Ask the Rabbi--Chanukah

jocose · Dec 21, 2005

danalec99 said:
Chanukah is news to me as well!
Is there a similar word or syllabal in Arabic that you could come up with?

alas, I only know a few words in Arabic--Allu Akbar, shukran, yella, coos amuk (oh, sorry, but I'm listing what I know

) salam alekem. I think that about does it for my Arabic. Oh, wait, what about chamsah--is that Arabic?? That would have the "ch" sound.

danalec99 · Dec 21, 2005

jocose said:
alas, I only know a few words in Arabic--Allu Akbar, shukran, yella, coos amuk (oh, sorry, but I'm listing what I know ) salam alekem. I think that about does it for my Arabic. Oh, wait, what about chamsah--is that Arabic?? That would have the "ch" sound.

Chamsah, as in the number '5'?

jocose · Dec 21, 2005

danalec99 said:
Chamsah, as in the number '5'?

Yea. It's also that little charm that people wear that looks like a hand--I guess because there are 5 fingers.

danalec99 · Dec 21, 2005

I get it then!

Good to know; thanks!

I thought it was chagrin!

Luminosity · Dec 21, 2005

My only link to anyone Jewish was my great grandfather and now I'm being immersed in the jewish family, per se

. My fiance is Jewish and I've celebrated Passover and all the other holidays with his family.

Anyway, last Sunday, they gave us a menorah ( sp), a dreidel, blue and silver tree decorations... amongst other things. Joshua and I recently got our xmas tree which we are referring to as a 'festive foliage' to celebrate 'ChrisMukah'. :lol:

A question, Jocose....I've heard that the jewish line passes only through the women ? Do you know the deal behind that ?

terri · Dec 21, 2005

LaFoto said:
Ach....

... you are struggling with the "ch"?

Well, in "ich" it is soft because the vowel that precedes it is light (i and e are the light ones).

In "ach" it is hard (like it would be if preceded by o or u, all three considered to be dark vowels).

Americans may well pronounce my "ach" like "ak".
No.
Scottish people will know how to pronounce it.

It is pronounced in the throat.
Imagine a Russian person pronouncing a word that begins in "h".
They usually pronounce a simple "h" with a guttural fricative - a sound that produces some sort of friction in the throat.

Is that of help to you, Terri?
(I fear not. Explaining pronounciation in only words is really difficult).

Bless you for trying!

When you used the Scottish brogue as an example, that does kind of help - but I believe that if I ever hear an audio, that will be what turns the light on. :idea:

clarinetJWD · Dec 21, 2005

Oh, Terri!

http://www.ex.ac.uk/german/abinitio/pronounce/
It's on the left with a link to a sound clip with lots of "ch" sounds

Matty-Bass · Dec 21, 2005

wow, learning a lot about Hebrew here! I'm Catholic, nothing too new that people won't already know...

Jo! A whole story and no limerick? You get bad reputation

I know some German, my grandparents are both from Germany. My grandma is from the Black Forest, Pforzeim and my grandpa is from a village that was taken over by Czechislovakia. It was actually named after my family, which is cool. It was in some mountain range, Mount Schneekopf? I think that was the tallest mountain. My grandpa wrote his whole memoirs a few years back, I'll ask.

But anyway, I also am a fan of languages, etc. I think I know like then umbers 1,2,3 and 7 and how to say "I don't speak German" in German :lol:

Ne sprechens ze Deutch? (sp) Corinna, correct me here... I don't spell German at all. :lmao:

jocose · Dec 22, 2005

Matty-Bass said:
wow, learning a lot about Hebrew here! I'm Catholic, nothing too new that people won't already know...

Jo! A whole story and no limerick? You get bad reputation

I know some German, my grandparents are both from Germany. My grandma is from the Black Forest, Pforzeim and my grandpa is from a village that was taken over by Czechislovakia. It was actually named after my family, which is cool. It was in some mountain range, Mount Schneekopf? I think that was the tallest mountain. My grandpa wrote his whole memoirs a few years back, I'll ask.

But anyway, I also am a fan of languages, etc. I think I know like then umbers 1,2,3 and 7 and how to say "I don't speak German" in German Ne sprechens ze Deutch? (sp) Corinna, correct me here... I don't spell German at all. :lmao:

My dear Matt, you just did

That's very cool to have a town named after you! I had a friend who's brother was a heir to the throne of some Italian town. Sadly, the royalty of that town fled something like 500 years ago, so he has no legal claim, but the liniage (SP) is there.

jocose · Dec 22, 2005

Luminosity said:
My only link to anyone Jewish was my great grandfather and now I'm being immersed in the jewish family, per se . My fiance is Jewish and I've celebrated Passover and all the other holidays with his family.

