21st Century Bible Hebrew -- hufal binyan

Genesis 4:13-16

יג וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־יְהוָֹ֑ה גָּד֥וֹל עֲוֹנִ֖י מִנְּשֽׂוֹא:  

יד הֵן֩ גֵּרַ֨שְׁתָּ אֹתִ֜י הַיּ֗וֹם מֵעַל֙ פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה וּמִפָּנֶ֖יךָ אֶסָּתֵ֑ר וְהָיִ֜יתִי נָ֤ע וָנָד֙ בָּאָ֔רֶץ וְהָיָ֥ה כָל־מֹֽצְאִ֖י יַֽהַרְגֵֽנִי:

טו וַיֹּ֧אמֶר ל֣וֹ יְהֹוָ֗ה לָכֵן֙ כָּל־הֹרֵ֣ג קַ֔יִן שִׁבְעָתַ֖יִם יֻקָּ֑ם וַיָּ֨שֶׂם יְהוָֹ֤ה לְקַ֨יִן֙ א֔וֹת לְבִלְתִּ֥י הַכּוֹת־אֹת֖וֹ כָּל־מֹֽצְאֽוֹ:

טז וַיֵּ֥צֵא קַ֖יִן מִלִּפְנֵ֣י יְהוָֹ֑ה וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב בְּאֶֽרֶץ־נ֖וֹד קִדְמַת־עֵֽדֶן:

Translation: Qain said to the Lord: is my sin great beyond bearing?

Behold you have expelled me today from the surface of the earth, from Your Presence, I shall be in hiding; a wanderer and trembler on earth, from now on anybody who finds me will kill me.
The Lord said to him, therefore anybody killing Qain, he is avenged shivataim; the Lord set for Qain a sign for anybody finding him not killing him.
Qain went out from before the Lord; he lived in the land of Nod eastward of Eden.
 

Now. Why do we have yuqam?

 

This is hufal binyan which I mentioned before.  It looks a lot like hifil except for the “oo” in the first syllable.  Like pual, it is used differently in narratives compared to legal material.

 

In legal material, hufal is the binyan of a legal definition.   When an ox kills more than one person, it is defined in law as huad, noticeably dangerous.  The same term is used of a murderer. 

 

Equally importantly, hurtsah is used of a sacrifice which has been performed according to all the details of the ritual that applies, meaning that it’s acceptable.  In BH, rotseh does not mean “want”; that’s what it means in Mishnaic Hebrew and Modern Hebrew as the auxiliary verb for the volitive.  BH does the volitive in morphology; MH and MH use periphrasis.

 

In narratives hufal seems to indicate following a norm of behavior or a local custom.  Hugad tends to mean receiving information only through official sources.

 

Which do we have here?  The audience would have understood yuqam to mean court-ordered sanctions for a killing.  In Qain’s case, it’s exile because he’s guilty of manslaughter, not murder.  In the case of anybody who kills Qain, it will be whatever fits the case – the death penalty or exile.  And since nobody has killed Qain yet, we don’t know what that will be.

 

Why not use nifal?  Nifal is used for court rulings, not legal definitions.  Pual is not appropriate because it says that what happened may not meet the legal definition expressed in hufal.  Qual is not appropriate because in laws, it points to consequences that are unexpected or counterintuitive.

 

Each of the binyanim has a specific role.  While piel and hifil can both be used transitively when the qal is intransitive, or as action verbs when qal is descriptive, I have yet to notice a case when piel and hifil both exist for a verb and both are transitive and have identical meaning.  In such cases, one of them has a special meaning.  I’ll do a special lesson on this much later.  Let’s get through the basics first.

 

You will see yuqam again soon and that will identify an important issue about the Qain saga.
 

