A Question for Ricochetti Who Speak Hebrew

 

Representative Emanuel Cleaver ended his Congressional prayer by saying “Amen and awomen.”

Amen comes from the ancient Hebrew “āmán,” which means “so be it.” So, just for grins, what does “awoman” mean in ancient Hebrew? It could sound like the phrase “your mother is a tortoise, ” “my hovercraft is full of eels,” or something equally silly. It would be fun to find out.

Could those of you conversant with Hebrew offer a translation? This sounds like something that takes a human being to do, rather than Google Translate. Extra points for ancient Hebrew.

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  1. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Just for the heck of it, this is a favorite of mine:

    I don’t know what the heck they were singing but it sure wasn’t Schiller’s Ode to Joy (An die Freude), at least not as he wrote it. Frankly, it looks like they just did a knock-off of this:

     

    • #31
  2. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Okay, how about this one?  Everyone should know the first song, at least.  :-)

     

    • #32
  3. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    I have the same reaction to “Man” … as in “Manned Spaceflight” being sidelined for “Crewed Spaceflight” or Manual. Like the books, the labor or the transmission. I really dislike crewed spaceflight, because it sounds like crude spaceflight, if you want crude spaceflight watch Firefly or Spaceballs. NASA does Manned Spaceflight. Manual Transmissions – the idea that women can’t use them is just a coincidence, nothing to do with the name.

    You can tell how nonreligious and how poorly educated these elites are. To think that Amen has anything to do with gender, is ridiculous.

    • #33
  4. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    I have the same reaction to “Man” … as in “Manned Spaceflight” being sidelined for “Crewed Spaceflight” or Manual. Like the books, the labor or the transmission. I really dislike crewed spaceflight, because it sounds like crude spaceflight, if you want crude spaceflight watch Firefly or Spaceballs. NASA does Manned Spaceflight. Manual Transmissions – the idea that women can’t use them is just a coincidence, nothing to do with the name.

    It’s a feature, not a bug!

    You can tell how nonreligious and how poorly educated these elites are. To think that Amen has anything to do with gender, is ridiculous.

    Just imagine how messed up the world would be if “ridiculous” included a k!

    • #34
  5. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    I have the same reaction to “Man” … as in “Manned Spaceflight” being sidelined for “Crewed Spaceflight” or Manual. Like the books, the labor or the transmission. I really dislike crewed spaceflight, because it sounds like crude spaceflight, if you want crude spaceflight watch Firefly or Spaceballs. NASA does Manned Spaceflight. Manual Transmissions – the idea that women can’t use them is just a coincidence, nothing to do with the name.

    You can tell how nonreligious and how poorly educated these elites are. To think that Amen has anything to do with gender, is ridiculous.

    It’s Newspeak, which is constructed to make it impossible to think wrongthink, let alone speak it.

    Ridicule is one way to fight it. When you see people defending it or saying of your ridicule “that’s not funny,” you know what side they’re on.

    • #35
  6. JohnOldrndurt Coolidge
    JohnOldrndurt
    @JohnOldrndurt

    DonG (Biden is compromised) (View Comment):

    Here is the CSPAN transcript. It is close to the actual words. It is mostly good stuff until the end.

     

    LET US PRAY. ETERNAL GOD, WE BOW BEFORE YOUR THROWN OF GRACE AS WE LEAVE BEHIND THE POLITICALLY AND SOCIALLY CLAMOROUS YEAR OF 2020. WE GATHER NOW IN THIS CONSEQUENTIAL CHAMBER TO INAUGURATE ANOTHER CHAPTER IN OUR ROLLER COASTER REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. CONTROL OUR TRIBAL TENDENCIES AND QUICKEN OUR SPIRITS. THAT WE MAY FEEL THY PRIESTLEY PRESENCE EVEN IN MOMENTS OF HEIGHTENED DISAGREEMENT. MAY WE SO FEEL YOUR PRESENCE THAT OUR SERVICE HERE MAY NOT BE SOILED BY ANY UTTERANCES OR ACTS UNWORTHY OF THIS HIGH OFFICE. INSERT IN OUR SPIRIT A LIGHT SO BRIGHT THAT WE CAN SEE OURSELVES AND OUR POLITICS AS WE REALLY ARE, SOILED BY SELFISHNESS, PERVERTED BY PREJUDICE AND INVAGUELED BY IDEOLOGY. NOW MAY THE GOD WHO CREATE THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT BLESS US AND KEEP US. MAY THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON US AND BE GRACIOUS UNTO US. MAY THE LORD LIFT UP THE LIGHT OF HIS COUNTNENCE UPON US AND GIVE US PEACE. PEACE IN OUR FAMILY, PEACE ACROSS THIS LAND AND DARE I ASK, O LORD, PEACE EVEN IN THIS CHAMBER. NOW AND EVER MORE. WE ASK IT IN THE NAME OF THE MONOTHEISTIC GOD AND THE GOD KNOWN BY MANY NAMES AND FAITHS. A MAN AND A WOMAN — AMEN AND AWOMAN.

    I had to look up “inveigled”.

    I’m tired.  All about God and such but… JEEZ….

    • #36
  7. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Men need sandwiches made!!

    Awoman to that!

    • #37
  8. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    Men need sandwiches made!!

    Awoman to that!

    And awoman to git him a beer to go with it!

    • #38
  9. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    I would not be surprised if Awomen ends up showing up in churches soon and becomes established religious language rather quickly.  Too many people want to be seen being on the right side of history and women allies to let this pass.  Especially since it seems to irritate the Right so it is almost certain to be the new requirement.  Be honest.  It is what Jesus would do.  

    • #39
  10. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    I would not be surprised if Awomen ends up showing up in churches soon and becomes established religious language rather quickly. Too many people want to be seen being on the right side of history and women allies to let this pass. Especially since it seems to irritate the Right so it is almost certain to be the new requirement. Be honest. It is what Jesus would do.

    Haha. No, it’s too stupid even for feminists.

    • #40
  11. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    I would not be surprised if Awomen ends up showing up in churches soon and becomes established religious language rather quickly. Too many people want to be seen being on the right side of history and women allies to let this pass. Especially since it seems to irritate the Right so it is almost certain to be the new requirement. Be honest. It is what Jesus would do.

    Haha. No, it’s too stupid even for feminists.

    Don’t be too sure.

    • #41
  12. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    I would not be surprised if Awomen ends up showing up in churches soon and becomes established religious language rather quickly. Too many people want to be seen being on the right side of history and women allies to let this pass. Especially since it seems to irritate the Right so it is almost certain to be the new requirement. Be honest. It is what Jesus would do.

    Part of the new liturgy of the Church of Woke?

    • #42
  13. DavidSable Inactive
    DavidSable
    @DavidSable

    I once knew a preacher who took the King James word rereward (meaning the rear guard of an army) as a promise that God was going to reward us multiple times.  “He rewards us and re-rewards us and re-rewards us …”

    I also heard an open-air preacher use the King James word succour (pronounced sucker but meaning to comfort or quickly come to the aid) in his proclamation in Newport beach:  “God is able to succour you!”

    Yeah.  Biblical literacy is important.

     

    • #43
  14. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    “awoman” is a foreshortened version of the ancient Hebrew taunt “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”

    • #44
  15. KCVolunteer Lincoln
    KCVolunteer
    @KCVolunteer

    Fake John/Jane Galt

    I would not be surprised if Awomen ends up showing up in churches soon and becomes established religious language rather quickly. Too many people want to be seen being on the right side of history and women allies to let this pass. Especially since it seems to irritate the Right so it is almost certain to be the new requirement. Be honest. It is what Jesus would do.

    Yah, I used to fall for that WWJD, until I realized that it allows a person to take things out of context and project ones ideas on to current events. During the ‘impeachment’ people were asking how would Jesus vote? Well looking back into the Bible, He chose not to get involved in government, “Render unto Caesar… ” and all that, so I’m pretty confident Jesus wouldn’t be in the House or Senate. A better approach is to ask, What did Jesus Do? But then I can’t elevate myself righteousness.

    • #45
  16. Danny Alexander Member
    Danny Alexander
    @DannyAlexander

    In all party-pooper seriousness, Amen doesn’t translate as “So be it.”

    It’s a Hebrew form of an acronym, where:

    1) A = El (G-d);

    2) me = melech (king);

    3) n = ne’eman (faithful).

    So “El melech ne’eman” is G-d the faithful king.

    Basically an affirmation of G-d’s sovereignty and acknowledgment that what He does in our lives is done in faithfulness (so to speak) to what must be, both in the sense of being what is best for us and in the sense that it is in accordance with His plan for Creation — which *we* must keep faith with as well.

    ”So be it,” on the other hand, more accurately corresponds to the Hebrew sentence “Ken yehi ratzon “ — this translates as “Thus may it be His will.”

    Oftentimes in the formalized liturgy, a prayer or blessing may have several interspersed affirmations combining, where the congregants say “Amen! Ken yehi ratzon” responsively to the prayer leader in the worship service.

    I’m not the fastest typist on my phone, so if this overly serious comment ends up “crossing wires” with someone else providing the same info, my apologies!

    • #46
  17. Richard O'Shea Coolidge
    Richard O'Shea
    @RichardOShea

    He had no business praying for a woman in front of congress.  He should just get a dating app or check with Bill Clinton for pointers.

    • #47
  18. DaleGustafson Coolidge
    DaleGustafson
    @DaleGustafson

    I don’t know what the heck they were singing but it sure wasn’t Schiller’s Ode to Joy (An die Freude), at least not as he wrote it. Frankly, it looks like they just did a knock-off of this:

    The more knock-offs the better. This, both of them always makes me pay attention.

