Yimakh shemo

Usage

The term, although Hebrew, may be inserted as a set phrase in languages other than Hebrew, including Yiddish, for example, "Dos iz a kol-boynik, yemakh-shmoy!" ("He is a scoundrel, yemakh-shmoy!") and English. When the phrase is used in English of plurals the Hebrew plural -am ("their names and their memories" yimach shemam ve-zichram) is applied. The epithet may be abbreviated as "Y. S." in some English texts. In Hebrew the abbreviation is (יש״ו) he The curse connects with examples of erasure of names in other cultures. It has been called "the classic Jewish curse".

Biblical origin: Psalms Haman and Amalek

The phrase has its origins in Psalm 109 verse 13.

13 May his end be to be cut off; in another generation may their name be blotted out. יגיְהִֽי־אַֽחֲרִית֥וֹ לְהַכְרִ֑ית בְּד֥וֹר אַ֜חֵ֗ר יִמַּ֥ח שְׁמָֽם:

The Extra word (vezikhro) originates with Purim and is applied to Haman.

Although the immediate context of the phrase yimakh shemo vezikhro is related to Haman, some sources suggest that the second part of the phrase, "and his memory" (he), harks back to the instruction to "obliterate the memory of Amalek" (תִּמְחֶה אֶת־זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק) in Deuteronomy 25:19, and Exodus 17:14. This connection is supported in some sources by the idea that Haman is a descendant of Amalek.

Relation to ''damnatio memoriae''

The obliteration of Amalek's memory has been compared to the Latin damnatio memoriae by several European academics.

Historical national enemiess

The phrase can also be applied to anyone perceived as "a great enemy of the Jewish nation" such as Sabbatai Zevi, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, and other Nazis.

Jesus

There are only a very small number of texts where yimakh shemo is used of Jesus, although the tradition that Yeshu (יֵשׁוּ – (יֵשׁוּעַ minus the ayin) is related to the yimach shemo has a little popular circulation, maybe an inheritance from medieval polemical traditions. An early introduction of this connection into Lutheran literature was made by convert Johan Kemper.

In English and Yiddish literature

Saul Bellow places the phrase in the mouth of the titular character of his novel Herzog to comically depict his anger. Leo Haber's The Red Heifer (2001), set in New York's Lower East Side in the 1940s, includes the term in a glossary.

Derived Jewish terms

In Yiddish a derived noun, formed with the Slavonic -nik nominalizing suffix, is yi 'scoundrel' (feminine yi), but this is not used with the strength of the original epithet yi.

The term yimakh shemo is often used in combination with the term meshummad from the root shamad, which signifies to destroy.

References

References

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19. Wolfthal, Diane. (2004). "Picturing Yiddish: Gender, Identity, and Memory in the Illustrated Yiddish Books of Renaissance Italy". Brill.
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24. Hafner, Stanislaus. (1962). "Serbisches Mittelalter".
25. First things: Issues 129-133 Institute on Religion and Public Life - 2003 "The phrase is yemach shemo, which means, may his name be erased. It is used whenever a great enemy of the Jewish nation, of the past or present, is mentioned.
26. (2002). "Caught in the Crack: Encounters with the Jewish Muslims of Turkey: A Spiritual Travelogue". Wandering Soul Press.
27. (2002). "The Messiah of Ismir: Sabbatai Zevi". The Viking Press.
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32. (1991). "To Save a World".
33. Seltzer, Nachman. (2006). "In the blink of an eye: and other stories".
34. ''Sh'ma'' 485-515 1995 "yemach shmam vezikhram (may the name and memory be blotted out), the colloquially used epithet that accompanies all mentions of Hitler or the Nazis in some people's vernacular"
35. Proceedings: Volume 4 Aḳademyah ha-leʼumit ha-Yiśreʼelit le-madaʻim - 1969 "Perhaps the most significant of these is the passage where instead of the printed 'that certain man' we find 'Jesus the Nazarene — may his name be obliterated' (thus also in a Genizah MS, British Museum, Or. 91842). "
36. (2003). "The Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction". A&C Black.
37. (2004). "Rabbi Kemper's Case for Christianity in His Matthew Commentary, with Reference to Exegesis (Hebrew Studies within Seventeenth Century Swedish Lutheranism)".
38. Saul Bellow: a critical essay Robert Detweiler - 1967 -"Or listen to Herzog in a comically vengeful mood: "Yemach sh'mol Let their names be blotted out!"
39. Liela H. Goldman ''Saul Bellow's moral vision: a critical study of the Jewish experience'' He says: "Yemach sh'mo!" Let their names be blotted out!" (250). The Hebrew noun for the word name is shem ... If Herzog is referring to his enemies, he would have to say yemach sh'mom. His anger does not justify incorrect usuage"
40. Haber, L. ''The Red Heifer'' (2001) Glossary yemach shemoy (shetno) (pl. yemach shemum): may his name be erased (used in reference to an evil tyrant or an oppressor); when v'zichroy (v' zichro) is added (pl. v'zichrum), the phrase is extended to mean, May his name and his memory be erased
41. Wex, Michael. (2006). "Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods". Harper Collins.
42. Goldman, Shalom. (2004). "God's sacred tongue: Hebrew & the American imagination".
43. Frey, Joseph Samuel Christian Frederick. (1812). "Judah and Israel: or, The restoration and conversion of the Jews".