[Avodah] Season's Greetings

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 11:49:05AM +0100, Simon Wanderer wrote:
: Anyone have any thoughts / sources on G'mar Tov Vs G'mar Chasima Tova
: (vis a vis origin, meaning and correctness)? I would have expected this
: to be well-trodden ground on the internet, but a quick google search
: did not turn anything up.

    Berosh haShanah yikaseivun,
    uveYom Tzom Kippur yeichaseimun

How that fits with other quotes about different people having chasimah
at different times is beyond me. Perhaps this is evidence of a simple
machloqes, a shitah in which no one's judgment is complete on RH.

How Yamim Noraim judgment and perpetual judgment intertwine is also
beyond me. So the whole topic is one I find opaque.

But in any case, there is clearly a shitah which says that during the
days from RH to YK, we are awaiting chasimah.

As for "Gemar Tov", I think it's just Israeli shorthand, exchanging 3
syllables (which most slur into two by making that first sheva nach)
in place of 7 (or six, as again most do say just "gmar").

It could also be an attempt to translate the Aramaic "pisqa tava".

I think "Gemar Tov" is horrible, personally. (Hyperliteralism is an
occupational hazard for programmers, though.) The problem is that unlike
"pisqa", "gemar" lacks the connotations of "pesaq" -- which is exactly
the sense in which the possible original was meant.

Particularly if you believe the satan could be listaning, and decide
to take the person's wish that the other should have a "good ending"
literally. I mean, it beats a slow and painful death, but still, not
what I would want wished for someone's coming year.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A person must be very patient
micha at aishdas.org        even with himself.
http://www.aishdas.org         - attributed to R' Nachman of Breslov
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