[HANASHIR:5826] Re: HANASHIR digest 860

[LizBolton <LizBolton...>]

In a message dated 4/18/00 2:57:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org writes:

<< 
 the translation should literally be "queen" of the world"  malka ... not
 melech
  >>

Dear Hevre, leshem hinukh /for the sake of learning: malkA (aleph at the end) 
in Aramaic is the cognate of the Hebrew HAmelekh. To translate it "queen" is 
delightful aural midrash - and fun for the ear to hear amidst the relentless 
masculine pronouns of the classical brakha formula - but it does indeed mean 
king.

For those who like to play with the gender and language of "shem u'malkhut," 
there is a little chart in Kol Haneshamah, the Reconstructionist prayerbook 
series, that offers alternative formulas, as does Marcia Falk's "The Book of 
Blessings."

Have a zisen pesah,
Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+