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Please join us at 11:00 am Eastern for the service at River of Life Tabernacle and Part Two of “It's Not Christmas!”
Need Part One? Click HERE.
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This week we bring to you a simple Hebrew lesson from (and with permission of) Ulpan-Or’s newsletter. Please consider them if you are looking for Hebrew instruction!
Homonyms or Truly Related?
(Homonym - according to a definition in dictionary - 'each of two or more words having the same spelling but different meanings and origins'
בגד “beged” (garment)
בגידה “b'gidah” (infidelity, treason)
and
מעיל “me’il” (coat, covering)
מעילה “me’ilah” (duplicity, perfidy)
The commentator Ibn Ezra states, “If anyone commit a trespass [“ma’al”]: I.e., he removes his “ma’al,” his covering, from the same root as “me’il,” cloak.”
Another commentator Malbim explains that me’ilah and b"gidah (“betrayal”) are alternative expressions for the same act and both derive from garments – me’il and beged(“garment”).
B'gidah was chosen to describe an untoward act done secretly:
“Just as a person covers himself with a garment so that his real flesh is not visible, thus the betrayer hides his betrayal – he appears like a friend but hides his enmity,” while me’ilah was chosen to describe an act of open lying, like a coat which is an upper garment, seen by everyone, and therefore every open lie and visible, wrongful change is called me’ilah.
Another similarity is between the words לבוש Le'vush (Garment) and בושה Busha (Shame, disgrace).
The above pairs of words, taking a superficial look, may seem as sheer homonyms, but knowing that Hebrew is not a conventional language, one can appreciate the deeper inner meaning and relation between those.
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