Re: kumt tsu geyn

[SamWeiss <SamWeiss...>]

<l_cahan (at) staff(dot)chuh(dot)org> wrote
         >Okay, then, if the whole thing says,
         >"Eliyohu hanovi/kumt tsu geyn tsu undz farshtelt/
         >Eliyohu, mit dayn gutskayt is dokh ful di gantse velt",
         >does this make a difference. Is this expository,
         >"Eliyohu is coming (or "comes") to us disguised",
         >or as a wish, "Eliyohu, come to us disguised!"

I would translate it as
"Eliyohu drops in to us disguised."

Although theoretically "kumt" could be an imperative, and although the 
balance of the verse is addressing Eliyohu in the second person ("=your= 
goodness fills the world"),
1) the second person formal ("kumt!") is normally restricted to living 
mortals.
A folk figure, or God, is addressed using the second person familiar 
("kum!"), and
2) the verbal phrase "kumen tzu geyn" is almost never used in the imperative.


______________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ

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