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The Hebrew prayer:
“Modeh ani lefanecha melech chai v’kayam”

can be translated:

“I give thanks before you, king who is alive and exists”

“I give thanks before You

eternal and living King

who returns my soul within me

with mercy.

Great is Your faithfulness.”

מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ |

מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם |

שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי |

בְּחֶמְלָה. |

רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ: |

Modeh ani lifanecha melech chai v’kayam shehechezarta bee nishmahti b’chemlah. Rabah emunatecha.

For the above text I acknowledge the excellent blog "Hardcore Mesorah" at https://hardcoremesorah.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/modeh-ani-i-give-thanks-before-you/

A woman says it using the feminine verb form “modah” thank (f.):

“Modah ani lefanecha melech chai v’kayam”

with the same meaning as above.(Though there is a halachic view that women should say it in the masculine as this is an established reading.)

My wife when she is feeling like it modifies it further to :

“Modah ani lefanayich malka chaya v’kayamet”

i.e. I give thanks before you, queen who is alive and exists

Some today are uncomfortable with the metaphor of God as a monarch, so “ruach” (spirit / wind / breath) is substituted ie -

“Modeh ani lefanecha ruach chai v’kayam” (said by a man)

“Modah ani lefanecha ruach chai v’kayam” (said by a woman)

ie “I give thanks before you, spirit who is alive and exists.”

“Ruach” is a classical Hebrew word for an aspect or name of God that occurs in the phrases “Ruach HaKodesh” (The holy Spirit), Ruach El (The spirit of God) Ruach Elohim (The spirit of God) and Ruach YHVH (The Spirit of YHVH).

Personally, I do not have a problem with substituting the word “ruach” for “melech” or “malka”in the Modeh ani prayer (though I don’t really have a problem with the metaphor of God as King or Queen, I accept that others do).

However I am not entirely comfortable with the wording people are using above, because “Ruach” is (almost always, but not quite always) a feminine word in Hebrew and so, I feel, the pronouns adjectives and verbs that relate to it should ideally agree and be in the feminine too.

For example in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2

“...Ruach Elohim merachephet al penei hamayim”

“...A wind of God hovered over the face of the waters”

Ruach (Spirit / wind) is feminine so the verb, merachefet (hovered), that follows it is in the feminine too.

So I prefer for the adapted “Modeh/Modah Ani” prayer to be in agreement with the feminine ie:

“Modeh ani lefanayich ruach chaya v’kayamet” (said by a man)

“Modah ani lefanayich ruach chaya v’kayamet” (said by a woman)

i.e.

I give thanks before you (f.), spirit(f.) who is alive(f.) and exists(f.)

The prayer then concludes “...shehechezart bi nishmati, b’chemla raba emunatayich”

“who has returned (f.) to me my soul, in pity, great is your (f.) faithfulness.”

My friends in the Jewish Renewal movement tell me that this is too complicated for the masses - so I suppose they can rely on the rare masculine form of Ruach also found in the Tenach. See the entry for Ruach in Brown-Driver-Briggs dictionary
http://biblehub.com/hebrew/7307.htm
where Exodus 10:13 is cited as an example of the rare masculine form:
יג וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת-מַטֵּהוּ, עַל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, וַיהוָה נִהַג רוּחַ-קָדִים בָּאָרֶץ, כָּל-הַיּוֹם הַהוּא וְכָל-הַלָּיְלָה; הַבֹּקֶר הָיָה--וְרוּחַ הַקָּדִים, נָשָׂא אֶת-הָאַרְבֶּה..

Another friend informs me that in Yiddish there was a strong tendency to simplify Hebrew words and assume that any word ending in a feminine-sounding Heh was feminine and any word ending in a consonant was masculine. I think this is what Wikipedia is describing here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_grammar#Gender

Perhaps this explains why "Tallesim" are worn in Ashkenasi shuls whereas the more Hebraically correct Sephardim wear Tallitot?

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind... the answer is blowing in the wind"

Current Mood: pedantic

Are cats mentioned in the Bible?

There appears to be no mention of cats in the Hebrew Bible. This is rather surprising as domestic cats were very widely kept in nearby Egypt and even worshipped at some periods. There is debate about whether the Babylonians had domestic cats from an early period - it is quite possible they did. Certainly the Romans had domestic cats and from the Roman period they may have been introduced to Israel and if they were not already there, to Babylon.

Cats do get a brief single mention in some Christian bibles - they are mentioned once in the 6^th chapter of the book of Baruch in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles - a fragment of this book was found, written in Greek, in the caves at Qumran so it is at least 2,200 years old. (The passage is also known misleadingly as the “Letter of Jeremiah”, being neither a letter nor by Jeremiah.)

Talking disparagingly about graven images: “Bats, swallows, and birds of every kind perch on their bodies and heads, and so do cats.”

“supra corpus eorum et supra caput volant noctuae et hirundines et aves etiam similiter et cattae” Baruch 6:21-22 (talking about idols)

The Vulgate

This single mention seems to imply cats wandering around freely in either houses or temples at the location period it was written. The book is generally dated to between 500 BCE and 100 BCE. It is quite possible it was written in Babylon as it reads like a polemic targeted at Jews in the diaspora there are some references to Babylonian religion.

Cats are mentioned fondly in the Talmud, which is written in Babylon somewhere around 500CE:

“If the Torah had not been given, we could have learned modesty from the cat.”

(Talmud Eruvin 100b)

Cats also get a good press in Islam which is written later still.

It is really odd that they are not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, since cats were apparently widely domesticated (and worshipped) in neighbouring Egypt from very ancient times.

