to see the coming of Mashiah in our days, with our very own eyes.

A world guided by the Seven Noahide Laws...think about the contrast between that and what's going on today.

24 Elul 5780

Click image to go to the source

In my last post I suggested that Jews really must discuss Noahide law and its place in the world.

Here is an excellent article I just found that should be read everywhere: A World Guided by the Seven Noahide Laws by Rabbi Yirmeyahu Bindman. May it be a beginning we can turn our aspirations to even before Mashiah is revealed.

Here's a taste...

It is well known that the Jewish faith does not seek to make converts, and so it is generally supposed that since the Jewish people do not want to make other people into Jews, they are happy just to leave them alone. 

The world is often very surprised to discover that the Jewish faith includes a complete provision for all non-Jews — regardless of race, social class or national origin — perfectly attuned to their needs, and deriving from the same source in Divine revelation through the prophecy of Moses, without any intermediary whatsoever. Only the true universal faith of the Jews continually offers something to those who are not its members, and this is its sign of authenticity.

This provision is known as the Noahide Laws. Though Adam and Eve, the first man and his wife, were commanded to observe them, the Laws emerged fully only after Noah had survived the flood that wiped away violent sinners whose wrongdoings had engulfed the world in his time. The ancestors of the Jewish people were also commanded to observe the Laws until they were given the whole Torah at Mount Sinai; they were then reaffirmed through Moses for all the other nations.

Their wisdom has been recognized by non Jews in modern times. In 1991, the U.S. Congress enacted a law recognizing their universal truths, stating, “... these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws.”

Regarding the last paragraph above, I had no idea that the US had already taken a look at the Laws, well before they made same-gender marriage a law of the land...Hmmm.

I'll be preparing for the New Year this week, so if I don't write again before then, I'm wishing all my faithful readers a Shanah Tovah uMevarechet | שנה טובה ומברכת

despite all the illness and lockdowns, violence and basic lawlessness going on in the world around us today.

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BUT BEFORE I GO...this includes people from ALL religions and nations. I am thinking now of the Arabs who supposedly want to make peace with Israel, starting with the United Arab Emirates and continuing with the nations "lining up" to make peace with us. One thing must be clear: ANY nation that wants to make peace with Israel must renounce any nation that continues to act belligerently with her — including the "Palestinians"! They cannot "have their cake and eat it too."

Otherwise, I will assume that these nations are playing fast and loose with us, faking the whole thing until they can make war on us. I expect, indeed, DEMAND, that any human being who considers him- and herself decent, whether Jew or non-Jew, do the same and act accordingly. 

No compromising on this issue from me: Despite what you have heard or read, we, the Jews of Israel, are the beleaguered ones here. We have come to our ancestral homeland. Every single one who calls us thieves is a thief himself and herself, and conspires with thieves to steal, not only our land, but our very lives as well. The very land itself bears witness, with fires burning it down coming from the palestinians from Gaza (which is ours, too, by the way, under their occupation — or that of Iran).

Almost a thousand years ago, our beloved sage Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, known as Rashi, knew that we would be called thieves when we returned, and commented on it in Bereshith Alef (Genesis 1) of the Torah (the Holy Bible to the vast majority of those who have one — you will have to look that up in a Jewish version with commentaries; look for Rashi specifically. Or, you can look here.The print is rather small, but most will be able to enlarge it onscreen.).

The Arab League, in which most of these nations take part, was founded back in March 1945, before the end of WWII the following September. On 29 May 1964 the League created two Palestinian organizations: the first, the Palestinian National Council, which then gave birth to the second, the Palestinian Liberation Organization the following week (2 June) to replace Israel with a Palestinian state by "ending the occupation" (read: get rid of the Jews and their state). 

(That rabbit hole has an end: see the sad story of Jessica Krug. I hope she gets to do teshuva, please G-d. There may be more like her, who cancelled their real Jewish identities their whole lives in response to the Jew-hatred they experienced. But now I've gone off the deep end as far as this article is concerned.)

The League hopes that the Internet doesn't remember that their ultimate goal is to finish off the State of Israel. You'll have to "page down" 3 or 4 times to see this source. As of today they (David Bedein (Israel Behind the News) cites the UAE as an example here) have not denounced this strategy. 

UPDATE: I received David Bedein's interview with Avi Abelow of Pulse of Israel after posting my article. MUST WATCH.

We have to be ultra-careful and firm about our own interests when dealing with our "cousins" in the Middle East. Or else, G-d forbid, we may be accomplices in our own murder as a nation, G-d forbid!!! And that would not please Avraham Avinu very much, let alone Noach, and less Moshe Rabbenu, and much less the Creator who made them all, may they be blessed, without any aspect of curse.

Have a Good, Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year 5781 | שנה ה'תשע"א טובה, שמחה, בריאה ומבורכת

Israel's Health Ministry gets request for recount of coronavirus cases...er, I mean deaths!

 21 Elul 5780

Apparently the Knesset Coronavirus Committee has been actually overseeing things and thinking about what they've been observing and investigating. Surprised? I am. 

The following was published at Arutz-7 yesterday (emphases mine):

The Coronavirus Committee has found that in every death reported in Israel in which the deceased was found to have been carrying the coronavirus, COVID-19 was listed as the primary cause of death.

This was true regardless of whether the deceased had died from other serious illnesses – ranging from heart disease to cancer to Alzheimer’s – and was merely a carrier of the virus, the committee found.

Experts say at least 30% of the fatalities listed as being caused by the coronavirus were actually primarily caused by something other than COVID-19.

Following the revelation, MK Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid), who sits on the Knesset’s Coronavirus Committee, is joining 120 physicians and scientists in calling on the Prime Minister, Health Minister, and Israel’s Coronavirus Czar to reassess the country’s coronavirus death count.

“For the past five months, we in the Coronavirus Committee have felt that something is off, as if someone isn’t showing us all of the statistics and the whole truth,” said Razvozov.

“Today we understand that the whole method for counting victims of the coronavirus is fundamentally flawed. This is scandalous behavior by the Health Ministry, which directly affects the government’s decisions, leading us over and over again to lockdowns and to the destruction of the Israeli economy. Even Israel’s position in the international community as a red or green state has been influenced by these statistics, which directly affect flights, tourism, and trade with Israel.”

“I call on the Prime Minister and the Health Ministry to seriously address this request and to conduct a recount and reappraisal of the general situation including the number of coronavirus deaths. The current policies are very destructive and are leading to unnecessary panic and are hurting the country in a wide number of areas.”

 Read more here!

My comment to the KCC: Bravo! It's about time. Even though the whole world is wrapped up in making decisions based on wrong premises just like the ones you've found here, you are helping Israel wake up to the possibility that we might be able to survive without exaggerating the corona crisis here, and without putting large parts of the population under house arrest "for our own good" to the point of making the whole country unable to avoid the crash — both medical and economic. My blessing is that you keep going and get to the bottom of it all!

And make sure the sectors the government has been discriminating against (haredim...) with regard to extreme measures such as lockdowns benefit from this along with the rest of us, please. 

Thank you in advance.