[Avodah] Hebrews/Israelites/Bnei Yisroel - Jews

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Oct 16, 2007 at 12:23:50PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
: The gemara in Megillah explains that Mordechai was a "Yehudi" because
: it means anyone who is "modeh baHashem vekofer baavodah zarah".  On
: that basis not only can all Bnei Yisrael be called Yehudim, but so
: can any Ben Noach who accepts the truth of the Torah and keeps the 7
: mitzvot.

The gemara gives a beautiful derashah for the word. THat's not the same
as finding it origin.

IOW, the qestion of what we can learn from Hashem working it out that we
are called "Yehudim", or even (if you wish) a reason we can find for
*why* He chose to, is disconnected to the question of *how* the name
came to be.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv