Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 2:19

Genesis 2:19

 

יט וַיִּצֶר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים מִן־הָאֲדָמָה כָּל־חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה וְאֵת כָּל־עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וַיָּבֵא אֶל־הָאָדָם לִרְאוֹת מַה־יִּקְרָא־לוֹ וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָא־לוֹ הָאָדָם נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה הוּא שְׁמוֹ:

 

Transliteration: va-yitser **** elohim min-ha-adamah kal-chayat ha-sadeh v-et kal-of ha-shamaim va-yave el-ha-adam lirot mah-yiqra-lo v’-khol asher yiqra-lo ha-adam nefesh chayah, hu sh’mo.

Translation:    **** Gd formed from the earth all wild animals and all flyers of the sky and brought [them] to the man to see what he would call them and everything that the man called them, a living soul, that was its name.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

לִרְאוֹת	To see
יָּבֵא	Brought, causative of “come”

 

Here is the conjugation of “come, go” because it is an extremely common verb, whilc “bring” is not.  The root of “come, go” is bet vav alef. 

 

The difference between the feminine third singular present and past is that in the past tense, the stress is on the first syllable and in the present tense, the stress is on the last syllable.  Normally the stress in Hebrew words is on the last syllable, but in a past tense verb it is on the next to last syllable and that’s the only thing that distinguishes the feminines in this verb.

 

We are now at the end of the second aliyah.  Go to the Navigating the Bible page and listen to the Second Reading for Bereishit.

http://bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp?ACTION=displayid&id=35

 

Present

Singular	Plural	Gender
בָּא	בָּאיִם	Masculine
בָּאָה	בָּאוֹת	Feminine

 

Past

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
בָּאתִי	בָּאנוּ	First
בָּאתָ	בָּאתֶם	Second/masculine
בָּאתְ	בָּאתֶן	Second/feminine
בָּא	בָּאוּ	Third/masculine
בָּאָה	בָּאוּ	Third/feminine

 

Future/aorist

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אָבוֹא	נָבוֹא	First
תָּבאוֹ	תָּבוֹאוּ	Second/masculine
תָּבאִי	תָּבוֹאנָה	Second/feminine
יָבוֹא	יָבוֹאוּ	Third/masculine
תָּבוֹא	תָּבוֹאנָה	Third/feminine

 

 © Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved

Outdoors -- February

What would February be without snow?
But it's not all bad.
Yesterday temps were above freezing and the way things have been, that was a heat wave.
The sun shone all day, and in February it's already quite strong and warm.
My backyard planter was completely in the sun at noon.
The sky is light until almost 6 and actual sunset is after 5:30.
My cardinal and the black-crested titmice are calling regularly to establish their turf.
Your trees should be budding and your shrubs will do so soon -- my privet is flushed yellow which shows the sap is rising.
Hang on, spring is coming!
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved

DIY -- reminder

We should have known this if we were adults 12 months ago and living where it snows.
You have to listen to weather reports and take snow forecasts seriously.
Stock up on canned and other food that won't go bad.
Things you don't have to cook to eat.
Things you can cook in advance that won't spoil without refrigeration.
You also have to plan for burst pipes by keeping bottled water in the house.

When there's snow in the forecast, you have to plan for NOT getting to a restaurant to eat.
For at least a day.
Probably longer.
Because the restaurant's suppliers won't be able to bring in supplies.
You have to plan for NO recharging for phones and tablets and video games.
You have to plan for limited lighting.
You have to plan for your heating system not coming on because the thermostats don't work.

I'm counting my blessings right now because even in the heavy winds Sunday night into Monday
My power stayed on
I kept my car battery charged
I got to the store before the snow started.
If it stays on I'll be baking an apple pie, making an omelet, reheating sauerkraut and kielbasa, frying potatoes with spinach, knitting, working on Bible studies and other reading........
Because I DIY including planning to survive storms.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved

Fact-Checking the Torah -- defenses against adultery

We’re working on the laws in Deuteronomy 22:13-29.  These laws allow a groom to charge his bride with adultery if he thinks she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night, a charge subject to all the same due process rules as murder. 

The charge falls to the ground if they can’t find the necessary witnesses, or the examination of witnesses doesn’t allow enough of the judges to vote to convict.

But the girl has three defenses to the charge; they are described in Mishnah and Gemara.

One is called migo.  If she says, “You’re right, my parents don’t have the tokens of my virginity, but it was an accident,” the court believes her.  She could have denied the charge of non-virginity, but she admits it.  American law has a similar admission against penal interest, and in Jewish law the explanation serves to clear the girl.

Another is called “the man has to drink from his own pot.”  The girl can say “You’re right, my parents don’t have the tokens of my virginity, but my betrothed is the man I had sex with.”  A man can’t complain about a situation he was responsible for.

This situation particularly existed in Jerusalem where, according to Mishnah, it was the custom to seclude the bride and groom after they signed the contract but before the wedding ceremony.  There’s a sad kind of logic to that which reflects the verses in Deuteronomy.

Some of the verses say “if he caught her in the city and lay with her,” then she can be accused of adultery if she didn’t scream.

If she screamed for help, she can’t be accused of adultery.

