Origin of "Yasher koach?"
Hadass Eviatar
I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what the
expression
"Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar kochecha or kochech)
actually meant. The literal translation is "May your strength go
straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Does anybody know what it means and where it came from?
Thanks, kol tuv, Hadass
--
Dr. Hadass Eviatar (XX)
mailto:evi...@ibd.nrc.ca
National Research Council of Canada Phone: (204) 984 - 4535
Institute for Biodiagnostics Fax: (204) 984 - 5472
435 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 1Y6
http://www.ibd.nrc.ca/~eviatar
Obliglatory disclaimer: NRC wouldn't dream of saying a thing like
that.
Micha Berger
On Thu, 12 Feb 1998 13:22:07 -0600, Hadass Eviatar <evi...@ibd.nrc.ca> wrote:
: I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what the
: expression "Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar kochecha or kochech)
: actually meant. The literal translation is "May your strength go
: straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Actually, there are two theories as to what the unslurred version was supposed
to be:
yeyasher chochacha -- may your strength go straight (from /y-sh-r/)
yiyshar chochacha -- may your strength be enriched (praiseworthy?; assuming
the root is /aleph-sh-r/)
Note that both would be written identically in traditional, non-voweled,
texts.
Yeyasher is harder to understand. Perhaps, straight to your desired goal, as
opposed to your efforts going awry?
I say "yiyshar". It's closer to the slurred version, so it gets fewer stares,
and seems to be less of a drei to justify.
-mi
--
Micha Berger (973) 916-0287 Help free Yehuda Katz, held by Syria 5724 days!
mi...@aishdas.org (11-Jun-82 - 12-Feb-98)
For a mitzvah is a candle, and the Torah its light.
http://www.aishdas.org -- Orthodox Judaism: Torah, Avodah, Chessed
Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879
From article <6bvj7t$fss$1...@news1.deshaw.com>,
by Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>:
> yiyshar chochacha -- may your strength be enriched ...
Or, to paraphrase into the modern idiom, "more power to you", a perfectly
appropriate thing to say to someone who just did well at a commendable
task.
Doug Jones
jo...@cs.uiowa.edu
Bill Page
Hadass Eviatar <evi...@ibd.nrc.ca> wrote:
> I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what the
> expression
> "Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar kochecha or kochech)
> actually meant. The literal translation is "May your strength go
> straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
> Does anybody know what it means and where it came from?
> Thanks, kol tuv, Hadass
This is from Macy Nulman's Encyclopedia of Sayings of the Jewish People:
"Its source is the Talmud (Shab. 87a; Men. 99b). God said to Moses, "Hew
ye two tablets of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon the
tablets the words which were on the first tablets, which thou didst
break" (asher shibarta) (Ex. 34:1). The Talmud asks "And how do we know
that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave his approval?" And answers,
"because it is said 'which thou didst break, and Resh Lakish interpreted
this: _Yishar ko'ah asher shibarta_ ("all strength to thee that thou
didst break")". God expressed His approval of Moses' action.
The words yishar and asher are regarded as coming from the same root as
ishayr, meaning "to confirm," strengthen--thus a play upon the words
_asher shibarta_ and _yishar (kohekha) sheshavarta_."
--
Bill Page
Shoshana L. Boublil
On Thu, 12 Feb 1998 13:22:07 -0600, Hadass Eviatar
<evi...@ibd.nrc.ca> wrote:
>I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what the
>expression
>"Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar kochecha or kochech)
>actually meant. The literal translation is "May your strength go
>straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
>
>Does anybody know what it means and where it came from?
I don't know the origin, but the term appears in the G'mara. Rashi in
Ketubot 85a says the following (Hebrew)
רש"י מסכת כתובות דף פה עמוד א
לשון חוזק כמו יישר כחך (יבמות סב).
- [re: a word in Ketubot] [it] means strength like Yeeshar Ko'ach.
(trx.)
I couldn't find the term in earlier writngs.
clarification: the term appears a few times in the G'mara. It is
always used as commendation. It is used as a commendation to Moshe
for breaking the Stone Tablets. Rashi (which is later) gives this as
an explanation for another word.
In Israel we tend to use a lot the sentence "Yeeshar Ko'chacha
Le'Oraita".
Shoshana
p&m
>Thanks, kol tuv, Hadass
>
>--
>Dr. Hadass Eviatar (XX)
>mailto:evi...@ibd.nrc.ca
>National Research Council of Canada Phone: (204) 984 - 4535
>Institute for Biodiagnostics Fax: (204) 984 - 5472
>435 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 1Y6
>http://www.ibd.nrc.ca/~eviatar
> Obliglatory disclaimer: NRC wouldn't dream of saying a thing like
>that.
>
>
come visit:
www.hilonet.com/achdut/ - the Achdut Yisrael web site!!!
Torah U'Madah ltd. homepage:
www.netvision.net.il/php/toramada/
Harvey S. Cohen
Hadass Eviatar <evi...@ibd.nrc.ca> wrote:
>I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what the
>expression
>"Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar kochecha or kochech)
>actually meant. The literal translation is "May your strength go
>straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
>Does anybody know what it means and where it came from?
FWIW, I was taught to interpret it as "May you go from strength to strength."
--
hsc...@att.com_(Harvey S. Cohen)
Hadass Eviatar
Harvey S. Cohen wrote:
That's what I thought. But I like the Talmudic interpretation even more
8-).
Shabbat shalom, Hadass
(p&m)
Hadass Eviatar
Amitai Halevi
On Thu, 12 Feb 1998, Hadass Eviatar wrote:
> I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what the
> expression
> "Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar kochecha or kochech)
> actually meant. The literal translation is "May your strength go
> straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
>
> Does anybody know what it means and where it came from?
>
It is used with the inverted meaning: "Your strength has been
employed righteously", i.e. "Congratulations for a job well
done".
It appears several times in the Talmud. One saying of Resh
Laqish, repeated in several tractates (Shabbat 87a, Yebamot 62a,
Baba Batra 14b, Mena`hot 99b) refers to God's congratulating
Moses for having broken the Tablets. In a more mundane connection
(Yebamot 122b) R. Tarfon congratulates a man who testified on
behalf of a widow that he saw her husband killed fighting off
bandits. It is implied that the witness who survived also fought
bravely.
Amitai
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
| E. Amitai Halevi <chr...@aluf.technion.ac.il> |
| Department of Chemistry, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology |
| http://www.technion.ac.il/technion/chemistry/staff/halevi |
| |
| "`Od yenuvun be-seva, deshenim ve-ra`ananim yihyu", Psalms 92,15 |
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
> Thanks, kol tuv, Hadass
mos...@mm.huji.ac.il
Hadass Eviatar <evi...@ibd.nrc.ca> writes:
> I was talking with a Jewish friend recently, and she wonderd what
> the expression "Yasher koach" (or, in correct Hebrew, Yishar
> kochecha or kochech) actually meant. The literal translation is "May
> your strength go straight", but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
>
> Does anybody know what it means and where it came from?
As far as I know, it's Talmudic or Midrashic in its source. See
Ex.34:1 Where G-d discusses the Tablets which Moses broke. The phrase
is "...asher shibarta" - which you broke. The Sages say that G-d was
please with Moses' action and said "Yasher kochacha sheshibarta".
"Asher" and "Yasher" sound similar.
I'm not sure of the literal meaning.
Moshe Schorr
It is a tremendous Mitzvah to be happy always! - Reb Nachman of Breslov
(mailed & posted)