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# Israel

🏷 Bible name Semitic pun · name — by Gerry · May 2019 · 1320 words

The name Israel has many possible puns that match the Israelite story arc. From the encrypted laws, the most common spook meaning seems to be “veiled assistant”, i.e. a lesser spy or spookling. But Israel also puns with “veiled ruler” forwards & backwards.

## The Israel puns in a nutshell

When I first found out about hidden rulership, I thought that Israel would stand for “hidden rulers”. However, the consonants S-R-L are very common in Hebrew, so many puns are possible. In the encrypted texts of Bible & Talmud, the term is usually used to refer to lower-level insiders, so the most likely pun would be with “veiled assistant”.

And as usual with mythical characters, the Biblical story of the Israelites is also composed of elements & attributes that pun with the word Israel. This is an indication that there was an earlier version of the story, which was pure wordplay & poetry, without the malicious encryption.

- The Israelites are bonded workers in the story, because ˀyswr-ˀly means “bonded worker”. (The Israelites are also named yhwdy “Jews”, because that puns with ˀḥydh “captured”. They’re also named ˁbr “Hebrews”, because that puns with ḥybwr “binding”.) 🡻
- The Israelites are especially pious, because yšyr-ˀl means “firm belief in God”. (The Israelites are also named yhwdy “Jews”, because that is derived from ydh “confession” & “prayer”. They’re also named ˁbr “Hebrews”, perhaps because that puns with ḥbr “member of a religious group”.) 🡻
- The character Israel wrestles all night with a man until his hip hurts, perhaps because ˀyswr-ˁwl means “sexual perversion”. (The character is also named ˁqb “Jacob”, because that also puns with ˁgb “sex” & “lust”.) 🡻
- The term Israel may refer to lesser spooklings, i.e. spies among the population, because yˁzr-rˁl means “veiled assistant”, and yˀzr-ˀll means “veiled spy”. (These spies may also be referred to as yhwdy “Jews”, because that puns with hwdyˁ “informant”. They may also be referred to as ˁbr “Hebrews”, because that puns with ḥbr “informant”.) 🡻
- In theory, the term Israelites could also refer to hidden rulers, because šr-rˁl means “veiled ruler”. That was my initial idea. However, in the Biblical & Talmudic texts, the Israelites typically pun-translate much better into lesser spooklings. 🡻

## Israel as pun with “bonded worker”

In the Biblical story, the Israelites are workers in bondage, so there must be some pun that made the ancient storytellers include that aspect in the pre-spook version of the story. It may be ˀyswr-ˀly, which means “bonded laborer”. Both components are not very often used though.

#### Hebrew, Aramaic ˀsr, ˀyswr = captivity, bound, bond; ˀly = labor, work

איסור ˀyswr : imprisonment; prisoners — Hebrew (Jastrow)

אסיר ˀsyr : captured; forbidden; captive, bound — Aramaic (CAL)

אסירו ˀsyrw : captivity; connection; captivity; being joined, connection; kinship; bond — Aramaic (CAL)

אלי ˀly : to labor — Aramaic (CAL)

לעי lˁy : to labor, work; to study; to be tired; to tire out, ruin — Hebrew (Jastrow)

## Israel as pun with “firm believer”

In the Biblical story, the Israelites are saved by their God because they’re such firm believers in that God. So there may be a pun that led the storytellers to include this story arc. It may be yšr-ˀl “firm [belief in] God”. yšr means “firm”, “pious”, “upright”. (It may even be related to šrh “persevering”, which is the official etymology of Israel according to Genesis 32:28.)

I do not know why this is not officially admitted. It may be because it’s still a secret that Bible terms can pun with several aspects of a character, not just one.

#### Hebrew, Aramaic ysr = firm, pious, upright, believe

ישר yšr : firm, sound; straight, right, upright — Hebrew (Jastrow)

ישרא yšrˀ : firm believer, upright man — Hebrew (Jastrow)

ישיר yšyr : upright, firm; pious — Aramaic (CAL)

שרר šrr : to be firm, tight; to be true; to believe; to have confidence in; to believe to be true; to strive with; to be confirmed; to be believed — Aramaic (CAL)

## Israel as pun with “sexual perversion”

In the Biblical story, Jacob is renamed Israel after he wrestles all night with a strange man who seems to be an incarnation of God. In the encrypted spook story beneath, this wrestling may be gay sex. This pun-encryption also seems to occur in the Talmud in Shabbat 8:3, where the name Israel occurs in the middle of rules about sexual practices that are not to be publicly practiced. The pun may be with ˀyswr-ˁwl which means something like “sexual perversion”, from the components ˀsr “prohibition” and ˁwl “perversion”.

