Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Much hodoo about nothing...

A couple of weeks ago, the Jewish Chronicle published an article about the line from psalm 148 which we recite when we return the Torah to the Ark -- 'His majesty is on heavens and on the earth.'
The phrase in Hebrew is, of course, 'Hodo al Eretz ve-Shamayim.' However, in the author of the article's synagogue, it's pronounced 'Hodoo' -- meaning "give thanks," which, in this case, is wrong.
Last week, the JC included an interesting update, in which a reader claimed he had
two siddurim from the mid-’30s, one from New York, the other from London’s East End, in both of which the word is actually printed as “hodoo.” “Hodoo al eretz,” as he points out, literally means “India is on the earth” — certainly not what the Psalmist intended.
I'm interested to know just how widespread this mispronounciation is. I'm pretty sure I've never heard it as anything but "Hodoo." That's certainly the way I sung it (until I read the article). Anyone?

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