[Avodah] [Areivim] abayudaya

[Michael Makovi]

> How can we call a month Tammuz when it is the name of a Baylonian Deity -
> sholudn't "sheim elohim acheirim lo sazkiru" make that assur mid'orraisso?
>
> Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
> RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
> see: http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/

Perhaps we use that name like Christopher - if I speak to my friend
Chris, everyone knows it's because that's his name, not because I am
referring to J-man. Likewise, perhaps we use Tammuz as stam the month,
and everyone knows we don't mean the deity.

Interestingly, Artscroll in their Chanuka history book, admits that
the names of the month are Babylonian. They suggest we kept these
names to remind us that geula hasn't come. I'm not sure whether they
mean that this is the reason we *retained* these names into 2nd Bayit,
or if this is the reason we *adopted* them in the first place. If the
latter, I would object that under Ezra, we were still hopeful geula
could come, as Chazal do indeed say geula could have come then. If the
former, I have no problem, except I might say we kept them out of
habit (lol). In any case, it is remarkable that Artscroll recognizes
this. I recall a refusal of theirs to even contemplate that our
current Hebrew script is Babylonian as the pshat of "Ktav Ashuri [sic
- why not Bavli, I don't know]" indicates and as all academics (so far
as I know) take for granted. I also recall somewhere that they refuse
to even contemplate a literal interpretation of the Gemara that the
names of angels were brought from Bavel.

Of course, what it means we take these literally, if our script comes
from Bavel, and even more importantly, if the names of angels come
from Bavel, is a totally separate subject.

Mikha'el Makovi