[HANASHIR:11526] Re: rant #2: the expression "Bar/Bat Mitzvah"

[Judah Cohen <jcohen...>]

Erik,

I agree with you.  But for the sake of argument:  Why can't we say that the
English is "right," even if the Hebrew is "wrong"?  I take issue with your
contention that it's not possible to turn a noun into a verb.  Shakespeare
did it all the time (I take, as one of numerous examples, from the end of
Antony and Cleopatra: Cleopatra mentions she will be "boyed on stage"; in
other words, a boy will, in many years, play Cleopatra's character on stage,
as per Elizabethan theatrical convention).  So it would seem to me an
individual CAN be Bar Mitzvahed in America, thanks to the creativity of our
language.  Jay McInerney in his novel *Bright Lights, Big City* wittily
discusses how wasted execs "Hoovered" (i.e., snorted) cocaine during club
parties in the 80s.  And we have planty of other verbs-from-nouns that are
less noticeable today:  to barcode, to telephone and to braille, as a few
examples (and incidentally, all these verbs have been duly "misappropriated"
into Hebrew:  their consonantal structures make up their respective Hebrew
roots).  

In addition, English usage has definitively turned "Bar Mitzvah" into an
event, whether the original Hebrew usage says so or not.  I just looked up
"Bar Mitzvah" in the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, and sure
enough, the entire definition is based around the CEREMONY:  the first
definition is that of the ceremony itself, and the second is that of the boy
*going through the ceremony*.  Nothing, incidentally, on the actual coming
of age.  Indeed, I think we probably both agree that this is quite a
twisting of the Hebrew/halachic meaning of "Bar Mitzvah."  However, I would
be willing to suggest that the Hebrew language police can venture only so
far out of their own language before losing jurisdiction.  Perhaps "Having a
Bar Mitzvah (event)" is illegal only in the State of Israel.

It brings up an interesting question:  When people say "Bar Mitzvah" in the
midst of an English-language sentence, are they temporarily switching to
Hebrew?  Or are they using a term *borrowed* from the Hebrew?  Your rant #2
clearly seems to be the former, and what I've written here counters as the
latter.  I see this as an intellectual exercise, so I make no claims to have
a true answer; but I WOULD say that the "answers" people give may be based
at least as much on cultural values as they are on grammar (which is itself
often based on cultural values).

Shavua Tov.
Judah.

> From: erik contzius <contzius (at) yahoo(dot)com>
> Reply-To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 13:29:36 -0700 (PDT)
> To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject: [HANASHIR:11525] rant #2: the expression "Bar/Bat Mitzvah"
> 
> Okay... another good question:
> 
> Why is the word, "Mitzvah" singular in the case of
> "Bar/Bat Mitzvah" if the individual is a "Son/Daughter
> of the CommandmentS?"
> 
> Simply put, the term "Bar/Bat Mitzvah" is not one to
> be translated literally. It's an expression connoting
> someone who is an adult in the eyes of the Jewish
> community. The expression works very much like how one
> asks how old one is in Israel. If you were to say (in
> my case) that I am 34 years old, i would say, "Ani Ben
> Shloshim v'arba," which literally translated would be,
> "I [am] a son of 33." That makes little sense in
> english. The hebrew is merely an expression used in
> that language only.
> 
> Going the opposite way in Hebrew, a Bar [Ben, as
> Adrian points out, being better modern hebrew than
> aramaic] Mitzvah would be much better translated as
> "Age of Responsiblility" or "Age of Obligation." Lest
> we forget, it's a noun (you can't be bar-mitzvah-ed!).
> It's something you become de-facto when you become 13
> (service or not). You can commemorate or celebrate
> one's becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, but you can't have a
> bar mitzvah (and if you do, i believe it's illegal in
> most states). 
> 
> This comes from the misappropriation of Hebrew by
> English speakers. There is no one translation for Bar
> Mitzvah, but "son of the commandment" doesn't really
> convey what it really means. There's no real reason to
> translate this literally, the same way that
> translating "oy vey is mir" into "oh woe is me" does a
> bit of injustice to the emotion of the yiddish.
> 
> hope that helps a bit.
> 
> btw, thanks all for your positive feedback to my
> previous rant. thought i'd give you another! wheeeeeeeeee.....
> 
> =====
> Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
> Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
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