{"id":40438,"date":"2018-09-18T02:43:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T23:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=40438"},"modified":"2022-04-11T16:50:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T13:50:58","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-48\/","title":{"rendered":"MiliMiliM – The Hebrew Corner – Gen 48"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[361],"acf":{"old_id":"40438","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34011,"related_cahpter":"48","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df\/\u05e9\u05de\u05d0\u05dc - Yemin\/Smol - Right\/Left \r\n","content":"

48:13- Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim <\/span>biyimino mismol Yisrael<\/em> <\/span>with his right hand\u2014to Israel\u2019s left\u2014and Manasseh with his left hand\u2014to Israel\u2019s right\u2014and brought them close to him.<\/span>
\n<\/span>14-But Israel stretched out <\/span>yemino<\/em> <\/span>his right hand and laid it on Ephraim\u2019s head, though he was the younger, and <\/span>smolo<\/em> <\/span>his left hand on Manasseh\u2019s head\u2014thus crossing his hands\u2014although Manasseh was the first-born.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nRight\/left. Oy, politics? No, actually. The political use of the terms \u201cleft\u201d and \u201cright\u201d is really quite recent, only going back to the end of the 18th Century in revolutionary France. Recent, that is, on a biblical scale of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s words come from Jacob\u2019s crossing his hands to reverse the blessings of his grandkids. Two interesting things to point out about right and left in the Tanakh. One is that right and left are directions: since straight ahead is east (see Chapter 11: \u201ckedem,\u201d<\/a> a word which means both \u201cin front of\u201d and \u201ceast\u201d), right means to the south. Left then refers to the north. <\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, there is Abraham\u2019s lovely invitation to his nephew Lot in chapter 13 to get out of each other\u2019s faces: \u201cIs not the whole land before you? Let us separate: if you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north.\u201d In Hebrew that is: \u201cim hasmol va\u2019emina, ve\u2019im hayemin, ve\u2019asmeilah<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The other is that, sadly, ancient Israel didn\u2019t relate to left and left handedness any better than other ancient cultures. (Sorry to be disparaging, but as a proud southpaw, I\u2019ve got some skin in this game. By the way, notice here that in modern baseball, \u201cleft\u201d is \u201csouth,\u201d not \u201cnorth\u201d). From Latin \u201csinister,\u201d and French \u201cgauche,\u201d \u201cleft\u201d was often a disparaging term. And \u201cright\u201d was often complimentary – from \u201cdexterity\u201d to Biblical uses such as the might of God\u2019s right hand (see Psalm 118). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is, though, my all time favorite left-handed Tanakh story, of Ehud ben Gera the left-handed judge. Though even there, his being lefthanded was described as being \u201citter yad yemin<\/em>,\u201d \u201chis right hand was bound.\u201d Don\u2019t know it? Check it out in Judges 3:15ff<\/a> – it is deliciously gory. His strategic advantage was that, being left-handed he hid his dagger on the opposite side, and smuggled it into a tete-a-tete<\/em> with the obese King Eglon of Moab, and thus was able to disembowel him without anyone being the wiser. But except for Ehud, being left-handed was rarely an advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

We shall end with the Yom Kippur tie-in to this discussion. The book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur afternoon, and it ends with a speech by God, who proclaims divine mercy, especially for innocent people and animals. Notice how being innocent, or naive, or simply not intellectually or morally sophisticated is characterized (4:11): \u201cAnd should not I care about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not yet know \u201cben yemino lesmolo<\/em>\u201d their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":103900,"id":103900,"title":"-625432365347d--625432365347egen48-milim yemin smol.jpg","filename":"625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-48\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":40438,"date":"2022-04-11 13:50:46","modified":"2022-04-11 13:50:55","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\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":"

Artwork by: Ben Schachter<\/p>\n"},"tile":{"top_caption":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner","main_caption":"\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df\/\u05e9\u05de\u05d0\u05dc - Yemin\/Smol - Right\/Left ","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"... a word from the daily chapter...","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":103900,"id":103900,"title":"-625432365347d--625432365347egen48-milim yemin smol.jpg","filename":"625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-48\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":40438,"date":"2022-04-11 13:50:46","modified":"2022-04-11 13:50:55","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\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625432365347d-625432365347egen48-milim-yemin-smol.jpg-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":"Robert Kneschke (shutterstock 161025986)"},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40438"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103901,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40438\/revisions\/103901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}