The Semitic languages have a common single word for dog but no common single word for cat. This may suggest that cats were not generally present in Semitic countries. See http://www.balashon.com/2015/02/chatul.html for an interesting article on the etymology of the Hebrew / Aramaic word "chatul" (cat) and this article which is points to on the many Arabic words for cats https://utexas.app.box.com/s/2ajf2372w3fla7isbjpn

One theory is that the worship of cats in ancient Egypt led them to be discouraged as domestic animals in ancient Israel – though I doubt if that would be sufficient to explain it. Generally something being prohibited means it gets a mention or two!

So here it is:-
My speculative novel explanation of the absence of references to cats in the Hebrew Bible:
In a grain growing and storing culture like Egypt you need cats to keep down the mice, whereas in a (predominately) sheep farming culture like ancient Israel dogs were more useful to protect the livestock from Lions (and dogs can also keep down rodents to some extent). So there may have been no domesticated cats in Israel in Biblical times, just dogs.

Similarly perhaps in ancient Wales, another sheep farming culture. The Welsh the word for cat is from the Latin, where as the word for dog is pre-Roman - suggesting the Romans introduced domesticated cats to Wales (and probably to the whole of Britain).

Cat = cath
Dog = ci

Welsh: ci, Old Irish cú (“dog, hound”), from Proto-Celtic *kū from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”).

Dogs are mentioned 29 times in the Hebrew Bible.

Lions are mentioned more than 150 times and 6 different words are used.

Cats are mentioned 0 times.

The story of "Dura Europos" on the Euphrates (circa 3rd Century 256 CE)

"The Pompeii of the desert":Dura Europas is a remarkable archaological site in Mesopotamia.
On the banks of the Euphrates it was a cosmopolitan Romanised city which fell to the Persians in 256 CE.

Best Preserved ancient Synagogue, Oldest Christian building and a Temple of Mithras

(also some interesting well preserved Roman Armour).

The defenders piled up mud ramparts to try to save teh city but the Persians took the town and the mud filled houses were preserved - including the earliest Christian Building ever found a "house-church", and the Synagogue which is the best preserved ancient synagogue in the world. to the surprise of everyone the synagogue is covered in murals depicting stories from the Tenach (Bible).
The pictures provide a wonderful insight into Jewish dress in the approximate time and place where the Rabbis of the Babylonian Talmudic were living.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dura-Europos

Some pictures here:

http://divdl.library.yale.edu/dl/Browse.aspx?qc=Eikon&qs=464

From most of the studies of writings of the period we have the impression that Jews covered their heads or at least wore head coverings much of the time.

However contrary to this in most of the pictures the men are wearing Roman garb and are bare headed (even Moses). None of the men (apart from the High Priest) seem to have their heads covered and tsitsit are only worn by Moshe Rabenu. (In the Persian scenes from Daniel and the book of Esther men are in Persian style dress including head covering. Dura was a Roman garrison on the border of the Persian Empire so the people were familiar with Persian dress).

I am unsure how to reconcile this with accounts from the Talmud Bavli that Rabbis or married men wore a head covering called a Sudar in Hebrew or Sudra in Aramaic (the Sudarium was a Roman "sweat cloth" worn by Legionaries). Maybe this only came in later. Maybe it was worn in some regions but not in others.

Another feature of the pictures in the Synagogue at Dura is the pose adopted for prayer - a formal pose where the hands are uplifted and apart in petition. I speculate whether this could be the reason we say "al netilat yadayim" (who has commanded us concerning the raising of our hands) when we wash before worship (prayer or eating bread). Just a thought.

Current Location: Dura Europos, Mesopotamia

I was just wondering why we are fasting, so looked it up…

(Credit where credit is due: this blog post relies on and includes a copy of the blog post
"The Origin of Ta‘anit Esther" by Mitchell First)

--
First wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_of_Esther
"The Fast of Esther (Ta'anit Ester, Hebrew: תַּעֲנִית אֶסְתֵּר‎) is a Jewish fast from dawn until dusk on Purim eve, commemorating the three-day fast observed by the Jewish people in the story of Purim. It is a common misconception that this fast was accepted by the Jews for all future generations during the time of Esther, as it is stated in the Book of Esther: They had established for themselves and their descendants the matters of the fasts and their cry (Esther 9:31). This verse actually refers to the four fasts which relate to mourning for the Temple. Rather, the first mention of this fast is a Minhag that is referenced in the Gaonic period.[1] Recently, Mitchell First has written a detailed study of the origin of the fast and provided an explanation for its arising in the Gaonic period.[2]
The Fast is observed on the 13th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. (When the year has 2 Adar months, it is observed only in the 2nd Adar). If the date of the Fast of Esther falls on Shabbat (Saturday), the fast is instead observed on the preceding Thursday, as is the case in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. (Shulchan Aruch S.686 s.2)
As the Fast of Esther is not one of the four public fasts ordained by the Prophets, the laws concerning its observance are more lenient; pregnant women, nursing mothers, and those who are weak are not required to observe it. (Note: per the concept of Pikuach nefesh, in certain situations a weak, sick, or pregnant person is not required or even permitted to observe any Jewish fast day; a rabbi should be consulted to determine the law for one's specific situation.)
It is generally accepted in the rabbinic tradition that the original three-day "Fast of Esther" mentioned in chapter 4 of Book of Esther occurred on the 14th, 15th, and 16th days of Nisan, these being the eve and first two days of Passover. They fasted on Passover because Esther reasoned it would be better to fast on one Pesach lest they all be destroyed and thus never be able to observe the holiday in the future. The 13th of Adar was a fast day for the warriors while going out to battle, as it is believed to have been customary to fast during the battle in order to gain divine favour. Because fasting during Passover would be inappropriate in almost all circumstances, the "Fast of Esther" became attached to the eve of Purim, the 13th of Adar."
(End of extract from Wikipedia 13 Mar 2014)

