The Beginning of An OpenType Font System for Hebrew Grammar

The Beginning of Automatic Shvah-Nah

Special Thanks to John Hudson, and to Rabbi Judah Winefeld of Shai L'Morah Publishers of Jerusalem (my son studied in Crown Heights under his son).

Corrected version - 3rd time aroung (skipping the second)

Another "final" revision

Continuation #2 Psalm 67

Set #3 - Pslalms 126
According to Minchat Shai

So we see that Minchat Shai presents 9 rules which indicate when a shvah is really a shvah-nah.

Next week, I want to present an "alpha" of a MS Volt with automatic 'shvah-nah' (according to Minchat Shai) for a paragraph of Biblical Hebrew text from Genesis 1.

The sample will be posted in two versions, before and after. Before will be applying the text with GHB FrankReuhl, without automatic shvah. After will be applying the text with GHA FrankReuhl, with automatic shvah-nah.

Aautomatic shvah-nah simply uses a font with shvah-nah floating symbol, and some lines of the GUB look-ups, like a set of 'find-and-replace' routines.

Currently, I have delayed presenting the results of an OpenType font with an automatic shvah-nah feature, like that which occurs in SBL-Hebrew for the patach ganuvahh or furtive patach, by John Hudson of Tiro Typeworks.

There are four approaches, or sets of rules, governing when a shvah-nah should or should not appear. Similarly, there are four kinds of graphic symbols.

Four Sets of Rules
1. Rabbi Zalman Henna
2. Minchat Shai
3. Rabbi Eliyahu Bachur
4.

Four Graphic Symbols
1. Floating Asterisk
2. Floating Asterisk with Circle Around It
3. Rafe-like
4. Emboldened Shvah

Others have attempted this automatic shvah-nah algorythm unsuccessfully. The have joined the different views together without distinction.

This approach is incorrect because there are exceptions to some of the rules that must be included in the algorythm. This is possible, but requires a lot of programming. It is very time-consuming.

Where do we see differences between these opposing views?

Israel, as you know, I am not convinced that OpenType glyph processing is the right place to attempt to capture these grammatical features, but I think it is great that you are taking the time to document the variant representations so thoroughly.

John,

I do know your view on substitutions for grammar or text input error purposes. You are a purist, whereas I try to be A practical person.

SBL-Hebrew, which you know that I view as a masterpiece, and all Biblical fonts are compared, features a patach genuvah or furtive patach - which is a grammar issue. If so, you should remove it. :)

To this day, all data of Biblical Hebrew is not in logical sequence, yet our SBL-Hebrew like fonts are rigid, and do not address these issues. Yet.

To this day, there are a few standards of Biblical text for Jews and Christian, when one font can address them, and convert that as need me, yet this has not been done. Yet.

I am documenting everything here, both for me, or for others later who seek to do the same. G-d has enough livelihoods for everyone.

I do not see how there are more than two approaches:
1) Minchat Shai/R' Eliyahu Bachur, and
2) R' Zalman Henna.

Everyone agrees on the basic 9 rules.
MS does have a few exceptions.
RZH has a lot more.
I haven't decifered the rules for these. There must be rules, but who do I ask?
So, I'm about 90% there after nearly 2 years. A year spent on nonsense.

The question is who's asking? GoHebrew? Scott Irwin? Scott Israel Seldowitz? Israel Seldowitz?

GoHebrew is a trade name for Scott Seldowitz.

Scott Irwin Seldowitz is my legal birth name in the United States.
For example, my Social Security card's name is Scott Irwin Seldowitz.

In 1989, Scott Irwin Seldowitz registered in the State of New York the name "Israel" as a DBA (Doing Business As). Since then, I always have done business by representing myself as 'Israel' or 'Israel' Seldowitz.

To some of my Arab or Iranian business customers, I am not called 'Israel' for political reasons. I am called rather 'Scott'. I think it is very immature.

On FaceBook, I am called "Scott Israel Seldowitz", to accomodate those who refer to me as 'Scott', and those who refer to me as 'Israel'.

As a Jew, my Hebrew names are: ש ל מ ה י ש ר א ל - Shlome Yisroel. In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, I am called "Shlome"; in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where I live now, I am called "Yisroel".

---

Is there practically any view, David, besides that of Rabbi Zalman Henna, and that of the Minchat Shai?

Rabbi Eliyahu Bachur appears to be the same as the Minchat Shai? Where does Rabbi Eliyahu Bachur discuss this or related topics?

The apparent 3rd or 4th view, which appears in some older Sephardic books, appears only to be different by typesetting the shvah-nah under the first letter of a word as a bold shvah. There appears to be no other differences.

Are you insulted by my introductory remarks? This was not my intention at all. My intention was merely to cry about the dismal state of Hebrew grammar knowledge of this generation, as a wake-up call to do something about it, besides being complacent.

I found this information on Rabbi Eliyahu Bachur from the online encyclopedia, known as Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Levita

Elia Levita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elia Levita (13 February 1469 – 28 January 1549), (Hebrew: אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי) also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Eliahu Bakhur ("Eliahu the Bachelor") was a Renaissance-period Hebrew grammarian, poet and one of the first writers in the Yiddish language. He was the author of the Bovo-Bukh (written in 1507–1508), the most popular chivalric romance written in Yiddish, which, according to Sol Liptzin, is "generally regarded as the most outstanding poetic work in Old Yiddish".[1]

Born at Neustadt near Nuremberg, he was the youngest of nine brothers. During his early manhood, the Jews were expelled from this area. He lived in Venice for a time after 1496, where he was one of the most important figures of the flourishing of Yiddish literature, before the descendants of the Ashkenazic Jews who had emigrated this area adopted the local Italian speech.[2]

During these years, Levita scratched out a living as an entertainer. After Venice, he relocated to Padua (1504), where he wrote the 650 ottava rima stanzas of the Bovo-Bukh, based on the popular romance Buovo d'Antona, which, in turn, was based on the Anglo-Norman romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton.[3]

Escaping a war, he left in 1509 for Rome, where he acquired a patron, the humanist Petrus Egidius (1471–1532) of Viterbo, who from 1517 held the rank of a Roman Catholic cardinal. Levita taught Hebrew to Petrus, and copied Hebrew manuscripts—mostly related to the Kabbalah—for Petrus's library.[3]