21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 4:13-16, trop controls

Genesis 4:13-16

 

יג וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־יְהוָֹ֑ה גָּד֥וֹל עֲוֹנִ֖י מִנְּשֽׂוֹא:

יד הֵן֩ גֵּרַ֨שְׁתָּ אֹתִ֜י הַיּ֗וֹם מֵעַל֙ פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה וּמִפָּנֶ֖יךָ אֶסָּתֵ֑ר וְהָיִ֜יתִי נָ֤ע וָנָד֙ בָּאָ֔רֶץ וְהָיָ֥ה כָל־מֹֽצְאִ֖י יַֽהַרְגֵֽנִי:

טו וַיֹּ֧אמֶר ל֣וֹ יְהֹוָ֗ה לָכֵן֙ כָּל־הֹרֵ֣ג קַ֔יִן שִׁבְעָתַ֖יִם יֻקָּ֑ם וַיָּ֨שֶׂם יְהוָֹ֤ה לְקַ֨יִן֙ א֔וֹת לְבִלְתִּ֥י הַכּוֹת־אֹת֖וֹ כָּל־מֹֽצְאֽוֹ:

טז וַיֵּ֥צֵא קַ֖יִן מִלִּפְנֵ֣י יְהוָֹ֑ה וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב בְּאֶֽרֶץ־נ֖וֹד קִדְמַת־עֵֽדֶן:

 

Translation: Qain said to the Lord: is my sin great beyond bearing?

Behold you have expelled me today from the surface of the earth, from Your Presence, I shall be in hiding; a wanderer and trembler on earth, from now on anybody who finds me will kill me.

The Lord said to him, therefore anybody killing Qain, he is avenged shivataim; the Lord set for Qain a sign for anybody finding him not killing him.

Qain went out from before the Lord; he lived in the land of Nod eastward of Eden.

 

Vocabulary

 

עֲוֹנִי	My sin
מִנְּשׂוֹא	… than bearing
אֶסָּתֵר	I shall be hidden
שִׁבְעָתַיִם	Seven pairs

 

So now that you have recovered from my translation of hashomer achi anokhi, verse 14 presents another issue. Esater is a nifal imperfect and remember, a nifal is a decree. Look under the previous word; there is a little curve pointing to ha-adamah. “Mi-pney ha-adamah u-mi-panekha” is a phrase. The verb is separated from it. Most translations give the idea that Qain thinks he can hide from Gd. The trop disagrees.

 

What you have is two parts of the verse falling each into two halves. The gerashti in the part before the etnach results in Qain being a na va-nad, a phrase after the etnach.  The esater before the etnach is because of his fear that “anybody who finds me will kill me.” What Qain does is decree upon himself to hide.

 

Also notice that the “sign of Qain” is set to protect him.

 

Yahargeni: this is the Jewish law of manslaughter; the killer has to get to a city of refuge and the relatives of the dead can avenge the killing whenever he is not within the city precincts. When this happens, it’s not a legal execution at the hands of the court but it also is not murder. However, there are no cities yet as we are about to see.

 

Mi-n’so echoes the “beyond” concept from the previous verse. The rabbis turn this around; is what Qain did really beyond Gd’s capability to bear with human imperfections?

 

“Seven pairs” is shivataim. It looks like a class of nouns in Hebrew that end in –aim and come in pairs. Eynaim eyes, raglaim feet, aznaim ears. Also shnataim two years; sh’vuaim two weeks; yomaim two days.

 

But what is shivataim doing here? That can only be understood in the context of the rest of the episode, which is coming up.

 

Knitting -- getting a new hold

I love watching old movies, as you know if you remember my Constance Bennet tuxedo post.

So I was watching a noir film and one of the women prisoners was knitting with the right hand needle held high and pushed through the stitches, then she wrapped the yarn and pulled the right needle out.

Recently I was watching a British series on YouTube and one of the women characters used the same hold on her needles.

So I started googling. Turns out that this is called lever or Irish cottage or Pit style, as well as a "pencil hold", because your right hand holds the needle like a pencil, instead of with the same hold as your left hand.

Apparently it is mostly used with straight needles, but I tried it while working a linen top on  a circular needle. I was using KTBL on the odd rows and having trouble working quickly.  Until I changed to the pencil hold.

Here's how it works. Tension the yarn on your right hand. Use your left hand to push the stitch onto the right needle. Use your right hand to loop the yarn. Use your left hand to pull the inactive side of the loop off the right needle.

