[Avodah] Precision Of Language

[Saul Guberman via Avodah]

On Fri, Nov 25, 2016 at 12:13 PM, jay wrote:
>> 1) He was excommunicated and therefore could not daven with a minyan.
...
> "Excommunication" is not a correct translation of either "xerem" or
> "nidduy".  We are not Christians.  We do not have a sacrament of
> Communion, from which we can be excluded, and which we believe will
> protect us from eternal damnation, or Purgatory, when we die.  A
> correct English translation of both "xerem" and "nidduy" is "ban" ...
> And if you need to make
> precise distinctions between "xerem" and "nidduy" that cannot be made
> in the English language, then you must use the Hebrew words.

Thank you for the lesson on excommunication, it is interesting. I do not
think that the majority of A/A reader would read the word ban and think
"xerem" or "nidduy". Sometimes common usage wins out. Bringing in the
Mennonites, maybe the word shunned would be closer.

Shavua Tov