Rav Yitzḥak and Uriel Frank

Transcription

1 Rav Yitzḥak and Uriel Frank The Gemara Card is fairly self-explanatory, but its value would be enhanced were it to be used by a competent teacher who is familiar with the six-page laminated Card and its salient features -- which will be described below. The Card contains five distinct sections: a three-page Glossary, a page of Abbreviations, a page of Babylonian Aramaic Grammar, and another page that is shared by Talmudic Sages and Talmudic Measures. 1

2 1. The Glossary Most of our students are quite aware of the existence of ready-made translations of the Gemara they are learning, e.g., the Art Scroll (Schottenstein), Koren (Rav Steinsaltz) and Soncino editions, and there is no denying that they are useful since they quickly provide the learner with the flow of the Talmudic discussion. Talmudic translations, however, have their drawbacks: A. Individual words and phrases are sometimes not translated literally and, occasionally, not accurately. For example, see the translations of the verb.יומא פז, בin B. Over-dependence upon even the best of running translations can impede or even cripple one's development in learning, especially one's ability to decipher a text. On the other hand, the student who becomes accustomed to working on a text word by word, will gradually develop the skills and vocabulary that will prepare him/her to learn Gemara and its commentaries independently. Ideally, a student should use a dictionary regularly, but in our modern (or "postmodern") era many of our students are looking for a "quicker fix" and do not have the patience to open a reference book. Teaching experience indicates that this compact glossary has a better chance to succeed where full-fledged dictionaries have failed, since it is more user-friendly. ב עי Our Glossary section comprises half of the Card. Its 720 words and terms were selected primarily according to the frequency of their occurrence in the Talmud Bavli, but with some "positive discrimination" in favor of terms that play an important role in the (Talmudic dialectics). Most of them are Aramaic, but more than twenty are ש ק לא ו ט ר יא Hebrew and are marked as such. The Glossary provides a concise -- and usually precise -- English translation; when space limitations permit, a word (or more) is added (within parentheses) to the literal translation to fit the Talmudic context. For example, in the entry, יכא בינ י יה ו,א whose literal translation is there is between them, the words a difference have been added between the two Aramaic words in parentheses in accordance with the usual meaning of this term in the Talmud Bavli. For the learner who seeks more comprehensive explanations, replete with examples, The Practical Talmud Dictionary, may provide assistance. Individuals with a more 2

3 academic inclination and an interest in etymologies, manuscripts and comparisons to other Semitic languages, will find valuable information in Prof. Michael Sokoloff's Dictionary of Babylonian Aramaic, Ramat Gan-Baltimore As noted in our Helpful Hints, "entries are listed alphabetically according to their first letter disregarding prefixes such as - ו (vav)." But in cases where the entry usually appears in the Talmud with its prefix, the - ו has been included in the entry and printed in the same size as the rest of the entry. Since it does not count for alphabetization purposes, it appears within parentheses, e.g., (ת ו לא,)ו but no more. In entries with Aramaic prefixes (- ד -, א and - ק ), the Aramaic prefix is regarded as an integral part of the entry, and the entry has been alphabetized accordingly, as in the.קמ יפ ל ג י and ד ר בנ ן entries Note: These Aramaic prefixes themselves also appear in the Glossary as separate entries. Therefore, it will sometimes be worthwhile for the learner to check both options, i.e., both with and without the prefix. The Aramaic language is similar to Hebrew, its fellow Semitic language; because of its different linguistic development, however, certain Aramaic consonants sometimes correspond to different Hebrew consonants, as illustrated in the table below (which has ד ה ב (dalet) in ד been printed in the 2 nd edition of the Card). For example, the Aramaic corresponds to the Hebrew ז (zayin) in ז הב. For additional discussion of consonantal interchanges, see Grammar for Gemara and Targum Onkelos, p. 12 and note 3 ibid. WARNING: These consonant interchanges occur regularly, but not universally: not every Aramaic dalet is the equivalent of a Hebrew zayin. For example, the initial dalet 3

