From “Awesome” to “Awe-Inspiring”: How Words Become Devalued

I see that the Conservative movement has come out with a new prayer book, Siddur Lev Shalem, whose Hebrew text is accompanied by an English translation and commentary. According to a report in the Forward, the new translation introduces numerous changes from the previous Conservative version, Siddur Sim Shalom, in order to bring it up to date. One example given is the replacement of the epithet “King” for God (found, among other places, in the many blessings that begin “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe”) by “Sovereign.” “The word ‘king,'” Rabbi Edward Feld, Lev Shalem‘s senior editor, is quoted as saying, “is empty for people living in an American democracy.”

To tell the truth, it isn’t clear to me why, for people living in an American democracy, “sovereign” is much of an improvement. Wouldn’t “President of the Universe” be better? Or possibly “Chairperson”? But that isn’t the change in Siddur Lev Shalem that I wish to comment on here, so I’ll leave it to you for further consideration and move on.

Today’s topic is Siddur Lev Shalem‘s substitution, as also reported in the Forward, of “awe-inspiring” for “awesome” as a translation of the Hebrew word norá. Norá, grammatically a passive form of the verb yará, to fear or be in awe of, is not as common a word in the siddur as melekh, “king.” But, among other instances, it is encountered by observant Jews three times a day in the phrase ha-eyl ha-gadol ha-gibor v’ha-nora, which occurs in the Shemoneh Esreh prayer that climaxes the morning, afternoon, and evening service. In the older Siddur Sim Shalom this phrase was translated as “the great, mighty, and awesome God.” In the Siddur Lev Shalem, following the lead of the Conservative movement’s 2010 High Holy Day prayer book Maḥzor Lev Shalem, it has been amended to “[the] great, mighty, awe-inspiring God.”