[Avodah] Ehrlachkeit, not Frumkeit

[Zev Sero]

On 23/06/2011 7:11 PM, T613K at aol.com wrote:
> I unequivocally reject your premise that the word "frum" was ever used
> as a derogatory term in the Litvishe Yehiva world, except when used
> sarcastically.

I too have never heard of this supposed derogatory use of "frum", and
am therefore skeptical of its genuineness.  But I can't unequivocally
rule it out, since we have the precedent of "parush", which in the
gemara *usually* refers to Orthodox Jews, but the Gemara Sotah lists
several kinds of prushim, and only the last two are the genuine article.
Yannai told his wife to trust the Prushim but be careful of the "tzvu`im",
who pretend to be Prushim but aren't; the gemara in Sotah is not so
careful, and labels them "prushim" too.

(And it seems to me that this is also how we should understand the
references to "pharisees" in the NT; when these stories were originally
told by J's talmidim they meant the "tzvu`im", not the real Prushim,
but by the time the stories were written down in Greek, by goyim who
had no inside knowledge of the Jewish community and its common usages,
this distinction was lost.)

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher