For Judaism, faith is power
to endure the suffering of waiting
that changes into sweet the sour
taste for baiting and for hating.
Solidly it is the basis
of halakhah, glimpsed with a glow
which hallows it with holophrasis
quite simply as “great way to go!”
Rabbi David Grundland, in a Torah in Motion devar torah on 2/24/22 said that he translates “halakhah” as “way to go!” I suggest that this definition involves the use of holophrasis, which is the expression of a whole phrase in a single word, for example “howdy” for” how do you do.”
Holophrasis might also explain Rashi’s alleged suggestion that Gen. 33:4 hints by means of Masoretic pointing that Esau bit Jacob’s neck, motivated by a “halakhah that Esau hates Jacob.” The alleged midrash, which is the source of Rashi’s explanation of Esau’s odd behavior, may use the term “halakhah” holophrastically, to denote, as “way to go,” in the story of Jacob and Esau going their separate ways, Jacob to the land of Israel and Esau to the land of Edom.
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
