B"H

I think many of us on this forum are unfamiliar with the works of Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon (RSG), seeing that he wrote his most momentous works in the Judaeo-Arabic script. This language was uncomprehensible to many of our ancestors who lived in Europe at the time. The Yemenites, and other oriental communities, for that matter, had an advantage over our forefathers who studied and spoke only in Hebrew/Yiddish dialects.

In this thread, we hope to highlight some of the more extraordinary pieces of commentary bequeathed to us by the man. To begin, we have taken a look at Rabbi Yoseph Qafih's translation of RSG's Translation & Commentary on the Book of Psalms, known as "Tifsir."

In the book of Psalms, for instance, we find the following lines explained thus:

(Psalm 68:15-16)
הַר אֱלהִים הַר בָּשָׁן. הַר גַּבְננִּים הַר בָּשָׁן
לָמָּה תְּרַצְדוּן הָרִים גַּבְננִּים
הָהָר חָמַד אֱלהִים לְשִׁבְתּוֹ. אַף יי' יִשְׁכּן לָנֶצַח

"Is the hill of G-d as the hill of Bashan?"

Here, RSG explains the first stanza as a rhetorical question. Then, he goes on to deride the question with good humor, saying:

"An haunchbacked mountain is the Mount of Bashan!" (Meaning, it is unfit for G-d's Divine Presence.)

"Why leap ye, ye haunchbacked mountains? That mountain which G-d desireth to dwell in (i.e. Mount Moriah in Jerusalem), even the Lo-rd shall dwell [therein] forever more."

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By the way, the aforesaid Psalm was traditionally recited on the Shavuos Holiday, and wherein is brought down an analogy between Sinai (where the Law was first given), and Jerusalem (where G-d had decided to make His permanent dwelling place).

Sincerely,
David

B"H

In all places where the scriptures write "hyssop" (Heb. איזוב), as in Shemos 12:22, Bamidbar 19:18, Vayikra 14:4,6, etc., our Rabbis of old have always understood this to mean not the Greek hyssop, but that which grows in our own country and is called by the Arabs "za'atar," but in modern English is known as "marjoram" or sometimes "sweet marjoram" (Majorana syriaca). Thus have our Rabbis always translated this word, as in Rabbi Hai Gaon's Commentary on the Order of Mishnah known as Tahoros, and in Rabbi Saadia Gaon's translation of the Torah, known as Tifsir, and in Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah.

In Shabbos 109b it has the following about the Eizov (as paraphrased by Kollel Iyun Hadaf)


(e) (Gemara - Rav Yosef): Ezov (hyssop required for sprinkling for a Metzora or a Tamei Mes) is what we call Evrasah bar Hemeg (it grows among bulrushes);

(g) The household of Rav Shmuel bar Yehudah served to Ula [a plant called] sage; he said that this is Ezov of the Torah.

(h) (Rav Papi): Shumshuk is Ezov of the Torah.

(i) (R. Yirmiyah mi'Difti): Presumably, Rav Papi is right:

1. (Mishnah): The Mitzvah is to have three Ezov branches, each with one shoot. (Rashash - Rashi explains that each has three shoots, like R. Yehudah (who argues in the Seifa of this Mishnah), for from this we prove that it is Shumshuk.)

2. Shumshuk has shoots like this!
Does this explanation of Eizov has this Simon?

B"H

Rav Chaim,

There is plenty of marjoram (Arabic: za'atar) = Eizov growing in the mountains around my Moshav. It's often used by us as a spice in cream cheeses and in spreads made from ground chick peas, especially when mixed with a dash of olive oil. It has a pungent odour. I will make an effort to check these signs the next time I go out for a walk.

As for the page you translated from the Talmud (Shabbos 109b), there, it uses the words מרוא חיורא for what Rashi calls "salvia" or Sage. A more literal translation would be:
(g) "The household of Rav Shmuel bar Yehudah served to Ula [a plant called] white sage; he said that this is Ezov of the Torah."

By the way, the continuation of the Talmud which the Rav quoted, says that Eizov is used for ridding a person of worms in his entrails (קוקאיני), especially when it is mixed with seven black dates. A person can become infected with such worms if he eats barley flour that has been left standing, untouched, for forty days.

