Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea
We Must Learn Ktav Ivri
muman613:
http://www.globalyeshiva.com/forum/topics/the-hebrew-language-and-the
To show how our language has been affected by change, I will bring down the following example. In Israel, there is what is called a "normative way" of speaking. For example, the Hebrew letter "vav" (ו), originally pronounced by the Yemenites and all Sephardic communities as "waw," is now enunciated by all Israelis in their daily conversations as "vav" – with an English "v" sound. However, in the synagogue services, e.g. prayers and liturgies, as well as Torah readings, the Yemenites will still uphold their traditional reading, giving the phonetic sound of an English "w" to the "vav" (ו) – as in "wayomer" ויאמר, instead of "vayomer." This is because European Jewry was steeped for many centuries in the German culture, and Yiddish (the Lingua Franca of European Jews) has its marked German influence, as everyone knows. However, what very few people know is that in the German language there is no "w" sound, as in English. In German, as also in Yiddish, the "w" is pronounced as an English "v," as in "waser" (water) = pronounced "vasser;" or "was," (what) = pronounced "vass." So, naturally, having no "w" sound, when the first European Jews came up to this country, they persisted in their usage of the Hebrew letter ו (waw) as they had been accustomed in their old country, and who, as noted, had been reared upon the German language, pronouncing it as "vav." Their native speech and vernacular soon spread amongst the common people in the land, mostly amongst the young and the poor who had come from Oriental societies and cultures, and who often thought of their own cultures as being inferior to that of Ashkenazi culture. This, then, accounts for the way the "waw" was exchanged for "vav."
Spectator:
By the way, in Hebrew the word "dalet" (דלת) can be vocalized as "delet" which means "door".
I head the following explanation of the name David: Dalet and Dalet, i.e. door and door. When man opens door to seek G-d, G-d also opens His door to the man to let him in. David means closeness between G-d and man.
King David was definitely the man who could be so close to G-d. Just read his Tehillim (Psalms) to feel how close!
muman613:
--- Quote from: Spectator on September 06, 2009, 05:41:16 PM ---By the way, in Hebrew the word "dalet" (דלת) can be vocalized as "delet" which means "door".
I head the following explanation of the name David: Dalet and Dalet, i.e. door and door. When man opens door to seek G-d, G-d also opens His door to the man to let him in. David means closeness between G-d and man.
King David was definitely the man who could be so close to G-d. Just read his Tehillim (Psalms) to feel how close!
--- End quote ---
David HaMelech was quite a Jewish man... He had so many enemies, and such things were said about him, yet he maintained his Bitachon {Trust} in Hashem and composed some of the most intimate expressions of Bein Adam L'Makom that we know. I study Tehillim each day, and try to see things daily through those Psalms.
Kahane-Was-Right BT:
--- Quote from: muman613 on September 06, 2009, 05:26:22 PM ---
--- Quote from: Kahane-Was-Right BT on September 06, 2009, 04:29:06 PM ---
--- Quote from: Sefardic Panther on September 06, 2009, 11:49:52 AM ---
The Mogen Dawid is the 2 Ktav Ivri Dalets of the name DaWiD entangled.
--- End quote ---
Wow, that's very interesting. Makes a lot of sense now too. People made up a lot of crazy theories about the magen Dawid that I always thought were baseless. This is probably the only sound explanation I've seen, and I'm willing to bet this is where it came from. Dawid is Daleth w' Daleth. Daleth and Daleth. The waw came to mean 'and.' So they put together the symbol out of that. Not out of pagan khazarian beliefs or whatever else lol.
--- End quote ---
I know that you KWRBT use yemenese pronunciation... We pronounce it Vav, and it means And, and the name is DaViD...
--- End quote ---
Dude, I know both pronunciations and I use them interchangably although I prefer to use the CORRECT pronunciation. I think it would be Teymani, or Yemenite, not Yemenese. But the Yemenite way of saying the Waw is correct, make no mistake. It only later in Europe became pronounced as VAV. Do you really think I don't know the ashkenazi pronunciation? I prefer to write formally, which means using accurate terms. I would speak it with other people too but most people would think I'm crazy and/or can't understand it. There is no reason to "correct" what I wrote and say 'the name is David.' David is an English name based on the Hebrew.
Kahane-Was-Right BT:
--- Quote from: muman613 on September 06, 2009, 05:29:47 PM ---http://www.globalyeshiva.com/forum/topics/the-hebrew-language-and-the
To show how our language has been affected by change, I will bring down the following example. In Israel, there is what is called a "normative way" of speaking. For example, the Hebrew letter "vav" (ו), originally pronounced by the Yemenites and all Sefardic communities as "waw," is now enunciated by all Israelis in their daily conversations as "vav" – with an English "v" sound.
--- End quote ---
Right, that's because they "chose" the European pronunciation of the waw when they recreated Hebrew for modern usage in every day speaking. They had to choose one normative way for the language, that does not mean it was an educated choice or that it is correct. It would be really bizarre for me not to know this. That would mean I've never interacted with any Ashkenazi Jews (even though they are in my own family), and what really are the chances of that?
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