This video is great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNlt_-F-3ZA

It shows how much faster purling goes with the pencil hold, because you don't have to move the yarn as much. The Continental style is supposed to work faster than the English style, but if you are uber-righthanded like me, your left hand cramps a lot unless you originally learned to knit Continental style. Pit style is more natural for me.

The video also talks about something I've seen on other websites. If you knit a lot, English or Continental style, you may have developed carpal tunnel or some other  repetitive motion syndrome. This is a different motion and it won't stress your hands or joints the same way.

The same person did a video for circular needles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHCqMBrIfU

The pencil hold, if I work up some speed with it, might help me with skirt patterns at freevintageknitting.com. But I have a lot of summer tops to finish -- and that's the next post.

21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 4:9-12; who was guarding Hevel?

Genesis 4:9-12

 

ט וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָֹה֙ אֶל־קַ֔יִן אֵ֖י הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יךָ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א יָדַ֔עְתִּי הֲשֹׁמֵ֥ר אָחִ֖י אָנֹֽכִי:

י וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מֶ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ ק֚וֹל דְּמֵ֣י אָחִ֔יךָ צֹֽעֲקִ֥ים אֵלַ֖י מִן־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה:

יא וְעַתָּ֖ה אָר֣וּר אָ֑תָּה מִן־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר פָּֽצְתָ֣ה אֶת־פִּ֔יהָ לָקַ֛חַת אֶת־דְּמֵ֥י אָחִ֖יךָ מִיָּדֶֽךָ:

יב כִּ֤י תַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה לֹֽא־תֹסֵ֥ף תֵּת־כֹּחָ֖הּ לָ֑ךְ נָ֥ע וָנָ֖ד תִּהְיֶ֥ה בָאָֽרֶץ:

 

Translation: **** said to Qain where is Hevel your brother; he said I don’t know, is the one guarding my brother me?

He said what did you do? The voice of your brother’s bloods are crying to me from the earth.

Now you are cursed beyond the earth that opened its mouth for the purpose of taking the bloods of your brother from your hand.

When you work the earth it will not repeat giving its strength to you; a wanderer and trembler shall you be on earth.

 

Vocabulary

אָחִיךָ	Your brother
דְּמֵי	Blood, construct state of plural
פָּצְתָה	Opened, made a hole
פִּיהָ	Its mouth
כֹּחָהּ	Its strength

 

Notice the topic order of the last clause in verse 9, as well as the emphatic anokhi. Reversing this misses the point. Qain is asking, “is my brother’s guardian me?” Or is it Gd?

 

Verse 10 has no verb after “did you do”. Unless you read the Hebrew, you don’t realize that. Tsoakim is plural, and refers to d’mey, not to qol, voice. A translation probably ought to read “There’s a voice of your brother’s bloods [which are] crying to me,” etc. But this is one more example of how translations are not as good as reading the source document.

 

Notice that as the snake was cursed more than the wild animals, Qain is cursed more than the earth that was cursed through his father’s sin.

 

Which is another “not fair.” Qain did the same work as Adam. Hevel was an innovator, a rebel, a non-traditionalist. Why did Gd reward him and not the traditionalist Qain?

 

That’s why there would have been no sense issuing another commandment. There are people who look for excuses to do things they know they shouldn’t do. Deuteronomy has other phrasing that deals with this. The idea that you did something wrong because the other person gets different treatment is just evidence that you were looking for an excuse.  The Jews and their ancestors have known this for millennia.

 

And now the punishment, which I will explain more in the next lesson.

 

DIY -- veggie burgers

I haven't posted in this column for a long time but some things came together one morning out of the news, so I decided to do this one.

A report in the British Medical Journal summarizes three large studies in separate nations about how processed food is shortening lives.

https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1949

You are at a higher risk of dying young -- up to 60% higher -- compared to other people in your age cohort, if you eat more processed food than they do.

Kicker: that includes "health" food like veggie burgers. Check the ingredients. There may be dairy products in them. Including cheese. Look where cheese falls in the BMJ study.

