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The most frequently used names that refer to G-d in the Torah are the tetragrammaton (YHWH), Elohim, El and El Shaddai. In the previous parshah, the text connects the tetragrammaton with the verb HaYaH (היה – to be, exist). The YHWH, being the piel form of the verb, therefore translates as “G-d’s bringing forth of existence.” The words El (אל – G-d) and Elohim (אלהים) predate Judaism and were used in the Hebrew and Ugaritic of the Canaanite pantheon. El (אל – G-d) was the first of the gods. Etymologically related to the words el (אל) to, toward; ayil (איל) ram, one who rams forward; and Ya/aL (יאל) to endeavor to advance forward; the word El (אל –
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Reading one of my blogs can be rather perplexing. The first paragraph may seem clear enough, but by the time you have reached paragraph three – having consumed a myriad of re-definitions of names and words with their associated etymologies – your mind may feel a bit jumbled. Similarly in Pharaoh’s first dream, he sees cows that are beautiful of appearance and sculpted of flesh, but they are followed by cows that are poor of appearance and gaunt. In his second dream, he sees ears of grain plump and good, followed by those that are thin and blasted by the wind. In both dreams, those of poor appearance, coming after, consume the former. These dreams are descriptions of how your mi
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In order for him to fulfill his archetypal role as a person’s grabbing at what comes around so as to investigate, Yaaqov1 took from Esau2 (his patrolling experience, grabbing at things noticed in being stirred up by them) the first thing that Esau’s hunting acquired from experience. Esau’s birthright, from the root BaKhaR (בכר) which means to well up first, symbolized this first thing. In order for Yaaqov to further his role as investigator of experience, it also became necessary for him to excel (in his ability to investigate things) while subduing the distractions coming forth from Esau, in his taking notice of any stirring thing. To achieve that, he took for himself the b
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A quick perusal of English Torah translations demonstrate a difficulty in translating, k’tonet pasim (כתנת פסים), Yoseph’s coat of many colors. There can be found: “coat of many colors, coat of long sleeves, coat of long length and coat of stripes.” The word pasim (פסים) comes from the root PaSaH (פסה) meaning to spread or spread apart. In Psalms 72:16, this word means abundance. It also carries a sense of “what is widely spread apart” which is made evident by two related roots PaSaS (vanish – פסס) and /aPhaS (to be the end of – אפס). The word k’tonet (כתנת) is specifically a coat made out of felt, one that is compressed and matted together.