From the Megillah Chapter 9 verses 1-2 we can see the reference to the 13th day of Adar is in regard to the day the Jews gathered themselves “to lay hand on such as sought their hurt”:
1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them; whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;
ב נִקְהֲלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים בְּעָרֵיהֶם, בְּכָל-מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, לִשְׁלֹחַ יָד, בִּמְבַקְשֵׁי רָעָתָם; וְאִישׁ לֹא-עָמַד לִפְנֵיהֶם, כִּי-נָפַל פַּחְדָּם עַל-כָּל-הָעַמִּים. 2 the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt; and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them was fallen upon all the peoples.
Also in Chapter 8:
10 And they wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud;
יא אֲשֶׁר נָתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ לַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּכָל-עִיר-וָעִיר, לְהִקָּהֵל וְלַעֲמֹד עַל-נַפְשָׁם--לְהַשְׁמִיד וְלַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד אֶת-כָּל-חֵיל עַם וּמְדִינָה הַצָּרִים אֹתָם, טַף וְנָשִׁים; וּשְׁלָלָם, לָבוֹז. 11 that the king had granted the Jews that were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, and to slay, and to cause to perish, all the forces of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,
יב בְּיוֹם אֶחָד, בְּכָל-מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ--בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר, הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר. 12 upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
The 13th Adar is the date of Haman’s decree:
13 And letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.

However Haman’s decree was written on 13th Nissan, following which Mordechai called a fast in Shushan. That could be a moment to hold a fast. But it would be inconvenient and out of sync with remembering Purim since it is just before Pesach and we also have the “Fast of the Firstborn” on the 14th of Nissan.

Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar the day following the victory of the Jews over their enemies (or in walled cities like Jerusalem on the 15th since the fighting went on in Shushan for a further day).

In Chapter 9:17-18:

יז בְּיוֹם-שְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר, לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר; וְנוֹחַ, בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה. 17 on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
יח והיהודיים (וְהַיְּהוּדִים) אֲשֶׁר-בְּשׁוּשָׁן, נִקְהֲלוּ בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וּבְאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר, בּוֹ; וְנוֹחַ, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה. 18 But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

So it seems to me Taanit Esther (previously called “Taanit Purim”) is the actual day when we recall the moment of tension and uncertainty, when the genocide of the Jewish people was threatened, and on which there was a dramatic reversal.

Then we celebrate (read the story, feast & drink, send food, give to the poor) on the following day, when it was all over and everyone could relax.

It also does “echo” the similar tension of Esther’s fast, (Rabbinically assumed to be on erev Pesach and the first two days of Pesach) before the decisive moment of her going before the King to seek an audience.

J

===========

The above Wikipedia article mentions a study by Mitchell First looking into the history and origins of the fast and arguing it is a Babylonian innovation from the Geonic period. Here is a copy of the summary from his blog:

The Origin of Ta‘anit Esther
By Mitchell First
Introduction
The origin of this fast has always been a mystery. A fast on the 13th of Adar is not mentioned in the Megillah. Nor is such a fast mentioned in Tannaitic or Amoraic literature.Megillat Ta‘anit, compiled in the first century C.E., includes the 13th of Adar as a day upon which Jews were prohibited from fasting.
A widespread view today is that the fast arose as a post-Talmudic custom intended to commemorate the three days of fasting initiated by Esther in Nissan. There are Rishonim who take this approach.[1] But Geonic Babylonia is where the fast first arose and this approach is not expressed in any of the sources from Geonic Babylonia. Moreover, the statements in these sources are inconsistent with this approach. I am going to suggest an approach to the origin of the fast that is consistent with the material in the Babylonian Geonic sources.
I. The Earliest Sources That Refer To A Practice Of Fasting On The 13th
The earliest sources that refer to a practice of fasting on the 13th are the following:
- One of the four she’iltot for Purim included in the She’iltot of R. Ahai Gaon, a work composed in 8th century Babylonia.
- An anonymous Babylonian Geonic responsum that made its way into Midrash Tanhuma(Bereshit, sec. 3). (The discussion in this responsum and in the She’iltot is very similar.)
- A responsum of R. Natronai, head of the academy at Sura from 857-865 C.E. This responsum refers to the fast as פורים תענית. [2]
- The Siddur of R. Se‘adyah (882-942).[3] Here, the fast is referred to as אלמגלה צום (=the fast of the Megillah).[4] The Siddur of R. Se‘adyah was composed in Babylonia.[5]
- An index to a collection of Babylonian Geonic responsa.[6] The compiler of the index recorded the first few words of each responsum. In our case, the compiler recorded: לנפול אנו רגילין באדר יוש יג[7] ובתענית. The responsum itself is no longer extant. The responsum itself is no longer extant.
- A responsum addressed to R. Hai (d. 1038).[8] This responsum inquires whether, in the case of a hakhnasat kallah that occurs on a fast day such as the 13th of Adar, the one who makes the blessing on the kos of berakhah is permitted to drink.
- An anonymous Babylonian Geonic responsum that includes the following statement:השני אדר של כי"ג מתענין נמי הראשון אדר של וי"ג.[9]
II. Analysis
According to Robert Brody, the four she’iltot for Purim were probably not in the original She’iltot when it left the hands of R. Ahai in the 8th century. They were authored in a later stage.[10] She’ilta #79, the one which refers to fasting on the 13th of Adar, is even more problematic than the other three. After the first few lines in Aramaic, the balance of this she’ilta is almost entirely in Hebrew, unlike the rest of the She’iltot.
Careful comparison of she’ilta #79 with the Geonic responsum that made its way into Midrash Tanhuma suggests that the Geonic responsum is the earlier source.[11] It is reasonable to work with the assumption that this responsum dates from the eighth or ninth centuries.
This responsum adopts a very unusual interpretation of the sections of the Mishnah at the beginning of Tractate Megillah. These sections permit villagers to fulfill their Megillah obligation on the 11th, 12th, or 13th of Adar, on yom ha-kenisah, under certain conditions. In the plain sense of these sections, yom ha-kenisah refers to Mondays and Thursdays, and the teaching is that the reading for the villagers is allowed to be advanced to these days when the villagers enter, or gather in, the cities.
But in the interpretation adopted by the Geonic responsum, yom ha-kenisah means the fast of the 13th of Adar (= the day on which the Jews gather to fast). The reading for the villagers is allowed to be advanced because the date of the observance of the fast day is being advanced due to a prohibition to fast on Shabbat and ‘erev Shabbat that is being read into the Mishnah. In this interpretation, the advanced fast day is a day upon which the reading for the villagers is allowed.
The Geonic responsum included in Midrash Tanhuma reads as follows:
They asked: It was taught that the Megillah may be read on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th, but not earlier or later. R. Judah said that this rule is only in effect when the calendar is established by the testimony of witnesses and Israel dwells on its own land, but in our times…the Megillah can only be read on the proper date (=the 14th or 15th). Does the halakha follow the first opinion or does it follow R. Judah?
They responded: According to both R. Judah and the first opinion, the Megillah can only be read on the proper date. The following is what the first opinion meant. Towns that were surrounded by walls at the time of Joshua son of Nun read on the 15th. Villages and cities read on the 14th, but villages may advance their reading to yom ha-kenisah. When the Mishnah taught that the Megillah may be read on the 11th, 12th, 13th, etc., that applied to one who is engaged in fasting, as it was taught at the end of the Mishnah: “but villages may advance their reading to yom ha-kenisah.” What is yom ha-kenisah? The day of gathering, as it is stated (Meg. 2a): The thirteenth was a day of gathering for all (Heb: yom[12] kehillah la-kol hiy), as it is written (Est. 9:1-2): “in the 12th month, the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day… the Jews gathered themselves (Heb: nikhalu) in their cities.” They gathered themselves and decreed a fast on the 13th of Adar. But the 14th was a holiday, as it is written (Est. 9:17) “and they rested on its 14th and made it a day of feasting and gladness.” In Shushan ha-birah, they only rested on the 15th. Therefore, Shushan and all walled towns read on the 15th and make that a festive day. When the Mishnah taught that “the Megillah may be read (on the 11th, 12th, 13th …)” that concerned one who is engaged in fasting, because it is forbidden to engage in fasting on Shabbat. If the 14th falls on the first day of the week, it is forbidden to fast on Shabbat. It is also forbidden to fast on ‘erev Shabbat, because of the necessity of preparing for Shabbat. Rather, the fast is advanced to Thursday, which is the 11th of Adar. If the 14th falls on Shabbat, it is forbidden to fast on ‘erev Shabbat because of the necessity of preparing for Shabbat. The primary reason for a fast day is the recital of selihot and rahamim, and reciting these (instead of preparing for Shabbat) will detract from honouring the Shabbat. Honouring the Shabbat is more important than a thousand fasts, for honouring the Shabbat is a commandment from the Torah, while the fast is a rabbinic decree (Heb: ta‘anit de-rabbanan). The Torah commandment of honouring the Shabbat takes precedence over the fast, a rabbinic decree. Hence the fast is advanced to Thursday, the 12th. If the 14th falls on ‘erev Shabbat, the fast is observed on Thursday, which is the 13th. This is set forth in the Mishnah. How does this occur? If it falls on a Monday, villages and cities read that day and walled towns read the next day. If it falls on Shabbat or the first day of the week, villages advance the reading to yom ha-kenisah, etc. But when the 9th of Av falls on Shabbat, the fast is postponed until after Shabbat, since this fast was instituted as a punishment. Therefore, the fast is postponed and not advanced.