Here's another way that dairy products are a flashpoint. Cows don't give milk unless they give birth. They are bred to produce a calf about every 3 years after they come to maturity. They have 2-4 calves during their lifetimes. Farmers cannot house, feed, and muck out for that many calves and still keep up their milk production. That's where veal comes from. If you are opposed to eating veal, you have to be opposed to production of unwanted calves, and you have to take away the demand for the dairy products that wouldn't exist without producing unwanted calves. So you can't eat anything with dairy products as an ingredient. If you didn't know this, it's because you're like the majority of people who know nothing about the food chain.

Look at most of the processed food on store shelves. How much of it contains dairy products? (This is an "oh shit" moment for a lot of you.)

The veggie burger I'm talking about also contains lecithin and guar gum. Lecithin, an emulsifier, along with other emulsifiers like the polysorbates in ice cream, has been implicated in causing obesity.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19288019

Guar gum belongs to a class of chemicals which seem to help with cholesterol. Guar gum is the only member of the class which does NOT help with cholesterol.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28733671

Now, vegan veggie burgers may not have the dairy products, but that doesn't mean they get off scot free. The Beyond Burger contains gum arabic. This is a conflict product. The only source of gum arabic is Sudan, and the income from it fuels war there.

The other product that uses gum arabic is all sodas, to keep the chemicals in suspension. All sodas, even the "diet" ones, promote obesity and Type II diabetes.

Meanwhile, you are better off making your own, not just veggie burgers, but everything else, like sun tea instead of sodas, so you aren't at the mercy of manufacturers who are making a pile off of killing you.

Here's a veggie burger recipe; I haven't tried it because being veggie is not one of my things. Make sure the egg you use in this recipe is free range; if you're lucky, your community may allow you to raise your own chickens. For the bread crumbs, remember way back when I posted how to brew your own sourdough starter from water and flour? Do it. Keep the crumbs. You can use them in this, or you can add them back into any bread you bake to enhance the flavor.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/85452/homemade-black-bean-veggie-burgers/

21st Century Bible Hebrew -- horeg

Genesis 4:5-8

 

ה וְאֶל־קַ֥יִן וְאֶל־מִנְחָת֖וֹ לֹ֣א שָׁעָ֑ה וַיִּ֤חַר לְקַ֨יִן֙ מְאֹ֔ד וַֽיִּפְּל֖וּ פָּנָֽיו:

ו וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוָֹ֖ה אֶל־קָ֑יִן לָ֚מָּה חָ֣רָה לָ֔ךְ וְלָ֖מָּה נָֽפְל֥וּ פָנֶֽיךָ:

ז הֲל֤וֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב֙ שְׂאֵ֔ת וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א תֵיטִ֔יב לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֨יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשָׁל־בּֽוֹ:

ח וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יו וַֽיְהִי֙ בִּֽהְיוֹתָ֣ם בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה וַיָּ֥קָם קַ֛יִן אֶל־הֶ֥בֶל אָחִ֖יו וַיַּֽהַרְגֵֽהוּ:

 

And now for verse 8.

 

Qain said to Hevel his brother; It must have been at the time of their being in the field, that Qain arose at Hevel his brother and killed him.

 

Let me get the little thing out of the way. Remember, I said that va-y’hi plus a time expression sets the timing of the event. When you get this structure, look for the first narrative past. If it follows on from the time expression, that is a relative clause telling what happened at that time.

 

Notice the etnach before that. We don’t know what Qain said. We don’t care. The rest of the verse is what’s important.

 

You might hear people say that we are descended from murderers. That’s not true for two reasons and here is one of them.

 

The word for what happened here is va-yahargehu. Torah’s legal definition for this term is manslaughter, not murder. Torah’s legal definition of murder goes with the term ratsach. Qain was never a murderer. He was guilty of manslaughter, if anything.

 

Now let me dive back into the Gan Eden story. I said that mot tamut is the death penalty. The death penalty didn’t happen. Why not?

