FIRST we discuss the INfluences on English

We American Jews have had our appreciation of Judaism deeply informed by the English language and one of the core texts of that language is what I call the Malakh Yankel Bible – or as you probably know it: the King James Bible. The KJB (not to be confused with the KGB although both use a form of Mr. Spock’s “Mind Meld”) used a variety of words that were commonly used in ‘English’, but have different meanings in Christian and Jewish contexts. The KJB (or MYB) took our Hebrew Holy Writings and re-interpreted them in English with a Christian slant. Now, in a recent talk given at an “ecumenical meeting" in Scotland, the speaker (a Jewish Rabbi) said that science recently was able to attach sensors to the brain of a bat and so come to an understanding of what a bat “saw” – BUT, he continued the scientists only came to understand – from a humans point of view what the bat was encountering and in no way were the human scientists able to comprehend the world as a bat! So, it’s not surprising that many of our understandings of the words that we use in English are colored by this Christian overlay. Though it bothers me, I can’t stop the Christians from misinterpreting our holy writings, but, it’s a shame for us Jews to accept the Christian view of the world and to misconstrue them the way that they do… rather than understand them the way we Jews have accepted them for millennia.
For example, the story of the Garden of Eden is used in Christianity to explain the existence and the meaning of “original sin”. But, no word (like) “sin” appears in the story! Adam and Eve misbehaved. So, what’s going on here? Why should we be tarnished by their actions if we “Ain’t Misbehavin’”
The point is that Christians do not know and cannot know what the Jewish experience is and when we Jews use the English language, which is infused with Christian thought, we are misunderstanding our own Hebrew prayers that have been “translated” into a foreign tongue.
Here is another example: “Do any of you have a doctor?” No you don’t. You do not own a doctor. And yet the English language is about possessing. The Hebrew language, on the other hand is not. The understanding of this phrase in Hebrew is something like: There is a doctor toward me which helps me with my medical needs.

With this in mind let us consider the prayers we have been discussing for the past several blogs... and try to think of them, if not in Hebrew, in a way that has meaning to the Jews because of our Jewish experience for some 5770 years.