Di zun vet aruntergeyn

[sovay]

Ben Damah the son of Rabbi Ishmael's sister once asked the rabbi: "May one such as I, who have studied the whole of the Torah, study Greek wisdom?" Thereupon the rabbi read to him the following verse: "This book of the law shall never leave your mouth, but you must think of it constantly both day and night. Go then and find a time that is neither day nor night and in that time study Greek wisdom."
—Menachot 99b

As yet I have heard no such proscription against one who has learned Greek wisdom studying the Near Eastern. But isn't that what the liminal hours are for? It's not as though grad students sleep anyway . . .

(With apologies to Ahuvia Kahane.)

Comments

Wisdom

[(Anonymous)]

And then, of course, there is the abundant wisdom that can only be had by studying Akkadian...

"Mankind's days are numbered. Whatever they do is only wind..."

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Sleep is for the weak. You don't need sleep.

(Tis a splendid quote, tho. What does the title mean?)

--R

[sovay]

"The sun will set." It's the title of a fantastically eerie Yiddish ballad, which I learned from the Klezmatics' Rhythm & Jews. Lyrics below; all errors of transcription or translation are my own.

Di zun vet aruntergeyn hintern barg
Vet kumen a shtile di libe tsu geyn
Tsum umet vos zitst af a goldenem shteyn
Un veynt far zikh eynem aleyn

Di zun vet aruntergeyn hintern barg
Vet kumen di goldene pave tsu flien
Un mitnemen vet zi undz ale ahin
Ahin vu di benkshaft vet tsien

Di zun vet aruntergeyn hintern barg
Vet kumen di nakht un vet zingen lyu-lyu
Ariber di oygn vos faln shoyn tsu
Tsu shlofn in eybiker ru

The sun will set behind the mountain
The stillness of love will come
To sorrow who sits on a golden stone
And cries for its one and only

The sun will set behind the mountain
The golden peacock will come
And take us all away with it, there
Where it's our longing to be

The sun will set behind the mountain
The night will come and sing "lyu-lyu"
Over the eyes that fall sweetly shut
To sleep in eternal rest

lyrics

[(Anonymous)]

i just think these lyrics are soo sweet and they mean a lot to me,
i will be singing them on sunday to my congregation and i really hope that it will move the elders there.

[kraada.livejournal.com]

So the moral of the story is:
Get a really small waterproof tanach, and stick it between your lip and your gum, and then study greek wisdom . . .

[nuqotw.livejournal.com]

Actually, a friend of mine gave a shiur on the halakhic permissibility of pursuing secular studies, which is really what hokhma yevanit (translated here very literally as "Greek wisdom") means. This opinion is one which most Jews do not follow. And those who do follow it, you'll probably never meet them.

[sovay]

I rather like the idea of "Greek" as synonymous with "secular," although I know that was probably more a result of the phrase's cultural context than anything else. But as a classicist, I must say it works for me.