Cheeky Love Apples - עגבנייה

Struck me as strange the hebrew word for Tomato - עגבנייה since עגב in Tanach essentially refers to the buttocks and spills over into connotations of lust and people who lust-- עוגבים.

So I looked it up on WikiMilon and wad'ya know, Rav Kook was against it. He pushed for Adomiya אדומייה but it didn't stick.

The logic of the name עגבנייה was an attempt of direct translation from the German term Liebesapfel/ Love Apple. A little surprising to me though that the people at the helm of creating the modern hebrew language would think עגב a suitable translation for love/אהבה though.

See the WikiMilon article further.

[Subsequently I saw this post explaining that from the beginning, the naming of "liebesapfel" was meant in the lustful sense, being as it was rumored to be an aphrodesiac. Thus the עגב root being an accurate translation of the word's original intent. All's Good.]

Eyes and Ears

Struck me as strange that we have eyelids to voluntarily close off our vision and yet not as regards our ears and hearing; as if we're constantly taking in a stream of sounds without interruption נהרא דלא פסיק.

The nose seems to be the same as the ears as well although possibly a little different since to really smell well one makes a conscious action of breathing in strongly... needs further looking into.

Further need to understand the distinction of עצמ vs אטמ as in  אוטם אוזנו משמוע דמים ועוצם עיניו מראות ברע particularly the usage of עצם by the eyes I find fascinating...

Is there any medical relationship between the eyes and ears?

טוב אחרית דבר מראשיתו -- קהלת ז

There's an excellent language learning company called Pimsleur for learning all languages. Really excellent material. 

One of the tricks they realized in teaching a new word in a foreign language is that it's easier for a student to start from the end of the word and build upwards towards the beginning. 

For example, the world "compartment" would be taught by having the student first pronounce and practice "ment", then "part-ment", and then finally "com-part-ment". Try it and see for yourself how it works better than working from the beginning.

Thought atleast a remez in the pasuk טוב אחרית דבר מראשיתו , particularly with the דבר - דיבור connection.

מערה -- מער -- ער -- רע -- עריות -- זרע

Wanted to show the connection of the above to דוד and משיח. The Midrash pointing out the מערה connection of both דוד and לוט. The ער בכור יהודה רע בעיני ה and the זרע which relates to משיח (see Bereishit Rabba 23:5 and 51:8).

The only connection that is weak is the מער as in מער איש ולויות , although certainly there also you can see the relevance to יצרא דעריות

Can we understand מערת המכפלה as "double embrace"? and what would be the meaning?...

בראשית רבה נא ז  --  ויעל לוט מצוער וישב בהר הה"ד (תהלים נז) למנצח אל תשחת לדוד מכתם בברחו מפני שאול במערה אמר לפניו: רבון העולמים! עד שלא נכנסתי למערה, עשית חסד עם אחרים בשבילי, עכשיו שאני נתון במערה, יהי רצון מלפניך אל תשחת  

Pregnancy and Wine

Wanted to point out the hebrew connection of the words for הריון and הוראה and the consequent extrapolation of the issur of Hora'ah while intoxicated to the concept of intoxication while pregnant.

Love Triangles

Br"R 46:3 - בראשית רבה מו ג
אמר לו הקדוש ב"ה לאברהם: דייך אני ואתה בעולם, ואם אין את מקבל עליך לימול דיי לעולמי עד כאן ודייה לערלה עד כאן ודייה למילה שתהא עגומה עד כאן. אמר: עד שלא מלתי, היו באים ומזדווגים לי, תאמר: משמלתי, הן באין ומזדווגים לי! אמר לו הקב"ה: אברהם! דייך, שאני אלוהך! דייך, שאני פטרונך! ולא לך לעצמך, אלא דיי לעולמי, שאני אלוהו! דיו לעולמי, שאני פטרונו!

Something of an obscure Midrash to understand but this is how I do by way of a mashal/parable. To a woman so enthralled by a man that she wishes all the women of the world could have a relationship with him. In such a dynamic, a peculiar quandary is created upon the man's request for her to enter into a relationship (a ברית) with him. Namely, by what right can she accept the offer and exclude the rest of the world's women from sharing the same experience? By what right can she justify singling herself out and leaving behind her friends?

Yet the man can answer that readily. He can't have the same feelings for the rest of the world's women as he has for her. She is the only one with whom he can have a deeply fulfilling relationship with. If she's to demand an all-or-nothing approach- the whole world or no one- it leads to a de facto stalemate with everyone going back and sitting in their corners, alone and frustrated with their inability to further their interrelationships any further. It all stops עד כאן.

Rather it's in her accepting and entering into a relationship with her lover that ultimately is the greater good for the collective whole. In giving this man some concrete base (יסוד) with which to build around, some small particular relationship with which to build from, she then enables him to ultimately love and connect (in varying degrees) with the rest of the entire world with which she is connected and which she deeply cared for at the outset. The accessing of כלה כל . See here

And so it's the small, individual foundation of a relationship that she affords him that ultimately suffices (שדי) for his integration with the rest of the entire universe.

Etymology: Notary, Notrikon

See Ma"Harzu in his introduction to Bereishit Rabba, Klal 30 where he explains that all are related and essentially having the meaning of scribing and writing

Notary, נוטריקון, נטורי קרתא, סופרים

"Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name..."

Of course the main answer as to why I chose to live in Israel is that I feel it's where and what I belong to... but just an added point: It's 4 days before the Pesach Seder night and I've been in Israel now a total of 5 days, these are the "strangers" so far that have invited me to their house for the Seder:

• The Merkaz Klita "mother of the house" offered to set me up with countless families in the area here in Kfar Saba
  
• The Gabbai of the nearby shul (whom I'm ultimately going with) told me he'll take care of it and set me up with someone in the shul
• The people who sat next to me on the El Al plane coming over
• The woman at Bank Leumi who opened my account
• The storekeeper where I bought a cart and those electric adapter thingys from 110 to 220
• The girl at the Cellcom store who set up my cellphone account
• and i think there's a few others as well but i forgot already
• not to mention all my extended family and family friends that I am completely welcome at just that i'm not feeling settled enough yet to "travel" out of Kfar Saba
• and not to forget the big sign in the absorption office when you get off the plane that reads "Welcome Home"

So in summation: How could you not want to live in Israel?!!

Sometimes you want to go 

Where everybody knows your name, 

and they're always glad you came. 

You wanna be where you can see, 

our troubles are all the same 

You wanna be where everybody knows 

Your name. 

You wanna go where people know, 

people are all the same, 

You wanna go where everybody knows 

your name.