February 24, 2016
From “Awesome” to “Awe-Inspiring”: How Words Become Devalued
By PhilologosLike animals, words have an ecology. As one is driven out of its traditional habitat, others move into the space that has been vacated.
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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.