[Avodah] Moda ani

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 01:24:56AM +1100, SBA wrote:
: Has anyone ever seen a siddur (or indeed any reference to) pre-WW2 which
: mentions "modah"?

"Modah Ani" and "... shelo asani shifchah" are Gra-isms.

Tangent:
Shelo asani goyah is a non-issue, since the Gra sides with the rishonim
who have "she'asani Yisrael". "Shelo asani goy" is problematic, since
the usage of "goy" for "[member of another] nation" is late -- as far as
we can tell after censors played with such terms. Hashem said we're the
"goy qadosh", so it seems He did make us a goy, although in the primary
sense of the word rather than the intended one.

But the sevara I gave earlier seems compelling to me. Why would a 17th
cent. CE phrase be a matbei'ah so enshrined that we wouldn't play with
it to be grammatically correct?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When faced with a decision ask yourself,
micha at aishdas.org        "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter