Hiddush

{{em|Ḥiddush}} comes from the Hebrew root {{Lang|he|ח-ד-שׁ}}, meaning {{em|new}}. The usage of the word in this context originated from the language of Talmudic analysis and argumentation in the Gemara.{{cite book |last=Glinert |first=Lewis |title=The Joys of Hebrew |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=November 1993 |isbn=978-0195086683 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/joysofhebrew00glin_0 }} It passed into Yiddish, where it is at times used informally.

Nachmanides statesin his Sefer HaMilhamot that it is an "obligation imposed upon us to search through the subjects of the Torah and the precepts and bring to light their hidden contents".{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica

|publisher=Keter Publishing House Ltd|location=Jerusalem Israel|date=1972}}

What "powers" ḥiddushim? MaaYana Shel Toraha 5 volume set by Rabbi Alexander Zusia Friedman asks regarding "VaYayLech Moshe" (31:1)—where did he go? and answers that he went into everyone: NichNas Moshe Rabbeinu LeToch ToCho Shel Kol Adam MiYisroel. This, he writes, is the basis of people having/writing ChiDuShim.

Although "any ḥiddush (novel idea) which a reputable disciple will ever come up with was already given to Moses by Sinai,"{{cite web |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/819698/jewish/How-Is-the-Torah-Interpreted.htm|title=How Is the Torah Interpreted?|last=Silberberg |first=Naftali |accessdate=2017-02-07}} in one rabbi's understanding of a particular ruling, he wrote: "I have always understood Rabbi Feinstein to be insisting on a balance between innovation and tradition.{{cite web|url=http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2008/08/role-of-chiddush.html|title=The Role of Chiddush: The View of One Paragraph in Iggerot Moshe ...|last=Broyde |first=Michael J.|date=10 August 2008|accessdate=2017-02-08}}

Ḥiddushim are the ongoing results of a process"the results of a method of study of rabbinical literature which derives new ideas from talmudic and also rabbinic texts, in order to clarify halakhah." and, as a form of K’vod Hatorah, we're required not to forget them. New ways to recall what we learn can be a form of ḥiddush.Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, {{cite web

|url=http://machal.michlalah.edu/divrei_torah/Dvorim_Ginsburg/Parshas%20KiTavo5771.doc

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155645/http://machal.michlalah.edu/divrei_torah/Dvorim_Ginsburg/Parshas%20KiTavo5771.doc

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2017-02-11

|title=Parshas Ki Savo

}} talks of tapes, CDs, notebooks summarized with indexes, indexes of accumulated notebooks, folders, "files on computers".

There is a difference between issuing a ruling, meaning to "distinguish the case at hand from the {{sic|pre|cident|nolink=y}}... to solve a problem,"{{rp|footnotes 4 & 5}} and an understanding of something. Even in the latter case, he writes "What Rabbi Feinstein means is that one should not be innovative (mechadesh) just to innovate."

• Although it is a Torah command for Kohanim to bless the people, there might be a ḥiddush whether it is obligatory upon those who are not Kohanim to make themselves available to receive these blessings.{{cite web

|url=http://www.cckollel.org/parsha_encounters/5768/behaloscha.pdf

|title=The Role of the Yisroel

|last=Friedman |first=Ephraim |accessdate=2007-02-08}} "One of the G’dolei Achronim who introduces this concept is the Hafloah (Rav Pinchas Horowitz zt’l, Rebi of the Chasam Sofer) in his chidushim to Meseches Kesuvos 24b. He maintains, that although the Torah is only explicit in commanding the Kohanim to deliver the brochos, since the mitzva can not be performed without the participation of the Yisroelim

• Can always be new? Psalm (27:4) has King David asking that he "dwell.. and visit.." Which is it? Rabbi Yissocher Frand explains the experience as "The Pitfall of Consistency: Been There, Done That."{{cite web|url=http://www.torah.org.il/learning/ravfrand/5757/pinchas.html?print=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155533/http://www.torah.org.il/learning/ravfrand/5757/pinchas.html?print=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-02-11|title=Rabbi Frand on Parshas Pinchas|accessdate=2007-02-08}} This question is so important that it is a notable part of what many add to the daily prayer service, "twice daily from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Shemini Atzeret".{{cite web

|url=http://www.torahmusings.com/2010/08/elul-ldavid

|title=Elul - L'David|date=17 August 2010|accessdate=2017-02-12}}

One form is called Notarikon.As defined in the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906, "A system of shorthand consisting in either simply abbreviating the words or in writing only one letter of each word. This system…was said by the Talmudists to have existed as early as the time of Moses; and they held that the latter used it in the composition of the Pentateuch. The law concerning noṭariḳon is the thirtieth of the thirty-two hermeneutic rules laid down by Eliezer b. Jose ha-Gelili for the interpretation of the Bible.” (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11602-notarikon)."

: Shabbat (שַׁבָּת), the Sabbath, is a day of rest. The word is spelled with 3 Hebrew letters.
The Notarikon of the three-word phrase "Shayna b'Shabbat Taanug" (שינה בשבת תענוג) (translation: "(Extra) Sleep on Shabbat is considered a Delight!") spells Shabbat (שַׁבָּת).source: Dayan I. Grunfeld{{cite web

|url=https://www.ou.org/holidays/shabbat/remember_the_day_of_shabbat

|title=Remember the Day of Shabbat|accessdate=2017-02-12}}

: By itself it might seem like at best a minor ḥiddush. When published amidst a collection of many other such 3-word phrases about the day of rest, the title has justified use of the plural form: ḥiddushim.

