Talking in Synagogue
At Hirhurim Gil has two recent posts on the issue of talking during shul. I just came across two related sources which illustrate how this problem is not new at all. The first source is from a Yiddish poem written around 1675.
in the synagogue they can’t keep their mouths shut;
one talks of his colt, the other of his horse;
they shout at each other;
“Why didn’t you water the horse?”
The second source is from Jehuda Leb of Selichov’s moralistic poem, Shirei Yehudah, which was published in 1697.
and they talk much idle words;
…
on business deals and merchandise;
about cattle horse oxen and cow;
also about sheep lamp ram and goats.
Source: Michael Toch, Peasants and Jews in Medieval Germany
July 14th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
of course these references are all euphemisms for other more spiritual things – that’s profound poetry