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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From: Micha Berger <A href="mailto:micha@aishdas.org">micha@aishdas.org</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>>> The word "frum" has become a near-synonym for Orthodox. How
this came<BR>to be is noteworthy.<BR><BR>"Frum" descends from the German
"fromm", meaning pious or devout. In<BR>pre-war Yiddish, usage appears to have
varied widely. On the one hand,<BR>those who named their daughters "Fruma"
clearly thought being frum as<BR>complimentary. On the other, there was an
idiom, or as Rav Aharon Kotler<BR>often put it, "Frum iz a galech; ehrlich iz a
Yid - the town priest is<BR>`pious', a Jew is refined." </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>I don't know this idiom, it was not part of the culture I grew up
in. In normal, everyday Yiddish and Orthodox English, "frum" means
Torah-observant and "ehrlech" means "honest, having integrity, having
principles." If you look up ehrlech in a Yiddish-English dictionary, you
will find it defined as "honest."</DIV>
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<DIV>The two categories overlap, they are not meant to be contrasted and
certainly not opposite. And BTW "ehrlech" does not mean
"refined." The word for "refined" is "eidel."</DIV>
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<DIV>The wry apercu attributed to R' Kotler -- "Frum is der galach" -- is meant
as a criticism of those frum Jews who are not ehrlich. It is also a
not-so-subtle dig at certain priests and other outwardly-pious non-Jews whose
private behavior leaves much to be desired. The Church has had its share
of scandals, no news there. </DIV>
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<DIV>A frum Jew should be ehrlich, and should also be eidel.</DIV>
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<DIV>Translation: An observant Jew should be honest -- should be ethical,
should have integrity, should be principled -- and should /also/ be
refined in his dress, speech and manners.</DIV>
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<DIV>If he keeps Shabbos, keeps kosher, keeps the mitzvos -- he is frum.
It is not a /bad/ thing to be frum, it's just not enough for a fully-developed
Torah Jew.</DIV>
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<DIV><B><BR><FONT color=#0000ff>--Toby Katz<BR>================</FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________ </DIV>
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