Sunday Mail: December 23, 2007

Posting a cartoon every weekday leaves no room for me to simply share news, ideas, and other stuff with you. So welcome to 'Sunday Mail: Letters from Dry Bones', the new, once-a-week Dry Bones feature.

Worm Bread?!

The LSF (Long Suffering Wife) and I were having a couple of cups of coffee at our local cafe the other morning when the dolt who acts as waiter proudly offered us a menu in English. As regulars who ordered the same thing every day, we'd never been offered menus before. Clearly they were proud to show off their new handiwork to a couple of local English-speakers. At the top of the menu was printed the notice that all their breakfasts were served with worm bread. I mentioned this delightful tidbit at Friday night dinner with friends, leading our Hebrew-speaking hostess to remark that she'd seen worm soup featured on the English menu of another restaurant in town. Because she's a Hebrew-speaker I assumed that she knew why the Red Sea is called the Red Sea in English. She didn't.

Because of the reeds and bull rushes growing at its shores its Hebrew name is Yam Soof (Sea of Reeds). But the King James translators made a spelling error and the way warm bread became worm bread, the Reed Sea became the Red Sea. And like the proprietors of Cafe Norma in the little village of Kfar Shmariyahu, they're not about to correct their mistake any time soon.

Red Sea?!

So if you'd like to know what the Bible actually says ...check out Word By Word Bible Study Tools. They make Bible/Hebrew study CDs. Each and every word of the Jewish Bible is translated from Hebrew to English, transliterated into English, and properly pronounced for you. Hey! You don't want to keep relying on the "worm bread" version now do you?