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<p>This motzoei-Shabbos P'Vayishlach shiur dealt with the Kohanic middah of qapdanus. For those who heard or will hear it, I have a tangential question re RYR's elucidation of the term "chashmonai/chashmona'i." (I also have a related Q re this term which b'li neder I'll send to Mesorah...and re both Qs, if someone could FWD them to RYR [and give regards to him from Elizabethean Sruli Safrin], I would be much obliged.) IIRC, he said that according to those (e.g. Chida) who consider it a noun and pronounce it "chashmonai" (patach-[aleph-]yud), it's apparently a Greek term a la "Yannai"; acc. to those (e.g. Beis Yoseif) who consider it an adjective (from T'hilim 68:32 -- the commentaries ad loc. seem to see in this word an indication for it being a noun rather than an adjective, but I guess one can read them either way...) and pronounce it "chashmona'i" (qamatz-aleph-chiriq-yud), it's clearly a Hebrew word. Why would he assume that "chashmonai" is a Greek term when it seems to indicate that the family came from Cheshmon (Y'hoshua 15:27, and as Baer notes in Siddur Avodas Yisrael, see Seider Olam Zuta)? Does his assumption stem from Cheshmon being a city in nachalas Y'hudah, which would raise interesting implications for a priestly family which took malchus upon itself (an issue which RYR discussed a bit later on in his shiur)? Thanks. <br>
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Gut Voch and all the best from<br>
--Michael Poppers via RIM pager<br>
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