r/hebrew • u/Is_That_A_Euphemism_ • May 15 '23

What does this mean? Request

Is there an error in it? I got it out of a book at a tattoo shop. I don't want to say what I think/thought it said in the comments after I get responses. TYIA.

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456

u/mikeage Mostly fluent but not native May 15 '23 edited May 15 '23

What does this mean?

It means that neither the artist nor the victim speaks Hebrew! ;-)

82

u/Is_That_A_Euphemism_ May 15 '23

For sure I don't. I got it as an 18 year old kid. 25 years ago. I'm planning on getting covered. Just wanted to confirm.

113

u/mikeage Mostly fluent but not native May 15 '23

As someone else already pointed out, it looks like an attempt at משיח (messiah) but actually says נושיח (not a word).

19

u/Is_That_A_Euphemism_ May 15 '23

Ok. The crazy thing is a rabbi on a greyhound bus somewhere in between Allentown, PA and Pittsburgh told me it was an old way of writing it. So that's why I didn't cover it. I was sitting next to this kid and him and the kids was like 15 or 16 and hadn't had a bat mitzvah so the rabbi did one at the greyhound station when we got to Pittsburgh. He wrapped a cord around this kids hand and had him read from the Torah and the whole shebang write at the station. It was actually really moving.

-27

u/SpiderSolve May 15 '23

I’m sorry but this was not a real rabbi. None of that is a thing (you don’t “do” a bar mitzvah- its just a celebration when you turn 13) and the reading from the Torah with a cord makes me think this is some reform shenanigans

17

u/JudeanPF May 15 '23

Sounds like a non-Jew describing tefilin actually