Emanuel, taking the Hebrew to the streets

Politico’s Ben Smith follows up on a story in the Jewish Star about O.U. President Stephen Savitsky and his concerns about Rahm Emanuel’s salty language.

Here’s the Star quoting Savitsky at his recent event at the Red Shul in Cedarhurst, N.Y.

They all say he’s a foul-mouthed person and as a Jew, a menuval [a disgusting person]. I find it offensive. He’s a mishneh l’melech [advisor to a king], the language he uses… I think it’s very unbecoming as a Jewish person.”

Savitsky tells Smith that he did not use "menuval." He also adds an important follow-on: The Star reports one congregant asking if he thinks Emanuel is a "self-hating Jew." Savitsky "flatly rebutted" it, he tells Smith.

I wonder if the non-Jews reading Smith’s blog post are scratching their heads at the Star’s (correct) translation of menuval: "a disgusting person." I would have said, more succinctly, "scoundrel." I’ve found that translating curses, swear words, is one of the greatest challenges of explaining one culture to another.

Emanuel would probably enjoy "scoundrel," he could live with "disgusting person," but "menuval" implies an otherness, an uncleanness. It is related to "neveilah," a curse usually reserved for women, that derives from the term for kosher species that have not been properly slaughtered.

Maybe Emanuel — if he’s following this at all — can take this as a cue. When I’m driving, and I feel the need to, uh, express myself I try (very hard) to do it in Hebrew, to spare my kids the exposure to less salutary language.

The plus is, Hebrew always sounds, well, holy. How about it, next meeting with the Republican congressional leadership? "Leader McConnell, arnavnav b’lti amin ve b’lti ye’amen! Leader Boehner, ya mimtak hamutz meyushan vemeyubash! Whip Cantor…."

Oh well.