What makes Hebrew a holy language

This piece posits that a medieval disagreement about why hebrew is termed holy coheres with other opinions espoused by the respective disputants 

Ramban writes (Shemos 30:13) that the reason shiklei hakodesh are referred to as holy is due to the fact that the shekalim that are used in various mitzvos (eg arachin, pidyon haben, machatzitz hashekel, and other payments mentioned in the torah eg rape and remuneration for a dead slave) are exclusively of this coinage (Moshe's shekel—see there). In other words, they're referred to as holy because they are used for many Torah based obligations, which are themselves holy. Likewise, Ramban continues, Hebrew is referred to by Chazal lashon hakodesh—the holy tongue—as it is the medium through which God created the world and communicates with people via prophecy; His names, the names of angels, all manner of nature and His various holy people (the Avos, Shelomo and the like) are all drawn from this language, thus earning it this appellation.

Ramban then quotes Rambam (Moreh 3:8) as holding that owing to there being no words in Hebrew for the male/female reproductive organs (nor the reproductive act itself), semen, urine and excrement, it therefore is a holy language.

Ramban takes issue with Rambams explanation because A) it should be called a clean language B) we do indeed find such words in Tanach—see there.

I'd like to offer the following analysis of this disagreement.

1) Rambam is not a fan of physicality, to say the least. He holds that it is naturally defective and degrades, physical needs and wants are animalistic and to be tended to quickly and privately, and that it precludes the highest levels of metaphysical attainment. The next world for Rambam is devoid of any physicality.

A language that mimics this ideal, in stripping out the base elements of it, is, in his conception, sanctified.

Ramban, on the other hand, disagrees with the above, asserting that the next world includes our bodies—albeit in a rarified state—and that physicality is not something to be ashamed of, as God created people with bodies, but rather part of the ideal vision for humanity (iggeres hakodesh is commonly [mis]attributed to him).

A language that excises reproduction and excretion is at most a clean and decent language, but it does not make it hallowed.

2) Rambam is of the opinion that God is a
wholly incorporeal thinking being, contemplating perfect ideas and forms. Speech, when applied to Him, indicates certain ideas and/or instincts being received. Folks receive prophecy via tapping into said intellect (by way of the active intellect), with the imagination to make sense of it (Mosaic prophecy was purely intellectual), but not through hearing any actual words.

Gods creation of the world and communication with people does not occur through the medium of language, but rather via His will and in interpretation of His wisdom.

Words—of any language—aren't utilized by Rambam's God, and therefore lack holiness.

Whereas for Ramban, God utilizes words—Hebrew words—to create the world and communicate with people, ergo they are called holy. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sukkos: Pesach in the fall

Are Jews innately unique

Zionism done right