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Case Study: Declaration of Independence – Part 3

5 August 2016

Public declaration of the independence of the State of Israel by David Ben Gurion. Photo: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Wikipedia.

In this article, we still explain the grammatical structures commonly used in formal written Hebrew, taking the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel as an example.

Please see the first two parts here and here.

In this page, we translate the third paragraph:

מתוך קשר היסטורי ומסורתי זה חתרו היהודים בכל דור לשוב ולהאחז במולדתם העתיקה; ובדורות האחרונים שבו לארצם בהמונים, וחלוצים, מעפילים ומגינים הפריחו נשמות, החיו שפתם העברית, בנו כפרים וערים, והקימו ישוב גדל והולך השליט על משקו ותרבותו, שוחר שלום ומגן על עצמו, מביא ברכת הקידמה לכל תושבי הארץ ונושא נפשו לעצמאות ממלכתית.

The beginning of the sentence reads:

מִתּוֹךְ קֶשֶׁר הִיסְטוֹרִי וּמָסָרְתִּי זֶה חָתְרוּ הַיְּהוּדִים בְּכָל דּוֹר לָשׁוּב וּלְהֵאָחֵז בְּמוֹלַדְתָּם הָעַתִּיקָה.
Mi-toch kesher histori u-masorti ze chatru ha-yehudim be-chol dor lashuv u-leheachez be-molad(e)tam ha-atika.
Out of this historic and traditional connection, the Jews in every generation strove to return and take hold of their ancient homeland.

מִתּוֹךְ‏ mi-toch "out of" (see here comment for more information about תוך and related expressions) in this context can be translated as "Driven by [the connection]".

מָסָרְתִּי‏ masorti "traditional" stems from מָסרֶׁת‏ masoret "tradition". The second kamatz in מָסָרְתִּי, being in a closed syllable, is kamatz katan, pronounced as o, and in vowelless writing is reflected with a ו‏ vav.

מוֹלַדְתָּם‏ molad(e)tam "their homeland" is a form of מוֹלֶדֶת‏ moledet "homeland", which has a root יל״ד and is related to the words such as יֶלֶד‏ yeled "boy", נוֹלַד nolad "was born" and יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת‏ ~ יום הולדת yom huledet "birthday".

וּבַדּוֹרוֹת הָאַחֲרוֹנִים, שָׁבוּ לְאַרְצָם בְּהֲמוֹנָם
u-va-dorot ha-ach(a)ronim, shavu le-artzam be-hamonam
And in the recent generations, [they] have been returning to their land en masse

בְּהֲמוֹנָם‏ be-hamonam, from הָמוֹן‏ hamon "a lot", with 3-rd personal plural pronominal suffix, means literally "in their multitude".

וַחֲלוּצִים, מַעְפִּילִים, וּמְגִנִּים הִפְרִיחוּ נְשַׁמּוֹת,...
va-chalutzim, ma'apilim u-meginim hifrichu neshamot,...
and pioneers, defiant returnees and defenders made deserts bloom,

מַעְפִּילִים‏ ma'apilim is the plural masculine participle form of לְהַעְפִּיל leha'apil "to climb, to ascend", and in this case is used as a noun, literally "climbers". This refers to those who immigrated, largely fleeing from the Nazi persecution, to the Land of Israel, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine, in violation of the British colonial restrictions.

The whole clandestine immigration movement of that time was correspondingly called הַעְפָּלָה‏ ha'apala, literally "ascension", or עֲלִיָּה בֵּי״ת‏ ~ עלייה ב׳ aliya bet "Aliyah B" (see the Wikipedia page to read more about it).

הֶחְיוּ שׂפָתָם הָעִבְרִית, בָּנוּ כְּפָרִים וְעָרִים,...
hech(e)yu sfatam ha-ivrit, banu kfarim ve-arim,...
revived their Hebrew language, built villages and cities,...

This is straightforward.

וְהֵקִיםוּ יִשּׁוּב גָּדֵל וְהוֹלֵךְ הַשַּׁלִּיט עַל מִשׁקוֹ וְתַרְבּוּתוֹ,...
ve-hekimu yishuv gadel ve-holech ha-shalit al mishko ve-tarbuto...
and created a thriving community controlling its [own] economy and culture,...

גָּדֵל וְהוֹלֵךְ‏ gadel ve-holech, literally "growing and going", or, alternatively, הוֹלֵךְ וְגָדֵל‏ holech ve-gadel, is an idiom that means "thriving", "growing".

מְגִנִּים‏ meginim (singular: מֵגֵן‏ megen) is the participle of the verb לְהָגֵן lehagen "to defend", again used as a noun: "defenders". An identically spelled and closely related word is מָגֵן‏ magen "shield", as in מָגֵן דָּוִד‏ magen David "shield of David, star of David".

Note also that the word נְשַׁמּוֹת‏ neshamot "deserts", with the root שמ״ם "to devastate, to destroy", is unrelated to the identically spelled and, in modern Hebrew, identically pronounced word נְשָׁמוֹת‏ neshamot "souls", with the root נש״ם "to breathe".

שׁוֹחֵר שָׁלוֹם וּמֵגֵן עַל עַצְמוֹ, מֵבִיא בִּרְכַּת הַקִּדְמָה לְכָל תוֹשָׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ...
shocher shalom u-megen al atzmo, mevi birkat ha-kidma le-chol toshavei ha-aretz...
advocating peace but defending itself, and bringing the blessing of progress to all of the country's inhabitants...

The word קִדְמָה‏ kidma "progress" is spelled with a yud in the original text – קידמה – to distinguish it from קַדְמָה‏ kadma "front" or הַקְדָּמָה‏ hakdama "introduction, preface".

וְנוֹשֵֹא נַפְשׁוֹ לְעַצְמָאוּת מַמְלַכְתִּית.
ve-nose nafsho le-atzmaut mamlachtit.
and aspiring towards national independence.

נָשָֹא נַפְשוֹ‏ nasa nafsho literally "brought its soul" (used with the preposition ל־) means "aspired, strove (for something)".

If anything is missing, unclear or seems wrong, please do not hesitate to ask!

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See also

Case Study: Declaration of Independence – Part 1

Case Study: Declaration of Independence – Part 2

Reading a News Article: SimilarWeb raises $25m – Part 1

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