B"H

Rav Chaim,

Today, I was able to check the signs you were asking for on the marjoram (Ar. "za'atar") which grows here, in these mountains. I observed that this tiny, scraggly bush grows by sending off many offshoots, or main stems or branches from the ground. A single stem may or may not have smaller shoots that protrude from it. I noticed where some did, and I noticed where others did not. Those that did send off shoots from the main stem, did so at irregular places. Some actually had three shoots; some had four; and some had none at all.

This would tend to support both versions of our Mishnah. Those branches with a single shoot are plenteous, but so too those that break off into smaller shoots.

Sincerely,
David Ben-Abraham

B"H

CORRECTION:

The first post on this thread should have had written: "hunchback mountain" rather than "haunchbacked mountain."

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Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon has, in all places where the name "Red Sea" (Heb. ים סוף) is mentioned, called this sea, "Bahar al-Qulzum," meaning "the Sea of Qulzum," or what is known in English as "the Gulf of Suez."

B"H

More on the subject of hyssop (Heb. איזוב) whom RSG translates as "marjoram."

I am posting a URL link that shows a picture of the marjoram (Majorana syriaca) that grows in Israel. I scanned these on my own scanner.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5180/marjoram4ex.jpg

This country produces marjoram (Majorana syriaca), and chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) and savory (Micromeria fruticosa) a plenty! But RSG's explanation of the Hebrew word איזוב as being "marjoram" begs the question:

The Jewish translators of the Hebrew books who gave the gentile world its Septuagint have unanimously called the איזוב "hyssop." But if it is, indeed, marjoram, why didn't the ancient Greek writer, Theophrastus, in his "Inquiry into the Properties of Plants," give also the name "hyssop" to the plant described by him as marjoram? Rather, he calls marjoram by the Greek name "amarakos," while hyssop has its own separate description.

The Talmud says that the translators exchanged the meaning of the Hebrew text in several places, when writing the Septuagint. But the Talmud goes on to explain that some of these changes were necessary in order not to offend Ptolemy's wife, who had the name of "rabbit" (wherefore they wrote "slender-feet" instead of "rabbit"), or in order not to cause some misconstruing of the idea, as we find in other places.

B"H

Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon (RSG), in his Arabic translation of the Pentateuch (Torah) known as "Tifsir," has shed light on the meaning of words, often not explained by RASHI. For example:

The word מָר דְּרוֹר (Shemos 30:23) is translated by RSG as "Musk perfume," such as which is extracted from the Musk deer (Moschus moschiferus).

The word זָמֶר (Devorim 14:5) is translated by RSG as "giraffe." So, too, was the word translated by the translators of the Hebrew books who gave the gentile world its Septuagint, calling it by the Greek word "camelopardalus" – meaning, "giraffe."

The word רְאֵם (Devorim 33:17) is translated by RSG as "rhinoceros." It would seem that this was also the sense of the translators of the Septuagint, who wrote for this word, "ox with only one horn."

Yet, when RSG describes the diseases, distempers and disorders mentioned in Devorim 28:22, he has clearly trodden his own path – as have nearly all the expositors we find on this subject. For no two commentators have explained all words with the same sense or meaning.

While the word קַדַּחַת (ibid.) is unanimously agreed upon by all to have the meaning of "fever" or "ague," the words דַּלֶּקֶת and חַרְחוּר have disputed meanings.

The word דלקת (ibid.) is translated by RSG as "a malarial fever that is characterized by paroxysms that recur every other day, or what is known as tertian." The Targum of Yonathan Ben-Uzziel, on the other hand, says that it is "a burning or inflammation of the bone-marrow."

The word חרחור (ibid.) is translated by RSG as "hemiplegia" (Arabic: "Falij"), or what is known as the paralysis of one side of the body, usually caused by a lesion in the opposite side of the brain. The Jewish translators of the Hebrew books who gave the gentile world its Septuagint have translated the same word as having the meaning of "erethism" (Gr. "erethismos"), or one who is plagued with an unusual or excessive degree of irritability. It takes its root from the Hebrew, למה חרה לך (Beraishis 4:6). Rashi explains its sense as meaning, "parching fever" (French: "esardement"), saying that it causes one to thirst always for water, and takes its root from the Hebrew, ועצמי חרה מני חרב (Job 30:30).

