Tuesday, August 5, 2008

You Go, Girl!

G-d made two surprisingly earthly statements to Moses on Shabat 87a and Shabat 89a.  On 87a, the Gemara states that Moses decided on his own to smash the first set of tablets subsequent to the sin of the Golden Calf.  G-d's response is 'Yassher Koacha that you broke them.'  Yassher Koach literally means, "May your strength increase."  I think the most idiomatic way to translate Yassher Koach is "You Go, Girl!"  On 89a, the Gemara states that when Moses went up to get the Torah, G-d was attaching crowns to the letters.  Moses politely waits until G-d's work is done.  G-d as it were notices Moses standing there and says, "Moses, don't they say Shalom in your city?"  Idiomatically, I'd render this as, "Nu, you never learned to say hello?"  These aren't beautiful in the usual way but there is something surprising and elegant about them.  

1 comment:

MYG said...

"You go, man!" would probably be more correct, considering Moshe's gender. :-)

I was introduced to your blog by a mutual friend, and it looks interesting - I'm planning to keep an eye on it. So, in the same vein as your post, Shalom!