Another is finding a Gematria.There's more than one way, not all of them correct. {{cite web

|url=https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/inventing-your-own-false-gematrias

|title=Inventing Your Own [False] Gematrias

|quote=you need a mesorah for gematria}}This doesn't take away from one said at a Sheva Brachos, if done well: "so long as it fits with a real idea/source/Halacha"

The above termas used by a discussion group, discussing Mesillat Yesharim points to a need for something "old" to be seen in a new light.From Mishnat Rebi Aharon 1:203 within http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/28738/what-is-the-importance-of-chiddush A multi-volume commentary on Mesillas Yesharimhttp://dixieyid.blogspot.com/2009/03/three-types-of-chiddushim-novel-ideas.html, citing Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, volume 5, Pirkei Avodah U'Machshava compares and contrasts this to emotional insight, a type of Chidush where "something which is novel emotionally" illuminates the value of an idea one already knew intellectually, and brings "a new internalization".

Among the first post-Geonic writers of ḥiddushim{{rp|pp.465–466}} are:

• Joseph ibn Migash wrote the first published cḥidushim incorporating commentaries on halakha in the Talmud{{cite book

|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7682-hiddushim

|title=Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906, Public Domain|accessdate=2017-02-12}}

• Abraham ben David de Posquières (RABaD)
• Meir ben Todros HaLevi Abulafia (c. 1170 – 1244)
• Nachmanides was the first to write ḥiddushim on the Chumash.

By the late sixteenth century, with printing an established technology, hair-splitting distinctions into the treatment of halakic-Talmudic themes became more frequent, with ḥiddush-driven works such as those by:

• Rabbi Meir Lublin, MaHaRam,not to be confused with MaHaRam of Rottenberg author of Chiddushe Maharam Lublin
• Solomon Luria ("MaHaRSHaL")
• Rabbi Samuel Eliezer Edels ("MeHaRSHA")

A counter-intuitive use of the term was the Chasam Sofer's novel interpretation of the phrase Chadash asur min haTorah, ("'new' is forbidden by the Torah"). The phrase as originally used is regarding the laws of keeping kosher, whereas his use was regarding changes being made by the Reform movement in Europe: it was a way of saying no—but using a pun.{{Cite web|url=http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/857655/rabbi-elli-fischer/chatam-sofer-on-the-meaning-of-chadash-assur-min-hatorah-|title = YUTorah Online - Chatam Sofer on the Meaning of "Chadash Assur Min HaTorah" (Rabbi Elli Fischer)| date=2 April 2024 }}

In its regular, contemporary, use, {{em|ḥiddush}} means a novel or innovative (or unusual) idea or point;{{cite book |last=Pava |first=Moses |title=Leading With Meaning: Using Covenantal Leadership to Build a Better Organization |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=April 2003 |isbn=978-1403961327}} examples:

• "I once learned a very useful chidush (novel idea) in the name of Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l, concerning ..."{{cite web

|url=http://www.atlantakollel.org/article_detail.php?id=454§ion=resources

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110094901/http://www.atlantakollel.org/article_detail.php?id=454§ion=resources

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2017-01-10

|title=Atlanta Scholars Kollel: Articles

|accessdate=2017-02-13

}}

• "He is famous for his original insights on ..." (review: Rabbi Dovid Feinstein - Kol Dodi On Torah){{cite web|url=https://mostlymusic.com/products/rabbi-david-feinstein-kol-dodi-on-torah|title=Rabbi David Feinstein - Kol Dodi On Torah|accessdate=2017-02-13|archive-date=2017-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214103003/https://mostlymusic.com/products/rabbi-david-feinstein-kol-dodi-on-torah|url-status=dead}}

and similarly, book titles may be of the following form:

• The work known as Chidushei HaRim, uses the Hebrew word {{em|ḥiddushei}} in the possessive form, and means "ḥiddushim of"
• thus, an English language form is "ḥiddushim of (name of person)", with translation "Novellae of...".

{{em|Ḥiddush}} has to some extent become assimilated into American English;{{cite news |date=30 November 2016 |title=Professor to speak on Yiddish's influence on the English language |website=Jewish News - Your Community Weekly Serving Greater Phoenix & Northern Arizona |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/community/professor-to-speak-on-yiddish-s-influence-on-the-english/article_9807729a-b713-11e6-8eb2-c39165fc62c7.html |quote=Sarah Bunin Benor, associate professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and adjunct associate professor of linguistics at the University of Southern California, will speak on 'Chutzpah to Chidush: A Century of Yiddish-Influenced English in America'}} and the word—particularly in "Yinglish"—is also commonly used in an ironic or humorous fashion, so as to imply that the statement in question is "nothing new".

{{notefoot}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/2009/05/command-to-be-mechadesh-for-right.html The command to be mechadesh -- for the right reasons]
• [https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/28738/what-is-the-importance-of-chiddush What is the importance of Chiddush]
• [http://www.rabbihorowitz.com/PYes/articleDetails.cfm?Book_ID=1799&ThisGroup_ID=238&Type=article Lessons from Rabbi Elazar ben Aruch]
• [http://en.hidush.co.il/ CHIDDUSH - Online Beit Medrish]

{{Jewish life}}

Category:Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law

Category:Jewish texts

Category:Orthodox Judaism

Category:Rabbinic literature

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