The 1527 Sack of Rome sent Levita back to Venice, where he worked as a proofreader and taught Hebrew.[3] Levita published at Venice a treatise on the laws of cantillation entitled Sefer Tuv Ta'am. At seventy years of age, Levita left his wife and children and departed in 1540 for Isny, accepting the invitation of Paul Fagius to superintend his Hebrew printing-press there. During Elia's stay with Fagius (until 1542 at Isny and from 1542 to 1544 at Konstanz) he published the following works: Tishbi, a dictionary containing 712 words used in Talmud and Midrash, with explanations in German and a Latin translation by Fagius (Isny, 1541); Sefer Meturgeman, explaining all the Aramaic words found in the Targum (Isny, 1541); Shemot Debarim, an alphabetical list of the technical Hebrew words (Isny, 1542); a Judæo-German (that is, early Western Yiddish) version of the Pentateuch, the Five Megillot, and Haftarot (Konstanz, 1544); and a new and revised edition of the Bachur.[4] While in Germany he also printed the first edition of his Bovo-Bukh.[3] On returning to Venice, Eliah, in spite of his great age, he worked on editions of several works, including David Kimhi's Miklol, which he also annotated.[4] [3]

Elia Levita died 28 January 1549 in Venice, aged 80 years. He has descendants living today, including British Prime Minister David Cameron.
[5]

Liptzin writes that Paris and Vienna, attributed to Levita, "easily ranks with the Bovo-Bukh in quality though not in popularity. Also a chivalric verse romance, it tells the story of a knight (Paris) and a princess (Vienna); the name of the work has no apparent connection to the similarly named cities.[6] He adds that Levita "was not the equal" of his contemporaries Ariosto or Tasso, and that the "knightly adventures" he depicted "had no basis in Jewish reality": compared to other chivalric romances, Levita's works "tone down the Christian symbols of his original" and "substitute Jewish customs, Jewish values and Jewish traits of character here and there..." [7]

Works

Elia Levita Bachur's Bovo-Buch: A Translation of the Old Yiddish Edition of 1541 with Introduction and Notes by Elia Levita Bachur, translated and notes by Jerry C. Smith, Fenestra Books, 2003, ISBN 1-58736-160-4.
Paris and Vienna (attributed)
miscellaneous shorter poems
His grandson became a Jesuit priest.
[edit]Notes

^ [Liptzin, 1972] p.5, 7.
^ [Liptzin, 1972] p.5.
^ a b c d e [Liptzin, 1972] p.6.
^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia article.
^ "David Cameron 'could be a direct descendant of Moses'", Times Online, July 10, 2009
^ [Liptzin, 1972] p.7–8.
^ [Liptzin, 1972] p.8.
[edit]References

Gottheil, Richard and Jacobs, Joseph Baba Buch, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906
Liptzin, Sol, A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, ISBN 0-8246-0124-6.

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article "Levita, Elijah" by Joseph Jacobs and Isaac Broydé, a publication now in the public domain.

====

from: http://seforim.blogspot.com/2010/12/eliyahu-bachur-in-isny.html

ELIYAHU BACHUR (1469 – 1549)
by: Dan Yardeni
Dan Yardeni, an engineer by profession (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, 1963), is entrepreneur specializing in cutting edge materials and materials production processes.

As sideline, he researches problems in the history of Hebrew books printing and printers. He also contributes articles to the Culture and Literature sections of Haaretz and other Israeli newspapers. This is his first post at the Seforim blog.

ELIYAHU BACHUR

A little street in Tel Aviv commemorates the personality of a colorful Jewish culture hero at the time of the Italian Renaissance, known as Eliah Levita by Christians and Eliyahu Bachur by Jews. While he considered himself primarily a linguist, he was also a teacher, translator, writer and editor, debater, poet, singer and humanist with a deep sense of social awareness, which he expressed in sharply worded satires. While all his life he was an observant Jew, he was also a close friend and teacher of the greatest Christian scholars of his day and became a foremost "cultural agent" between Judaism and Christianity.

Eliahu Bachur's unusual name is due to the fact that he remained a bachelor for a long time, and later adopted the epithet in the sense of Bachur – Chosen (see his preface to Sefer HaBachur, Isny 1542 where he explains the name of the book and comments: ".... היות שם כינויי משונה ובשם בחור מכונה .... " ). He was born in southern Germany in 1469 and died and was buried in Venice at the age of 81, a rather advanced age at the time.

Most of his life he lived and worked in Italy. For a brief period of two and a half years, between 1540 and 1542, Eliyahu Bachur moved to the small town of Isny in the picturesque Allgäu region of southern Germany. Isny was at that time a a free self-governing city organized as a republic within the Holy Roman Empire, then under the rule of Charles V. Eliyahu Bachur was invited by the Christian reformer and Hebraist Paulus Fagius to work with him as editor and proofreader in the printing-house, which Fagius had founded in Isny. Despite the burden of his seventy-one years, Eliyahu accepted the invitation, left his home in Venice and crossed the Alps to live in that little town. Why did he do it? The large and world famous printing-house of Daniel Bomberg in Venice, where he had worked as an editor and proofreader for many years, ceased operating at that time and Fagius was offering him a good job and, most important, undertook to print the books Eliyahu had written.

Eliyahu Bachur describes his journey to Isny at the end of his book ‘Tishbi,’ the first of his books to be published in the new printing-house. (The name of the book alludes to his name, Eliyahu). The book, printed in typical Ashkenazi Hebrew typography, constitutes a kind of dictionary describing 712 roots of Hebrew words. And so he writes in the preface to the book: “… I beg anyone, scholar or student who reads this book and finds a mistake or error, to note that it is the fruit of haste since I was in a hurry to reach this place and when I left my house the book was not yet finished, and as I was en route, crossing lands of raining hills and mountains I stood trembling, weighing matters up in my mind and writing them in my heart, and then, when I reached the inn, I opened my case, took out my notebook and wrote down the things which the Lord had put into my heart.”

