A Soulful Journey

Two thousand years ago, Rabbi Tarfon exclaimed, "You know the problem with our generation? No one knows how to accept criticism." And Rabbi Akiva replied, "You know the problem with our generation?  No one knows how to give criticism." Be careful with every spoken word as they can lift up or destroy.

When God confused the speech of the builders of the Tower of Babel, He said, ‘In this world, by reason of the evil inclination, my creatures are at variance; they are divided into seventy tongues. But in the world to come they will all be equal.  All with one accord will call upon my name and serve me, as it says, “For then will I restore to the nations one pure tongue that they may call, all of them, upon the name of the Lord and serve Him unanimously."    - Tanhuma, Noah May the day  come  when we serve God by treating Him with reverence and one another with respect.

Once in a particularly irascible mood, George Bernard Shaw took pen in hand to reply to critic who is complained that he had split an infinitive. ”Well, why not to double split, or treble, quadruple, quintuple, centuple split? Nothing wrong with split as such, is there? What is grammar?  Usage. Whose usage?  The usage of the best masters of the language.  I am one of the best 10 living now."

While stationed at the Navy Supply Corps school in Athens, Georgia, I sponsored a visiting Chinese naval officer. Having dinner together at a restaurant, we each offered to pay the check. As a compromise, I told him we could “split the bill.” He couldn't comprehend that phrase so I drew a circle on the table with my fingers and divided it in the middle saying, “I pay one half and you pay one half.” “Oh, I see,” replied my Chinese friend.  “In China we call that going Dutch.”   -Russell G. Roe The world is a lot small than you think.

A woman just arrived in America from a small town in Poland. She became the caretaker in her son’s home. It was difficult for her to shop because she knew no word of English and had to point to everything she wanted. One morning she went out to buy chicken but did not know how to ask for it. When she came to the butcher she began to waive her hands in the air, as a chicken flaps its wings.  To make it clearer for the butcher, she began to crow with at the top of her voice. Now she was certain he would understand. ”Madam,” the butcher said in Yiddish after observing her behavior, “Do you want something? Tell me what it is.” ”God bless you my friend,” the woman gleefully exclaimed. “You can speak Yiddish!  The why should I bother to speak to you in English?” It is arduous to come to a new culture and acclimate ourselves.  It was hard for our forbears who came to this country and it is as difficult for new immigrants today.

“When I use a word, it mean just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”  - Lewis Carroll

Moshe Waldoks labeled new Jewish humor as pareve. When he did shows for younger audiences he found himself explaining that “naches is not a cheese dip.”

"Why doth thou slay my kine?  Kine are hard to come by.  Now I am short kine and I'm not even sure what kine are." - Woody Allen There is a disconnect in language and in epoch between ourselves and Torah times.  Yet, the question remain the same, "Why has this happened to me?"  Generations come and go but we are just like all our forebears.

A Polish-American expert on Eastern Europe at the library of Congress came to my Senate office to brief me on a trip to Poland.  He told me that in 1946 he had been a graduate at Harvard teaching Polish.  He had joined the local Polish-American Citizens Club, and the members had been invited to a memorial service in Cambridge, Mass., honoring a Polish-American solider killed in World War II.  Endless speeches by local officials paid tribute to the historical ties between Poland and the United States.  But again and again, the speakers stumbled over the names of Polish heroes, and the audience began to groan at each mistake. Then Jack was introduced as a young Navy veteran who hoped to be the congressman for the district. He spoke with feeling of Poland and America, of Pulaski, Kisciusko, Pederewski and others.  And each time mentioned a Polish name the pronunciation was flawless -- so much so that the crowd stirred, and voices in the audience began to joke in P...

Trenite taught English in Haarlem, Netherlands, published a booklet called “Drop Your Foreign Accent,” which contained a poem called “The Chaos.”   A selection: Dearest creature in creation Studying English pronunciation I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse I will keep you, Susy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Finally: which rimes with “enough” Though, through, plough, cough, hough, or tough? Hiccough has the sound of “cup.” My advice is –give it up! Those who learn English have it very tough.

A sea captain, long noted for his rigid discipline, once came upon his first mate lying drunk.  To settle an old score, the captain wrote in the logbook:   “Last night First Mate Johnson intoxicated.” The entry rankled and Johnson waited for revenge.   Finally the chance came when he was assigned to write several entries in the log.   Then, with a bold hand, he wrote: Captain Smith not drunk tonight.” Judaism  is very specific when it comes to speech.  What we say, and in the above case, what we do not say, matters.  Words have the power to kill or make alive.  Use them well.

"Having invoked the ancient names daily, it is no longer in our power to distance their potency...the names have their own life." In other words, when there are religiously charged words they are sacred and cannot be transferred to consumer language. Watch your words when speaking of kodesh.

When asked which language he preferred for Palestine -  Hebrew or Yiddish - Baron Edmond de Rothschild voiced his preference for Hebrew with a qualification, "I shall use French, the best is good enough for me." There is a reason why the language one is raised with is called the "mother tongue."  That is which is most familiar give the greatest comfort.

“When an infant begins speaking, his father should converse with him in the holy tongue.”  -Talmud What better way and time to expose a child to God?

Mavet vhayyim b'yad ha-lashon.   Life and death are on the tongue.  -Talmud

"Verse, whatever else it may or may not be, is itself a system of punctuation."  -T.S. Eliot Understanding and expressing your innermost thoughts is of paramount importance.  Especially if you want to pray.  And it does not matter if your vocabulary or syntax is "off."  Just do it.

  “To call things by incorrect names is to add to the world’s misery.”    Mal nommer les choses c'est ajouter du malheur au monde.   -Albert Camus Everyone and  everything has a name.  Remember: it was the first thing Adam did in his new surroundings, Eden.  He went about naming everything.  Language is the connection between you and me, between you and the world.  It is important to use the right language, the correct words.  After all, the wrong word at the wrong time can cause great irreparable rifts.  

Louis Finkelstein said of his father that, “He spoke no English.”   “He spoke Yiddish.   I spoke English.   But we understood each other.” “My son speaks English.   And I speak English.   But we don’t understand each other.”

“Good authors too who once knew better words, Now only use four-letter words, Writing prose. Anything goes.” –Cole Porter