#### Hebrew, Aramaic ˀsr = prohibit, prohibited sexual practice; ˁwl = perversion

איסור ˀyswr : prohibition; legal prohibition; prohibited action or object; esp. prohibited sexual behavior, prostitution; binding; imprisonment — Aramaic (CAL)

עול ˁwl : perversion, fault — Hebrew (Jastrow)

עול ˁwl : to act perversely; to do wrong, cheat — Hebrew (Jastrow)

## Israel as pun with “veiled assistant”

In the actual Bible verses I’ve decrypted so far, Israel typically seems to refer to middle or lower-rank secret agents who are being handed instructions (Lev 17:10ff, Lev 18:2), while the ruling spook aristocracy is represented by God. So, the most likely pun-meaning for Israel in this context is עזר רעל ˁzr-rˁl ˁezer-raˁal “veiled assistants”. They’re the traitorous spies & moles scattered among the populations of the world, who enable the corrupt rule of the overlord scum.

The Talmud also seems to confirm that the term Israelite encrypts some middle-rank secret agent: Terumot 1:1 forbids that outsiders run hoaxes, even if they belong to an “Israelite”. That would point to Israelites being mid-level handlers of low-level spooklings or dupes here.

(Note: There is even another possible pun, with yˀzr-ˀll “veiled spy”, where the 1st component means “veil” and the 2nd means “spy”. So Israel puns with “spy” in 2 different ways.)

#### Hebrew ˁzr = assist, help, helper, helpmate; rˁl = veil

עזר ˁzr : to help, assist, aid — Hebrew (Klein)

עזר ˁzr : help, helper, one who helps — Old Hebrew (Strong)

עזר ˁzr : help; helpmate — Hebrew (Jastrow)

רעל rˁl : to veil; Arabic ra‘ul — Hebrew (Jastrow)

## Israel as pun with “veiled ruler”

My first guess was that Israel would be a pun with yšr-rˁl “veiled ruler”. However, it turned out that so far the Bible & Talmud do not support this, because they use the term Israel for spooks in the middle or lower ranks. But since the same word is sometimes used to encrypt different meanings with different puns, I may yet stumble over a passage where this first guess would hold true.

Interestingly, the term רעל rˁl raˁul for “veil” is an alleged Arabic word for “veil”, derived from “trembling”. But it only ever occurs in Hebrew texts & dictionaries! I have not found a single Arabic dictionary which lists this word as “veil”, very few list the word root at all. The fact that this obscure loanword was kept alive in Hebrew for millennia is evidence in itself that it’s important to spookery.

#### Hebrew, Arabic rˁl = veil, veiled

רעל rˁl : to veil; Arabic ra‘ul — Hebrew (Jastrow)

רעלה rˁlh : veil — Hebrew (Klein)

רעול rˁwl : veiled — Hebrew (Klein)

רעל rˁl raˁal : quiver, shake, tremble; Arabic رَعْلُ the hanging part of a sheep’s split ear, also (Frey) a kind of veil of which a part hangs down in front — Old Hebrew (Strong)

רעלה rˁlh reˁalah : probably a veil (in list of finery); compare Arabic above — Old Hebrew (Strong)

רעלות rˁlwt : a woman’s vails, so called from their tremulous motion; Arabic رَعْلُ — Old Hebrew (Genesius)

> Rashi goes on to provide additional details about veils: “It is the custom of Arab women to keep their heads and faces wrapped, except for their eyes. In Arabic this practice is designated by the verb RˁL” — the same unusual root that is employed by the Mishnah. It is not clear where Rashi, living in northern France, acquired his proficiency in Arabic, but evidently his assertion is correct. The cognate root in Arabic has the meaning of “a kind of veil of which a part hangs down in front.”

> Eliezer Segal: On the Trails of Tradition

🏷 Bible name Semitic pun · name