Sincerely,
David

camelopardalus - a cross between a camel and a pard (panther)
leopard - a cross between a lion and a panther
The Greeks had an exagerated idea of what species could breed with others. So did the Rabbis of the talmud.
The ox with one horn gets translated as unicorn which leads to some pretty silly sounding translations (the unicorn, the auroch and the Paragoyd). Some of these quaint terms do not exist anywhere else in the English language.

What do you call a cross between a rabbit and a chicken? Nisht der heir vnishta henn. (Yiddish)

Aryeh

B"H

The Torah (Berashis 30:37) brings the following episode about our forefather Jacob:

ויקח לו יעקב מַקַּל לִבְנֶה לח ולוז וערמון וכו'

(Transliteration of Text)

"And Jacob took unto himself the succulent rods of a livneh [tree], a luz [tree] and an armon [tree], etc."

In the Aramaic translation of Onkelos, he assigns the Aramaic word דְּלוּב (Sycamore, or plane tree; Genus: Platanus) for the tree known as "armon" (Heb. ערמון). So, too, does Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon (RSG) translate the word, in his native Arabic.

RASHI, on the other hand, interpreted the "armon" tree as being the "chestnut" (Castanea sativa).

Does anyone know if the chestnut was ever native to Syria?

Sincerely,
David

Castanea is named for its origin Castanea in Asia Minor.

I have gone over the various translations and possibilities. None of the suggested plants contain phytoestrogens which are plant compounds with hormonal activity (e.g. mandrake use by the wives of Jacob).
The second possibility is prostaglandins, routinely used for synchonization in domestic cows and sheep. The white birch does have anti-prostaglandins (which why it was used as an anti-pain drug for centuries). Some plants do have prostaglandins but I am not aware of any woody plants which do.

B"H

Aryeh, Shalom!

If a can remember correctly, the native American Indians of North America would take the white powder from the bark of birch trees, and use it very similar to what we do with aspirin. In fact, our use of aspirin today as a pain-killer was learned from them. Is this not correct?

David Ben-Abraham

quote:

Originally posted by Rav Chaim:
In Shabbos 109b it has the following about the Eizov (as paraphrased by Kollel Iyun Hadaf)


(e) (Gemara - Rav Yosef): Ezov (hyssop required for sprinkling for a Metzora or a Tamei Mes) is what we call Evrasah bar Hemeg (it grows among bulrushes);

(g) The household of Rav Shmuel bar Yehudah served to Ula [a plant called] sage; he said that this is Ezov of the Torah.

(h) (Rav Papi): Shumshuk is Ezov of the Torah.

(i) (R. Yirmiyah mi'Difti): Presumably, Rav Papi is right:

1. (Mishnah): The Mitzvah is to have three Ezov branches, each with one shoot. (Rashash - Rashi explains that each has three shoots, like R. Yehudah (who argues in the Seifa of this Mishnah), for from this we prove that it is Shumshuk.)

2. Shumshuk has shoots like this!
Does this explanation of Eizov has this Simon?

B"H

My dear Rav Chaim,

Last night, I had the opportunity to review the Mishnah (Parah 11:9) which treats on the "hyssop" (Heb. איזוב), while looking particularly at the wording of the original Hebrew text. What you have so generously posted for us from the page in the Talmud (Shabbos 109b), unfortunately, can be said to be inaccurate in its translation. The word גבעולין , of which there should be "three on each stalk," has been erroneously translated as "shoots."
The Hebrew word, גבעול , actually means "calyx" or "capsule of plants." (Jastrow). In wheat, it would mean the spike (which hold the grain) and from which protrudes the awns.
So a better translation of Mishnah Parah 11:9 would be:

"The [bunch of] hyssop should be made up from three stalks having [in all] three buds. R. Yehudah says: Three to each."

In the marjoram that grows in our country (the alleged "aizov" of the Hebrew Bible), we find these very calyxes. This new revelation further gives credence to the opinion that the hyssop of old was, indeed, none other but the marjoram which was mentioned by our ancients.

