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September 27, 2002/Tishri 21 5763, Vol. 55, No. 5
'Matzav' has new meaning
JESSICA STEINBERG
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - The Hebrew word "matzav," or situation, used to be a fairly innocuous term for most Israelis.
"Ma hamatzav," they would ask one another - what's up? It is a question that does not always require an answer.
Or they would say "Yesh matzav," which can mean something is brewing.
A person can be "metzu-vrach," someone who is sad or hurting.
These days, however, if you ask about the matzav, there is only one situation in mind: the conflict with the Palestinians.
As Israel approaches the second anniversary of the intifada, the term used most often to describe the overall state of affairs is "hamatzav," or "the situation."
In fact, within a week after the first rocks were thrown in late September 2000, one Tel Aviv paper wrote the following headline: "Yesh Matzav" - "There is a Situation."
"It's a word with a negative connotation," says Ruvik Rosenthal, language columnist for the Ma'ariv newspaper. "According to the dictionary definition, it's a neutral word. But in daily usage, it has a connotation of tension, sadness, problems."
For Rosenthal, one of the nation's word masters, matzav was the word of the year for 5762, the Jewish year that just ended. It is one of those expressions that is Israeli in its very essence. It is "our ambassador word," he said.
According to the Yehuda Gur dictionary, the word "matzav" was first used several times in the Bible, referring to a person's physical stance or station.
It wasn't until the 14th century that Rabbi Yitzhak Bar Sheshet, who lived in Spain during the massacre of Jews in 1391, used the word "matzav" in a responsa to indicate one's existential situation, perhaps referring to the persecution of the Jews, said professor David Golinkin, president and rector of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, and one of the leading authorities on Jewish law in the Conservative movement in Israel.
"He used the word in the modern sense," Golinkin said.
More than 600 years later, it is the word Israelis use most often to describe a situation without an obvious solution.
On www.thematzav.com, a Web site depicting the daily lives of Israelis during the conflict, the matzav is described as the situation Israelis live with every day.
It is "the mile-long traffic jam that could be a security check or a bombed bus. It's your son, father, husband called up for mandatory reserve duty in a scary place. It's the morbid thought that the bus or mall you are entering may be your last," according to the site.
Even when someone says "Matzav tov," which means everything is OK, the understanding is that "it's good but temporary," added Rosenthal.
"It's hard to explain this word, hard to translate it," he said. "Hamatzav is our friend. We know it. It is a citizen of this state."
Before the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1948, the Jews living in pre-state Palestine talked about "the matzav" the way Israelis do today. To them, it signified the situation they all shared, namely, how to win the ongoing battle for the creation of the Jewish state.
As such, it is a word reminiscent of a certain time and place - of the pre-state militias, the siege on Jerusalem and the smuggling in of illegal immigrants.
This time around, it was street usage that brought it back into the daily vernacular, but the Israeli army increased its usage when it used hamatzav to describe the increasingly violent conflict, according to Rosenthal.
Matzav covers it all: the terror attacks and their victims, the army and its operations, the government and its decisions, the deteriorating economic situation, Israel's international isolation.
"It's a word that means heaviness," Rosenthal said. "If a secondhand car is advertised as matzav tov" - in good condition - "that means it's about to break down. Zeh hamatzav: This is the situation, and there's nothing we can do about it. Zeh ma she'yesh" - this is what there is - "and we have to make do with what we have."
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