This is not entirely correct. Ashkenaz Hareidim in Israel and elsewhere, and many other Ashkenaz Orthodox Jews outside of Israel, pronounce the letter ת, without a dot, as “s”, not “th”, when using Hebrew for a religious use, such as prayer or Torah study. This really doesn’t have anything to do with speaking Yiddish, which has it’s own rules about spelling and pronunciation.
Virtually everyone, Hareidi or otherwise, will pronounce it as “t” when speaking modern Hebrew conversationally. And virtually every Israeli Hareidi can speak modern Hebrew, whether they speak Yiddish or not.
Meanwhile, the “th” pronunciation was in fact the traditional pronunciation for some Sefardic Jews, and is still used by Yemenite Jews, among others. It also seems to be a common academic transliteration - I don’t know whether it is pronounced that way as well. It has the obvious advantage of being unambiguous, as Hebrew has 2 other letters pronounced “s” (ס and שׂ) and another t sound (ט). “Th” would seem to have been the logical choice for Ben Yehuda. Perhaps he chose “t” because most prospective Hebrew speakers at the time couldn’t pronounce “th” very well.
(Sorry for the digression, Broomstick - glad to hear you’re getting along well with our fellow MOT’s)
Funny you should say this. I believe that Pittsburgh has the largest Chabad a/k/a Lubavitch community in North America outside of NY. Most of them are in Squirrel Hill.
Please don’t apologize! I finally understand why my dad said things like “bas mitzvah” instead of “bat mitzvah” like they said at Hebrew school. We’re all Ashkenazi, so I guess he was just kickin’ it old shul.
Specifically, chosen to be led out of Egypt and given the commandments at Sinai. The Jews entered into a binding covenant with God, and each side has obligations. The reward is a place in heaven - but that’s not such a big deal because it’s pretty easy to follow the Noahide laws and get in anyway.
But yeah, we tend to think of it as a Good Thing. That doesn’t mean it would be a Good Thing for everybody. God is kind of like that weird uncle that you get along with even though nobody else in the family does.
Right. “The only thing two Jews can agree on is what a third should give to charity.”
But I came back to weigh in on the “s” vs “t” question. I have read (somewhere) that it is very much a Yiddishism to day, for example, “Shabbos” (accented on the first syllable) for “Shabbot” (accented on the second). They are essentially following the rules of German pronunciation in which “t” changed to “s” at some point (so foti ==> fuss) in German while it became foot in English) and first syllable stress is very common. I also say bas mitzvah, Shabbos, and all the rest since it was what I grew up hearing.
To what extent does mainstream Judaism have a concept of heavens or afterlife, and is that treated as a carrot or stick? Is there a consensus on what the Israelites or Jews were chosen for?
Mainstream Judaism is devoid of “doctrine” in general. There is no creed, no standard set of beliefs (like the Baltimore Catechism) except “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” (whatever that means). There’s nothing that you have to believe to be Jewish. Some Jews believe in an afterlife (I do); some do not. Some don’t even believe in God. There’s no carrot and no stick. One of my Christian friends couldn’t wrap her brain around the concept that you do the right thing because it IS the right thing, not because of the promise of heaven. The fact is, no one knows for sure if there is an afterlife or not.
As far as what the Israelites were chosen for, I’ll defer to wiser heads (with yarmulkes) on that one.
The Jews were Chosen to obey the 613 Commandments handed down at Sinai. That’s pretty much it. There’s something in there about being “a light unto nations,” but even that’s not as clear as you might think - some have interpreted ‘nations’ to mean the individual Jewish tribes, others have taken it to mean the rest of the world.
The OT is vague enough about the afterlife that most everything is based on differing cultural interpretations from the past few thousand years, Talmudic or otherwise. The “two Jews three opinions” thing definitely applies to views on the afterlife. The main thread is that when the messiah pops up, all the righteous dead will be resurrected to hang out with him and God. There’s also an idea that doing really bad stuff will mark your soul for “spiritual excision,” which means you just sort of go poof when you die.
I can tell you that my own upbringing barely mentioned any sort of afterlife. Jews do Jewish things because that’s what Jews do. A very strong cultural memory of obligation and tradition drives us more than promises of ‘the world to come.’
The carrot/stick thing, like proselytizing, isn’t really part of who we are.
I had the pleasure of helping my brother-in-law at the only Kosher food pantry in Michigan (Yad Ezra), last year on the weekend before the holidays. I was in town for the weekend so sure why not. I’m not Jewish, but my sisters family is. I never got any strange looks from anyone, certainly nothing even remotely resembling prosthelytizing.
We got there early, unloaded deliveries, stocked shelves, arranged bins, started putting together bags of groceries. When the clients started arriving, we were stationed around the warehouse handing out the different stuff. There were long lines out the door and into the parking lot. Many of the volunteers were older, some Holocaust survivors. It was lot’s of fun, lot’s of hard work, and a pleasure hanging out with them.
Well, back to the original topic, at least briefly…
Went to the Jewish Federation’s Adult Friends Club which is a twice-weekly meeting of folks for lunch and a brief after-lunch program. There is a nominal fee to join, which basically covers minor costs like mailing out the monthly program of events and lunch menu to everyone.
Lunch was tuna casserole followed by ice cream sundaes.
The only overtly Jewish thing (other than the food being kosher and cooked in a kosher kitchen) was that a pre-meal blessing was sung in Hebrew. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, and it turned out one of the regulars was a former co-worker of mine from when I worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association more than 10 years ago. Definitely an older crowd, many elderly, but a few folks in my age range. After meal program was “chair yoga” which is, as you might guess, yoga done mostly sitting down. Which allowed the elderly and unsteady to participate, too. I found it relaxing and stretching.
My next day off is also on an AFC day, so I’ll be going to the next one. It’s the kind of low-key, minimal obligation social thing I need these days.
Also recommendations for local synagogues/temples, and a discussion amongst the participants of which one I might feel most comfortable at.
Just wanted to check in and let folks know what was up. So… good news.
For Sephardim, it’s not so simple. There are at least some Sephardim who will not eat fish with milk products, so no bagel & lox, and no tuna-fish casserole. There are some groups of Chasidim who follow this stricture as well.
Yes, there are kosher pierogies. Apparently, there are kosher versions of haggis as well.
As for Broomstick, I’m happy to hear that you’ve found a place that’s welcoming. Enjoy!
Outside of using pork or shellfish ingredients, almost anything can be made in a kosher manner. Kosher isn’t specific food, it’s a type of food preparation.
So you can have kosher Chinese food, kosher Mexican food, and so on.
(And, because it’s a long standing Jewish tradition to examine minutiae and argue endlessly, there are non-kosher things like cochineal food coloring (comes from insects, which are not kosher) and catfish (lives in water and has fins but no scales, so not kosher) and the above mentioned issues with fish and dairy for some groups, but outsiders aren’t expected to know all that. And a lot of American Jews either don’t keep kosher or are very slack about it.)
Keep us posted. I love hearing stuff like this.