The -ish Of The Jewish
I like being Jewish.
I wear my star
No matter where you are –
You
Who
May not like the Jews –
It doesn’t matter.
I can’t claim to be a good one,
Don’t know Yiddish,
Don’t say Kaddish
I just like to be one.
I am kind-ish;
Don’t keep kosher,
Go to temple,
Don’t know Hebrew,
But the God that said
That He is One,
That He is what He is
Is mine.
Jewish is knish
And all the qualifying endings –ish,
Seeing every side;
An ‘on the other hand’ approach.
Just because there are so few,
A mine of rarity:
I’m Jew-ish
And glad of it.
Chabad, Burlington, Vermont -- Max Miller
The Star of David (Magen David, "Shield of David") consists of 2 equilateral triangles in the shape of a 6-pointed star. (It is also a reference to God in the Siddur, the Jewish prayer book.) Although now a universally recognized symbol of Jewish identity (appearing on the Israeli flag, for instance), its usage in that context is fairly recent. In fact, until its 1st known usage in a synagogue it was a common motif in Christian churches. Medieval Muslim writers developed the tradition of the "Seal of Solomon"(Khatam Sulayman), a ring engraved by Allah that consisted of 2 parts made of brass and iron used to seal written commands to good and evil jinn; it also gave Solomon the ability to speak to animals. Spanish Kabbalists then adopted the symbol, and in 1572 "Etz Hayim" Hayim Vital codified the teachings of his late master Yitzak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi (Isaac Luria) as the foundation of modern Kabbalism,in which the hexagram assumed special mystical importance. In 1354, before becoming Holy Roman emperor Karl IV, king Karel of Bohemia prescribed a red flag with the symbol for the Jews of Praha, and in 1460 Jews in Ofen (Budapest) received Hungarian king Hunyadi Mátyás recieved Jews who bore a red flag with 2 pentagrams (the hexagram was not yet firmly established). In 1512 the 1st Jewish prayer book was printed in Praha, with a large hexagram on the cover.
ReplyDeleteIt began being called the Mogen David in the 17th century. It was widely adopted in the Russian Pale of Settlement in the 19th century, as an analogue to the Christian cross, and in 1897, at the instigation of David Wolffsohn, the First Zionist Congress adopted it as the central symbol on a blue and white flag that mirrored the tallith (the Jewish prayer shawl).
in the 9th century Ashkenazi Jews fused their German vernacular with Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic elements to create Yiddish. It was originally known as loshn-ashknaz, the "language of Ashkenaz" and was not called Yiddish until the 18th century (short for Yidish Taitsh, "Jewish German"). In particular, it became the language of orthodox Haredi and mystic Hasidic communities. By the late 19th century it became the chief dialect of most American Jews. "Kosher" is the Yiddish term for Jewish dietary laws as derived from "Leviticus" and "Deuteronomy." (Only about 1/6 of American Jews strictly follow these rules.) A knish is a snack food made from a filling (typically mashed potato, ground meat, sauerkraut, onions, buckwheat groats, or cheese, though other non-traditional ingredients such as sweet potatoes, black beans, fruit, broccoli, tofu, or spinach) covered with a baked, grilled, or deep fried dough. The word is a Yiddish term derived from the Ukrainian "knysh." The 1st American knish bakery was established in New York in 1910.
The Kaddish is a Jewish hymn of divine praise, especially associated with funerals and mourning rituals. The opening is inspired by Ezekial 38:23 ("Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am the LORD."). It is mainly composed in a literary form of Aramaic used in medieval Jewish academies. The oldest extant version is in the "Siddur Rab Amram" (ca. 900); Amram bar Sheshna, the gaon of the Talmud academy in Sura (in modern Iraq), was the 1st to arrange a complete Jewish liturgy. However, the 1st mention of mourners saying Kaddish does not occur until the 13th century.
In Exodus, an angel of Adonai (God) appeared in a burning bush on Mt. Horeb, and Adonai himself called out from it to appoint Moshe as his agent to lead the Jews out of bondage in Egypt. When Moshe questioned his identity Adonai replied "I am who I am."