Talk:Israel (disambiguation)
This isn't how we do disambiguation in any other article. Why do it this way here? Disambiguation occurs in the article when the word itself needs clarification, in this case israel. The disambiguation should take place within the Israel space, with the content of that article moved to the article named State of Israel. RK 00:59 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- This is how we do disambiguation in other articles (see for instance London and London (disambiguation)). Some people think that in cases where a word is overwhelmingly used to mean one thing, but might nevertheless mean other things, this is a useful way to disambiguate (because almost all the links pointing to London will be about the capital of the UK, so it's sensible to have the article, rather than a disambig page, there). I'm not qualified to say whether that's the case here, I just wanted to point out that it isn't without precedent. --Camembert
- Yes, the vast majority of references to "Israel" will be to the state, so that's where [[Israel]] should point. One of the goals of disambiguation machinery is to maximize the odds that random free links will go to the right place, and another is to reduce the amount of pipefitting needed across the breadth of the encyclopedia; all of the other terms I see in Israel (disambiguation) are specialized to the history and/or religion areas. Stan 01:21 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- Ok, fine by me. I guess I was just used to the other cases. RK 01:58 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Am Israel
Another meaning of Israel is "the people Israel" (i.e. the people known as Israel: Heb. Am [aleph mem] Israel). Am Israel is the people called Israel because they are descendents of Israel i.e. Jacob but there's a difference: when Jews use the word "Israel" or the phrase "all Israel" they may well mean to say "the Jewish people".
Purely speculative
"Thus the term "Israelites" originally referred to "Seers of God", i.e. genuine "Mystics" or "Gnostics" – and NOT to a racial identity. Hence the original Israelites (or Seers) became known as the "chosen people", and the "beloved of God.""
I edited this out, because it is purely speculative pseudo history with no basis in the Tanach or any other equally ancient historical document. The Israelites were the Children of Ya'akov, whom according to the Tanach G-d sealed a covenant with at Sinai. He didn't just speak with Moses, according to the Tanach He spoke to the whole of Israel, and sealed the covenant with all present that day, and all that would come. The history of the Jews can't be seperated into religion and ethnicity. They are forever intertwined. Anyway, the above quote is purely speculative and adds nothing of value, other than an attempt for whoever wrote it to get his speculation heard.
Israel, the name
I always thought that Israel, written as Ysr-Al or Syr-Al meant, "Mankind presses with god" or "We strive for God", noting the Yod (arm), Sin (bow, or teeth), and Resh (mankind), are before the Aleph and Lamed, signifying god. This is completely theoretical of course.