{"id":36125,"date":"2018-07-29T01:56:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T22:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=36125"},"modified":"2022-02-19T22:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T20:32:25","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen11\/","title":{"rendered":"MiliMiliM – The Hebrew Corner – Gen11"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gen. 11:2 – And as they migrated <\/span>mi-kedem<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> from the east, they came upon a valley\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

An amazing thing about Hebrew is that most words are based on roots, which tie together a family of words with a shared core meaning. Take today’s root: \u05e7-\u05d3-\u05de <\/span>k-d-m<\/span><\/em>. As we see from the quote above, <\/span>kedem<\/span><\/em> in the Bible meant east. The famous Steinbeck novel and Elia Kazan film starring James Dean, <\/span>East of Eden<\/span><\/em> is from Genesis chapter 4:16, where Cain settled: “<\/span>kidmat Eden<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>east of Eden.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Why “east”? The root <\/span>k-d-m<\/span><\/em> means something like “before,” with all the attendant spatial and temporal dimensions. Since Semites traditionally <\/span>oriented<\/span><\/em> themselves toward the sunrise (“orient” itself means “toward the rising sun”) \u2013 East was considered the front. Thus \u05e7\u05d3\u05de\u05d4 <\/span>kedmah<\/span><\/em> means \u201ceastward” (the “<\/em><\/span>-ah<\/span><\/em>“<\/span><\/i> suffix denotes “toward”). The Biblical phrase <\/span>yamah vekedmah, tzafonah venegbah<\/span><\/em> (in Gen 28:14), means “to the sea” (which can only be westward in Israel), “eastward”, “northward” and “to the Negev,” i.e., south.<\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u05e7\u05d3\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 <\/span>kadimah<\/em> <\/span>means “forward.” Naftali Herz Imber plays on these two meanings of “forward” and “eastward” in his poem <\/span>Tikvatenu<\/span><\/em>, “Our Hope” (1878), better known as Israel’s national anthem, <\/span>Hatikvah<\/span><\/i>, “The Hope,” whose first stanza concludes: <\/span>ulefa’atei mizrach kadima<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> “to the edge of the East, onward\u2026”<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is a temporal dimension as well. The prayer, taken from the end of Lamentations (5:21), includes the words: <\/span>chadesh yameinu k’kedem<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> meaning, “Renew our days as of old.” Besides being the name of a leading kosher grape juice brand, <\/span>kedem<\/em> <\/span>means “a time long ago.” <\/span>Yemei kedem<\/span><\/em> are literally “the olden days,” populated, of course, by the <\/span>kadmonim<\/span><\/em>, \u201cancients.\u201d These folks include not just Plato and Buddha, but also Pebbles and Bam-Bam from <\/span>Mishpachat Kadmoni<\/span><\/em>, “the ancient or primeval family,” as the Flintstones are called in Hebrew.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how is <\/span>kadum<\/span><\/em>, “ancient,” connected to what seems to be its virtual opposite: <\/span>kidmah<\/span><\/em>, \u201cprogress\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

While the idea of “before,” in a chronological sense, denotes what happened in the past, in the more spatial sense, we tend to think of what\u2019s before us as being in the future. Thus <\/span>kidmah<\/span><\/em> is the Hebrew term for “progress.” But as this word is related to <\/span>kedem<\/span><\/em>, it implies a different view of progress that sees eternal value in timeless wisdom and the startling newness of ancient truths: \u201crenewing our days as of old.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger write, the root\u05e7-\u05d3-\u05de \u00a0k-d-m, is: “\u2026a unique linguistic creature, progressive and at the same time progress-defying” (<\/span>Jews and Words<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>p. 121). The idea that progress involves return seems paradoxical in our society, where time is understood in a more linear way. Progress nowadays means getting better by replacing backward, old or primitive things with new and improved models \u2013 whether ideas, values or gadgets. The Hebrew language, though, as expressed in some key liturgical phrases, and this one special root, encodes a different view.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":102173,"id":102173,"title":"-621153c7416db--621153c7416dcgen11-milim kedem.jpg","filename":"621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen11\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":36125,"date":"2022-02-19 20:32:07","modified":"2022-02-19 20:32:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/621153c7416db-621153c7416dcgen11-milim-kedem.jpg-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"MiliMiliM - 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