We know of sixteen titles (sometimes in 2 editions, with and without Latin translation), which Eliyahu Bachur published in Isny. He may have printed more, of which no copies survived. Most of the time he was the only Jew in that Christian town which was so devoutly Protestant that it did not allow Catholic Christians to reside within its walls. The contents of his books, and the texts which he wrote and appended to them, are of great interest still today. Most touching is the reflected conflict between his desire to publish the books he had written and the longing for his family and for Venice, the town where he had lived most of his life.

While being a deeply religious and observant Jew, Eliyahu Bachur displayed cultural openness to the Christian world. He did this in spite of the fierce opposition of rabbis, who regarded him with suspicion, as someone who was prepared to venture beyond the self-imposed barriers surrounding the Jewish scholarly community (See his preface to Masoret Ha-Massoret book printed in Venice 1938 and later). He also had the courage and intellectual honesty to admit that he had been helped in translating difficult Greek words to Hebrew by the learned Christian cardinal Egidio Viterbo, to whom he had taught Hebrew during his sojourn in Rome years earlier. He dared to state, in face of virulent opposition from leading orthodox rabbis, that the punctuation of the Hebrew language was a later invention and not as ancient as had been thought until then. In his rhyming introduction to his book ‘Tishbi,’ he challenged those who disagreed with him to react still in his lifetime:

"..... / כי אומנם לא שקר מילי / אם לא איפא מי יכזיבני / מה שגיתי יבין אותי / יכתוב לו ספר איש ריבי / אך יעשה זאת טרם אמות / כי מה אשיב אחרי שכבי / או ימות גם הוא כמוני / או ימתין לי עד שובי / ......."

“…Indeed my words are not a lie / So who will dispute me? / If I erred, please show me where / And my rival may write his own opinion / But let him do it before I die / Because once I died how could I reply? / Or possibly he too may meanwhile pass away / Or he might have to wait for my resurrection from the dead….”

Later, in a playful rhymed foreword, combining genuine modesty with an awareness of his own value, he added a well-known fable attributed to Pliny the Elder, which Eliyahu claims to remember from his youth:

"אפתחה במשל פי / אשר שמעתי בימי חרפי / כי היה באחד המקומות / אשר נקבו בשמות / אמן אחד צייר / וצייר צלם איש על נייר / והיה האיש ההוא / תם וישר / יפה תואר ומשוח בששר / וידביקהו על לוח עץ / ועל פתח ביתו היה אותו נועץ / להראות העמים והשרים את יופיו / כי כליל הוא מהדרו וצבי עדיו / ויהי כאשר כל העם רואים / והנה בתוך הבאים / זקן אחד רצען / על משענתו נשען / וראה והביט גם הוא / אחרי כן פתח את פיהו / ויאמר הנני עומד משתאה / איך הצייר שגה ברואה / הלא תראו כי שרוך הנעל / הפוך למטה למעל / וכשמוע הצייר את זאת / יצא גם הוא לראות / וירא ויניע ראש / והודה ולא בוש / ויאמר צדקת אתה הזקן / אך הלילה המעוות אתקן / וכן תקנהו טרם הלך לישון / ולמחרתו הוציאו כמשפט הראשון / ויבוא הרצען שנית / ויוסף להביט בתבנית / ויאמר לצייר יפה תיקנת ועשית / אבל בדבר אחד שגית / כי רואה אני דבר נבזה / כי הברכיים אינם דומים זה לזה / האחד גדול והאחד קטן / ויאמר לו הצייר לך אל השטן / כי משרוך הנעל ולמעלה/ אין לך בחכמה חלק ונחלה / ויהי הרצען לבושה ולכלימה / ויפן וילך בחימה / וכן יראתי גם אני / שכמקרה הרצען יקרני / בעניין זה החיבור / רעה עלי ידובר / ויאמר אלי מי שהוא / מה לך פה אליהו / כלך למדברך אצל דקדוק ומסורות / אין לך עסק בנסתרות / אל תחמוד כבוד יותר מלימודך / ואל תנבל כסא כבודך / ולכן יראתי לקרב אל המלאכה / פן לא אראה בה סימן ברכה / אך רוחי הציקתני / ואש עצור בעצמותי ושרפתני / וכלכל לא יכולתי / ומאת השם עזר שאלתי / יצרף לי למעשה המחשבה / ויורני בדרך הטובה / כי מכיר אני את מקומי / שיותר מידי נטלתי גדולה לעצמי / שמלאני לבי לפרש כל השורשים / אשר בשום מקום אינם מפורשים / ואף מאותם המפורשים כבר / אחדש בכל אחד איזה דבר / ורובם מן הגמרא ומדברי רבותינו / כגון בראשית רבא ותנחומא וילמדנו / ואף שבעוונותיי / כבר עברו רוב שנותיי / ולא ראיתי בטובה / בהוויות אביי ורבא / ולחכמים מעט שימשתי / ומשאם ומתנם לא בשתי ביקשתי / מכל מקום לבי לא מנעני / ובאגדות ובמדרשים יגעתי / להוציא מהם דברים חשוקים / ובפרושי ומדרשי הפסוקים / עד שרוב גירסתם היא לי ידועה / וזה יהיה לי לישועה / את הספר הזה לחבר / ולברר וללבן את אשר אדבר / ............/.

The fable tells the story of the famous Greek painter Apelles (a contemporary of Alexander the Great), and a cobbler,. Apelles drew a beautiful young man and pasted the painting on wooden board that he placed at his doorway to impress all passers-by. Among them was an old cobbler, leaning on his cane. The cobbler gazed at the painting and commented: "I am surprised how the artist made such a mistake. You see, the shoelace goes upside down". When the artist heard that, he went out to see, nodded his head and consented: "You are right, old man. But tonight I shall correct the mistake". And so he did before going to sleep and the next day he hung the painting in place as before. And the old cobbler came again. He looked at the painting and told the artist: "Well done but there is still another mistake: the knees are not alike, one is bigger than the other". The artist said then commented angrily: "Go to hell. From the shoelace upwards you know nothing". The cobbler was ridiculed by all around and turned away in a rage. And, says Eliahu Bachur, he is afraid that the same will happen to him with this book, the "Tishbi". Somebody will say: "What are you doing here? Go back to Hebrew grammar and Massoret. Don't deal in what you don’t know and don’t ask to be honored in doing so". Therefore, he was afraid to undertake that work, in which he might fail. However, he could not restrain himself and asked God for help in showing him the right way. Eliyahu adds that he knows his place and that he may be presumptuous in daring to explain all the Hebrew roots, which are not explained elsewhere, adding that even to those that had been explained, he was still bringing something new from the Gmara and other sources.

