Teaching Torah in Eloquent Laaz Is Hiddur Mitzvah

English Expert

The question has been raised how important it is to know English for conveying Torah ideas. This includes the sentence structure, the rhythm, the syntax and the vocabulary.

The level of English used surely impacts the Torah ideas being expressed. It has the ability to present sophisticated Torah in a more honorable manner. A high level of English can make Torah ideas more potent.[1] How does it compare when you hear a rabbi giving a shiur with elegance in contrast to one who doesn’t? How about when you read a sefer that was translated from another language into English? Surely, the level of English plays a vital role. There was a rabbi who once proposed that talking and writing Torah in English eloquently can be a fulfillment of זה א-לי ואנוהו, this is my God and I will beautify Him.”[2] Eloquent English can beautify the Torah.[3]

R’ Mordechai Gifter (1915-2001), Rosh Yeshiva of Telz, once expressed that speaking English made him more effective as a Torah scholar.[4] He was able to present Torah in a more eloquent and explanatory manner.

R’ Gifter once wrote a letter to his grandson: “Perfect yourself in the English language both in speaking and in[5] writing.”[6]

In 1991, R’ Emanuel Feldman wrote an article dealing with this issue titled “Tefillin in a Brown Paper Bag.”[7] He wrote “Impoverished language cannot accurately reflect the wealth of great concepts… The use of deficient language has practical negative consequences as well, for it prevents us from preaching to anyone but the Orthodox choir…[8] After all, we don’t wrap our tefillin in brown paper bags, or bind our sifrei Torah with coarse, ugly ropes.”[9]



[1] This essay is dealing with one who is raised in a country where English is the first language such as the United States.

[2] Shemos 15:2. The Gemara (Shabbos 133b) comments on this pasuk that one must beautify himself before Hashem through the embellished performance of mitzvos. For example, make a beautiful succa, lulav, shofar, tzitzis…

[3] R’ Akiva Eiger requested that his Torah be printed on beautiful paper with black ink and attractive letters, since one is impressed, his mind at ease and concentration is aroused from learning in a sefer with a nice appearance. The reverse, when the print is unclear, has the opposite effect on the reader (שו”ת רבי עקיבא איגר, Hakdama, s.v. והנני).

[4] R’ Mordechai Gifter was of the opinion that even a person who would become a gadol should learn English and it wouldn’t take away from his becoming great in Torah.

[5] Here is a clever piece put together by an English teacher.
You think English is easy?
Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning. A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym. For instance:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture..
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the pig farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind up the kite string.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the canvas of the painting I shed a tear..
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth?
One goose, 2 geese So one moose, 2 meese?
One index, 2 indices?

Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

[6] R’ Shlomo Eiger (1785-1852) wrote to his son, “Complete yourself in writing and speaking (the language of the country) because there is a great purpose to it. It is pleasing to people and to Hashem, as there is an obligation to learn a trade (and writing and speaking the language of the country is necessary for a job). In these times where it is not possible to fulfill this, there is still an obligation to learn that which is needed for a livelihood” (Chut Hamshulash p. 78).

[7] He notes that this idea first struck him when he was on a flight, where he read the London Economist. He writes that “he reveled in its felicitous style, its elegant phrasing, its precision, its supple prose and keen sense of language.” He then read an Orthodox Jewish periodical and the sudden change in atmosphere gave him the literary bends. “The alphabet and the words were English, but the sentence structure, the rhythm, the syntax, the tone, were of another language altogether.”

[8] He laments misusages such as “being that” instead of “since”; “comes to tell us” instead of “informs us”; “brings down” instead of “cites.”

[9] The gemara (Kidusin 29a) says that a father is obligated to teach his son a trade. A rabbi involved in Kiruv around the world once said that in his opinion nowadays, for those who are able to, one should teach their children English or hire someone to do so. (He said this in context to those who raise children in countries where English is not the mother tongue. Still it is very beneficial for them to know it as a second language.) This is because there are many more opportunities presented to such a person. These include being able to learn more Torah since there is some Torah—be it books or shiurim—that is only available in English and being able to do Kiruv since many secular Jews only speak English. Additionally, more job opportunities are available to those who know English as well as higher salaries. This is because English is the universal language. In fact, in 2015, out of the total 195 countries in the world, 67 have English as the primary language of ‘official status.’ Plus there are also 27 countries where English is spoken as a secondary ‘official’ language. (It is also a major business language, as well as the official language of a number of the world’s most important institutions, including the United Nations, NATO and the European Union.) Interestingly, a Kiruv rabbi once said that genuine secular Israelis come to Torah events when it is in English. He explained because English is cool, cultural and international. The same poster for the event written in English will draw more Israelis than if it is in Hebrew, although Hebrew is their mother tongue.

Rabbi Yehoshua Alt

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Did Jews Endure Torture in Galus All To Bring It Back to Israel and Make It Our Own?!

Torture Has No Place in a Jewish State

If ever I write something that should be considered uncontroversial, this should be it. If you disagree with me on everything else, you should agree with me here.

Torture has no place in a Jewish state.

I don’t care if it is an Arab or a Jew.

I don’t care if it is a known terrorist, a suspected terrorist, or a ticking time bomb.

I don’t care if it is a minor or an adult.

I don’t care how many lives the security agencies think they will save.

I don’t care how badly they or their political bosses need to extract a confession to show they solved a crime.

And I don’t care what you call it. Governments around the world have invented a slew of euphemisms to make the horrific sound acceptable. It isn’t. It’s horrific.

A Jewish state should not have dungeons where people are brought and tortured to extract information, coerce confessions, or simply intimidate them into submission.

A Jewish state should not have state-sanctioned, court-approved sadists who are paid to mentally and physically break people.

A Jewish state should not allow people to be arrested and incarcerated indefinitely in barbaric conditions without being charged with a crime, shown the evidence against them, or given any reasonable recourse.

A Jewish state should not allow people to be dehumanized and their entire families put through hell, because someone in authority signed an order.

We did not survive two thousand years of exile for this. We did not endure legalized brutality in every corner of the earth to learn how it’s done and bring it back with us.

I am not a bleeding heart or a pacifist. I have no pity on Israel’s enemies, and wouldn’t trade one drop of Jewish blood for political favors or world approval. I believe we should ruthlessly defeat our enemies and show them what a holy war really is. Let them hate us if they wish, but let them respect us, and let them fear us. Let them crawl to us begging for peace, and if not, we’ll hit them even harder.

We kill when we must in times of war, but we do not torture people. We respect the basic humanity even of those we must fight. We do not defile their bodies and behave like monsters, cold to their suffering or even enjoying it. That is what they do. That is not what Jews do.

When Jews behave like they are supposed to, God will help them win without need for sadism. That is a historical fact and remains true today.

The people of Israel love to disagree with one another. This is one issue on which there should be complete unity, from every part of the religious, political, and social spectrum. We must demand, together, that the dungeons close and the torture stops.

No more forced or coerced confessions. No more brutal interrogations. No more beatings of prisoners, no more sleepless nights, no more psychological torture, no more sadism.

No more excuses.

If you agree that torture has no place in Israel, please share this and help make it clear to those who have power and those who wish to be entrusted with power that this is now a deal-breaker.

The light unto the nations will no longer torture people in dark places.

__________________________

chananyaweissman.com/

שיר – קרוב השם לכל קוראיו באמת

כמה טוב ה’ I קובי ברומר Kama Tov Hashem I Kobi Brummer

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הזמר והיוצר קובי ברומר מוציא סינגל חדש בשם ‘כמה טוב ה” מתוך אלבום בכורה שיצא בקרוב. את השיר הלחין יאיר שובל שגם כתב את המילים יחד עם הזמר והיוצר שולי רנד. על העיבוד המוסיקלי אחראי יונתן אבידני, כשאת ההפקה כולה מבצע מנהלו האישי של ברומר, המפיק דוד פדידה.

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מילים:
לא צריך למצוא סיבות בשביל לשמוח,
רק תפתח את העיניים והמוח,
תתבונן סביב לעולם ותראה כמה טוב השם,
גם ביום שקצת לא נוח,
הכל נסגר ואין לאן לברוח,
רק תפתח את העיניים ותראה..

כמה טוב השם..
כמה טוב השם..
כמה טוב השם..
כמה טוב השם..

גם אם בפניך דלת נטרקה,
הוא יפתח לך עוד דלת חדשה,
מאחורי כל גל עכור מעבר כל ענן,
נמצאת השמש שתאיר חדש מפני ישן,
היי יהודי אל תשכח, אתה בן של מלך
שמלווה אותך לאורך כל הדרך,
תרים ת׳ראש אל ריבונו של עולם,
תצעק איתי ביחד בוא נעיר את כולם.

כמה טוב השם..

(כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד..)

תסיר מאיתנו כל עצב וכל פחד,
תמיד נזכור שכשאנחנו יחד,
כל מר יהפוך למתוק, כל בכי יתהפך לצחוק,
יא יא טאטע..
וגם אם העולם סוגר עליך, ואתה נחסם, אתה נחנק,
תרים ת’ראש אל השמים בן אדם,
ומכל הלב תצעק..

מאתר יוטיוב, כאן.