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To underscore the unilateral nature of their
withdrawal plans, former Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and incoming Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert have chosen reflexive Hebrew verbs, verbs
that denote an action one performs upon oneself.
The verb-form “hitpa’el” often has a reflexive
meaning.
Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip
was tokhnit ha-hitnatkut, (loosely translated
into English as the “disengagement plan”), derived
from the root n.t.k., (to sever or to cut oneself
off something).
Olmert chose hitkansut, loosely translated into
English as “convergence.”
A more accurate English translation would be “ingathering”
or “coalescing.” I am now told that some Israeli
officials prefer an altogether different English
term: “realignment.”
No English translation could convey the layers
of historic, cultural and religious connotations
of the Hebrew root k.n.s.
In biblical Hebrew, the root was mainly used
to denote entering into somewhere or something
(kanas), bringing something or someone in, or
gathering many individuals (kines). Only later,
was this root conjugated in other “binyanim,”
and produced an abundance of nouns.
The most recognizable noun worldwide, even among
non-Hebrew speakers, is of course the Knesset,
Israel’s parliament, named after Knesset ha-Gdolah,
the “large assembly,” which was the supreme governing
body of halachic legislators (around 500 BC).
Beit knesset is of course a synagogue. In medieval
Hebrew, there was no distinction between beit
knesset and knessiya. Both were used for synagogue.
Today, knessiya denotes only a Christian church.
When the Jewish yishuv in pre-Israel Palestine
started to organize in the early 1920s, its chief
governing bodies were called Knesset Yisrael.
K.n.s has become very well rooted in modern Hebrew.
Lehakhnis is to put in or push in or insert. Knissah
is entrance (ein knissah is no entrance), Hakhnasah
is income, and mas hakhnasah, accordingly, is
the income tax which Israelis despise. Israelis
believe that they pay a higher proportion of income
tax than any other nation. The verb hikhnis is
ubiquitous in Hebrew slang. It can mean sending
someone to prison, beating up someone (lehakhnis
makot) and it is also has a crude sexual meaning.
In Ruvik Rosental’s new dictionary of Israeli
slang, I counted 18 expressions involving lehakhnis.
So what does hitkansut mean? Originally, in medieval
Hebrew, hitkansut was an assembly, a gathering,
a usage that is still valid today. When Israelis
gather today for a rally or a meeting, the speaker
will open by saying: “hitkanasnu po hayom…” (we
have gathered here today…). But in modern Hebrew,
hitkansut can also mean to withdraw into oneself,
it carries a certain flavor of isolationism –
whether individual or collective – a porcupine-like
withdrawal in defiance.
In choosing that term, Olmert articulated a contemporary,
current national state of mind. He connected with
strong sentiments among Israeli voters, and won
the election. He did so by using a root that is
– well - deeply-rooted in Jewish tradition. By
doing that, he subtly laid a foundation of traditional
acceptance for his revolutionary plan to unilaterally
withdraw from most of the West Bank.
Ori Nir is
the Washington Bureau Chief of the Forward, America’s
largest and most influential independent national
Jewish weekly newspaper. Before moving to Washington
in September 2002, Nir served in many capacities
for Ha’aretz Daily, Israel’s leading newspaper.
He covered Israel’s Arab minority, was Ha’aretz’s
Washington Correspondent, US West Coast Correspondent
repoting from San Francisco and covered Palestinian
affairs during the first years of the Palestinian
uprising (intifada) and through the troubled implementation
of the first phases of the Oslo Accords.
Nir earned a Master’s degree in journalism from the
University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s
degree in Middle Eastern history and Arabic literature
from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
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