Anyway, last Sunday, they gave us a menorah ( sp), a dreidel, blue and silver tree decorations... amongst other things. Joshua and I recently got our xmas tree which we are referring to as a 'festive foliage' to celebrate 'ChrisMukah'.

A question, Jocose....I've heard that the jewish line passes only through the women ? Do you know the deal behind that ?

Speaking if liniage (SP still), it does indeed pass through the mother, and your tradition and tribe pass through the father.

I don't know if there is a biblical rule about this or why it would be, but the logical reason (and was true for most ancient religions) is that when warring peoples come in and rape and pilliage, you don't always know who the father is to know if the kid is Jewish or not, but you ALWAYS know who the mother is. This way, no matter what becomes of the sperm donor, you still know that the child is Jewish because the mother is Jewish.

Yea, festival foilage. I've been asked about that one too

I had a friend in grad school who had a "hannukah bush." I'm really not into the latter, btut the former is a good way to compromise, I suppose

The Girl and I have discussed this stuff as well. She's a big ole Catholic and really loves Xmas trees, I'm a big ole Jew and not really into them. BUT when I went to her family's for Thanksgiving, I did help decorate for Christmas...cuz I'm multicultural like that.

mentos_007 · Dec 22, 2005

thanks Jo for sharing all those stories... you know what? you are the first Jewish person I know... really

and that's great to learn something about other cultures and customs!!!

Rob · Dec 22, 2005

What Mentos said!

It's really interesting to hear all this as my only real exposure to Judaism is via US TV shows, which as we all know aren't really that realistic. I'm not a big Seinfeld fan either, dunno he's just not that funny to me.

Keep em coming Jo!

Rob

jocose · Dec 22, 2005

Rob said:
What Mentos said!

It's really interesting to hear all this as my only real exposure to Judaism is via US TV shows, which as we all know aren't really that realistic. I'm not a big Seinfeld fan either, dunno he's just not that funny to me.

Keep em coming Jo!

Rob

Rob, you know that scale I told you you went up on? Well you just stepped up another notch. I have never liked Seinfeld, and everyone has always told me I was an idiot for it.

We're definitely gonna have to for a pint the next time I'm in London!

The chassidish (or hassidic) Jews are probably the most recognized: they are the ones with the long sideburns, the big black hats and long black coats. They originate from Eastern Europe, and are an extreme sect of Judaism. But if you are interested in seeing a little more about them (and take it with a bit of salt), I would recommend A Stranger Among Us. It's by no means a brilliant movie, nor is it particularily good acting, but they do a pretty good job at portraying this sect of Judaism.

jocose · Dec 22, 2005

mentos_007 said:
thanks Jo for sharing all those stories... you know what? you are the first Jewish person I know... really and that's great to learn something about other cultures and customs!!!

Don't feel badly. The Girl grew up in Wisconsin, and only knew 1 Jew and 2 Black people before she went to graduate school (where we met).

My grandfather was either Polish or Russian (he said they never knew what they were because that area kept changing hands). He was from Grodna Gabernya (SP), which I believe is now in Belarus.

Rob · Dec 22, 2005

jocose said:
Rob, you know that scale I told you you went up on? Well you just stepped up another notch. I have never liked Seinfeld, and everyone has always told me I was an idiot for it.

We're definitely gonna have to for a pint the next time I'm in London!

The chassidish (or hassidic) Jews are probably the most recognized: they are the ones with the long sideburns, the big black hats and long black coats. They originate from Eastern Europe, and are an extreme sect of Judaism. But if you are interested in seeing a little more about them (and take it with a bit of salt), I would recommend A Stranger Among Us. It's by no means a brilliant movie, nor is it particularily good acting, but they do a pretty good job at portraying this sect of Judaism.

Ok now here's an assumption... I've always found those guys quite interesting - there's some areas of London (mainly the North West, like Finchley and some bits of the east end) where they are easily the street majority. I take it they're literally interpreting Leviticus 19 regarding cutting the hair at the temples? Just a guess.

It's very funny when you see a young man about seventeen years old wearing those outfits with the curly hair bits and they're talking like "Fahkin ell Dayve mate wot you fink you're doin" proper cockney style... talk about cultural cross-over.

So what are the hats about then, is there a significance to the dress-code as well?

Rob