[Avodah] Hayinu keCholmim

[Micha Berger]

The idiom "hayinu kecholmim" from Shir haMaalos is elusive.

Generally translations run along the lines of saying that we would be so
excited about the final ge'ulah, it would feel like a dream.

Some note the lashon avar of "hayinu" and explain it as saying that the
ge'ulah will make the galus seem like just a nightmare ("it was like we
were dreaming"). I don't find it compelling, since lashon avar is often
used in nevu'ah to denote something that is as good as done already --
the prophetic perfect. (What we call "lashon avar" was historically the
perfect aspect, not the past tense.)

I encountered in the TY, Terumos 1:1 2b, a discussion of someone who
r"l is sometimes shoteh sometimes lucid. The term used for healthy
is "chalim". At the end, the gemara justifies translating the tanna
accordingly by citing Yeshaiahah 38:17 "vesachalimeini vehachayeini".
(Similar citation is in the TB, Mes Berakhos and Menachos 44b.)

So perhaps "hayinu kecholmim" means "we will be like people recovering"?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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