In Rabbinic literature, ḥiddush ( Hebrew: חִדּוּשׁ; plural ḥiddushim, Hebrew: חִדּוּשׁים) [note 1] refers to a novel interpretation or approach to previously-existing ideas or works. [1] [2] The term often describes a form of innovation that is made inside the system of Halakha, as distinguished from shinuy, an innovation outside tradition. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Ḥiddush comes from the Hebrew root ח-ד-שׁ, meaning new. The usage of the word in this context originated from the language of Talmudic analysis and argumentation in the Gemara. [8] It passed into Yiddish, where it is at times used informally.
Nachmanides states [9] that it is an "obligation imposed upon us to search through the subjects of the Torah and the precepts and bring to light their hidden contents". [10]
What "powers" ḥiddushim? MaaYana Shel Torah [11] asks regarding "VaYayLech Moshe" (31:1) - where did he go? and answers that he went into everyone: NichNas Moshe Rabbeinu LeToch ToCho Shel Kol Adam MiYisroel. This, he writes, is the basis of people having/writing ChiDuShim.
Although "any ḥiddush (novel idea) which a reputable disciple will ever come up with was already given to Moses by Sinai," [12] in one rabbi's understanding of a particular ruling, he wrote: "I have always understood Rabbi Feinstein to be insisting on a balance between innovation and tradition. [13]
Ḥiddushim are the ongoing results of a process [10] [14] and, as a form of K’vod Hatorah, we're required not to forget them. New ways to recall what we learn can be a form of ḥiddush. [15]
There is a difference between issuing a ruling, meaning to "distinguish the case at hand from the precident (sic)... to solve a problem," [13]: footnotes 4 & 5 and an understanding of something. Even in the latter case, he writes "What Rabbi Feinstein means is that one should not be innovative (mechadesh) just to innovate."
One form is called Notarikon. [19]
Another is finding a Gematria. [22] [23]
The above term [24] points to a need for something "old" to be seen in a new light. [25] A multi-volume commentary on Mesillas Yesharim [26] compares and contrasts this to emotional insight, a type of Chidush where "something which is novel emotionally" illuminates the value of an idea one already knew intellectually, and brings "a new internalization".
Among the first post- Geonic writers of ḥiddushim [10]: pp.465–466 are:
By the late sixteenth century, with printing an established technology, hair-splitting distinctions into the treatment of halakic- Talmudic themes became more frequent, [27] with ḥiddush-driven works such as those by:
A counter-intuitive use of the term was the Chasam Sofer's novel interpretation of the phrase Chadash asur min haTorah, ("'new' is forbidden by the Torah"). The phrase as originally used is regarding the laws of keeping kosher, whereas his use was regarding changes being made by the Reform movement in Europe: it was a way of saying no - but using a pun. [29]
In its regular, contemporary, use, ḥiddush means a novel or innovative (or unusual) idea or point; [30] [8] examples:
and similarly, book titles may be of the following form:
Ḥiddush has to some extent become assimilated into American English; [33] and the word - particularly in " Yinglish" - is also commonly used in an ironic or humorous fashion, so as to imply that the statement in question is "nothing new".
you need a mesorah for gematria
Sarah Bunin Benor, associate professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and adjunct associate professor of linguistics at the University of Southern California, will speak on 'Chutzpah to Chidush: A Century of Yiddish-Influenced English in America'
In Rabbinic literature, ḥiddush ( Hebrew: חִדּוּשׁ; plural ḥiddushim, Hebrew: חִדּוּשׁים) [note 1] refers to a novel interpretation or approach to previously-existing ideas or works. [1] [2] The term often describes a form of innovation that is made inside the system of Halakha, as distinguished from shinuy, an innovation outside tradition. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Ḥiddush comes from the Hebrew root ח-ד-שׁ, meaning new. The usage of the word in this context originated from the language of Talmudic analysis and argumentation in the Gemara. [8] It passed into Yiddish, where it is at times used informally.
Nachmanides states [9] that it is an "obligation imposed upon us to search through the subjects of the Torah and the precepts and bring to light their hidden contents". [10]
What "powers" ḥiddushim? MaaYana Shel Torah [11] asks regarding "VaYayLech Moshe" (31:1) - where did he go? and answers that he went into everyone: NichNas Moshe Rabbeinu LeToch ToCho Shel Kol Adam MiYisroel. This, he writes, is the basis of people having/writing ChiDuShim.
Although "any ḥiddush (novel idea) which a reputable disciple will ever come up with was already given to Moses by Sinai," [12] in one rabbi's understanding of a particular ruling, he wrote: "I have always understood Rabbi Feinstein to be insisting on a balance between innovation and tradition. [13]
Ḥiddushim are the ongoing results of a process [10] [14] and, as a form of K’vod Hatorah, we're required not to forget them. New ways to recall what we learn can be a form of ḥiddush. [15]
There is a difference between issuing a ruling, meaning to "distinguish the case at hand from the precident (sic)... to solve a problem," [13]: footnotes 4 & 5 and an understanding of something. Even in the latter case, he writes "What Rabbi Feinstein means is that one should not be innovative (mechadesh) just to innovate."
One form is called Notarikon. [19]
Another is finding a Gematria. [22] [23]
The above term [24] points to a need for something "old" to be seen in a new light. [25] A multi-volume commentary on Mesillas Yesharim [26] compares and contrasts this to emotional insight, a type of Chidush where "something which is novel emotionally" illuminates the value of an idea one already knew intellectually, and brings "a new internalization".
Among the first post- Geonic writers of ḥiddushim [10]: pp.465–466 are:
By the late sixteenth century, with printing an established technology, hair-splitting distinctions into the treatment of halakic- Talmudic themes became more frequent, [27] with ḥiddush-driven works such as those by:
A counter-intuitive use of the term was the Chasam Sofer's novel interpretation of the phrase Chadash asur min haTorah, ("'new' is forbidden by the Torah"). The phrase as originally used is regarding the laws of keeping kosher, whereas his use was regarding changes being made by the Reform movement in Europe: it was a way of saying no - but using a pun. [29]
In its regular, contemporary, use, ḥiddush means a novel or innovative (or unusual) idea or point; [30] [8] examples:
and similarly, book titles may be of the following form:
Ḥiddush has to some extent become assimilated into American English; [33] and the word - particularly in " Yinglish" - is also commonly used in an ironic or humorous fashion, so as to imply that the statement in question is "nothing new".
you need a mesorah for gematria
Sarah Bunin Benor, associate professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and adjunct associate professor of linguistics at the University of Southern California, will speak on 'Chutzpah to Chidush: A Century of Yiddish-Influenced English in America'