4 ,ד ין law, is also an initial dalet in the cognate Hebrew noun,ד ינא of the Aramaic noun.ז ימ נא time, is also zayin in the Aramaic,ז מ ן while the initial zayin in the Hebrew noun Since research indicates that vocabulary is most efficiently mastered in context, the rebbi who is using the Card as a teaching aid should focus on those Glossary words that appear in the text he is teaching: Perhaps he should consider presenting a few crucial words or expressions before the shiur/lesson or, alternatively, afterwards, as part of a review. Furthermore, a program of "the Aramaic word of the day" may work, perhaps in conjunction with periodic quizzes. 2. Abbreviations and Acronyms The entry items on this page, i.e., the abbreviations and acronyms, are printed in their original Aramaic (or Hebrew), and their resolutions/explanation are in the same language. Some of the explanations are themselves entries in the Glossary section, and they have been colored BLUE, referring the learner to the Glossary where he can easily locate them and their English translations, as illustrated here: 3. Aramaic Grammar As is well known, student interest in grammar -- let alone Babylonian Aramaic grammar -- is almost infinitesimal. According to Rav Yosef Te'omim, however, "the science of grammar is a cornerstone of the Torah, and when studying a lesson in Gemara, one should also have grammar books in front of him" (in the introduction to his Peri Megadim, one of the most important Halakhic works of the 18th Century). It stands to reason that a working knowledge of Aramaic grammar can help many learners to cope with Talmudic texts and achieve a more precise understanding of them (as explained and illustrated in Grammar for Gemara and Targum Onkelos, republished by Koren in 2016, p. 5ff.). Furthermore, for individuals who tend to be very methodical, a grammatical analysis of the elements in the text is almost indispensable. The paradigms in the Grammar page are designed to familiarize the learner with the basic aspects of the Aramaic verb, the most crucial part of speech in the language. The 4

5 verbal systems of Hebrew and Aramaic are similar but not identical. In order to analyze an Aramaic verbal form that appears in the Talmud Bavli, one must first identify its (three) root-letters by comparing it to other members of its "word family" just as one would in Hebrew. For example, a comparison of the verbal form פ ל יג (which,פ ל וג is itself listed in the paradigms) with the words.פלג demonstrates that its grammatical root is,ל יפ לו ג and,פל ג ינ ן, פ ל וג תא Note: Because of limitations of space, the paradigms on this card list only the basic forms, e.g., those that are masculine singular, except for six feminine forms that are,תיק ו, נ יחא argumentation: marked "f." because they play important roles in Talmudic For full paradigms of the Babylonian Aramaic verb that do.ת נ יא and,ת יג ל י,ת יבע י,ת ינ ח list feminine and plural forms and include all the standard binyanim, see Grammar for Gemara and Targum Onkelos, Chapter 3, pp Here are some striking differences between the conjugations of Babylonian Aramaic verbs and Hebrew verbs: THE FUTURE: The Hebrew past tense is characterized by suffixes that are added to the root-letters, e.g., כת ב תי, while prefixes predominate in the future, e.g., א כ תב. The same system prevails in Aramaic, except for a striking difference with regard to the "future-prefixes". In Babylonian Aramaic, the prefix in the 3rd-person-masculine of the "future" (both singular and plural) is usually lamed (the option that is presented in this Card) and sometimes nun, e.g., ל )י(כ תוב or תוב,נ )י(כ let him write rather than the consonant yod, the standard prefix in Hebrew. Only rarely do we encounter the consonant yod as the prefix, e.g., מ י י ימ ר )גיטין סז, ב) (who would say), where the.מ י י אמ ר expression, yod mimics the prefix in the Hebrew Note: Our translations of the prefixed verbal forms cited above illustrate another difference in usage between the Aramaic of the Talmud Bavli and Hebrew. The Aramaic conjugation -- parallel to the Hebrew "future tense" is often translated into English as let (him) or shall (he), in what grammarians call the jussive mood -- rather than (he) will. THE INFINITIVE: There are also important distinctions between the infinitive forms of the two languages: A. The ק ל- binyan infinitive in Hebrew is typically תב,)ל (כ to write often, but not מ- Babylonian Aramaic, however, features a standard.ל- necessarily, preceded by prefix that is an integral part of the ק ל infinitive, e.g., 5