One of the cases discussed in the above responsum is the case of the 14th falling on Shabbat. Almost certainly, this was not something still occurring at the time this responsum was composed.[13] This suggests, as does a close reading of the responsum, that the responsum is not describing a practice of fasting on the 13th that was occurring in its time. It is only interpreting M. Megillah 1:1-2, the ninth chapter of the book of Esther, and a statement in the Talmud (Meg. 2a: yod-gimmel zeman kehillah la-kol hiy), and describing a practice of fasting on the 13th that theoretically occurred in ancient times, according to the interpretations it was offering.
The interpretation of yom ha-kenisah expressed in the Geonic responsum is far from its plain sense. If M. Megillah 1:1-2 was referring to the advancement of the reading to a fast day, the term we would expect it to use would be yom ha-ta‘anit. Moreover, M. Megillah 1:3 includes the following statement by R. Judah:
“When [may the reading be advanced]? In a place where they enter (makom she-nikhnasin) on Monday and Thursday.”
This strongly suggests that the term yom ha-kenisah at M. Megillah 1:1-2 refers to Mondays and Thursdays. Finally, an anonymous Talmudic discussion at Megillah 4a-b understands yom ha-kenisah as a reference to Mondays and Thursdays.[14]
The interpretations expressed of Est. 9:1-2 and of the Talmudic statement yod-gimmel zeman kehillah la-kol hiy are far from plain sense interpretations as well.
The critical question in determining the origin of the fast of the 13th of Adar is what motivated these unusual interpretations. Obviously, one possible motivation was an attempt to justify an existing practice to fast on the 13th. But I am going to suggest something entirely different that motivated these interpretations. Then we can understand the practice of fasting on the 13th as having originated as a consequence of the interpretations.
As I mentioned, the responsum included in Midrash Tanhuma was from Babylonian Geonim, and it is reasonable to work with the assumption that it dates from the eighth or ninth centuries. As documented in my article, a major issue of halakha in this period was the permissibility of fasting on Shabbat.[15]
The unusual interpretations can be explained under the assumption that the authors were responding to and opposing contemporary practices of fasting on Shabbat and ‘erev Shabbat. Interpreting yom ha-kenisah the way they did enabled them to cite M. Megillah 1:1-2 as a source which prohibited fasting on Shabbat and ‘erev Shabbat. In their interpretation, the reading for the villagers is allowed to be advanced because the date of the observance of the fast day is being advanced, due to a prohibition to fast on Shabbat and ‘erev Shabbat that they were reading into the Mishnah.
The practices that the authors of the unusual interpretations could have been responding to could have been: 1) the practice in Babylonia of fasting on the Shabbat before Yom Kippur, 2) practices in Babylonia of fasting on Shabbat as a form of repentance or piety, or by those whose ideal Shabbat consisted of studying or praying all day, or by those who enjoyed fasting, or 3) practices of fasting on Shabbat in Palestine in the above contexts. It is also possible that the main motivation of the authors of the unusual interpretations was opposition to a practice of fasting on ‘erev Shabbat.
I suggest that the unusual interpretations expressed in the Geonic responsum arose as a result of one or more of these polemical motivations. This led M. Megillah 1:1-2 to be interpreted to imply a prohibition to fast on Shabbat and ‘erev Shabbat. A new “tradition” about an ancient fast on the 13th of Adar was the result.
One clue that the authors were responding to contemporary practices of fasting on Shabbat and ‘erev Shabbat is that the responsum includes a polemical line stressing the importance of honouring the Shabbat: “honouring the Shabbat is more important than a thousand fasts…”[16] The early 9th century polemical letter of Pirkoy ben Baboy uses almost the same language:
“One who delights in one Shabbat is greater than one who sacrifices a thousand sacrifices and (fasts) a thousand fasts.”[17]
The main weakness with my approach to the origin of the fast is the argument that it is not likely that a Mishnah would be polemically interpreted to such an extent that the interpretation would result in the observance of a new (assumed to be ancient) fast day. My response is that those who authored the interpretation did not foresee that a new fast day would come to be observed as a result of their interpretation.
That the fast of the 13th of Adar did not arise as commemoration of the three days of fasting initiated by Esther is seen from the name for the fast day in the earliest sources. The responsum of R. Natronai is the earliest source that refers to the fast by a name, and it refers to the fast as Ta‘anit Purim. Of the four sources in the Geonic period from Babylonia and its environs that refer to the fast by a name, most likely none of them calls it Ta‘anit Esther.[18]
When the Babylonian Geonic sources express or imply something about the origin of the fast, what is consistently expressed or implied is that the fast is a rabbinic obligation, and not merely a post-Talmudic custom. For example, the Geonic responsum included in Midrash Tanhuma refers to the fast as a de-rabbanan. Moreover, an anonymous Geonic responsum takes the position that, in a leap year, one fasts even on the 13th of the first Adar. Most likely, it takes this position because it views fasting on the 13th of Adar as an obligation, based on the interpretation of Est. chap. 9 expressed in the Geonic responsum included in Midrash Tanhuma. If it viewed the fast as a post-Talmudic custom meant to commemorate fasting that took place in Nissan, a fast on the 13th of the second Adar would almost certainly have been viewed as sufficient.
In my article, I documented four sources that refer to a Palestinian practice of fasting three days (on a Monday-Thursday-Monday cycle) in Adar. These sources are: Massekhet Soferim (chaps. 17 and 21), and three other sources that have come to light from the Genizah. The Palestinian practice almost certainly was a commemoration of the three days of fasting initiated by Esther in Nissan.[19]
That the Palestinian practice was understood as a commemoration of the three days of fasting initiated by Esther probably contributed to the name for the Babylonian fast of the 13th evolving into Ta‘anit Esther.[20]

