Throughout history, many societies have had secret, and not-so-secret hand signs. Jews are no different.
11 Comments Posted
Why does Judaism have the idea to not point at a person?
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I have not been able to find any prohibition against pointing at another person, except the rules of good manners. However, the custom is that you do not count Jews by assigning numbers to them. Therefore in counting to determine if a minyan is present, various words are used rather than numbers. See "The Book of Jewish Customs" by Harvey Lutske (Jason Aronson, 1986) p. 157
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i am preparing a presentation about israel for my university .Thank you Lorne Rozovsky your site has been a great help to me.
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In order to not show the person where she is ?
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Mr. Rozovsky, a few years back I was in City Court paying a traffic ticket. I had left the house in a hurry and forgot my yarmulke. I grabbed a ball cap that was in the van, using it for a covering ( a bad choice but still a covering). Before I entered the courtroom an officer of the court asked me to remove it. I explained that I was Jewish and needed to keep it on. He told me, " yeah, and I'm the President, take it off now or leave the building".
Please give me your opinion on the correct way to handle a situation as this. I took it off but was very uncomfortable.
Thanks in advance, Baruch.
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No one said it is easy to be a Jew. We are often faced with competing religious and secular standards of behavior. How you balance these may be very different than how I or others would. For me, I firmly believe that we should conduct ourselves in both our religious and secular practices in a manner that maintains our dignity as citizens and as Jews, regardless of what country we live in. A baseball cap is a symbol of entertainment and is never considered as dignified or respectful in a law court regardless of the level, even though it may satisfy the religious requirement of having one's head covered. It also gives the impression to others that Jewish religious practices are neither dignified nor can they be taken seriously. In a court, it suggests that that the court cannot be taken seriously. It equates it with a sports stadium. If you are not going to wear a kippah (yarmulke) at all times, I suggest you always keep one in your pocket in order to avoid these situations.
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As a follow-up to my response regarding head covering and the wearing of a baseball cap in a court of law, readers may find this article useful: The Kippah (Skullcap).
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How did the Kohanim hand sign originate? For example, Is it from another culture?
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In response to Mr. Mortman's question, the reasons for the priestly blessing hand sign are explained in Rabbi Naftali Silberberg's article: The Blessing. Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin of Chabad.org's "Ask the Rabbi" service advises that the spreading of the hands is based on what Aaron did in blessing the Jewish people (Leviticus 9:22). He also points out that the Midrash says that the separation of the fingers is symbolic of looking through windows or lattice (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 2:9), and also to show the priest's awe of the divine presence (Shibolai Haleket - siman 23). He points out that there are kabalistic reasons as well. I have not been able to find any explanations of a cultural or historic nature.
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"In his autobiography I Am Not Spock, Nimoy wrote that he based the Vulcan salute on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the salute. The letter Shin here stands for Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)". Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue. There he saw the blessing performed and was very impressed by it. I thought this might be an interesting bit of trivia to enjoy.
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The etymology of "davenen" has been explored countless times and some have suggested a Turkic basis.
Dövünmek - to beat oneself
Dövünen - one who beats themselves
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