{"id":88254,"date":"2021-02-02T18:12:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=88254"},"modified":"2021-02-02T18:12:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:12:25","slug":"roots-of-africa-europe-and-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/roots-of-africa-europe-and-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Roots of Africa, Europe And Asia"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"88254","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"669","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"From the dust of Zion\r\n\r\n","content":"

In Psalm 102, the psalmist is certain that God will have compassion on Zion, because His servants \u2013 the people of Israel \u2013 love the land:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou will surely arise and take pity on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her; the appointed time has come. Your servants take delight in its stones, and cherish its dust\u201d (102:15).<\/span><\/p>\n

This verse is the source of the custom of new immigrants kissing the ground of the Land of Israel upon arrival. As the Talmud (Ketubot 112a-b) notes, \u201cRabbi Abba would kiss the rocks of Akko \u2026 Rabbi Hiyya bar Gamda would roll in the dust of the land, as it is stated, \u2018Your servants take delight in its stones and cherish its dust.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew word for dust is <\/span>afar<\/span><\/em>. That is a different word from <\/span>efer<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cashes.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>The word <\/span>afar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is spelled with an <\/span>ayin<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and <\/span>efer<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is spelled with the letter <\/span>alef<\/span><\/em>. The two words are used together, for example when Abraham tells God that, \u201cI \u2026 am but dust and ashes\u201d (Genesis 18:27). However, some linguists have determined that they share a common root, since both are cognate with the Akkadian <\/span>[<\/span><\/i>epiru<\/span><\/em>]<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One theory connects the word <\/span>afar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0to the name of the continent Africa. Northern Africa was settled by Phoenicians, who spoke a language related to Hebrew. Their biggest city was Carthage, in today\u2019s Tunisia. This region was in the area of the Sahara Desert. According to some, the residents were therefore called Afro \u2013 \u201cpeople of the desert,\u201d because of the dust. In Greek and Latin that became \u201cAfricus\u201d \u2013 the land of the Afro.<\/span><\/p>\n

Africa is actually not the only continent theorized to have Semitic origins.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to many scholars, the word \u201cEurope\u201d originally meant \u201cthe land of the setting sun,\u201d and came from a cognate of the Hebrew <\/span>erev<\/span><\/em>. The basic meaning of the root is \u201cto enter\u201d, and they viewed the sun as entering its \u201ctent\u201d at night, and as such <\/span>erev<\/span><\/em>\u00a0also meant \u201cevening.\u201d A related word is <\/span>ma\u2019arav<\/span><\/em>\u00ad <\/span><\/i>\u2013 \u201cwest,\u201d and these terms applied to the continent because to those speakers of Semitic languages, Europe was in the west, where the sun set.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Europe was where the sun set, it should not be surprising that those in Asia felt it was where the sun rose. As we noted before, they understood it to be in its tent at night. So when the sun rose, it left the tent. In Akkadian, to go out is <\/span>asu<\/span><\/em>, cognate with the Hebrew <\/span>yatza<\/span><\/em>\u00ad of the same meaning. Asia was therefore \u201cthe land of the sunrise\u201d \u2013 where the sun came out.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s kind of amazing to think that the three major continents of the Eastern Hemisphere all got their names from words related to Hebrew. And what tiny land is at the center of all three? The Land of Israel, whose people love it so much, that they cherish its dust.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61979,"id":61979,"title":"1kings8-Bunting_clover_leaf_map","filename":"1kings8-Bunting_clover_leaf_map.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings8-Bunting_clover_leaf_map.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/building-walls-to-unify-not-separate\/1kings8-bunting_clover_leaf_map\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings8-bunting_clover_leaf_map","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61978,"date":"2019-08-28 10:53:49","modified":"2021-02-02 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