    • #48
  19. Barry Jones Thatcher
    Barry Jones
    @BarryJones

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Just for the heck of it, this is a favorite of mine:

    I don’t know what the heck they were singing but it sure wasn’t Schiller’s Ode to Joy (An die Freude), at least not as he wrote it. Frankly, it looks like they just did a knock-off of this:

    Akshully, it looks like this one is the knock off – done in 2014 while the first one was in 2012. Regardless, Beethoven put the heart and soul into Schiller. The 0the symphony is simply the greatest piece of music ever written – and Beethoven was stone cold deaf when he wrote it! Sheer genius – there is none greater. And for what it is worth he had a great range – compare the 4th movement of the 9th Symphony to Moonlight Sonata or Fur Elise as a for instance. Hands down the greatest composer ever on Planet Earth.

    • #49
  20. She Member
    She
    @She

    I think we need to hold their feet to the fire on this.  If the problem with the word “Amen” is that it’s a word, one of the components of which is the sexist, now forbidden term “men,” (look no further than the fact that the office formerly known as “Ombudsman” in the house is now called the “Ombuds” for how this works), then obviously, the preferred endings of prayers in Congress should be “A” and “Wo.”  Because clearly, the word “Awomen” is just as offensive as “Amen.”  Because, you know, “men” is/are in it, as well.

    And one of the currently preferred terms (“person”) is  also problematic, because it contains what is now known as “gendered language,” but which, in the bad old days, when certain words were used to denote actual differences between people was used to provide specificity so it was possible to discern who and what the subject under discussion actually was.

    That’s the sort of mess you get yourself into when you start down the road to this kind of lunacy.

    “Per— of interest.”

    “—Ifest Destiny”

    “Bildungsro—”

    “The E—cipation Proclamation”

    “Megalo—ia”

    “Per—ality”

    “Super—ic”

    Then there are the “aunt” words:

    “h—-”

    “t—-”

    “d—-”

    And, don’t forget, “uncle”

    “—–an”

    “carb—–”

    And so on.

    All of these words, and many more, contain words now disallowed in official House communications.  We need to get them and more, off the table.  Failing that, and if we’re going to insist on the “Amen,” “Awoman” solution, we need to make sure that the alternative forms are offered in consecutive interpretation, just like the UN, so we can have “haunt” and “huncle,” and “supersonic” and “superdaughteric” and “carbuncle” and “carbaunt,” and so on, offered at the same time.

    They’re insane.  Mean while, Rome burns.

    • #50
  21. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Barry Jones (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Just for the heck of it, this is a favorite of mine:

    I don’t know what the heck they were singing but it sure wasn’t Schiller’s Ode to Joy (An die Freude), at least not as he wrote it. Frankly, it looks like they just did a knock-off of this:

    Akshully, it looks like this one is the knock off – done in 2014 while the first one was in 2012. Regardless, Beethoven put the heart and soul into Schiller. The 0the symphony is simply the greatest piece of music ever written – and Beethoven was stone cold deaf when he wrote it! Sheer genius – there is none greater. And for what it is worth he had a great range – compare the 4th movement of the 9th Symphony to Moonlight Sonata or Fur Elise as a for instance. Hands down the greatest composer ever on Planet Earth.

    Music is often described as math applied to sound. I wondered if Beethoven wasnt a math prodigy and understood the relationship of his harmonies mathematically instead of hearing them. Maybe thats weird idea.

    My favorite interpretation of Fur Elsie is by Ladyva.

     

    • #51
  22. Mim526 Inactive
    Mim526
    @Mim526

    Chuck (View Comment):
    Chuck

    DonG (Biden is compromised) (View Comment):
    WE ASK IT IN THE NAME OF THE….GOD KNOWN BY MANY NAMES AND FAITHS.

    Now I’m just curious – is that really Methodist doctrine?

    Late to the thread, but I’m familiar with the denomination so can answer this somewhat.  Founder of Methodist church was John Wesley (my favorite theologian).  Many of my family up through my mother’s young adult years were members.  The United Methodist denomination is now what most conservatives would consider one of the more Left leaning Protestant churches.  There are other more conservative branches such as Free Methodist.

    • #52
  23. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Mim526 (View Comment):

    Chuck (View Comment):
    Chuck

    DonG (Biden is compromised) (View Comment):
    WE ASK IT IN THE NAME OF THE….GOD KNOWN BY MANY NAMES AND FAITHS.

    Now I’m just curious – is that really Methodist doctrine?

    Late to the thread, but I’m familiar with the denomination so can answer this somewhat. Founder of Methodist church was John Wesley (my favorite theologian). Many of my family up through my mother’s young adult years were members. The United Methodist denomination is now what most conservatives would consider one of the more Left leaning Protestant churches. There are other more conservative branches such as Free Methodist.

    Left-leaning?  Then why would Hedy Lamar (THAT’S HEDLEY!) want them?

     

    • #53
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