you are garbage - and that is a compliment
about Isabel, Zebulon and manure
In modern Israel husbands and wives argue all the time (among other things) about taking out the trash - Zevel. “he left the Zevel by the door and left for work!” I once heard a neighbor shout “he is a piece of Zevel himself!”.
But trash wasn’t always a bad thing, not in Hebrew, nor in any other language.
Once upon a time, before modernity with its plastic and waste, garbage was valued. All left overs were manure and as such an important fertilizer.
The stem “Z V L” was used in Biblical Hebrew to signal two things - fertile substance, or a house of grandeur. It is also the source of a very familiar names - Zebulon.
וַתַּהַר עוֹד לֵאָה, וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן-שִׁשִּׁי לְיַעֲקֹב.
וַתֹּאמֶר לֵאָה: זְבָדַנִי אֱלֹהִים אֹתִי זֵבֶד טוֹב!
הַפַּעַם יִזְבְּלֵנִי אִישִׁי, כִּי יָלַדְתִּי לוֹ שִׁשָּׁה בָנִים -
וַתִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמוֹ: זְבֻלוּן
Zebulon, the sixth son of Jacob from Leah. After giving birth Leah thought: “now my husband will appreciate me, care for me, after all - I have been fertile” . She named her baby after that fertility.
Another name uses the stem Z V L: Isabel.
וְֽהָיְתָ֞ה נִבְלַ֣ת אִיזֶ֗בֶל כְּדֹ֛מֶן עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה
Second book of kings, chapter 9.
Isabel, the foreign wife of the king of Israel had a bitter feud with the prophet Elijah. He cursed her that her corpse will rot in the field, and will be as Manure on the field. Her name indicates that she comes from a fertile home, but the double meaning of the name will foreshadow to the culmination of her story.
There are many ways to read her story. Feminist readings that rely on archeological findings describe a woman who used the power she had in a way that is similar to the man around her, the man’s resentment of the female player in a masculine field might have led to the description of her as a witch.
The prefix I is not the Hebrew one in this case but might be Phoenician and represent the child of or house of something. So Isabel means child of or house of Zevel, probably to represent that Isabel is the daughter of an important man (Etba’al, another name that carries complicated meaning).
By the end of her story she is manure to the animals of the field. Thus the metaphorical gun in the first act fires in the last, and the implied promise in her name is fulfilled.
The Jews are coming - “Izabel”, one of Israel’s most watched TV comedy shows, depicts biblical and modern Jews in a new light.
other Hebrew phrases using Z V L:
You are manuring my head - would mean : you are bullshiting me.
Zevel post - spam
The juice of the ZEVEL - to hit rock bottom.
Many ways to use the word ZEVEL in modern Hebrew, none are particularly positive.
As the summer starts to smell like autumn I am starting to plan the academic term ahead. This is a good opportunity to tell you that I teach free modern Hebrew classes online, as part of the “Centre for Hebrew and Jewish studies in Oxford” online program for the wider public. I offer three levels of classes, in a relaxed atmosphere - if anyone is interested in joining please let me know via mail.
I apologize for the prolonged silence - I hope that a longer, more personal post will soon follow with some insights on the complicated and painful year we just had.
Yours
Esther