Particularly impressive is the friendship and mutual respect that developed between the old Jew and the Christian preacher Paulus Fagius in the course of their work together in Isny, about which Eliyahu writes in the foreword to the book:

"........ובבואי הנה תהיתי בקנקנו ומצאתיו מלא ישן ולא הוגד לי החצי מחכמתו וידיעתו, ורבים שואבים מי תורתו, ודורש טוב לעמו, נאה דורש ונאה מפרש ...........ובראותו הספר הזה אשר חיברתי והכיר רוב טובו ותועלתו, נזדרז מאד והעתיק אותו ללשון לאטין אשר קראו קדמונינו לשון רומי וחיבר שתי הלשונות יחד ונשים עיוננו עליו בכל מאמצי כוחנו, הוא מצד אחד ואני מצד אחר. ונקרא איש אל אלוהיו שיצליח את מלאכתנו ........."

“…And when I came hither I wondered about his character, and I found him full of wisdom, and I had not been informed about the breadth of his knowledge, and many come to learn from him, and he performs good deeds, in sickness and in health… And when he saw the book which I had written he recognized its worth, and hastened to translate it into Latin, which was the language of ancient Rome, and together we made connections between the two languages, he on the one hand and I on the other, and each one of us sought guidance and help from his God." (my emphasis, D.Y.)

Being a devoted Christian Pastor, Fagius didn't abandon his missionary vision and one of the books he printed in Isny, ‘The Book of Belief’ (Sefer Amana), is unmistakably a missionary tract. The book was published in two versions, Hebrew and Latin. In the introduction to the Hebrew edition Paulus Fagius wrote in Hebrew: “The Book of Belief is a goodly and pleasant book which was written by a wise Israelite a few years ago in order to teach and prove quite clearly that the belief of Messianic in the Lord the father, his son, and the holy spirit, and other things is entire, correct and without doubt…”. We can only imagine how uncomfortable Eliahu Bachur felt in proofreading this book.

Now, as was customary in those days when printers took pride in their work, Paulus Fagius placed a colophon at the end of the books he printed with his printer’s emblem, an elaborate and beautiful woodcut of a tree surrounded by verses, which he regarded as his motto in life. Among them was one verse, which appeared with slight variations in most of the books that were printed at Isny:"תקוותי במשיח הנשלח שהוא עתיד לדון חיים ומתים" “My hope is in the Messiah who was sent (נשלח) and who will judge the living and dead.”

As stated, ‘The Book of Belief’ appeared in Hebrew, apparently intended for the Jews, and in Latin for the Christians. The Latin version ends with the verse cited above, while at the end of the Hebrew version the printer’s emblem appears with a slight difference, which is not immediately discernible:

תקוותי במשיח הנשלך אשר הוא יבוא לדון את חיים ומתים

My hope is in the Messiah who was dismissed (הנשלך) and who will come to judge the living and dead.

There can be no doubt that this is no printer’s error but a subtle message sent by Eliyahu Bachur in his capacity as the book’s proofreader to his Jewish brethren down the ages, saying: “I have not betrayed. You know what I think about this”. I noticed this subtle difference when I examined the books, which are kept in the amazingly well preserved study of Paulus Fagius next to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Isny, where he preached nearly 500 years ago. When I brought it to the attention of the extremely kind priest who escorted me and who now occupies Fagius's chair, he was very surprised and, I fear, somewhat offended.

Eliyahu Bachur was attuned to the need to disseminate knowledge not only to the educated Jewish elite but also to the general Jewish community, men and women. Therefore, another book, which Eliyahu Bachur printed in Isny in the year 1541, was 'Bovo d'Antona', a popular adventure novel about knights, which he translated into the Judeo-German dialect, Ivri Teitsch (western Yiddish From the introduction he wrote to the book, we learn about the status of women in Jewish society at that time and about their reading habits. In rhymed introduction, he tells all righteous women"איך אליה לוי דער שרייבר, דינר אלר ורומן וויבר" that there are women who complain that he does not print for them in Ivri Teitsch the books that he has written, and they are right. And since he has written eight or nine books in Hebrew and since he is now rather old, he wishes to publish all these books and poetry in Ivri-Teitsch. The first of which will be the "Bovo Buch," which he translated from Italian thirty-four years earlier. Since this translation contains words in Italian, he will print a glossary at the end of the book explaining their meaning [and so he did, D.Y.]. Naturally he cannot transmit,the melody by which the book should be read. "איך זינג עש מיט איינם ועלשן גיזנק, קאן ער דרויף מכן איין ביסרן, זא הב ער דאנק" . He himself sings it in the Italian melody but everyone can adapt a better melody to the text, as he wishes. At the end of the book, Eliyahu Bachur adds that he hopes to print more books in Ivri Teitsch, but apparently he did not, or perhaps no copy has reached us. Of the 'Bovo d'Antona' book, only a single copy (Unicum) survives, which is preserved in the Zurich Public Library. However, the book was so popular at the time that its name has given rise to the expression that we use still today, "Bobe Meise" in the sense of silly, nonsense tale.

The book 'Meturgaman', ("Translator"), which Eliyahu Bachur composed and printed in Isny in 1542, was intended to be a dictionary which "Will explain all words, difficult and easy alike, which appear in the Aramaic translations of the bible and Talmud Yerushalmi". To the book Eliyahu Bachur added a colophon, which sheds light on a touching side of his personality. In the colophon Eliyahu printed a delicate and sweet love song to his wife whom he had left behind in Venice:

"והנה מאחר שקפצה עלי הזיקנה / ואני איש זקן וכבד מאד / ומידי יום יום תכהה עיני ונס ליחי / אשוב מצבא העבודה ולא אעבוד עוד / ואלך לי אל ארצי אשר יצאתי משם / היא מדינת וונציה/ ואמות בעירי עם אשתי הזקנה / ולא אניד עוד רגל ממנה / והיא תשת עלי עינה / ורק המוות יפריד ביני ובינה/ ואשב שם כל ימי חיותי/ ואשלים חיבור הספרים אשר החילותי/ אז אומר לאל אשר יצר אותי/ קח נא את חיי כי טוב מותי".

