Eclectic Topics in no Particular Order
Various Topics Discussed
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Someone asked: "I was wondering why we use the moon name "T A M M U Z."? The Torah forbids us to say the names of foreign gods, and Ezekiel HaShem is showing Ezekiel the abominable things and he is showing him Israelites weeping for T A M M U Z. Yechezkel / Ezekiel 8:13-14.
We cannot say the divine name, so we say "HaShem Elokeynu." But we pronounce this name (t a m m u z) monthly in our calendar? Why do we not use the names of the moons in Torah?: The first month (Nissan): Torah name "Aviv" Shemot 13:4 The second month (Iyar): TaNaK name "Ziv" 1 Kings 6:1, 6:37 The seventh month (Tishrei): TaNaK name "Eitanim" 1 Kings 8:2 The eighth month (Cheshvan): TaNaK name "Bul" 1 Kings 6:38 I am just trying to make sense of this all. Thanks... PS- Various websites like Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica confirm Tammuz is a foreign deity." You mentioned Ezekiel, but this is actually a mitzvah (a Torah commandment). "the name of the gods of others you shall not mention; it shall not be heard through your mouth." Sh'mot / Exodus 23:13. That would seem to be worse then, wouldn't it? That the months of our calendar use what were names of false gods from Babylon? To refresh memories: the Jews of Judah were exiled to Babylon (423-371 BCE). Some of our greatest were sent into exile -- but there they established synagogues and schools... Many never returned from that exile until recent times. From 1949 to 1951, 104,000 Jews were evacuated from Iraq to Israel due to persecution and pogroms... By 2008 only 10 Jews remained in Bagdad... When the Romans exiled us again hundreds of years after the Babylonian Exile the great Jewish world in Babylon helped us to survive -- with the Babylonian Talmud and great sages... Babylon eventually became Iraq. Which brings us back to the question at hand: why are the months of the Jewish calendar using names (seemingly) of Babylonian gods? Isn't that a direct violation of a Torah mitzvah? Of course not. If it were then those wouldn't be the names -- religious Jews are very careful when it comes to observing mitzvot! The names that Babylonians used for their gods were often words that themselves did not mean a false god. For example while the word tammuz in Babylon was the word for fire. One argues that the month's name relates to the word, not the false god. Other sages opined that because the false gods of the Babylonian month names are no longer worshiped there is no prohibition mentioning them (Igrot Moshe Y.D. II, 53). Chazal (sages from the Mishna, Tosefta and Talmud eras) stated that prior to the Babylonian Exile we used numbers for our months with the following exceptions:
The Jews in Babylon adopted the names of the Babylonian month names (see the chart at the bottom for a comparison). The Jerusalem Talmud (Rosh HaShanah 1:5) says the names: “came up [to Israel] with [the returnees] from Babylon" and explains that by using those names we will forever remember the exile -- just as we had been exiled previously to Egypt and later by the Romans... After the Babylonian Exile the use of month names from their reminded us of our exile there. The leaders remarked that if using a word does not "remind" one of a false god or idolatry it is not hence a "false god" in that usage. The Ramban on Sh'mot / Exodus 12:2:1 "And our Sages have already mentioned this topic, and said that the names of the months came with us from Babylonia (Jerusalem Talmud Rosh Hashanah 6a), for at the start we had no names. The reason for this is that at the start the order of [the months] was as a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, but when we left Babylonia and the verse was fulfilled "Therefore, behold days are coming, says G‑d, and it shall no longer be said [by one who wishes to pronounce an oath], ‘As G‑d lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but rather, ‘As G‑d lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the north land [Babylon] . . ." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 16:14" we returned to calling the months by the names by which they were called in Babylonia, as a reminder that there we stood and from there the L-d drew us out." Here are some additional comments on the use of Babylonian names for the Hebrew calendar and why they do not fall under the mitzvah of using the name of a false god. See also Sefer HaChinuch 86: "To not swear by idolatry: That we not swear by idolatry - and even to its worshipers - and that we not make a gentile swear by it, as it is stated (Exodus 23:13), "and you shall not mention the name of other gods." And we have understand that included in this mentioning is whether one swears or causes to swear. "And there are some that explain that the main negative commandment [here] is only coming about one who does business with a gentile on his holiday and makes him profit, as he goes and thanks [his god], and [so] he transgresses "you shall not mention"; meaning that others should not mention it in the forbidden manner, which is with intention to serve them. As this is forbidden also to [gentiles] by Torah writ, since the Children of Noach are prohibited in idolatry. And they, may their memory be blessed, added a distancing and said (Sanhedrin 63b) that a man should not say to his fellow, "Wait for me by the side of idolatry x." The name on the left in the image is the Babylonian month name and the one on the right the month from the Hebrew calendar.
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