________________________________________
This essay is a brief summary of my recent article that appeared in Mitchell First, “The Origin of Ta'anit Esther,” AJS Review 34:2 (November 2010): 309-351, and is adapted with the permission of Cambridge University Press.
[1] An early example is probably Maimonides. An erroneous period and vav (the vav of ובי"ג) made their way into the standard printed text of his Hilkhot Ta‘aniyyot 5:5, after the sixth word. (The necessary corrections have already been made in the Frankel edition.) The corrected text reads:
המן בימי שהתענו לתענית זכר באדר בי"ג להתענות אלו בזמנים ישראל כל ונהגו
(Est. 9:31) שנאמר דברי הצומות וזעקתם...
Maimonides clearly states that the custom of fasting on the 13th is only of recent origin, and that it is a commemoration of a fast that took place in the time of Haman, i.e., in Nissan. Maimonides is forced to cite to Est. 9:31 because chapter 4 does not expressly state that the Jews of Shushan fasted in response to Esther’s request.
[2] Robert Brody, Teshuvot Rav Natronai Bar Hilai Ga’on, 303-04, responsum # 177.
[3] Siddur Rav Se‘adyah Ga’on, eds. Israel Davidson, Simhah Assaf, and Yissakhar Joel, 258 and 319-338.
[4] Ibid., 319.
[5] It was not composed in Palestine, where R. Se‘adyah lived earlier. Ibid., intro., 22-23.
[6] Louis Ginzberg, Geonica, vol. 2, 67-68.
[7] Ginzberg suggests that the correct reading is shel or yom.
[8] Shelomoh Wertheimer, Sefer Kohelet Shelomoh, 14.
[9] Louis Ginzberg, Ginzey Schechter, vol. 2, 136.
[10] Brody, Le-Toledot Nusah Ha-She’iltot, 186 n. 5, and The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture, 209 n. 29. Structurally, they are deficient asshe’iltot. Also, there is some variation in the manuscripts with regard to their location in the work. This suggests that they were later additions, attemped to be integrated into an already fixed work.
[11] It is organized and concise, and seems to reflect an attempt to record an official interpretation of M. Megillah 1:1-2. She’ilta #79, on the other hand, seems to be taking for granted an already established explanation of M. Megillah 1:1-2 that it is reiterating and commenting upon.
[12] Megillah 2a and she’ilta #79 have zeman instead of yom.
[13] When the 14th of Adar falls on Shabbat, the upcoming Yom Kippur would fall on Friday. Already in the time of R. Yose b. Bun (c. 300), the 14th of Adar was not being allowed to fall on Shabbat or Monday, so that Yom Kippur would not fall on Friday or Sunday. See Y. Megillah 1:2 (70b), EJ 5:49, and Yosef Tabory, Mo‘adey Yisra’eil Bi-Tekufat Ha-Mishnah Ve-Ha-Talmud, 28. See also Rosh Ha-Shanah 20a. She’ilta #79stated explicitly that the 14th of Adar no longer fell on Shabbat in its time.
[14] The severe difficulties with interpreting yom ha-kenisah as the 13th of Adar are noted by many authorities. Interestingly, there exists a manuscript of Megillah 2a (NY-Columbia X 893 T141) in which this interpretation (taken from the She’iltot) is included on the Talmudic page. The statement included is:
למכתב צריך ולא בעריהם נקהלו היהודים שנ׳ היא לכל קהילה זמן עשר שלשה אחא רב פיר׳
…לתענית ישראל בו שמתכנסין תענית יום דהוא
It is therefore incorrect to state that the fast of the 13th of Adar is nowhere mentioned in the Talmud!
[15] See my article, 335-339. Much of the relevant material is found at Ozar Ha-Ge’onim,Yom Tov, secs. 41-49.
[16] The material in the Geonic responsum and in she’ilta #79 is very similar. But the passage “honouring the Shabbat is more important than a thousand fasts” is found only in the Geonic responsum. The fact that the responsum does not illustrate seven scenarios, but only illustrates the scenarios of the 14th falling on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, also suggests that the main motivation for its interpretations was related toshabbat and ‘erev Shabbat.
[17] Ozar Ha-Ge’onim, Yom Tov, 20, sec. 41. This was a polemical letter written to the Jews of North Africa and Spain, instructing them that Palestinian customs should not be followed. Pirkoy, a Babylonian Jew, tells us that he was a disciple of someone named Rava who was a disciple of R. Yehudai. (R. Yehudai was head of the academy at Sura from approximately 757-761 C.E.) Pirkoy writes that many of the Palestinian customs originated as emergency measures during times of persecution, or were customs resulting from ignorance. It was only in Babylonia that accurate traditions were preserved. Among the Palestinian practices that Pirkoy criticizes was their practice of fasting onshabbat.
[18] The four are: R. Natronai, R. Se‘adyah, Al-Biruni, and the expanded version of Seder Parshiyyot Shel Yamim Tovim Ve-Haftarot Shelahen. R. Natronai refers to the fast asTa‘anit Purim. R. Se‘adyah refers to the fast as אלמגלה צום. Al-Biruni, a Moslem scholar of Persian origin (writing in 1000 CE), calls the day “the fasting of Alburi” (Purim). Seder Parshiyyot probably dates from the late ninth or early tenth century. It includes a shortened version of the responsum of R. Natronai that had referred to the fast. There are only three manuscripts of the expanded version of Seder Parshiyyot, none of which was actually copied in Geonic Babylonia. Two of the manuscripts read Ta‘anit Esther, while one reads Ta‘anit Purim. Since R. Natronai’s original responsum read Ta‘anit Purim, it seems likely that the manuscript of Seder Parshiyyot that reflects this reading has preserved the original reading and that the other reading originated with a copyist altering the name to fit the name for the fast prevailing in his locale.
Massekhet Soferim refers to sheloshet yemey zom Mordekhai ve-Esther. But the reference is to the Palestinian practice of fasting three days on a Monday-Thursday-Monday cycle. Massekhet Soferim was most likely composed in the 9th or 10th century, in a community under Palestinian influence, such as Italy or Byzantium. See Debra Reed Blank, “It’s Time to Take Another Look at at “Our Little Sister” Soferim: A Bibliographical Essay, JQR 90 (1999): 4 n. 10, and M. B. Lerner, “The External Tractates,” in The Literature of the Sages, ed. Shmuel Safrai, 399-400.
[19] This Palestinian practice may even have preceded the Babylonian practice of fasting on the 13th, although this cannot be proven.
[20] See my article, 333, n. 98. The fast of the 13th was already known in some areas asTa‘anit Esther by the 11th century. Ibid., 332-333.
http://www.seforim.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/origin-of-taanit-esther.html