The song is translated here without modifications or explanations, though the charming wording in Hebrew is lost:

"And since I became old and heavy, and each day my eye sight weakens and my strength is leaving me, I shall retire from work and go back to the homeland that I left, the land of Venice, and die there with my old wife, and I shall never move again from her, and she will keep an eye on me and only death shall part us, and I shall live there the rest of my life and complete the books which I have already started to write. Then I shall ask the Lord who created me: take my life, it is better that I die".

And in another song below this one, the old scholar summarize his life and work in most touching words:

"הלל אל אל המלך נאמן אבינו האב הרחמן
שהחייני עד הגעתי עתה אל זה היום וזמן
היה איתי עד נטעתי זה הנטע נטע נעמן
בו נגלות כל המילות העבריות עם תרגומן
גם הוא מורה בגיליון איה תחנותן ומקומן
הוא כמליץ שהוא ממליץ ובטוב מילין הוא מטעימן
ויי שוכן שמים וממנו דבר לא נטמן
ידע כי לא עשיתי זאת להיות נקרא רב או אמן
כי הנותן לכסיל כבוד כצרור אבן תוך ארגמן
לאל בלבד נאה כבוד ולזולתו הא ליכא מאן
הן לכבודו ולאהבתו בלבד רשמתי רישומן
אנא אלי לי ולאשתי החסד גם האמת מן
שהיא לא תהיה אלמנה ואני לא אהיה אלמן
יחד נמות ובגן עדנות תוך חיקה אישן עד לזמן
יבוא הקץ ואזי נקיץ ולחיי עד יחד נזדמן
ובכך תמו גם נשלמו דברי השירה עד תומן
ואני אליה המחבר לפרט זאת השנה סימן"

Eliyahu Bachur's wish was only partly fulfilled. He returned to Venice after the short-lived printing house in Isny closed down, and even though he edited and proofread a few more books for printers who replaced Bomberg's enterprise, his strength continued to weaken. His long time co-worker in the printing business, Cornelio Adelkind in a letter to the humanist Andrea Masius in 1547 calls Eliyahu איש ערירי (Lonely man) which implies that his wife passed away few years before him. Eliyahu Bachur died in the month of Shevat in the year Shin Tet (1549) and was buried in the old Jewish cemetery in the isle of Lido near Venice. The headstone on his grave is still to be seen. I visited his grave, put a little stone on it and read the engraved epitaph, which includes sophisticated wording and allusions in Hebrew. This and the fact that the epitaph does not refer to the day of his death may suggest that he composed the text himself:

ש"ט לפ"ק
ר' אליהו הלוי בחור ומדקדק

הלא אבן בקיר תזעק ותהמה לכל עובר
עלי זאת ה-קבורה
עלי רבן-אשר נלקח ועלה בשמיים
אלי-יה ב-סערה
הלא הוא זה אשר האיר בדקדוק אפלתו
ושם אותו לאורה
שנת שט שט בחדש שבט בסופו, ונפשו ב
בצרור חיים צרורה

It was impossible to translate the delicate playing in words that is concealed through the epitaph. The text below is only a shadow of its poetic brilliance.

Shin Tet le Prat Katan
Rabbi Eliyahu Halevi Bachur And Grammarian

A stone from wall will cry and moan to every passer by
On this grave
On rabbi Eliyahu who went to heaven
To God by a storm
He is the one who lightened the darkness of [Hebrew] grammar
And put it to light
Year Shin Tet at the end of the month of Shevat and his soul
In the bonds of life be bound

S.
>He was born in southern Germany in 1469

If I am not mistaken this biograpical fact is not established. He may have been born in Italy.

I'm also suprised that you didn't note that Tishbi is not only an allusion to the author's name, but the gematriya of 712, the number of entries in the book, as you mentioned.

As for the dual language of Sefer Amanah, we should not be so sure that the Hebrew was intended for Jews and the Latin for Christians. After all, we are right in the middle of a period of intense Christian interest in and cultivation of Hebrew. The Hebrew could as well have been intended for Christians, or even was simply a scholarly exercise/ show off piece on the part of the author.

Great find regarding the difference in the text. Pretty ballsy of Bachur.

Thanks for including the picture of his headstone - awesome.
Monday, December 20, 2010, 18:15:57 – Like – Reply

Dan Yardeni
As far as I know, Eliyahu was born in the little village Ipsheim near Neustadt in southern Germany, not too far from Nuernberg.

I well new the fact that Thisbi counts in Gimatria 712. In fact, in the title page of the book Eliyahu writes in "Kisush Levana" letters: ספר התשבי לאליהו התשבי, שרשיו כמנין תשבי" but I thought it would be too much. Possibly I was wrong.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 17:43:30 – Like – Reply

S.
Of course you knew it - I meant that you neglected to point it out! This would not be obvious to some readers without pointing it out.

As for his place of birth, I stand corrected. I don't remember the bibliography but I think the supposition that he was actually born in Germany was originally based on his signature, Ashkenazi. But of course that could also mean that his father was born in Germany. However, I now see that Gerard Weil found documentary support asserting that he was born in Ipsheim.
Thursday, December 23, 2010, 10:00:19 – Like – Reply

wolf2191
Thanks for a great post. Bachur liked to put hidden anti-chirstian stuff in his works. I noted one at 2 here - http://ishimshitos.blogspot.com/2008/07/cryptic-anti-christian-polemic.html . I'd love to see more if they exist
Monday, December 20, 2010, 18:55:31 – Like – Reply
Liked byDan Yardeni
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Dan Yardeni
I looked through the Tishbi book and found out that your idea about putting יתוש before ישו meant to ridicule him may not be the case. I counted similar couples of words: אןןז before אדק,
then אשפז before אשכנז, then גיגית before גאון, then גיהנם before גוי and גין before גייס. And there are more. Why Eliyahu didn't adhere to the alphabetical order, I don't know.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 18:04:09 – Like – Reply

