A-Z OF JEWISH VALUES -

L FOR LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE: VALUE OR VEHICLE?

Chaverim – friends – I’ve decided to address you as chaverim using the Hebrew word for friends because it makes more sense in this context. My theme today is language and the respective roles of Hebrew and English in our Jewish lives.

Chaverim is a profoundly expressive word. Most appropriate in this context because it has a double meaning: chaver (chaverah, feminine singular) also means member. Chaver Knesset is the Israeli equivalent of an MP.

Hebrew words are built up largely on 3 letter roots, and chaver comes from a root meaning to be bound together. Friends are linked with bonds of friendship, members with a common bond to achieve certain purposes.

So chaver is a friend, in Ashkenazi it’s pronounced chover, and it entered Australian English slang as kobber.

This isn’t a sermon; I prefer the word drashah. Derashah comes from the root darash, to dig out; digging out meaning, hence enquiry, learning. When a synagogue is used for learning purposes it’s called a beth midrash, or beis midrash sometimes pronounced medrash (I don’t know why) but it’s the same word and concept as the Muslim schools we’ve been hearing a lot about recently – medrasas.

Speaking personally I much prefer Hebrew titles for what goes on in schule. Shammas instead of beadle, Parnassim instead of Wardens. And instead of congregation – Kehillah

The name of ours is Sha’ar Zion, the Gate of Zion which in itself points towards the use of Hebrew. My predecessor Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin who is an Israeli, tried to promote the use of Sha’ar Zion, but the English tradition of naming a schule after a street is so entrenched that it never caught on at Jacksons Row. It’s worth remembering that we are Sha’ar Zion however.

If you say we are the chaverim of kehillat Sha’ar Zion everyone will know what you mean.

I’m finding it more common within a Shul context that when new ventures start up people want to choose Hebrew names for them. There is Mapah our young adults group. Mapah has a double meaning: tablecloth – indicating social get-togethers, and also map – Mapah’s initials standing for Manchester Progressive Havurah certainly puts the group on the map.

And our new and very successful social group is called Revva. Revva means a quarter and the aim was to meet at least at quarterly intervals during the year.

Remember our Shul magazine too called Hadashot – meaning news. And it is good news, Chadashot tovot.

Language is a most important value in Reform Judaism because from its inception we have expanded the use of the vernacular in services. Kaddish of course has always been in the vernacular! Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew was the lingua franca of the Middle East, and is the predominant language of the Talmud from which the kaddish stems.

Relatively recently, language has become a hot subject because of the need for greater inclusivity.

Controversy has arisen over whether to have transliterated texts (that means Hebrew in phonetics) in our new Siddur is one issue. It’s an issue of inclusivity, because the aim is to have as many people as possible involved and participating. Not everyone can read Hebrew. For the benefit of those who can’t, a text with the Hebrew words in English letters will be provided in italics alongside the Hebrew.

It isn’t an easy question. It has been hotly debated in the Siddur Editorial Committee on which I serve. Will it detract from the traditional text, will it be offputting, will it give people an excuse for not learning to read Hebrew? Or will it help, as it does so often in Kaddish.

The key principle is that you shouldn’t feel left out if you don’t know Hebrew. –

The Hassidim of old were wise to this when they introduced Niggunim - songs without words. The Ribono shel Olam, the Master of the Universe doesn’t need words, but rather the whole heart. Better to sing la-la-la with feeling (kavvanah) than mouth words which are meaningless to you, they taught. Niggunim are coming back into services all over the world not just for this reason but because they have an enchantment of their own.

There’s also the question of gender inclusive language. We have had this for years now in our mahzorim for the Festivals. One of the reasons for having a new Siddur is to bring the language into conformity with the Machzor. The next stage in this process will be the High Holidays machzor. Or should I say the machzor for the Yom Tovim, or the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe.

It’s still a controversial issue.

The theological point behind it is that God is neither male nor female. We do use human language to address God and speak about God but that it because we want to express a personal relationship with the divine.

Behind all these debates there is a fundamental divide. The divide is between those who see language as a Value, and those who regard it as a Vehicle.

There is a spectrum of opinion between these two poles. At the one extreme, those who see language as an Absolute Value will say that Hebrew is the sacred language of prayer; one should pray in Hebrew and not any other language – and whether you understand it or not is immaterial.

Some people who argue this do not understand much if any Hebrew themselves, but that does not matter because they would say that for them to say or hear the prayers in Hebrew is like a mantra. It can get you on to a real high. The same rationale is behind the niggun, the song without words.

The fact that there is provision for certain prayers being said in the vernacular within Halachah, Jewish Law (like kaddish) might cut no ice with those who are of this view because, they will bring forth the conservative arguments of ‘thin end of the wedge’ ‘slippery slope’ and ‘bridge too far’ – it will lead, they will say, to people giving up Hebrew altogether.

This kind of argument is being used by those who oppose transliteration/phonetics. It has always been used by our choir by the way – the alternative, syllables going backwards through the music is far too complicated.

At the other end of the spectrum is language seen as a Vehicle. Language is a carrier of meaning. Its sole purpose is communication. The extreme view here is that if you don’t understand it there is no point in using a foreign language. That was the position of Liberal Judaism at the turn of the last century, though it has now changed to using a fair amount of Hebrew. Between the pole of Language as vehicle and Language as value there is a whole spectrum of shades of opinion.

Given the balance of Hebrew and English in Reform services it would follow that we are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

The reason I am using the spectrum image is because I see language as both Value and Vehicle. The more one appreciates the value of Hebrew the more one will make efforts to learn it, understand it, use it as a vehicle for one’s personal Jewish expression. And by the way it’s never too late. (A lady came up to me yesterday and proudly announced she’d joined a Hebrew course. She is over 90).

The more one sees language as a vehicle, the more one becomes aware that it carries more meaning than a translation can ever bring across. So actually the English is inadequate I have to say! It always loses something in translation.

So Chaverim, and Chaverot, sof-kol-sof, my derashah to you is: more Ivrit would put more koach into our chayim, and give our kehillah more ruach!

Ken yehi ratzon, venomar Amen.