 

Because the culture that transmitted this narrative down into the Babylonian Captivity had a law that nobody suffers the death penalty except by the testimony of two witnesses. That’s in Numbers or Deuteronomy. Who were the witnesses in the death penalty case against Adam and Chavvah?

 

There weren’t any. Adam and Chavvah were husband and wife, and thus each other’s relatives, and relatives cannot serve as witnesses against each other. Each of them was also his or her own relative. This is one reason why confessions are not admissible evidence in a Jewish court case. There are others but let’s stick with our sheep.

 

To inflict the death penalty, Jewish culture also requires means, motive, intent, and opportunity. Motive means against the person killed. Qain had no motives against Hevel; Qain was angry at Gd for Gd’s behavior. Having no motive, Qain could not form intent against Hevel.

 

Plus they were in the field. Not only did these actions not meet the elements of murder, there were no witnesses. Qain could not be tried for murder, let alone convicted.

 

Gd obeys the culture He created. He does not put Adam and Chavvah to death. He does not inflict the death penalty on Qain when Hevel’s death does not fit the elements of murder.

 

This is the second example of how Jewish culture rejects the “do as I say, not as I do” culture.  Gd obeys the rules; He always did.

 

21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 5-8, commandment grammar

Genesis 4:5-8

 

ה וְאֶל־קַ֥יִן וְאֶל־מִנְחָת֖וֹ לֹ֣א שָׁעָ֑ה וַיִּ֤חַר לְקַ֨יִן֙ מְאֹ֔ד וַֽיִּפְּל֖וּ פָּנָֽיו:

ו וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוָֹ֖ה אֶל־קָ֑יִן לָ֚מָּה חָ֣רָה לָ֔ךְ וְלָ֖מָּה נָֽפְל֥וּ פָנֶֽיךָ:

ז הֲל֤וֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב֙ שְׂאֵ֔ת וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א תֵיטִ֔יב לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֨יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשָׁל־בּֽוֹ:

ח וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יו וַֽיְהִי֙ בִּֽהְיוֹתָ֣ם בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה וַיָּ֥קָם קַ֛יִן אֶל־הֶ֥בֶל אָחִ֖יו וַיַּֽהַרְגֵֽהוּ:

Translation: But He had not looked at Qain and his minchah; Qain must have kindled for he became downcast.

The Lord said to Qain: why have you kindled and become downcast?

Is it not [true] if you make good [that] it is by excelling, but if you don’t make good, at the entrance sin [habitually] lies; its impulse is toward you, but you can rule it.

Qain said to Hevel his brother; it must have been at the time of their being in the field that Qain rose up to Hevel and killed him.

 

In verse 5, the two words at the end are a conjugated form of nafal panayv (it’s in narrative past in this verse), an IDIOM for being downcast.

 

Why does Gd ask this question? The rabbis say over and over again, when you have to have a difficult conversation with somebody, you don’t plunge into the middle of it. You start with something minor – and obvious. Gd is telling Qain, look, it’s not like I don’t care. I can see how you’re feeling. Your feelings are your feelings. But look….

 

The next verse is one of the most important verses in all of Torah for more than one reason.

 

First, notice that Gd gives Qain the up-side first. Once Qain has accepted that there are consequences for doing good, he is more likely to agree that there are consequences for doing wrong.

 

The word rovets may seem strange but it is in contrast to set.

 

A set is a rising. In Numbers, the priestly blessing has Gd “lifting His face” to those He favors.

 

A rovets is a lying down. In Yaaqov’s blessing of his sons, he says Yehudah is a lion rovets. It may sound innocuous but it comes right after a verse about a lion cub attacking prey.

 

Gd tries here to give both the positive and negative spin. He wants Qain to focus on what He says first and take the right path.

 

What He does not do is issue another commandment. That didn’t work so well the last time. There are commentators who say differently, but the grammar and the situation argue against that. A commandment looks like a conjugated verb in second person, it is prefixed with vav, and it is either imperfect or perfect aspect. Commandments are all over Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and the laws of circumcision in Genesis are commandments too. Commandments are forever.

 

We don’t have that here. What Gd says is an explanation to Qain of how life works, not a commandment.