Yisrael Medad
Your translation of this: מה שגיתי יבין אותי is If I erred, please show me where . Could it not be "if I've erred, be understanding of me"?
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 02:28:30 – Like – Reply

Dan Yardeni
Your idea is interesting but in my opinion it doesn't go well with the later part of the sentence. Eliyahu doesn't look for sympathy but challenges his opponent.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 18:13:07 – Like – Reply

N.
Does not ערירי mean childless (Gen. 15: 2)?
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 08:20:14 – Like – Reply

Dan Yardeni
Not in this context. We know that Eliyahu had at least one daughter and grandchildren, so Cornelio apparenty meant widower.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 18:18:13 – Like – Reply

N.
Great article. I also noticed you didn't mention the famous Rabbis that endorsed him. Well, the Pri Megadim was a great admirer of his - see his "letters" - printed at the back of the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. vol I, Machon Yerushalaim) where he recommends R' Eliahu's books and quotes from them extensively.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 08:24:56 – Like – Reply
Liked byGuest

Yehuda
Venice 1938... huh?
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 10:28:37 – Like – Reply

Dan Yardeni
A typographical mistake. Of course it should be 1538
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 18:22:57 – Like – Reply

Mechy Frankel
Eliahu Bachur's unusual name is due to the fact that he remained a bachelor for a long time, and later adopted the epithet in the sense of Bachur – Chosen (see his preface to Sefer HaBachur, Isny 1542 where he explains the name of the book and comments: ".... היות שם כינויי משונה ובשם בחור מכונה ....

His preface provides three different suggestions for naming the work “Bochur”, the first of which could be interpreted as related to “chosen” – but that epithet relates to the book name, not himself. The third suggestion he offers for naming the book does mention it’s related to his name. But all he says about that is an acknowledgement that his name is unusual, his unusual appellation is not “explained” – there or elsewhere So the notion that his name was meant to commemorate his extended bachlerhood is entirely conjectural, not factual. For that matter, we have no idea when he may have gotten married, so a putative extensive bachlerhood is itself entirely a conjecture.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 11:41:20 – Like – Reply

visitor
Dan, Thanks much for translating the hebrew passages. It would be great if all contributors to this website would do the same.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 12:26:32 – Like – Reply

DF
Excellent article. But the appelation of "ariri" as traditionally understood is specifically "childless", not "lonely."
By the way - why would you point out the Bachur's trick to the priest now occupying the Fagius chair? It's a great find on your part, but would think something that should not have been advertised to an older Christian.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 12:56:23 – Like – Reply

S.
While I agree that one should be cordial to be people rather than offensive, I suspect that the holder of Fagius's chair has a perception of Levita as a docile house Jew. A good Jew, who taught the Christians how to do Hebrew even better than the Jews to a certain degree, and an ecumenical one. Fagius was aggressively missionary - but that's okay, right? Here we see that such a perception is not wholly accurate.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 13:21:52 – Like – Reply

DF
You may be right. (Mencken) The writer did say the old priest was "exceptionally kind" tho. Either way, a nice little vitz. Ranks right up there with the Magen Dovid on the Iranian Airlines building.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 16:16:08 – Like – Reply

FRISCOSAN
It always fills me with joy to encounter enlightened Jews and enlightened Christians who take joy in doing good works together despite the condemnations of the "grandest of authorities". As a Christian I am always hungry for the fascinating insights of Judaism which do so much to help me understand my own chosen faith. The revelation that cooperative good works have been done perhaps from the beginning by loving and gentle Jews and Christians under the very noses of the whited sepulchers of ossified authority is a glad revelation indeed! It has been explained to me that Hashem needs two witnesses to His Messianic truth at the end of time and for that reason one of the witnesses was blinded that when they do see and bear witness it will be an unassailable testament. I ponder this wonderful possibility in my heart.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 10:21:31 – Like – Reply

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Enlightened Christians don't think Jews are blind witnesses, let alone call them that publicly.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 13:15:46 – Like – Reply

Benny
"He dared to state, in face of virulent opposition from leading orthodox rabbis" - I don't think there were "orthodox" rabbis back in the 16th century.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 15:54:50 – Like – Reply

Dan Yardeni
Surely not in the connotation we attribute today to the word "Orthodox"
Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 18:30:30 – Like – Reply

S.
Also, was there really such heated opposition? There were responses from Azariah de Rossi and Samuel Archivolti, and of course, he did not change the accepted traditional opinion, but where is the record of virulent opposition about the points?
Thursday, December 23, 2010, 10:02:04 – Like – Reply

ploni
http://www.amazon.com/Elia-Levita-Bachurs-Bovo-Buch-Introduction/dp/1587...
Thursday, December 23, 2010, 18:30:26 – Like – Reply

Yehuda_R
I see another difference between the colphons on the Latin and Hebrew versions. The one on the Latin version has לדין את החיים ומתים while the Hebrew version has לדון את חיים ומתים. Perhaps he is alluding to the pasiuk לא ידון רוחי באדם which according to one of the definitions mentioned in ספר המכלול מהרד"ק is related to מדון ומריבה. R Elyahu Bachur is hiniting that he will come back to fight together with the living and dead, i.e. to be judged with them.
Thursday, December 23, 2010, 18:38:47 – Like – Reply

MBA
at least one christian scholar took the advice of the Bachur and applied the RMBM addage to paulus here http://books.google.com/books?id=hcY5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA260&dq=Paulus+Fagius&...
Friday, December 24, 2010, 09:43:25 – Like – Reply

litvak
The author neglected to mention that two of R' Eliyahu Bachur's grandchildren apostatized and converted to Christianity. Who knows, maybe such close ties to Christians caused it.
Monday, December 27, 2010, 16:16:17 – Like – Reply

Mendy
Beautiful piece; excellent scholarship. And thanks for the translations!
Friday, December 31, 2010, 09:50:00 – Like – Reply

rabbi@ilfordsynagogue.co.uk
A beautiful and fascinating article, moving and enlightening - thank you!
Saturday, January 01, 2011, 20:59:24 – Like – Reply

