Led by Stan Siegel

“Does it Really Say That?: The Case of Ra” will be the first of occasional classes that will explore alternative translations of Hebrew words central to the meaning of a text. It will be taught by Stan Siegel, Har Shalom’s resident Hebrew linguist and etymologist. Good and evil are opposites – contradictory terms. In Hebrew, we normally consider them as “tov” and “ra” – as in “loshon hora” (evil tongue), or in the 23^rd Psalm, “lo ira ra” (“I will fear no evil”). But are tov and ra opposites as are good and evil? Etymologically, the basic root meaning of ra can be “excess” with interpretations derived from that root. Considering the prevalence of “ra” in Torah, Talmud and other texts, our view of the meanings within those texts could be quite different from how we normally see them (“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear not greatly: for you are with me.”) Remember, that the translation we see on the opposite page is the rendition of an interpreter. But … “Does it really say that?”