Sincerely,
David Ben-Abraham

quote:

Originally posted by David Ben-Abraham:
B"H

Aryeh, Shalom!

If a can remember correctly, the native American Indians of North America would take the white powder from the bark of birch trees, and use it very similar to what we do with aspirin. In fact, our use of aspirin today as a pain-killer was learned from them. Is this not correct?

David Ben-Abraham

Salix alba was known to all ancient nations, Egypt, Sumeria. The name salycilic acid (aspirin) comes from its extraction from salix or willow (arava). The American Indians apparantly figured it out by themselves.
The Rambam calls it
chilaf with about five synonyms.

B"H
Aryeh,

Thank-you for this information. I had obviously confused birch with willow.

By the way, where does Rambam call willow "chilaf?" Do not we have another Hebrew word for "willow," namely "aravah?"

Sincerely,
David

That's alright I didn't mean white birch but white poplar which similar to willow is a good source of salacins. Salicins, like aspirin, are anti-prostaglandins which are good pain remedies. Now if enough salicins would get into the water to synchonize the sheep, one of my colleagues keeps asking me to test this but we still haven't got around to it.
This is correct. Arava lvana in Hebrew is identified by the Rambam as Chilaf also as al-tzatzaf althogh tzaftzafah in the Talmud is not considered kosher for a lulav because it grows in the mountains. However, what the Rambam describes is clearly a willow that grows by stream.

Quote "Arava lvana in Hebrew is identified by the Rambam as Chilaf also as al-tzatzaf althogh tzaftzafah in the Talmud is not considered kosher for a lulav because it grows in the mountains. However, what the Rambam describes is clearly a willow that grows by stream."

The reason why the Rambam quotes it as Tzafzifa could be because of the gemara in Shabbos 36a as paraphrased by Kollel Iyun Hadaf


1. (Rav Chisda): The meanings of three [pairs of] words changed after the Churban

2. Aravah (willow) and Tzaftzefa (which has white branches with round leaves) were switched;

i. Question: What difference does it make?

ii. Answer: On Sukos, one of the four species we must take is [what was initially called] Aravah (but commoners now call it Tzaftzefa).

B"H

למנצח משכיל לבני קרח. כאיל תערג

Why is it that we recite this Psalm (Ps. 42) on the festival of Sukkos? Because, there, we find mention of three important themes, viz., of Rejoicing (שמחה); of the Sukkah (סוכה); and of the Festival Day (חג).

In vs. 5, it teaches:

אלה אזכרה ואשפכה עלי נפשי, כי אעבר בַּסָּךְ אדדם עד בית אלהים, בקול רנה ותודה המון חוגג

בסך = Meaning, "Sukkah" or "a covering."

בקול רנה = Meaning, "Rejoicing."

חוגג = Meaning, "Festival Day."

The problem here is with the Hebrew word אֶדַּדֵּם, where we find its counterpart אֶדַּדֵּה in Isaiah 38:15.

RSG (Rabbi Saadia Gaon) explains that it has the meaning of "to croon; to sing a lullaby; hum."

Dunash b. Labert (the Baghdadi, and student of RSG) explains that it has the meaning of "to remain silent." As it is written, וידום אהרן.

Menachem b. Saruq (contemporary with Dunash, and a Rabbi who greatly influenced RASHI) explains that it has the meaning of "to befriend; to be mates with."

RASHI explains that it has the meaning of "to escape; wander; flee."

Eben Ezra and Rabbi David Kimchi, both, explain that it has the meaning of "to rock; sway."

Others say the word means "to take small steps; to walk softly."

Following RSG's explanation, the above verse in that Psalm can effectually be translated:

"I shall remember these things, and pour out my soul. [Remembering] when I would pass beneath [His] covering and go up with them while merrily chanting songs [along the way], unto the house of G-d, [even] with the voice of melody and thanksgiving, [and that of] the multitude of people who were feasting."

In Isaiah 38:15, the sense would be: "I go a crooning all my years."

David

B"H

CORRECTION:

The previous post should be amended to read: "Dunash b. Labrat (born in Fez, but studied under RSG in Baghdad)"

How did Menachem and Ibn Labrat meet. Were they both in Bagdag??