Teaching Torah in Eloquent Laaz Is Hiddur Mitzvah

[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