[Avodah] Alma vs Almah

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Mon Jul 24 11:53:45 PDT 2017


In a gett, the year is given "leberi'as alma". The AhS (EhE 126:61)
discusses the question of what happens if there is a ta'us, and it reads
"leberi'as almah", with a hei? Some say it's always pasul, some say it's
kosher beshe'as hadechaq, and yet others say it depends on whether the
husband pointed it out, saying it was an intentional avoidance of giving
her a real gett.

The reason why this particular spelling error is discussed is because
"almah" (with a hei) is a near synonym for naarah. And so, the gett
says something different than intented. It's not just some of the other
misspellings that have only one possible intent.

I was wondering if this is too fanciful:

Why would someone consider "toward the creation of the young woman" a
plausible possibility? Could it be related to christological readings of
Yeshiah 7:14, where they famously mistranslate "hinneih ha'almah harah
veyoledes bein" to refer to virgin birth? And thus, "beri'ah ha'almah"
could be taken as a reference to the Xian mythos of an almah having a
role in producing boy born yeish mei'ayin. After all, years are often
given given in CE.

Perhaps the problem under discussion is only because Xianity
reappropriated the word "almah", and therefore this hava aminah could
cross the readers mind.

Maybe? Or too creative?

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
micha at aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
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