Michael T. Walton
I enjoyed your piece. There is a problem, however, with your reading of the colophon. Anthonius Margaritha, a meshumad, ends his Der Gantz Judish Glaub (1530) with "my hope is in the Moshiach who has been sent (b'nishlach). " "Mein hoffnung ist in Moschiach/ der gesendet ist worden."
Saturday, January 01, 2011, 21:15:46 – Like – Reply

Michael T. Walton
Sorry--not b-nishlach, but h'nishlach.
Saturday, January 01, 2011, 21:18:45 – Like – Reply

Failed Messiah
I think what M Walton is saying is that , the message might be the opposite of what Dan Yarden is suggesting , and his hope is in the Messiah that was dismissed (הנשלך) by the rabbis but will come back etc. this is not a a message from Levitas making a mockery of his employer , rather it is a message from Paulus Fagius , that the person that was rejected as the messiah will one day return etc. I am sure that Levitas did not share Fagius's intention , however I dont think there is any proof for what Yardeni is suggesting.
Saturday, January 08, 2011, 23:29:45 – Like – Reply

TzemachYosifun
BH

You write "the fact that the epitaph does not refer to the day of his death may suggest that he composed the text himself".

However, it seems that the date does appear, as it says the end of the month of Shvat, and the year. If it was written by Eliyahu himself he surely would have not written the month. And if someone else wrote the month, why would he skip the day, unless "the end of the month" actually means the last day of the month. Another possibility would be that this is not the original headstone - perhaps it was renewed years later, and date was lost in the midst, as commonly occures.

You also copied the epipath as below, and I was wondering why the repeat of the year count, is it a typo?

שנת שט שט בחדש שבט בסופו,

Thursday, February 10, 2011, 08:56:54 – Like – Reply

TzemachYosifun
BH

As for Ariri to mean Lonley, see here that Ariri can mean anyone who has only daughters, since we know only of R' Eliyahu one daughter, it might have a different meaning.

http://www.otzar.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3856

Rabbi David Kimchi lived about 400 years earlier, and is known as the Father of Hebrew Grammar.

I found this about the RaDaK (a popular acronym of his name) at Wikipedia, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kimhi

David Kimhi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Kimhi (Hebrew: דוד קמחי‎, also Kimchi or Qimchi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK (רד"ק), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian. Born in Narbonne, Provence, he was the son of Rabbi Joseph Kimhi and the brother of Rabbi Moses Kimhi, both biblical commentators and grammarians. Works of the Kimhi family were underwritten by the Ibn Yahya family of Lisbon, Portugal.[1]

David Kimhi is best known today for his commentaries on the books of the Prophets. He also wrote commentaries on the books of Genesis, Psalms, and Chronicles. His work focuses on the language, nikkud (vocalization), rabbinic tradition of the reading, grammar, and literal meaning of the words. He also addresses key issues such as the authorship of the various books and the historical eras in which the prophets were active, as well as other historical and geographical questions.

His commentary on Genesis tends toward the philosophical. He seeks out the ethical underpinnings of the stories, believing that they were not included in the text for purely historical reasons, but rather for their moral message. He makes extensive use of the ancient Targum translation of the text into Aramaic attributed to Jonathan ben Uzziel, commenting on it and bringing variant readings. The commentary also includes a mystical interpretation of the Garden of Eden and the story of Cain and Abel. A similar, mystical interpretation by Kimhi can also be found in his glosses on the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, describing the Divine Chariot. When he does not understand a particular text, he follows the example of Rashi and writes, "I did not understand the reason why this story appears in this particular place," or "I did not find a proper reason for it."

Kimhi was also a noted grammarian. His book, Michlol (מכלול), draws heavily on the earlier works of Rabbi Judah ben David Hayyuj and Rabbi Jonah ibn Janah. He also composed a dictionary of the Hebrew language called Sefer Hashorashim (Book of Roots) (ספר השורשים).

Kimhi also delved into philosophy and the sciences, and was very much influenced by both Abraham Ibn Ezra and Maimonides. He was a staunch defender of Maimonides in the debates over his writings.

References

^ Eric Lawee (2001), Isaac Abarbanel's stance toward tradition: defense, dissent, and dialogue, p. 30. New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 0791451267
[edit]External links

About the Radak on OU.org
David Kimchi's response to Christianity in his Psalm commentary

This page was last modified on 18 February 2011 at 12:48.

===

from: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111880/jewish/Rabbi-David-...

Rabbi David Kimchi - RaDaK
(4920-4995; 1160-1235)

The great grammarian and scholar Rabbi David Kimchi, was a member of a famous family which greatly enriched our Talmudic and Hebrew literature. It was said of this family, (Where there is no Kemach - flour [bread] there can be no learning [Torah]), "were it not for the Kimchis, there would be no Torah," a saying based on the similarity of the name Kimchi with the Hebrew word Kemach.

Rabbi David Kimchi's father, Rabbi Joseph Ben Isaac Kimchi, lived in Southern Spain. His writings were among the first to introduce the study of Hebrew grammar and culture into Christian Europe. Under the cruel persecution of the Almohades, Rabbi Joseph Kimchi migrated north to Narbonne in France.

The Almohades, a Moorish dynasty in Northern Africa and Southern Spain, came to power in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1146 they undertook a fanatical fight to enforce the faith of Islam upon all the peoples under their rule. Being fanatical Mohammedans, they destroyed the synagogues and churches, forcing both Jews and Christians either to embrace Islam or to migrate. Maimonides and his family, were among the exiles who fled from Spain about the year 1150. In the year David was born (1160), persecution of the Jews by the Mohammedans increased very consider­ably. In that year the precious and, to the Moslems, sacred jewels which were kept in the Mohammedan sanctuary at Mecca, were stolen. The Jews were accused of the crime and suffered untold misery for it.

Under these circumstances, Rabbi Joseph Kimchi took his family and went to France. He took with him the great tradition of the Spanish Talmud study, Hebrew language, and Hebrew thought, which had given the Spanish Jewish community the "golden era" for so many years, and set up his new home in Narbonne.

When David was about ten years old his father died. David's older brother Rabbi Moses Kimchi, also a famous scholar, took over the supervision of the upbringing and education of his young brother David. David proved himself a very gifted boy and made great headway in all branches of Jewish knowledge. Soon he became known as one of the greatest scholars of his time by Jews and non-Jews alike. He was given the honorary title of Maestro Petit, which his father had already earned. For centuries, Rabbi David Kimchi's work in the field of Hebrew grammar was the basis of the study of Hebrew for all non-Jewish scholars.