Current Mood: contemplative

Some part-formed ideas about Miriam the sister of Moses

Mir-yam
may mean “bitter sea” - connected with bitter water of Marah. Perhaps also a connection to the Sea that drowned the Egyptians.

At Mara:
Like the “Sotah” ritual http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordeal_of_the_bitter_water, God is jealous of Israel who has been in Egypt (“consorting” perhaps, as it were with another man – not her husband). The bitter waters of Marah are made sweet (peace between husband and wife is achieved) by dissolving the “Etz” – Etz chayim = torah in the waters, Bene Yisrael drink and all is well again. This is a parallelism to the dissolving of a scroll with the Name of G-d written on it in water and the wife of the jealous husband has to drink it. “There he tested them”.

Healing comes out of it – Miryam connected with God healing as in Moses’ prayer “El na refah lah” – God is first seen as a healer here at Mara. “I am the Lord who heals you”.
Miryam is also associated with bringing husband and wife back together again (as with the Sotah ritual in which allows his name to be erased for the sake of reuniting Husband and Wife):

1st with her parents in Egypt (The Midrash has it that they had separated after the cruel decree of the Pharaoh and Miryam chided them – “Pharaoh only wanted to destroy the boys – you would destroy the girls as well!” upon which they got back together again and Moses was born.)

2nd in her criticism of Moshe because she saw he had separated from Tzipporah.
In Talmudic tradition the sudden disappearance of Hur from the narrative of Exodus is explained by the claim that Hur was killed when he tried to prevent the making of the Golden Calf.

Dvar acher (Another idea): Hur is the grandfather of Betzalel and the wife or son of Miryam (and father, or maybe son, of Caleb). The murder of Hur might also be a cause of bitterness for Miryam. (Think of connection to Naomi who says call me not Naomi but Mara, after losing her men folk). Rashi quoting Misrash identifies Puah, one of the midwives of the Hebrews who saves the boy children from Pharoah's evil decree, with Miryam. Puah means "Splendid". God rewards them with "Houses" understood by tradition to be Dynasties of Kings (for Miriam) and Priests (for Yocheved).
If so Miriam is ancestress of King David (also a creative singer/songwriter). Possibly Ephrata is a synonym for Miryam (Targum). Like Shirat haYam, David’s psalms often do not come across as “universalistic and left-wing” but more as a man with enemies who has faith in God to destroy them. Also this makes another link with Naomi.
The name Ephrata and the association of Ephrata the place with Bethlehem is also a connection to Naomi, Ruth and David.

“Miryam’s well“

There was, according to the Midrash, a well that was associated with Miriam, that wandered around everywhere the Children of Israel went in the Wilderness.

Then God bade him go with some elders to the rock on Horeb, and fetch water out of it. The elders were to accompany him there, that they might be convinced that he was not bringing water from a well, but smiting it from a rock. To accomplish this miracle, God bade him smite the rock with his rod, as the people labored under the impression that this rod could only bring destruction, for through its agency Moses had brought the ten plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt, and at the Red Sea; now they were to see that it could work good also. Upon God's bidding, Moses told the people to choose from which rock they wished water to flow, and hardly had Moses touched with his sapphire rod the rock which they had chosen, when plenteous water flowed from it. The spot where this occurred, God called Massah, and Meribah, because Israel had there tried their God, saying, "If God is Lord over all, as over us; if He satisfies our needs, and will further show us that He knows our thoughts, then will we serve Him, but not otherwise."

The water that flowed for them on this spot served not only as a relief for their present need, but on this occasion there was revealed to them a well of water, which did not abandon them in all their forty years' wandering, but accompanied them on all their marches. God wrought this great miracle for the merits of the prophetess Miriam, wherefore also it was called"Miriam's Well." But his well dates back to the beginning of the world, for God created it on the second day of the creation, and at one time it was in the possession of Abraham. It was this same well that Abraham demanded back from Abimelech, king of the Philistines, after the king's servants had violently taken it away. But when Abimelech pretended not to know anything about it, saying, "I wot not who hath done this thing," Abraham said: "Thou and I will send sheep to the well, and he shall be declared the rightful owner of the well, for whose sheep the water will spout forth to water them. And," continued Abraham, "from that same well shall the seventh generation after me, the wanderers in the desert, draw their supply."

(from Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews)

Numbers Chapter 20 verses 21 – 22
In v.21 Miryam died
In v.22 there was no water...Moses again has to do the striking the rock thing (told to “speak to it”...)
I fancy that he was going through bereavement anger following the death of Miryam.
--
There is also a connection to Rachel (Ephrata is first mentioned in connection with the death of Rachel – hence the pilgrimage site of the tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem.

The following is from a Chabad article:

The image of the young woman standing watch in the thicket of rushes at the edge of the Nile, the hope of redemption persevering against the bitterness of galut (exile) in her heart, evokes the image of another watching matriarch -- Rachel. As the prophet Jeremiah describes it, it is Rachel who, in her lonely grave on the road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, weeps over her children's suffering in galut. It is she, more than the male patriarchs or leaders of Israel, who feels the depth of our pain; it is her intervention before G-d, after theirs has failed, which brings the redemption.

Psalm 87 is a very hard Psalm to understand or translate.

I believe that Rashi has the key to its understanding when he points to a reference back to Isaiah 66 verses 20 to 21.

read against this background it may be better translated not as it is usually construed:
"A Song of the sons of Korach: He has set his foundation on the holy mountain"
but rather:
"A Song for the sons of Korach, based on the "Holy Mountain" passage (in Isaiah):".

It also has a rather nice chiasmic structure:

Isaiah 66: 20 – 21

“And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations as an offering unto the LORD, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD,

just as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

And of them also, will I take for Priests and for Levites, says the LORD.”

Psalm 87
For the Bene-Korach (temple-singers), a song with musical accompaniment, it’s basis being The holy mountains (Jerusalem):

The Lord loves the gates of Zion, more (even) than all the dwelling-places of Jacob.

You are ascribed (great) honour: “The City of God”

--(sela)--

I shall remind the Dragon (of Egypt) and Babylon of them that know Me – behold (also) Philistia and Tyre with Kush, (saying) “This one was born there”.

And of Zion it will be said: “This person, and this person, was born in her” and He will establish her (as) the highest.

The Lord will count them when He inscribes the (fate of the) Peoples, (saying of each): “This one was born there”.

--(sela)--

Singers and Musicians: “All my innermost (yearnings) are for you”.

https://ibb.co/W0gS37J

The Book of Bamidbar (Numbers) and our portion this week which begins the book starts with :

“
1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying:
ב שְׂאוּ, אֶת-רֹאשׁ כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם, לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם--בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת, כָּל-זָכָר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם. 2 'Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their polls;
”
So it is about numbers and counting (– Rashi says “God loves us, so he counts us often” ).

