- Forum >
- Topic: Hebrew >
- "הקהל צריך לדעת את האמת!"
20 Comments
Should would be a better translation of the word אמור in my opinion for this case ..
DL insists on "crowd", but קהל also means community, assembly and the public. When I hear "the crowd must...!" I think of a mob scene, not an assembly or a peaceful community meeting. Is that the intent here? Might אספסוף be appropriate?
Well, אֲסַפְסוּף is really derogatory, the riffraff. I thought קָהָל to be people gathered just for this occasion, like in a demonstration, a concert or a lecture, whereas a community as a unified body of individuals who regularily come together would be a קְהִלָּה.
That's exactly my point. "Crowd" implies something disorganized and rowdy. And especially so in the context of "The crowd needs to know the truth!" That sounds more like a crowd demonstrating at a political gathering.
I am sorry that I cannot follow you this to be exactly my point. A קָהָל can be disorganised and rowdy, but must not. Take sentences like כשהייתיסטודנטבפריז, אהבתי את ההפגנות, הצעידות, הקהל, הצעקות or קהל עוין במשכנות עוני מקיף אותו or יש כאן קהל והם עומדים להרוס את התחנה.
I see your point, that קָהָל can also be used in the context of one of those rowdy gatherings. I tend to think of a קָהָל as something calmer. I think I would have translated קָהָל in the above exercise as an "assemblage", not "crowd". Perhaps it's just nuance. Maybe a Hebrew thesaurus would help. Anyway, as always, thank you for your feedback.
579
"The crowd needs to know the truth" sounds like someone is about to address an unruly mob. "Public" would be a much better word here.
This should be correct:
The assembly needs to know the truth.
Duo. corrected by using audience in place of assembly.
Also I agree with Dov360473 crowd doesn't work here ...
I think the original phrase is "the public has a right to know", which refers, in the US, to the journalists' shield law, that is, their protection against being forced to reveal confidential sources in federal courts. See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/opinion/09tue3.html.
- 1271
Exactly. I wonder how US course managers failed to notice that - after so many reminders - and corrected the answer
Well, I think that קָהָל are people gathered just for this occasion, like in a demonstration, a concert or a lecture, whereas a community as a unified body of individuals who regularily come together would be a קְהִלָּה.
- 529
Wouldn't kehila be a synagogue (that's what we call it in our family). Is this a more modern Israeli denotation? Thank you for the distinction between them.
Well, yes, a religious congregation is also "a unified body of individuals who regularily come together", is it not? I thought that the semantic narrowing to organized Jewish community is more typical for Yiddish קהילה [kehile] and Ladino keilá, but is only one specific nuance of a broader meaning in Hebrew. But as I am not part of a Jewish religious community, I cannot vouch for what they say there. The same dissonance happens to me with עֵדָה ethnic group, which I associate strongly with its Aramaic meaning congregation for worship, prayer meeting.
Have to chime in here. I believe that a synagogue is a בית כנסת, the building. A congregation is a קְהִלָה, the people that assemble in that building. And, by the way, a church, the building, is a כְּנֵסִיָה.
