# יד ושם



## Aoyama

Probably a naive question, but in the name of the Memorial *Yad VaShem *, in Jerusalem, the meaning is "Memorial and Name", coming from a Biblical verse: "And to them will I give in my house and within my walls _a memorial and a name_ (_Yad Vashem_) that shall not be cut off".
  But יד (yad) can also mean "hand" ... I did believe for a long time that the meaning of this _Memorial _​(it is one) was "the Hand and the Name" ... Could it also be understood that way ?


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## origumi

You may want to read an article by Ruvik Rosental, the last two paragraphs, which says:


> אין הסברים משכנעים לקישור המשמעות בין היד בגוף האדם לבין 'מקום', אבל מכאן התגלגלה המשמעות של מצבת זיכרון, המופיעה פעמיים בתנ"ך, אחת מהן היא יד אבשלום.


http://blog.ravmilim.co.il/2011/04/25/andarta


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## Aoyama

rav todot ...


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## naamatt

Yad = Hand
VaShem = and a Name

In the Holocaust the Jews got numbers on their hand, and it was like their "names".


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## Aoyama

Hum, I'm not sure that reasoning works ... But then again ...


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## scriptum

origumi said:


> You may want to read an article by Ruvik Rosental, the last two paragraphs, which says:
> אין הסברים משכנעים לקישור המשמעות בין היד בגוף האדם לבין 'מקום', אבל מכאן התגלגלה המשמעות של מצבת זיכרון, המופיעה פעמיים בתנ"ך, אחת מהן היא יד אבשלום.



I wouldn't dream of questioning Ruvik's authority, but the logic behind the expression seems to me self-evident.
The Word and the Deed: that's what remains of a man after his death, isn't it?


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## Egmont

I lived in Yad Eliyahu, in the south-east of Tel Aviv, for many years. It was named as a memorial to Eliyahu Golomb, head of the Hagana, who had just died when it was founded in 1945. The name had nothing to do with his hand.


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## origumi

Egmont said:


> I lived in Yad Eliyahu, in the south-east of Tel Aviv, for many years. It was named as a memorial to Eliyahu Golomb, head of the Hagana, who had just died when it was founded in 1945. The name had nothing to do with his hand.


But for יד הנפץ (Old Shatterhand) of Karl May, Winnetou's friend, the name does have something to do with his hand . So isolated examples may mislead.


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## Egmont

origumi said:


> But for יד הנפץ (Old Shatterhand) of Karl May, Winnetou's friend, the name does have something to do with his hand . So isolated examples may mislead.


You are entirely correct. I was not denying that יד can mean "hand." Obviously, it can. The אצבעות with which I'm typing this are attached to my ידיים. I was only pointing out that its other meaning is not related to "hand."


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