[Avodah] kenignaot

[Simon Montagu]

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 1:49 AM, Simon Krysl <skrysl at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
> I am writing in the hope for a possible insight on perhaps a technical -
> but to me no less perplexing - question. The Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh (126.4),
> based on Magen Avraham 224.3, prohibits attending "animal shows" presented
> by goyim, as well as dances and other joyful occasions, as moshavei leicim.
> R. Avrohom Davis translates "kenignaot" as "animal shows" which, I assume,
> would concern circuses and similar, yet an explanatory note ( in the text of
> the Kitzur itself?) in the Hebrew explicates kenignaot as "ceid hayot", that
> is, hunts. (I do not find any etymology or explanation of the word
> "kenignaot" elsewhere.) That seems to be a difference: can anyone help
> understanding it? Is it because we understand, hunting as halachically
> problematic (while not prohibited) for different reasons?
>

I think "tzeid hayot" in this context should be understood as entertainments
that simulate hunting, as in the Roman circus, rather than actual hunting on
the one hand, or the modern circus on the other.

Jastrow gives the Greek "kynegion" as the etymology of kenignaot -- see
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2360851
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