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Defining Our Terms

Many of us have heard the adage about words being the “building blocks” of language, but not everyone believes it. Many assume they can decipher our sages’ (Chazal) intention without ever knowing the precise translation of their words.

I am not claiming one should start off learning Gemara at age ten with an open dictionary next to the Gemara. Clarity arrives naturally through serious study and familiarity with the body of Chazal’s works. A dictionary is not very useful without an intuitive grasp of Chazal’s literature in its entirety.

But at whatever age one decides to get serious clarity, a good dictionary is a great place to start (the works of Prof. Benjamin De Vries, Gedalya Alon, and Ezra Tzion Melamed, for instance). Learning Gemara — and the Rishonim bring this point out even more powerfully; it is obvious each word was chosen with care because of its specific connotations. Of course, this is true of all texts originating in Chazal.

I recommend trying out the following instructive experiment (yes, at home):

What is “Anavah”, and how does it differ from “Shiflus”?

You probably answered that Anavah means “Religious Humility”, while “Shiflus” is neutral, or a Defeatist lack of confidence and \ or self-esteem?

Fine, but how do you explain the term “Anavah shelo Lishmah” (Erchin 16b, cf. Rashi, Tosafos, and the rest)?

OK, I can hear you say, Anavah usually means “Religious Humility”. It is only when the sages are discussing the nonreligious type that they use the term “Anavah Lishmah” and “Anavah shelo Lishmah”.

But we aren’t out of the woods yet. If Anavah means humility, what is “Anvesanus”?

Rashi Gittin 56a says it means patience, but Rabbi Tzevi Chajes (ad. loc.) says the word is synonymous with Anavah.

(Since when are two synonymous words used by Chazal in different contexts? I’ll leave that one for you.)

Don’t tell me it means “false-religious-humility”, because the term is used for Moses as well. Besides, Rabbi Zecharya ben Avkulas is brought down in Shabbos 143a as well – meaning he is a bona fide member of Chazal.

And then there is the word “Anivus”. I know I know, it sounds like a later “Yiddishism”, or mongrel dialect (like “Haftorah”), unrelated to Chazal. But no, it appears in Yalkut Shimoni Tehillim 9:643 (and perhaps other places) —

ויהי ה’ משגב לדך, אמר ר’ יוחנן כל מקום שנאמר דל, דך, מך, עני ואביון, בישראל הכתוב מדבר שאין עניוות זזה מהם משחרב בית המקדש.

So what is the difference between Anivus and Shiflus? Or is it just about the money?

Theories alone do not suffice to decide these questions. Everything must be confirmed by a study of the various sources of Chazal’s usage, not guessed.

I don’t need to tell you that one must examine the words of the Achronim in order to understand Chazal and the Rishonim. Still, one must also take into account that most Achronim are less careful with their own terminology…

Humility itself is notoriously amorphous. How then can you hope to achieve the Anavah Chazal refer to if you don’t even know what it is?!

So don’t be humble; tell us what these words actually mean! This post on humility is just a quick stab at it, and you can probably come up with much better examples than this one.