d'varim

[cellio]

(By which I mean "words", not the book of the torah with the same name.)

In biblical -- and, I believe, modern -- Hebrew, "zeh" and "zot" both mean "this is" (the difference is gender), and "eileh" means "these are". A famous passage from the mishna (included in the liturgy) begins "eilu d'varim", "these are the obligations". Is "eilu" Aramaic for "eileh", or is this Hebrew and some permutation I'm not yet familiar with?

(Every siddur I've seen translates that as "these are the obligations", though it appears a more literal translation would be "these are the things". Hmm.)

And on a different vocabulary subject, is there a word suitable for use in the Orthodox community that conveys "observant" or "religious" without conveying "frum" (which seems to imply a theology, as I've heard the word used)?

Edit: I realize now that this was a little unclear. For the second question, I'm looking for a word I can use to describe myself; I am serious about Judaism and am fairly observant, but if I say "observant" in an Orthodox context I perhaps imply "by Orthodox standards and for Orthodox reasons", and I don't want to seem pretentious. (I was talking with someone at a congregation I'll be visiting in a few weeks and was trying to fend off the potential awkwardness around accepting a lunch invitation for myself when I have local-to-them relatives. I wrote (about why I'd be alone) that I'm the observant member of the family, but that might have connotations I didn't intend. Hence the question. I want to cast it as a positive statement about myself and not a negative statement about others, for reasons of lashon hara.)

Comments

[arib.livejournal.com]

And on a different vocabulary subject, is there a word suitable for use in the Orthodox community that conveys "observant" or "religious" without conveying "frum" (which seems to imply a theology, as I've heard the word used)?

hmm...

Maybe makpid or machmir, although those refer to a level of stringency when following religious commandments more than anything else.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Maybe 'dati'? Which is technically about being knowledgeable.

[arib.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that works really well, I hadn't thought of it.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was leaning toward 'dati.'

[cellio]

Good idea. Thanks.

[sethg]

"Frum", as I've heard it used, connotes "observant of those mitzvot that are visible to the general public". "A frum Jew who has bacon cheeseburgers every Sunday" is a contradiction in terms. "A frum Jew who beats his wife" is not. So I'm not sure that "frum" carries any connotation regarding theology, which is an entirely internal thing.

[cellio]

Ah, thanks for the information. I've heard "frum" used in a more general sense of "shomeir mitzvot (and not just the visible ones)" but it's useful to know that there are other uses out there.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

How about shomer mitzvos?

[sethg]

I would describe you as "frum Reform".

[cellio]

That's pretty good! (And not something that would have occurred to me.) Thanks!

[goljerp]

I agree, I think "Frum Reform" is a good two word description. Because, of course, there's no way to really explain your philosophy and practice in two words, but "Frum Reform" gives the message that while you probably won't be checking the sheets for shatnes, you would object to being served a cheeseburger.

I usually use "observant Conservative" to refer to myself, although I don't know if that's very helpful to others... sometimes I just say "observant" and then start going into details, if necessary... Food issues are made easier by Joy's actually being a Vegetarian; since I will eat dairy out, it's usually easiest for me to pretend to be one, too.