Zelig and equivalents

[Harold Lewin]

In old synagogue records Zelig is often found as part of a double barrelled
name, namely Hebrew followed by Yiddish. For example an ancestor of mine is
recorded as Pinhas Zelig and there are scores of examples of this particular
combination in the registers of old London synagogues. Sometimes the name
appears as: Pinhas hamechune Zelig = Pinhas known as Zelig. Since the
English equivalent of Pinhas is Phineas (see James I bible) I suggest that
an accepted English equivalent of Zelig is Phineas. Shana Tova, Harold
Lewin - Jerusalem

mailto:har...@bezeqint.net
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[Judith Romney Wegner]

>In old synagogue records Zelig is often found as part of a double barrelled
>name, namely Hebrew followed by Yiddish. For example an ancestor of mine is
>recorded as Pinhas Zelig and there are scores of examples of this particular
>combination in the registers of old London synagogues. Sometimes the name
>appears as: Pinhas hamechune Zelig = Pinhas known as Zelig. Since the
>English equivalent of Pinhas is Phineas (see James I bible) I suggest that
>an accepted English equivalent of Zelig is Phineas. Shana Tova, Harold
>Lewin - Jerusalem
>

Sorry, but I cannot follow the logic of your conclusion that "an accepted
English equivalent of Zelig is Phineas." Phineas (which has nothing
whatsoever to do with Zelig linguistically or semantically) is simply the
biblical name Pinhas as transliterated into Greek in the Septuagint (the
first translation of the Hebrew Bible into a European language, made
throughout the last three centuries BCE.) So there is no justification
for the claim that Phineas is an "equivalent" of Zelig! Zelig can be (and
is) attached to any number of Hebrew names to form a double-barrelled name,
but it is in no sense "equivalent" to any of them! (We have already
established that the one meaningful English equivalent for Selig is the
name Felix which is a Latin adjective meaning the same thing as the
German/Yiddish selig, namely, "fortunate, blessed.")

There are three characters named Pinhas in the Hebrew Bible: (l) the
grandson of Aaron in the Torah (Num. 25:7): (2) the son of Eli the Priest
in I Samuel 1:3 -- specifically featured in the Haftarah for the first day
of Rosh Hashanah (which I am honored to be chanting in my synagogue
tomorrow!); (3) a contemporary of Ezra in Ezra 8:33.

Oh well, back now to cooking the time-honored chicken soup and gefilte
fish! But not before wishing all my dear friends at JewishGen a "Ketivah
va-Hatimah Tovah" -- as well as lots of "apples and honey" in the year to
come!

Sincerely,

Judith Romney Wegner

mailto:j...@Brown.edu