While still young, Rabbi David Kimchi earned his living by teaching the Talmud much in the same way as his father did.

Rabbi David Kimchi first became famous by his Michlol ("Completeness"), which is like an encyclopedia of Hebrew grammar. This grammar had great influence over many Christian Hebraists such as Johann Reuchlin, the great humanitarian and champion of the Talmud in the middle ages.

Rabbi David Kimchi wrote a great deal in defense of Judaism against attacks by members of the Christian church. This material was later used extensively by Jewish scholars in disputations with Christians, forced upon them by the Church.

The RaDaK endeared himself to our people by his famous commentary under that name. (RaDaK consists of the initials of his name Rabbi David Kimchi). He wrote commentaries on the Prophets, Psalms, and Chronicles, and also on the Pentateuch, although of the last of these, only the section of Genesis is extant. The RaDaK's commentary enjoyed almost as great popularity as that of Rashi. Indeed it is close in nature and style to Rashi's commentaries, for his interpretations are also based on reasoning and grammatical rule, in contrast to the other great Spanish Bible commentator, Nachmanides, who included deeper cabbalistic meanings in his commentaries. The RaDaK's commentaries were greatly esteemed by both Jews and Christians; they were translated into Latin by Christian scholars, and greatly affected later Bible translations, even the most famous one-the King James version.

In addition to the Michlol, and his commentary, Rabbi David Kimchi wrote the "Teshuvoth Lanotzrim," (Refutation to the Christians), refuting all attacks by Christian theologians, and "Et Hasofer" (Pen of the Scribe), the latter dealing with the writing of Torah scrolls in accordance with the true traditions of the Massorah.

Toward the end of his life, Rabbi David Kimchi became involved in one of the most vehement struggles within orthodox Judaism concerning the work of Maimonides, the "Moreh Nevuchim." Rabbi David Kimchi was a devout admirer of the works of the saintly Rambam, including his philosophical writings. He even undertook a journey to Spain in an attempt to organize the great scholars in defense of Rambam's work. However, on his way he took sick in the small town of Avila, and had to return. Soon after, Rabbi David Kimchi died at the age of seventy-five.

It would seem reasonable the Rabbi Zalman Henna disputes or rejects these great predecessor's teachings on the subject.

Rather, Rabbi Zalman Henna must have clear logical rules for his views, that do not reject their teachings, which are few and not explicit.

Who was the Minchat Shai, and where are his teachings to be found, on the subject of shvah-nah, komatz-katan etc.?

David, can you answer?

Israel: SBL-Hebrew ... features a patach genuvah or furtive patach - which is a grammar issue.

SBL Hebrew has contextual lookups for furtive patach because Unicode -- I suspect following the Israeli national standards body -- deliberately decided to unify the encoding of normal and furtive patach. One may disagree with that decision, but it was made and the unification is part of the standard. No such decision has been made regarding the encoding of sheva nah because no proposal has been made to Unicode regarding the encoding of this; however, if one considers the more recent deliberate dis-unifications -- qamats gadol / qamats qatan and yerah ben yomo / atnah hafukh -- it is clear that Unicode is open to encoding such grammatical distinctions (even distinctions that some authors and publishers do not observe).

I too am a practical man, which is why I try to avoid building features in fonts until I know what the standard encoding should be.

John,

Your words about shvah-nah are very encouraging, as it seems to meet the same criteria for Unicode Consortium as kamatz-katan.

I agree with you about the furtive patach, or patach ganuva, deserving its own Unicode code value. But because this did not occur, we have your automatic furtive patach, and soon the automatic shvah-nah etc.

I meant practical is a more "a need for the common user" sense. Most people have lost shvah-nah and others by the Hebrew grammar wayside, they have data that does not adhere to the SBL-Hebrew sequence rules, data from Christian and Jewish sources are different in less that a dozen instances - these issues can easily be adjusted at the OpenType/Volt level, without anyone knowing what's happening.

I think that we as responsible type designers should do so.

John: deliberately decided to unify the encoding of normal and furtive patach... however, if one considers the more recent deliberate dis-unifications -- qamats gadol / qamats qatan and yerah ben yomo / atnah hafukh

I'm not sure that dis-unifications — normal and furtive patach — is really a good idea; same thing with shva, dagesh...

What about:

1. Revia and Revia Gadol? — 2 marks

2. Revia Gadol — 6 marks:
(a) Revia gadol in the absence of etnahta & ole-veyored
(b) Medial & final revia gadol?
(c) The first revia gadol in the absence of etnahta or ole-veyored?
(d) The first revia gadol in verses containing etnahta or ole-veyored?
(e) The second revia gadol in verses containing etnahta or ole-veyored?
(f) Revia gadol — adjacent or initial to ole-veyored in verses containing etnahta or ole-veyored?

3. Meteg/Ga'ya & Siluk? — 2 marks

4. Meteg/Ga'ya — 10 marks

5. Dagesh & Shuruq: vav + dagesh & vav + shuruq? — 2 marks

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Israel — just post a direct link.

Israel: > My intention was merely to cry about the dismal state of Hebrew grammar knowledge of this generation...

Yeah, I can see that:

Communist Russia died in 1991 (http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/fall-of-communism-in-russia-faq.htm).

I am not a communist. I am a capitalist, like you.

The results of creativity are sold, like you sell your fonts. So, too, I sell my fonts. The prices are estimated by two factors, similar to price setting in any capitalist system.

1. How many products do you expect to sell per year?
2. How much do you expect a customer would pay?

The purpose of high end commercial fonts which automatically place a shvah-nah mark is a break-through, saving many weeks, or even months, of labor - besides having all the features of advanced 'intelligent' Open-Type fonts.

Why is this product needed, and being created at this time?

"The dismal state of Hebrew grammar knowledge of this generation". Even great knowledgeable giants in Hebrew Grammar lack in knowing the simple rules of shvah-nah. kamatz-katan, meteg etc.

David, why do you doubt the motive, because a price is attached to the results?