Al Ha VeDa על הא ודא

Monday, May 06, 2002

Posted 10:54 AM by Simon

Reading Netscape Time by Jim Clark, I was struck by the following passage

After all, it’s monkish work to write line after line of instructions in arcane computer languages day after day, month after month. The task must be something like translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek to English (or rather, the other way around).

I’m not sure what “the other way around” is in this context, but never mind that. What this irresistably reminds me of is the statement in the Jerusalem Talmud: וכל האוכל מצה בערב פסח כבא על ארוסתו בבית חמיו [eating unleavened bread the day before Passover is like sleeping with your fiancée in your father-in-law’s house], and my response to Jim Clark’s statement is the same as Smolenskin’s to the Talmud’s: ניסיתי את שניהם ולא מצאתי דומים [I’ve done both and I didn’t notice the resemblance].