Philologos
By Philologos
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Culture Did Tennessee Titans Bernard Pollard Slip Up on ‘Hebrew Slaves’ Remark?
Fellow Forward contributor Menachem Wecker writes to ask: “I monitor certain search items related to Judaism on social media, and recently I came across the expression ‘worked like a Hebrew slave’ for the first time. It looks like it might be more frequently used in the African-American community. I wonder what are your thoughts on…
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Culture Solution to Antwerp Mystery Leads to Yet Another Mystery
Rick Glaser of Orange Mills, Md. writes: “I have a Hebrew Bible published in Antwerp by Christopher Plantin, a Christian who printed a good many Hebrew texts. Its first page gives the date of publication as the Jewish 5333 — that is, 1573. Its last page gives the date of completion as 1574. Given the…
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Culture The Great Bagel(ing) Mystery Has Been Solved!
Not every column sees a mystery cleared up so quickly. Two weeks ago I appealed to you for help regarding the origin of the expression “to bagel” in the sense of subtly letting someone know you are Jewish or ascertaining whether he or she is. One of several responses received comes from Montreal-born human rights…
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Culture How Famed French Artists Came To Identify Themselves With a Hebrew Name
A major art exhibition that opened in September at the Hermitage Amsterdam museum features works by three post-Impressionist French painters: Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis — the first two better known to the general public than the third. They were, according to the museum’s press release, “briefly united with a few other artists……
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Culture ‘Bageling’ Means Many Things — Not All of Them Fit for Family Paper
This comes from the Forward’s Naomi Zeveloff: “I just did a story it appeared in this newspaper’s October 4 issue on how Chabadniks figure out who is Jewish during their Sukkot street outreach. One of them described ‘bageling’ for me, by which he meant the process by which one Jew on the street subtly recognizes…
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Culture What Do the Kenya Mall Terrorists and Naughty Jewish Children Have in Common
David Bell writes to inquire: “At present, the Arabic-named ‘al-Shabab’ — an organization composed of young Somalian Muslim fanatics intent on murder and mayhem — is very much in the news. The Hebrew word shovav denotes a mischievous child worlds apart from such murderous thugs. And yet the Hebrew and Arabic words have in common…
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Culture Britannia Rules the Words No More in Israel
While waiting for a train in an Israeli station the other day, I was bemused to hear an announcement in English, following a similar one in Hebrew, that said, “Smokers are requested to smoke only in the dedicated area.” I suppose someone meant “designated,” unless the announcement concerned dedicated smokers. This kind of thing isn’t…
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Culture Is The Fruit of Leviticus Really an Etrog?
Besides the sukkah itself, nothing is more associated with the holiday of Sukkot than the “four species” — the arba’a minim, as they are called in Hebrew. These are the etrog or citron fruit; the lulav or palm shoot, and the willow and myrtle branches in which the base of the palm shoot is set…
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