6 .ל- with or without the initial )ל-(מ כ ת ב Note: In light of what has been presented above, a form such as ל כ תוב is a homonym and can be interpreted in two different ways: if it appears in a Hebrew context, it serves as an infinitive, e.g., ה כ ל כ שר ין ל כ תו ב א ת ה גט )משנה גיטין כב, סע"ב( (everyone is qualified to write a bill of divorce). In Aramaic, however, the very same form belongs to the "future" (jussive) conjugation, e.g., ל כ תו ב ר ח מנא )גיטין מח, א( (let the Torah write). B. Although no standard prefix appears in the infinitives of the other binyanim, they do have a distinctive ending: Usually, a full holam vowel is inserted between the 2 nd and 3 rd root-letters and the suffix "- י" is added, forming the combination."-ו - י" Thus, in binyan פ על -- which is parallel to the Hebrew binyan פעל -- the infinitive is בו לי,ק and.א שלו מי -- the infinitive is הפעיל which is parallel to אפעל in binyan Since some of the entries in the three-page Glossary are verbs that also appear in the tables on the Grammar page, their root letters have been colored RED in the Glossary in order to refer the learner to the relevant conjugation on the Grammar page. As a result, one can see how that verbal form fits into the pattern. For two special uses of the Babylonian Aramaic participle that are rare in (Biblical) Hebrew, see Grammar for Gemara and Targum Onkelos, ibid., pp The Sages Dave Sachs, the co-author of this Card. insisted on the production of this section since, as a new Gemara student, he had discovered that one needs to be aware of the relationships between the Tanna'im and/or Amora'im engaged in the Talmudic dialectic. Our charts will help the learner discern whether the Sages in the Talmud are citing their predecessors or their contemporaries a factor that may affect the authoritativeness of their opinions. As mentioned in the Helpful Hints, the names of the Sages have been color-coded to indicate whether they were active in Eretz Yisrael or Babylonia or in both areas. "Z3" refers to the 3 ed generation of Zugoth. The crown next to his name in the Chronological Map indicates he was a Nasi. "R. Yehuda," without his father's name, is R. Yehuda b. Ilai. "T5" refers to the 5 th generation of Tanna im. His name colored BLUE indicates he was active in Eretz Yisrael. "Rav Yehuda" without his father's name, is Rav Yehuda b. Yeḥezkel. Rav Yehuda was active in Babylonia in the 2 nd generation of Amora'im. 6

7 Because of space limitations, we were able to include only a fraction of the several hundred Tanna'im and Amora'im who appear in the Mishna and/or in the Talmud. We selected those sages who seem to have been most important (107 names) usually on the basis of their being mentioned most frequently. For further information about the Talmudic sages -- both those whose names have been recorded in the Card and many others see: A. Hyman, Toledot Tanna'im ve'amora'im and Portal HaDaf-HaYomi (Tanna'im ve'amora'im). 5. Talmudic Measures This section also came to fruition because of student demand, since the various measurements appear in many discussions in the Talmud. The rebbi may refer his students to this section in order to clarify the relationships between the measures that are mentioned in the Talmudic passage and commentaries they have been studying. We have also included conversions of the Talmudic measures into contemporary data -- according to both the system that currently prevails in the United States and the metric system which is used in most countries, including Israel. As noted in the Card itself, we found it convenient to base these equivalencies upon Rabbi Hadar Margolin's book,, which contains a useful chapter in English entitled, The Small Measure ה יד ור י ה מ ידות of a K zayis. We know full well that there is a wide variety of halakhic opinions with regard to some of these conversions, that can be found easily in Portal HaDaf-HaYomi (midot). This Card is certainly not intended to be a vehicle to decide practical halakha. We welcome feedback (especially criticism) from administrators, teachers and students. yitzfrank@gmail.com or gemaracard@korenpub.com This User's Guide is available on the Koren website without charge. To purchase either the English Gemara Card or the Hebrew edition (called א ל ת ל מ וד א (ס י יע ת please to sales@korenpub.com or call: Israel Phone: International Phone: