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Mizveh • Moshe Waldoks M ax Weinreich, the preeminent historian of Yiddish, explained that a distinctive process of language "fusion provided Yiddish with a wealth of new synonyms that offer the opportunity of nuancing." 1 This is particularly true in the case of the close to five thousand identifiable Hebraisms in Yiddish. The appropriation of Hebrew was vital in upholding the traditional elements of Eastern European Jewish life, which was a transcending culture system that did not operate within a dichotomy of religion and the world. As the linguistic matrix of this culture, Yiddish reflects the Jewishness of its speakers in all aspects of their lives. This overarching character of Yiddish broadens the original meaning of Hebrew words of either biblical or mishnaic origin. The Yiddish word migveh (in Hebrew, migvah) is a case in point. Whereas the Hebrew usage of the word primarily refers to the specific divine commandments and the procedures of their fulfillment, the Yiddish usage denotes a good deed. Migveh, therefore, not only means the specific religious commands delineated in the Bible (and its commentaries), whose total number is 613 and whose authority is ultimately derived from the 628 MIZVEH revealed word of God, but also encompasses moral deeds not explicitly enjoined by the religious teachings of Jewish tradition. To ask someone to do a mi~veh for another means that social interactions are equal in value to purely ritual actions that take place between man and his creator. This interpersonal dimension of Jewish life, reflected more vibrantly in Yiddish than in Hebrew, serves as a conduit for the divine into the mundane. The Yiddish Hebraism mi~veh also denotes a sense of community solidarity . By coming to the aid of his fellow Jew, the Jew imitates God's concern for the world. By using mi~veh rather than tovyeh (another Yiddish Hebraism, derived from tovah, literally, good), which alludes to a more conventional type of favor, an individual Jew provides his prospective benefactor with the opportunity to exercise his innate spiritual generosity. This type of entreaty thus overcomes differences of class and status in the community and encourages social responsibility. The expression a mi~veh oyf im (literally, a mi~veh upon him) can be utilized in both positive and negative ways. In its positive connotation the term expresses praise for a special good deed, or is a supplication for future opportunities for someone to perform additional mi~ehs in the future. Negatively the term can be employed euphemistically to reflect a desire for ill to befall the recipient of the malediction. For example, "a pure and pristine atonement" is used as we would say, "Good riddance." This use of euphemism is a moderating factor in one of the most colorful of folk elements in Yiddish, the curse. Mi~vehis used not only in the context of interpersonal relations; one may urge someone to do a mi~veh for himself. This intrapersonal, or intrapsychic , dimension also broadens the original Hebrew sense of mi~ah. The fulfillment of the Hebrew commandment must be externally visible. It cannot be fulfilled through meditation or changes in consciousness (except in the case of the mi~vah of teshuvah [repentance], although even here external actions would be necessary to corroborate internal achievements). The Yiddish use of mi~eh on an intrapersonal level would accept the notion that psychic well-being is in and of itself an act of piety. REFERENCES 1. Max Weinreich, The History of the Yiddish Language, J. Fishman, tr. (1980), 648. ...

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