Positive Orthodoxy in the Associated Press
Saturday’s Washington Post carried an AP article, Orthodox Answers to Unusual Questions, on the religion page. While I couldn’t find it on the Washington Post site, CNN/Netscape has the same article.
It discusses the Institute for Science and Halacha in Jerusalem, and portrays both the institute and director Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Halperin — and Halacha — in a serious and complimentary light. The most interesting part, to me, was his determination that inline skates are acceptable on Shabbos (”skates can’t break down the way bikes do”), but the article makes a much larger point about the ongoing relevance of the Halachic system. As Dov Kaplan, the American-born questioner, put it, “we also have to show that Orthodox rabbis are not distant, unapproachable and closed to new ideas. Who knows if I’ll actually skate. It’s more about making a point.”
Actually, I found another surprising heter (permission) on the same page, in one of the news briefs. “An American publisher has signed a deal with a top Islamic scholar to publish a rare English translation of the Koran.” The surprise? “The matter is sensitive because Muslims hold that the Koran’s text was given directly in Arabic from Al-lah to the prophet Muhammad.” Who knew that you could use “hold” that way in proper (as compared to “yeshivishe”) English? Yet this is the eighth definition of the verb on dictionary.com.
Of course you can use “hold” that way. Lawyers use it all the time. What you can’t say is “hold by”, as in “We hold by the Rema”. You can say “hold like”, though.
Comment by Zman Biur — October 31, 2005 @ 8:41 am
28 b Tishrei
“We hold these truths to be self evident” that all verb usages are not created equal in all languages.
Comment by Shira Schmidt — October 31, 2005 @ 11:36 am
No, sorry, you can’t say “hold like.”
Correct English usage has the meaning of “to have the opinion that….”
In Yiddish, the word “hold” is sometimes used the same way, but often “to hold” is used to mean “to agree with” or “to follow the opinions of…” — and you can’t use the word “hold” that way in English.
Comment by Toby Katz — November 2, 2005 @ 12:07 am
“To hold, also means to decide, to adjudge, to decree; as, the court in that case held that the hushand was not liable for the contract of the wife, made without his express or implied authority.” - Bouvier Law Dictionary, 1856. (That’s not a typo — _18_56).
Comment by Sholom Simon — November 2, 2005 @ 8:30 am
I was familiar with “the court held” — as in decide or decree in an official capacity. “We hold these truths” is “holding” close to the heart. “Muslims hold that the Koran’s text…,” on the other hand, is a statement of their opinion — it seemed Yiddish-like, but I am reminded that individual lawyers “hold” also, e.g. “plaintiff held that.”
Comment by Yaakov Menken — November 2, 2005 @ 10:26 am