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Torah-Or different roots yet a lot of similarity?
Question
Dear Rabbi,
I noticed looking up the root for the word ืชึผืึนืจึธืโ that some of your fellow rabbiโs teach it comes from โืืึนืจึธื,โ which means teaching and connected it with โืืืจื,โ which means light.
Others teach itโs derived from the root ืืจื, the verb meaning to โteachโ is ืืืจื. Itโs cognates include ืชืืจื and ืืืจื ..The word ืืืจื written with a kamats to form โhorahโ can also be written with a segol to form horeh (parent).
Again others like Rabbi Hirsch teach that the word ืชืืจืช does not come from the root ืืจื , like ืืืืื from ืืื , but from ืืจื: to receive a seed within oneself, in the Hifil ืืืจื: to plant a seed in someone else, hence to implant the seeds of truth and goodness, of spirituality and morality in others; โto teachโ.
I also found some teaching that ืืืจื is from the root ืืจื : ืืืจื derives from the root ืืจื - "to teach", which is also the root of the word ืชืืจื - torah. Horeh comes from the root ืืจื:
What Iโm trying to show in these comments is that I find it confusing that people seem to perpose two different roots for words like Torah, Moreh, Horeh and Orah, namely ืืจื or itโs ืืจื.
My Question is: what are the exact roots for each of these words: Torah, Moreh, Horeh and Orah. And are their roots somehow related etymologically or as a homophone or homohraph, homonym or connected in any other way?!
Answer
You are touching on a very famous argument whether 2 similar letters in a Hebrew root have significance and are conceptually related [Dunash ben Levrat, and more recently, R. Shimshon Rephael Hirsch, and this is obviously the kabbalistic direction as well, for they refer to the deeper meaning of each letter, so even 2 similar letters have significant messages] or not (the more widely accepted opinion). You may have heard rabbis who go the โliberalโ (first) way, for it enables room for more innovative drashot, but that doesnโt necessarily mean that even they really believe it grammatically.
In short, the root of Torah and Horaโah (=teaching) is YRH (=to shoot or send forth); the root of Harah (=pregnant) or Horeh (=parent) is HRH (=pregnant); the root of Ora (=light) is OUR (aleph, vav, reish), and are (according to most opinions) 3 totally different verbs. (thanks to Dr. Yosef Peretz)
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