The name of this Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem comes from Isaiah 56:5. Here is the first part of this verse: “Ve-natati lahem be-veiti u-ve-chomotai yad va-shem…” A standard translation for “yad va-shem” here is: “a monument and a memorial.” Why is יד being translated this way?
The explanation is that יד seems to have the meaning of “monument” in two other places in Tanach: at 1 Sam. 15:12 and 2 Sam. 18:18.
The context at 1 Sam. 15:12 is that Saul had just defeated Amalek. Verse 12 reads: “Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told to Samuel, saying: Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he is setting up for himself a monument…” The monument was surely to commemorate his recent victory over Amalek. The Hebrew for the last phrase is: “ve-hineh metziv lo yad.”
(What follows shortly thereafter in verse 14 is Samuel’s famous rebuke of Saul: “u-meh kol ha-tzon ha-zeh….” Many have observed that the “meh”of “u-meh” was likely meant to sound like the sound of sheep!)
The context at 2 Sam. 18:18 is the killing of Avshalom and that a heap of stones was built over his dead body. (Soncino comments: “as a monument of shame over the rebel’s grave.”) We are then told, in a contrast, that Absalom had in his lifetime set up a מצבת (=monument), because he had no sons. The verse continues “va-yikra la-matzevet al shemo, va-yikarei lah yad Avshalom ad ha-yom ha-zeh” (=it is called Avshalom’s monument until this day”).
As to why the word יד expanded to mean “monument,” this is difficult. It has been suggested that monuments in ancient Israel originally had the shape of a raised hand (i.e., the upper part of the monument is rounded), with evidence attempted to be brought for this from the cities of Hazor and Gezer. Alternatively, the term might have originated with monuments depicting hands, such as one found in Hazor. For further details, see the article by M. Delcor, in Journal of Semitic Studies 12 (1967), pp. 230-34. See also the Soncino comm. to Isa. 56:5. I also have one more suggestion that I will make a few paragraphs below. (Note also that the cognates to יד in the other Semitic languages do not have the “monument” meaning.)
Going back to Isaiah 56:5, the context here is also of interest. The “yad va-shem” that God is giving is addressed to the “sarisim” (=eunuchs) who kept the commandments and presumably did a lot of good deeds, but had no children. God promises to establish them a “yad va-shem,” which is “better than sons and daughters.” As the Daat Mikra commentary points out, probably it was a big זכות for them that the memorial would be in God’s Temple and walls.
(Perhaps the “yad va-shem” term from verse 56:5 was also thought to be appropriate for the Holocaust Remembrance Center because many of the people murdered in the Holocaust had no children.)
(I translated “yad va-shem” above as “a monument and a memorial.” This is how the phrase at Isa. 56:5 is translated in the 1917 Jewish Publication Society of America translation. The implication of this translation is that the two nouns have similar meanings. Others suggest that “yad” refers to a physical structure and “shem” refers to oral praise. Another suggestion is that “yad va-shem” means a “yad” that serves as a “shem.” For the various views, see, e.g., the Daat Mikra comm. on the verse.)
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There is another interesting use of the word יד at Deut. 23:13. The context here is the holiness of the military camp. At verse 14 we are told to have a יתד to use to dig and cover up our excrement. Verse 13 tells us what to do when we have to urinate in the military camp: “ve-yad tihiyeh lecha mi-chutz la-machaneh, ve-yatzahta shamah chutz.” (This is the view of Daat Mikra. But it may be a reference to both bodily functions.)
“Ve-yatzahta shamah chutz” is such innocuous language, I never realized it was alluding to relieving oneself! (R. Hirsch translated: “thither shalt thou go out.” The ArtScroll Stone has “to there you shall go out, outside.” At least The Living Torah of R. Aryeh Kaplan uses the word “lavatory” in its translation.)
But what is the meaning of “yad” in the first phrase: “you shall have a “yad” for yourself”? The meaning from the context is “place.” But how did it get his meaning? One view is that “yad” here means “sign,” the implication being a sign pointing to a place, and the further implication perhaps being a “designated place.” (See, e.g., Targum Onkelos.) But the view I prefer is that “yad” here is shorthand for “makom al yad”= a place on the side. See, e.g., Brown-Driver-Briggs, p. 390, and Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 5, p. 402. In many places in Tanach, “yad,” “al yad,” and “el yad” are used to mean “side.” See, e.g., Ex. 2:5, Psalms 140:6, Prov. 8:3, and 1 Sam. 4:13 and 4:18.
Now that we are reminded that “yad” sometimes means “side,” I will offer the suggestion that in the case of monuments, perhaps they were originally placed on the “side” of the objects they were commemorating. Hence, “yad” came to be a term for a monument.
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There is a famous kibbutz in Israel near Gaza called “Yad Mordechai.” (I wrote about it previously.) It fought valiantly during the War of Independence, and its tenacious defensive fighting for six days was able to significantly delay the Egyptian invasion. If not for that delay, the Egyptian army could have quickly reached Tel Aviv. The “Yad Mordechai” kibbutz was founded by two groups from Poland and named for Mordechai Anielewicz, the leader of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. He fell in a battle in May 1943. The meaning of the name of the kibbutz is “A Memorial to Mordechai.” (The kibbutz first started near Netanya, with a different name.)
Margaret Larkin wrote a book in English about the kibbutz and its role in the War of Independence. The book is titled: “The Six Days of Yad-Mordechai.” As seen from page 50 of the book, she understood the meaning of the name, “Monument to Mordechai.” But if you look online, sometimes the book is erroneously called “Hand of Mordechai”!
Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected]. For more of his articles, please visit his website at rootsandrituals.org. He hopes there will be an interesting monument at his grave. Perhaps it can be called “Yad Rishon.”
