I'm a student of biblical Hebrew, building on my rudimentary childhood
familiarity, and a dramatist--I'm preparing an ensemble piece, in Hebrew and
English, with lots of movement, for dancers and actors. Part of our text
comes from Job, and I'm trying to understand it as well as I can . . .
I notice that the Hebrew word ordinarily translated as"bless" here seems to
mean its opposite--curse. I know that lots of people have commented on this
over the centuries. Can you tell me what your take is on this, or what is
the current consensus, if any? In particular, is it simply a scribal
obfuscation, a matter of substituting a less offensive word, or is this use
of ברך not unique to Job, or does it possibly point to something deeper?
Eliot Fintushel
Imaginists Theatre Collective
Santa Rosa, CA
[b-hebrew] ברך in JOB,
Eliot Fintushel, 08/30/2012