[Avodah] Leshon haKodesh

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 06:06:02AM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> T613K at aol.com wrote:
>> BTW a long-running thread on Areivim has been discussing the meaning of 
>> the phrase "lesaken olam" in Aleinu.  I wonder how RZS would now  
>> translate that phrase in view of the fact that "tikun sofrim" surely 
>> refers to "fixing, correcting, improving, emending"?
>
> And therefore?  The root TKN has the same double meaning as the English
> word "fix"...

You said that on Avodah too. I don't know of an instance of "letaqein"
meaning to establish (as in leyaseid or in leqayeim).

Even so, the world was established already. It would be a little late
to discuss establishing the world at this point in its existence.

The Gra says the shoresh is /qnh/, that manufacturing and repair are
variants of the same concept. This is on birkhas Avos, when he translates
"Qoneih haKol" as an expression of the same notion as "haGibbor". "The
Repairer of Everything" implies the sefirah of Gevurah, as Chesed would
never had let things get to the point of needing repair.

Brown Driver Briggs (pg 1075) had "taqein" is "become straight", "tiqein"
is to arrance of put right, the pi'el as "to make straight". BDB points
us to the contrase in Qoheles 1:15 "Me'uvas lo yuchan lisqon", which I
would translate "that which is crooked could not be straightened".

The BDB does refer to a translation of "to establish" -- but only when
mentioning the Aramaic cognate. Not the Hebrew word.

>                        .  In Aleinu, the most straightforward translation,
> indeed ISTM the only translation that doesn't require any stretching, is
> "to establish the world under Hashem's sovereignty"....

I think you're stuck on the notion that "be-" means in. However, it
equally means "through the aegis of". E.g. "qadsheinu bemitzvosekha,
vesein chelqeinu beSorasekha... vesamcheinu biyshuasekha".

I would translate it "to repair the world using He Who Sets Limits'
Malkhus".

I don't think there is an appropriate translation for Malkhus here. It's
clear from how the tefillah continues that the connotation of "ein
melekh belo am" is central to what's being said. "Sovereignty", "rule"
and "kingship" do not carry that meaning.

BTW, implied is that the tiqun spoken of in lesaqein olam is in particular
a harmony and holiness brought about through everyone coming together
to serve Him. Not a synonym for communal / political chesed.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

PS: Thanks for correcting my error on "Fano".

-- 
Micha Berger             In the days of our sages, man didn't sin unless
micha at aishdas.org        he was overcome with a spirit of foolishness.
http://www.aishdas.org   Today, we don't do a mitzvah unless we receive
Fax: (270) 514-1507      a spirit of purity.      - Rav Yisrael Salanter