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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: "Jay F Shachter"
<jay@m5.chicago.il.us><BR>><BR><BR>>> fact, we do not say a
prayer for the Reish Galutha; we say a prayer<BR>for the Reishei
Galvatha.<BR><BR>....why,<BR>in Aramaic (which inflects like Hebrew in this
regard), do we say<BR>"reishei galvatha" and not "reishei galutha"? What
are the plural<BR>Exiles over which the Exilarchs presided? We do not say
that one<BR>Reish Galutha presided over, e.g., Galuth Mitzrayyim, while
another<BR>Reish Galutha presided over, e.g., Galuth Bavel -- so why do we
say<BR>"Reishei Galvatha"? <<</FONT></DIV><FONT
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>>>>>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>You could have asked, why are we praying for the Resh Galusa when there
hasn't been a Resh Galusa (capital Resh capital Gimel) in a thousand
years? Why are we talking about the masters and sages of Bavel when Bavel
ceased to be a major Torah center a thousand years ago?</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>The answer is to be found in the Art/Scroll siddur but it is really
intuitively obvious. "The original text of the prayer has been maintained
throughout the centuries of exile--even when the great masses of Jewry no longer
lived in Babylonia. By extension, however, this timeless prayer refers to
all Jewish communities; the word Babylonia is a general term for all Jewish
communities outside of Eretz Israel."</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>"Reshei galvasa" is translated in the A/S as "leaders of the exile
communities" -- lower case resh, lower case gimel.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><FONT color=#000000></FONT><BR><STRONG>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR></STRONG><I><BR><BR><BR><BR><STRONG>_______________</STRONG></I></FONT></DIV></FONT><br/><font style="color:black;font:normal 10pt arial,san-serif;"> <hr style="margin-top:10px"/>Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from anywhere on the web. <a href="http://toolbar.aol.com/aolradio/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000003">Get the Radio Toolbar</a>!</font></DIV></BODY></HTML>