At this time of year some of us are fulfilling the Mitzvah of “Sefirat Ha-Omer” – the command to count the 49 days (or 7 weeks) between Pesach and Shavuot. It is a seemingly very boring mitzvah, hard to see as meaningful and exceedingly difficult to do without missing a day and messing up somewhere along the line. [Some people inject meaning by connecting each day/week to a Kabbalistic “Sephira” or sphere – hmm.. [Sphere though similar in sound is probably an unrelated Greek word - my OED suggested that it comes from a word meaning the sphere of the heavens. Leo pointed out that the Kabbalists (who may have got it from the Greeks) thought of there being a series of concentric spheres - the 7 heavens. But I suspect the idea and connection to the Omer came later.]
In itself, “counting” appears at first sight mechanical and rather meaningless. Stories on the other hand can be very meaningful to us.

So my starter question is: What is the connection between counting “Lispor” and telling a story: “Le Saper” since both have the same root letters סְפַּר (S P R)?

It is interesting that the same co-incidence of meaning occurs in English. The verb “to tell” meaning to tell a story has the older meaning “to tell” ie to count or tally. Then there is the English verb “to recount” which also means to tell a story and is connected with “to count” and “to account”. What is going on here?
(…and why are we specifically commanded to count the days between Pesach and Shavuot?)

One answer is that in all story-telling there is a sequence: “I went to the shop and I bought: some cream cheese, a bottle of vanilla essence, a bag of sugar, a pint of sour cream, and a packet of graham’s crackers….” (You can see where I am going with this…it all leads to cheese cake, of course!  ). At Pesach we tell the story of our liberation from slavery in Egypt – and perhaps it is no co-incidence that this service is called a “Seder” (an order, a sequence) – indeed I speculate S P R (Saper) and S D R (Seder) may perhaps be connected.

One aspect of counting is also sequence – we align the items being counted to a meaningless ordered list of words “One, Two, Three…etc”. So there is a connection between counting and story-telling.

However there is another aspect to counting which is one-to-one correspondence. I imaging the first counting being done by shepherds as their flock passed through a gate into a paddock. They might have moved pebbles from one pile to another as a way of checking they still had the right number of sheep. [Indeed this most basic of counting methods is used to this day by Cricket umpires who move 6 stones from one pocket to the other as they count the balls bowled in an “over”]. Afterwards you can do things like arranging the pebbles into patterns – e.g. rows of ten, or of seven – or you can assign word rhymes to them like “one two three..” or “yan tyan tethera methera pimp…”. In England, perhaps, after every twenty our shepherd would probably “score” a mark on a stick – hence the old term “a score” for twenty.

The days and weeks between Pesach and Shavuot can be counted by a similar method. I move 49 pegs from one peg-board to another.

Counting people, in ancient Israel was a bit different – unlike with sheep you can ask everyone to be counted to bring a coin, a half-shekel. Then count or weight the result. And we are thus elevating the people at the same time.
There is a negative view in Jewish tradition of counting people (King David counted the people and a plague ensued) Perhaps this was because by counting them he was assessing his own power as king (maybe for military or tax purposes) and that showed a power-hungry attitude or a lack of trust in God – Or are we reducing human beings to “a number” as was done in the concentration camps – stripping them of their humanity and personhood? In traditional Jewish circles counting people is done indirectly and to count 10 for a Minyan one is meant to use a ten word Torah verse - The verse usually used is from Psalm 28 : "Hoshiah et amecha u'varech et nachalatecha ur'em venas'em ad ha'olam." "Save Your people and bless Your inheritance, and tend them and elevate them forever." This is maybe better than using “meaningless” numbers or words – we are connecting ourselves to something Holy.

It is worth noticing that in the verse “Take ye the sum…” at the start of Bamidbar (above), the literal wording is “Lift up the heads of the Children of Israel” – Moses was commanded to elevate them as he counted them. I imagine him lifting each person’s head by the chin and looking into their eye and somehow (maybe with a well-chosen word or two) raising each of them to a higher purpose.

We are not merely to count each person, we are to make “each person count”.

Turning now to the counting of the days between Pesach and Shavuot, there is a similar idea that can be extracted, I think.
Counting the days has a second significance beyond the aspects of counting (sequencing and quantifying) seen so far. It connects the two festivals and it gives added significance to the start and end points of our counting. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin writing from Efrat in Eretz Yisrael (inside the separation barrier but in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967) writes interestingly about this in “The Omer Count a purely agricultural festival” http://www.neot-kedumim.org.il/?CategoryID=321&ArticleID=306 .
He says we make the important link of freedom (Pesach - liberation from Egypt) to responsibility (Shavuot - receiving the Torah)
But also that in ancient times this count linked and spanned the very start of the Harvest season (bringing an Omer of Barley at the start of the Barley Harvest) with the end of the harvest (end of the wheat harvest) – something Jewish people living and farming in the land of Israel are again conscious of. This means that it was a time when people in Israel were receiving Blessings in the form of Barley Wheat Oats Rye Spelt Dates, Olives, Grapes, Figs and Pomegranates (the produce for which the land of Israel was famous) – which on Shavuot they would then put in a basket and bring “to God” (to the temple in Jerusalem).

I imagine they would have been “working their socks off” (ok I know they didn’t wear socks!) over this period – so I think that the counting is saying to them/ to us…to count the days of our blessings – as well as thanking God for them. (ie to value them).

Also, as with people, to make every one of those days count:

“So, teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom.” - from Psalm 90
(appropriately described as – “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God”)
Shabbat shalom,