But there’s a twist.  Remember, whether she screamed or not, people have to intervene and try to stop the adultery or they can’t testify against her in court.

The point is that in a big city, a girl sent out on errands ran a certain amount of risk, and a man who contracted a marriage with her accepted the risk that she wasn’t a virgin.  The custom of secluding the bride and groom together saved face for her, because she could use the “your fault” argument instead of having to undergo an adultery trial.

The issue resolved here, that western societies rejected until about a century ago, is this.  The girl is married at the point that the virginity issue came up.  In western culture, a married girl became a non-person.  Her “person” was absorbed into that of her husband.  She could not sign contracts; she could not own property. 

In Jewish law, women were always persons once they became adults.  They signed their own wedding contracts.  They could own land and other property.  They could bequeath property independent of their husbands.  On which more later.  But first, another legal excuse for the woman.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved

Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 2:18

Genesis 2:18

 

יח וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהִים לֹא־טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ אֶעֱשֶׂה־לּוֹ עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ:

 

Transliteration: va-yomer **** elohim lo-tov heyot ha-adam l’vado eeseh lo ezer k’negdo.

Translation:    **** Gd said it is not good, the man being alone, I shall make for him a help like an opponent.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

לְבַדּוֹ	Alone, by himself
עֵזֶר	Help (n)
נֶגְדּוֹ	Opposite to him

 

Here is the genitive/possessive and indirect object preposition, combined with the personal endings.  This not only means “to him,” it also means “for him.”

 

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
לִי	לָנוּ	First
לְךָ	לָכֶם	Second/masculine
לָךְ	לָכֶן	Second/feminine
לוֹ	לָהֶם	Third/masculine
לָה	לָהֶן	Third/feminine

 

The third person feminine singular sometimes has dagesh in the final heh in the Jewish Bible but not always.

 

Now try to do the same for l’vad and neged. 

 

The translation reflects Midrash (Breshit Rabbah 17:3).  It says that Gd intended for a woman to be a help to her husband when he is doing right, but to be an opponent to him when he is doing wrong.  There is a reference to R. Yossi ha-Glili and his wife, who would contradict him in front of his students, and they asked him why he put up with it.  Eventually he divorced her for her bad behavior because it also brought the law into ill repute, but when she remarried and they became impoverished, R. Yossi supported them.  R. Yossi is cited in Talmud as declaring that Torah was to be taught to girls, in one of many places where he is cited.

 

At any rate, Jewish women were never second class in the house.  They were expected to assert themselves to prevent wrong-doing.  They could testify in court in business cases, operate their own property, keep their earnings if their husbands refused to provide for them, and bequeath property without asking their husbands’ permission.  They could get courts to force a divorce from husbands who tried to isolate them from the community or wouldn’t sleep with them, or even if the woman simply couldn’t  bear the husband’s profession.  For example, copper is absorbed through the skin and gives a bad smell.  A woman who thought she could put up with this but later found she couldn’t, could have somebody go to court with her and present her case.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved

DIY -- hankies

I didn't make the hankies myself, although I know where to get the fine cotton for such things.
I bought 3 dozen from a website that sells them for people to embroider with unique monograms and things.
The question was, would this save me compared to paper hankies, which I was going through at a frightening rate.
That's because I have a dust mite allergy that goes with asthma, both inherited.
Well, I got two answers.
One was, yes, in 12 months I turned the corner and was saving money.
The second was, I was having less allergy problems and also less asthma problems.
I have no scientific data for why.
But dust mites live in dust, and the amount of dust floating around the house is much less than it was.
Some of that dust, therefore, was lint from the paper hankies.
The cotton hankies don't generate nearly as much lint.
So there's less stuff for the dust mites to nest in.
I don't need to wipe my nose as much, and there's less lint to provoke my asthma.
I have to wash them.  I do it in the hottest water I can stand, using lavender-scented castile soap.
I also bought lavender sachets to wrap the hankies around while they're in the closet.
You can get unscented castile soap if you are sensitive to fragrances. 
You can use castile soap for lots of things; search this blog or the web for "castile soap" to get ideas.
I'm killing fewer trees.  The boxes are the only things made from recycled material, not the tissues.
Think globally, act locally.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved

Outdoors -- next steps

Yesterday my cardinal started announcing his claim to his turf.
It was in the 60s with some sun.
He had a competitor.
I'm putting my money on my guy.
He and his wife have been feeding well this winter.
Partly that's because the squirrels have been put in their places so they're not getting as much of the sunflower seed I put out for the cardinals.
It's also better communications.
They have both learned that if they come and call at me -- that "tisking" sound they make -- I'll often put seed out. 
If they don't fly too far away, they'll get it fresh and warm before the squirrels show up.
If calling doesn't work, they have both figured out that making themselves visible sometimes does.
What that means is, they take up perches on the feeder.
They're too big to reach the food holes, but it puts them about eye level with me near a window.
So instead of putting out seed only at dawn and dusk, when the squirrels are in bed, they have sometimes been able to feed mid-morning and mid-afternoon, like the other birds.
Don't tell ME birds are dumb animals.
This pair of cardinals almost has me perfectly trained.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved