164-788: Passover , also called Pesach ( / ˈ p ɛ s ɑː x , ˈ p eɪ -/ ; Biblical Hebrew : חַג הַפֶּסַח , romanized: Ḥag hapPesaḥ , lit. ' Pilgrimage of the Passing Over '), is a major Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals . It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt . According to the Book of Exodus , God commanded Moses to tell
328-977: A grazing area or the bringing of fodder to penned animals, with enough hayracks for all of them to feed simultaneously; fresh water; salt licks ; space for the animals to exercise; and disposal of soiled bedding. In Africa and the Middle East, goats are typically run in flocks with sheep. This maximizes the production per acre, as goats and sheep prefer different food plants. Multiple types of goat-raising are found in Ethiopia, where four main types have been identified: pastured in annual crop systems, in perennial crop systems, with cattle, and in arid areas, under pastoral (nomadic) herding systems. In all four systems, however, goats were typically kept in extensive systems, with few purchased inputs. In Nigeria and in parts of Latin America, some goats are allowed to wander
492-620: A Hebrew dialect, though it possessed distinctive Aramaic features. Although Ugaritic shows a large degree of affinity to Hebrew in poetic structure, vocabulary, and some grammar, it lacks some Canaanite features (like the Canaanite shift and the shift */ð/ > /z/ ), and its similarities are more likely a result of either contact or preserved archaism. Hebrew underwent the Canaanite shift, where Proto-Semitic /aː/ tended to shift to /oː/ , perhaps when stressed. Hebrew also shares with
656-482: A Northwest Semitic language, Hebrew shows the shift of initial */w/ to /j/ , a similar independent pronoun system to the other Northwest Semitic languages (with third person pronouns never containing /ʃ/ ), some archaic forms, such as /naħnu/ 'we', first person singular pronominal suffix -i or -ya, and /n/ commonly preceding pronominal suffixes. Case endings are found in Northwest Semitic languages in
820-625: A clear commandment to include them in the category of chametz. Since the 19th century, the Reform movement has permitted eating kitniyot, and in 2015 the Conservative movement followed suit. Sephardi Jews have always permitted eating kitniyot on Passover. Gebrochts ( Yiddish : געבראקטס, lit. 'broken', also known as Hebrew : מצה שרויה, romanized : matzah shruya , lit. 'soaked matzah') refers to matzah that has absorbed liquid. Some Hasidic Jews avoid gebrochts as well, to avoid
984-492: A goat's beard. In Hinduism, Daksha , one of the prajapati , is sometimes depicted with the head of a male goat. A legend states that Daksha failed to invite Shiva to a sacrifice; Shiva beheaded Daksha, but when asked by Vishnu, restored Daksha to life with the head of a goat. Goats are mentioned many times in the Bible . Their importance in ancient Israel is indicated by the seven different Hebrew and three Greek terms used in
1148-743: A greater skeletal size, reach mature weight at a later age (36 to 42 months) than small-framed goats (18 to 24 months) if both are fed to their full potential. Large-framed goats need more calories than small-framed goats for maintenance of daily functions. While goats are hardy animals and often need little medical care, they are subject to a number of diseases. Among the conditions affecting goats are respiratory diseases including pneumonia , foot rot, internal parasites, pregnancy toxicosis, and feed toxicity. Goats can become infected with various viral and bacterial diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease , caprine arthritis encephalitis , caseous lymphadenitis , pinkeye, mastitis, and pseudorabies . They can transmit
1312-506: A group, goats display less herding behavior than sheep. When grazing undisturbed, they spread across the field or range, rather than feed side by side as do sheep. When nursing young, goats leave their kids separated ("lying out") rather than clumped, as do sheep. They generally turn and face an intruder, and bucks are more likely to charge or butt at humans than are rams . A 2016 study reports that goats try to communicate with people like domesticated animals such as dogs and horses. They look to
1476-420: A human for assistance when faced with a newly-modified challenge. Goats reach puberty between three and 15 months of age, depending on breed and nutritional status. Many breeders prefer to postpone breeding until the doe has reached 70% of the adult weight, but this separation is rarely possible in extensively managed, open-range herds. Bucks (uncastrated males) of Swiss and northern breeds come into rut in
1640-656: A lamb, and inspect it daily for blemishes. During the day on 14th Nisan, they were to slaughter the animal and use its blood to mark their lintels and door posts . Before midnight on 15th Nisan, they were to consume the lamb. The English term Passover is first known to be recorded in the English language in William Tyndale 's translation of the Bible, later appearing in the King James Version as well. It
1804-417: A later stage of the language. These additions were added after 600 CE; Hebrew had already ceased being used as a spoken language around 200 CE. Biblical Hebrew as reflected in the consonantal text of the Bible and in extra-biblical inscriptions may be subdivided by era. The oldest form of Biblical Hebrew, Archaic Hebrew, is found in poetic sections of the Bible and inscriptions dating to around 1000 BCE,
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#17327656314611968-411: A non-Jew (who is not obligated to celebrate the commandments) in exchange for a small down payment ( e.g. $ 1.00), with the remainder due after Passover. This sale is considered completely binding according to Halakha, and at any time during the holiday, the buyer may come to take or partake of his property. The rabbi then re-purchases the goods for less than they were sold at the end of the holiday. On
2132-557: A number of zoonotic diseases to people, such as tuberculosis , brucellosis , Q fever , and rabies . Life expectancy for goats is between 15 and 18 years. An instance of a goat reaching the age of 24 has been reported. Several factors can reduce this average expectancy; problems during kidding can lower a doe's expected life span to 10 or 11, and stresses of going into rut can lower a buck's expected life span to eight to 10 years. Husbandry , or animal care and use, varies by region and culture. The minimal requirements for goats include
2296-504: A sense of urgency that only real life trauma can provide". The practice has elicited outcry from animal-rights groups. Some people choose goats as a pet because of their ability to form close bonds with their human guardians. Goats are social animals and usually prefer the company of other goats, but because of their herd mentality, they will follow their owner and form close bonds with them, hence their continuing popularity. Goats are similar to deer with regard to nutrition and need
2460-577: A set of scriptural and Rabbinic passages dealing with the Passover sacrifice, customarily recited after the Mincha (afternoon prayer) service on the 14th of Nisan, and in the form of the zeroa , a symbolic food placed on the Passover Seder Plate (but not eaten), which is usually a roasted shankbone (or a chicken wing or neck). The eating of the afikoman substitutes for the eating of
2624-661: A small bonfire) is done on the next morning, the blessing is made at night because the search is both in preparation for and part of the commandments to remove and destroy all chametz from one's possession. Before the search is begun there is a special blessing . If several people or family members assist in the search then only one person, usually the head of that family recites the blessing having in mind to include everyone present: Hebrew : ברוך אתה י-הוה א-להינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על בעור חמץ , romanized : bāruḵ attā aḏonāy Elohēnu meleḵ hāʿolām ʾəšer qiddəšānu bəmiṣwāṯāw wəṣiwānu ʿal bəʿor ḥāmeṣ The search
2788-587: A state, and a Gentile . The offering had to be made before a quorum of 30. In the Temple, the Levites sang Hallel while the priests performed the sacrificial service. Men and women were equally obligated regarding the offering ( Pesahim 91b). Today, in the absence of the Temple, when no sacrifices are offered or eaten, the mitzvah of the sacrifice is memorialized in the Seder Korban Pesach ,
2952-777: A superscript ס above the ש to indicate it took the value /s/ , while the Masoretes added the shin dot to distinguish between the two varieties of the letter. The original Hebrew alphabet consisted only of consonants , but the letters א , ה , ו , י , also were used to indicate vowels, known as matres lectionis when used in this function. It is thought that this was a product of phonetic development: for instance, *bayt ('house') shifted to בֵּית in construct state but retained its spelling. While no examples of early Hebrew orthography have been found, older Phoenician and Moabite texts show how First Temple period Hebrew would have been written. Phoenician inscriptions from
3116-672: A thorough housecleaning to make their premises "kosher for Pesach" to cater to observant Jews. Some scholars suggest that the command to abstain from leavened food or yeast suggests that sacrifices offered to God involve the offering of objects in "their least altered state", that would be nearest to the way in which they were initially made by God. According to other scholars the absence of leaven or yeast means that leaven or yeast symbolizes corruption and spoiling. There are also variations with restrictions on eating matzah before Passover so that there will be an increased appetite for it during Passover itself. Primarily among Chabad Chassidim, there
3280-484: A vowel in sandhi, as well as Rabbi Saadia Gaon 's attestation to the use of this alternation in Tiberian Aramaic at the beginning of the 10th century CE. The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/ , e.g. חמר ħmr for Masoretic אָמַר /ʔɔˈmar/ 'he said'. However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal. Confusion of gutturals
3444-411: A wide range of food, including things like hay , grain feed or pelleted grain mix, and loose minerals. Goats generally either inherit certain feeding preferences or learn them after birth. In classical myth , Amalthea is either a nymph who fed the infant god Jupiter with goat's milk, or the goat who suckled the infant. In another legend, the god broke one of the goat's horns, endowing it with
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#17327656314613608-588: A word with less or more matres lectionis, respectively. The Hebrew Bible was presumably originally written in a more defective orthography than found in any of the texts known today. Of the extant textual witnesses of the Hebrew Bible, the Masoretic text is generally the most conservative in its use of matres lectionis, with the Samaritan Pentateuch and its forebearers being more full and
3772-505: A year, with an average yield of about 4.5 kg (10 lb). Goats have been used by humans to clear unwanted vegetation for centuries. They have been described as "eating machines" and "biological control agents". There has been a resurgence of this in North America since 1990, when herds were used to clear dry brush from California hillsides thought to be endangered by potential wildfires. This form of using goats to clear land
3936-403: A year. The Angora breed of goats produces long, curling, lustrous locks of mohair . The entire body of the goat is covered with mohair and there are no guard hairs. The locks constantly grow to four inches or more in length. Angora crossbreeds, such as the pygora and the nigora , have been created to produce mohair and/or cashgora on a smaller, easier-to-manage animal. The wool is shorn twice
4100-508: Is a custom of not eating matzah (flat unleavened bread) in the 30 days before Passover begins. Others have a custom to refrain from eating matzah from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, while the halacha merely restricts one from eating matzah on the day before Passover. Kitniyot ( Hebrew : קִטְנִיּוֹת, qitniyyot ; literally "small things") refers to legumes, rice, maize, and other foods that are similar to grains. Ashkenazi Jews historically refrain from eating kitniyot on Passover, despite there not being
4264-669: Is a genetic rarity. Unlike cattle, goats have not been successfully bred to be reliably polled , as the genes determining sex and those determining horns are closely linked. Breeding together two genetically polled goats results in a high number of intersex individuals among the offspring, which are typically sterile. Their horns are made of living bone surrounded by keratin and other proteins , and are used for defense, dominance, territoriality, and thermoregulation. Both male and female goats may have beards, and many types of goat (most commonly dairy goats, dairy-cross Boers , and pygmy goats ) may have wattles , one dangling from each side of
4428-624: Is a literal translation of the Hebrew term. In the King James Version, Exodus 12:23 reads: For the L ORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the L ORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. The Passover ritual is "a mitzvah commanded by Torah (rather than of rabbinic origin)." The Passover ritual
4592-581: Is a member of the family Bovidae , meaning it is closely related to the sheep . It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago. Goats have been used for milk , meat , wool , and skins across much of the world. Milk from goats is often turned into cheese . In 2022, there were more than 1.1 billion goats living in the world, of which 150 million were in India. Goats feature in mythology, folklore, and religion in many parts of
4756-459: Is a standardized ritual account of the Exodus story, in fulfillment of the command "And thou shalt tell [Higgadata] thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the L ORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt." Pesach starts on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan , which is considered the first month of the Hebrew year. The Rabbinical Jewish calendar is adjusted to align with
4920-537: Is also evident in the later-developed Tiberian vocalization system. Qumran Hebrew, attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls from ca. 200 BCE to 70 CE, is a continuation of Late Biblical Hebrew. Qumran Hebrew may be considered an intermediate stage between Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew, though Qumran Hebrew shows its own idiosyncratic dialectal features. Dialect variation in Biblical Hebrew
5084-552: Is also not directly indicated by Hebrew orthography but is clearly attested by later developments: It is written with ⟨ ש ⟩ (also used for /ʃ/ ) but later merged with /s/ (normally indicated with ⟨ ס ⟩ ). As a result, three etymologically distinct phonemes can be distinguished through a combination of spelling and pronunciation: /s/ written ⟨ ס ⟩ , /ʃ/ written ⟨ ש ⟩ , and /ś/ (pronounced /ɬ/ but written ⟨ ש ⟩ ). The specific pronunciation of /ś/ as [ɬ]
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5248-491: Is also relatively common in unbred doelings of dairy breeds. Milk production varies with the breed, age, quality, and diet of the doe; dairy goats generally produce between 680 and 1,810 kg (1,500 and 4,000 lb) of milk per 305-day lactation . On average, a good quality dairy doe will give at least 3 kg (6 lb) of milk per day while she is in milk. A first-time milker may produce less, or as much as 7 kg (16 lb), or more of milk in exceptional cases. After
5412-830: Is an archaic form of the Hebrew language , a language in the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel , roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea . The term ʿiḇrîṯ "Hebrew" was not used for the language in the Hebrew Bible , which was referred to as שְֹפַת כְּנַעַן śəp̄aṯ kənaʿan "language of Canaan" or יְהוּדִית Yəhûḏîṯ , " Judean ", but it
5576-530: Is attested to by the well-known shibboleth incident of Judges 12:6, where Jephthah 's forces from Gilead caught Ephraimites trying to cross the Jordan River by making them say שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת š ibboleṯ ('ear of corn') The Ephraimites' identity was given away by their pronunciation: סִבֹּ֤לֶת s ibboleṯ . The apparent conclusion is that the Ephraimite dialect had /s/ for standard /ʃ/ . As an alternative explanation, it has been suggested that
5740-578: Is based on comparative evidence ( /ɬ/ is the corresponding Proto-Semitic phoneme and still attested in Modern South Arabian languages as well as early borrowings (e.g. balsam < Greek balsamon < Hebrew baśam ). /ɬ/ began merging with /s/ in Late Biblical Hebrew, as indicated by interchange of orthographic ⟨ ש ⟩ and ⟨ ס ⟩ , possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and this became
5904-425: Is disputed, likely ejective or pharyngealized . Earlier Biblical Hebrew possessed three consonants not distinguished in writing and later merged with other consonants. The stop consonants developed fricative allophones under the influence of Aramaic , and these sounds eventually became marginally phonemic . The pharyngeal and glottal consonants underwent weakening in some regional dialects, as reflected in
6068-1000: Is first mentioned in the Torah 's account of the Exodus, and there is some debate about its exact meaning. The commonly held assumption that it means "He passed over" ( פסח ), in reference to God "passing over" (or "skipping") the houses of the Hebrews during the final of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, stems from the translation provided in the Septuagint ( Ancient Greek : παρελεύσεται , romanized : pareleusetai in Exodus 12:23, and ἐσκέπασεν , eskepasen in Exodus 12:27.) The Targum Onkelos , written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic , translates pesach as Hebrew : וְיֵחוֹס , romanized : wəyēḥos , lit. 'he had pity', coming from
6232-755: Is forbidden during Passover. Yeast and fermentation are not themselves forbidden as seen for example by wine, which is required, rather than merely permitted. According to Halakha, the ownership of such chametz is also proscribed. Chametz does not include baking soda , baking powder or like products. Although these are defined in English as leavening agents, they leaven by chemical reaction, not by biological fermentation. Thus, bagels, waffles and pancakes made with baking soda and matzah meal are considered permissible, while bagels made with sourdough and pancakes and waffles made with yeast are prohibited. The Torah commandments regarding chametz are: Observant Jews spend
6396-419: Is good to eat, including cardboard, clothing and paper. The digestive physiology of a very young kid (like the young of other ruminants) is essentially the same as that of a monogastric animal. Milk digestion begins in the abomasum , the milk having bypassed the rumen via closure of the reticuloesophageal groove during suckling. At birth, the rumen is undeveloped, but as the kid begins to consume solid feed,
6560-420: Is important to make him attractive to the female. Some does will not mate with a buck which has been had the scent glands removed. Gestation length is approximately 150 days. Twins are the usual result, with single and triplet births also common. Less frequent are litters of quadruplet , quintuplet , and even sextuplet kids. Birthing, known as kidding, generally occurs uneventfully. Just before kidding,
6724-481: Is more consistent in using the definite article ה- , the accusative marker את , distinguishing between simple and waw-consecutive verb forms, and in using particles like אשר and כי rather than asyndeton . Biblical Hebrew from after the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE is known as 'Late Biblical Hebrew'. Late Biblical Hebrew shows Aramaic influence in phonology, morphology, and lexicon, and this trend
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6888-563: Is observed by noting the preservation of the double phonemes of each letter in one Sephardic reading tradition, and by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac יצחק Yīṣ ḥ āq = Ἰσαάκ versus Rachel רחל Rā ḫ ēl = Ῥαχήλ ), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in translations of Ezra and Nehemiah . The phoneme /ɬ/ ,
7052-567: Is often written as ־יא in analogy to words like היא , הביא , e.g. כיא , sometimes מיא . ⟨ ה ⟩ is found finally in forms like חוטה (Tiberian חוטא ), קורה (Tiberian קורא ) while ⟨ א ⟩ may be used for an a-quality vowel in final position (e.g. עליהא ) and in medial position (e.g. יאתום ). Pre-Samaritan and Samaritan texts show full spellings in many categories (e.g. כוחי vs. Masoretic כחי in Genesis 49:3) but only rarely show full spelling of
7216-616: Is sometimes known as conservation grazing . Since then, numerous public and private agencies have hired private herds from companies such as Rent A Goat to perform similar tasks. This may be expensive and their smell may be a nuisance. This practice has become popular in the Pacific Northwest , where they are used to remove invasive species not easily removed by humans, including (thorned) blackberry vines and poison oak . Chattanooga, TN and Spartanburg, SC have used goats to control kudzu , an invasive plant species prevalent in
7380-450: Is the Boer goat , which sometimes may have up to eight teats. Goats are diploid with two sets of 30 chromosomes. Sheep and goats are closely related: both are in the subfamily Caprinae . However, they are separate species, so hybrids rarely occur and are always infertile. A hybrid of a ewe and a buck is called a sheep-goat hybrid . Visual differences between sheep and goats include
7544-427: Is the Hebrew Bible. Epigraphic materials from the area of Israelite territory are written in a form of Hebrew called Inscriptional Hebrew, although this is meagerly attested. According to Waltke & O'Connor, Inscriptional Hebrew "is not strikingly different from the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text." The damp climate of Israel caused the rapid deterioration of papyrus and parchment documents, in contrast to
7708-754: Is the sacrificial lamb During the existence of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem , the focus of the Passover festival was the Passover sacrifice, also known as the Paschal lamb, eaten during the Passover Seder on the 15th of Nisan. Every family large enough to completely consume a young lamb or wild goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple on the afternoon of
7872-503: Is the same date on the solar calendar, sometimes two days later, and sometimes an entire month later. In 2024, Rabbinical Passover begins at sunset on 22 April. On the calendar used by the Samaritans, 22 April 2024 is also the day of the Passover sacrifice. Karaite and Samaritan Passovers are each one day long followed by the six-day Festival of Unleavened Bread, for a total of seven days. The main entity in Passover according to Judaism
8036-515: Is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days celebrated as legal holidays and as holy days involving holiday meals, special prayer services, and abstention from work; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed ("Weekdays [of] the Festival"). Jews outside of Israel celebrate the festival for eight days. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews usually celebrate
8200-413: Is then usually conducted by the head of the household joined by his family including children under the supervision of their parents. It is customary to turn off the lights and conduct the search by candlelight , using a feather and a wooden spoon: candlelight effectively illuminates corners without casting shadows; the feather can dust crumbs out of their hiding places; and the wooden spoon which collects
8364-468: Is thought by modern scholars to have its origins in an apotropaic rite unrelated to the Exodus to ensure the protection of a family home, a rite conducted wholly within a clan. Ezov was employed to daub the blood of a slaughtered sheep on the lintels and door posts to ensure that demonic forces could not enter the home. A further hypothesis maintains that once the Priestly Code was promulgated,
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#17327656314618528-413: Is to be set apart on 10th Nisan, and slaughtered at dusk as 14th Nisan ends in preparation for the 15th of Nisan when it will be eaten after being roasted. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is "between the two evenings". It is then to be eaten "that night", 15th Nisan, roasted, without the removal of its internal organs with unleavened bread, known as matzah, and bitter herbs known as maror . Nothing of
8692-628: Is used most often to emphasize the distinct smell of domestic goats. Goats are among the earliest animals to have been domesticated by humans. A genetic analysis confirms the archaeological evidence that the wild bezoar ibex , found today in the Zagros Mountains , but formerly widespread in Anatolia , is the likely original ancestor of all or most domestic goats today. Neolithic farmers began to herd wild goats primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as well as to their dung, which
8856-507: Is viewed as a Central Semitic innovation. Some argue that /s, z, sˤ/ were affricated ( /ts, dz, tsˤ/ ), but Egyptian starts using s in place of earlier ṯ to represent Canaanite s around 1000 BC. It is likely that Canaanite was already dialectally split by that time, and the northern Early Phoenician dialect that the Greeks were in contact with could have preserved the affricate pronunciation until c. 800 BC at least, unlike
9020-666: The Aramaic script , a separate descendant of the Phoenician script, became widespread throughout the region, gradually displacing Paleo-Hebrew. The oldest documents that have been found in the Aramaic Script are fragments of the scrolls of Exodus, Samuel, and Jeremiah found among the Dead Sea scrolls, dating from the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE. It seems that the earlier biblical books were originally written in
9184-511: The Chimera . The Capricorn constellation sign in the Western zodiac is usually depicted as a goat with a fish's tail. Fauns and satyrs are mythological creatures with human bodies and goats' legs. The lustful Greek god Pan similarly has the upper body of a man and the horns and lower body of a goat. A goatee is a tuft of facial hair on a man's chin , named for its resemblance to
9348-681: The Hasmonean dynasty . Later, the Romans ended their independence, making Herod the Great their governor. A revolt against the Romans led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the second Bar Kokhba revolt in 132–135 led to a purge and expulsion of the Jewish population of Judea, the establishment of a new province of Syria Palaestina , and the rebuilding of Jerusalem as
9512-540: The Masoretic Text (𝕸) was transmitted in manuscript form and underwent redaction in the Second Temple period, but its earliest portions (parts of Amos , Isaiah , Hosea and Micah ) can be dated to the late 8th to early 7th centuries BCE. Biblical Hebrew has several different writing systems . From around the 12th century BCE until the 6th century BCE, writers employed the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet . This
9676-457: The Siloam inscription ), and generally also includes later vocalization traditions for the Hebrew Bible's consonantal text, most commonly the early medieval Tiberian vocalization. The archeological record for the prehistory of Biblical Hebrew is far more complete than the record of Biblical Hebrew itself. Early Northwest Semitic (ENWS) materials are attested from 2350 BCE to 1200 BCE,
9840-542: The Yule goat ( Julbocken ) is a Scandinavian Christmas tradition. It originally denoted the goat that was slaughtered around Yule, now more often a goat figure made out of straw. It is used for the custom of going door-to-door singing carols and getting food and drinks in return, often fruit, cakes and sweets. The Gävle goat is a giant version of the yule goat, erected every year in the Swedish city of Gävle . In Finland
10004-563: The fifth century . The language of the Hebrew Bible reflects various stages of the Hebrew language in its consonantal skeleton , as well as a vocalization system which was added in the Middle Ages by the Masoretes . There is also some evidence of regional dialectal variation, including differences between Biblical Hebrew as spoken in the northern Kingdom of Israel and in the southern Kingdom of Judah . The consonantal text called
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#173276563146110168-477: The lunar new year , the first day of Nisan, would not start until the barley was ripe, being the test for the onset of spring. If the barley was not ripe, or various other phenomena indicated that spring was not yet imminent, an intercalary month ( Adar II ) would be added. However, since at least the 4th century, the intercalation has been fixed mathematically according to the Metonic cycle . In Israel , Passover
10332-430: The rut , whereas rams do not. Goats are naturally curious. They are agile and able to climb and balance in precarious places. This makes them the only ruminant to regularly climb trees. These behaviours have made them notorious for escaping their pens by testing fences and enclosures. If any of the fencing can be overcome, goats almost inevitably escape. Goats are as intelligent as dogs by some studies. When handled as
10496-484: The "festival [of] the unleavened bread" ( Biblical Hebrew : חג המצות , romanized: ḥaḡ ham-maṣoṯ ) in the Hebrew Bible , the commandment to keep Passover is recorded in the Book of Leviticus : In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. In
10660-752: The 10th century BCE do not indicate matres lectiones in the middle or the end of a word, for example לפנ and ז for later לפני and זה , similarly to the Hebrew Gezer Calendar , which has for instance שערמ for שעורים and possibly ירח for ירחו . Matres lectionis were later added word-finally, for instance the Mesha inscription has בללה, בנתי for later בלילה, בניתי ; however at this stage they were not yet used word-medially, compare Siloam inscription זדה versus אש (for later איש ). The relative terms defective and full / plene are used to refer to alternative spellings of
10824-547: The 10th century BCE. The 15 cm x 16.5 cm (5.9 in x 6.5 in) trapezoid pottery sherd ( ostracon ) has five lines of text written in ink in the Proto-Canaanite alphabet (the old form which predates both the Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets). The tablet is written from left to right, suggesting that Hebrew writing was still in the formative stage. The Israelite tribes who settled in
10988-537: The 12th century BCE, reflecting the language's twenty-two consonantal phonemes. The 22 letters of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet numbered less than the consonant phonemes of ancient Biblical Hebrew; in particular, the letters ⟨ ח, ע, ש ⟩ could each mark two different phonemes. After a sound shift the letters ח , ע could only mark one phoneme, but (except in Samaritan Hebrew) ש still marked two. The old Babylonian vocalization system wrote
11152-458: The 14th day of Nisan, and eat it that night, which was the 15th of Nisan. If the family was too small to finish eating the entire offering in one sitting, an offering was made for a group of families. The sacrifice could not be offered with anything leavened, and had to be roasted, without its head, feet, or inner organs being removed and eaten together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs ( maror ). One had to be careful not to break any bones from
11316-440: The 14th day, and the seder meal is eaten that evening. Passover is a spring festival, so the 15th day of Nisan typically begins on the night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox . However, due to leap months falling after the vernal equinox, Passover sometimes starts on the second full moon after vernal equinox, as in 2016. To ensure that Passover did not start before spring, the tradition in ancient Israel held that
11480-515: The 7th century BCE, and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BCE. It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE. After a certain point this alternation became contrastive in word-medial and final position (though bearing low functional load ), but in word-initial position they remained allophonic. This is evidenced both by the Tiberian vocalization's consistent use of word-initial spirants after
11644-490: The Bible. A goat is considered a "clean" animal by Jewish dietary laws and a kid was slaughtered for an honored guest. It was also acceptable for some kinds of sacrifices. Goat-hair curtains were used in the tent that contained the tabernacle ( Exodus 25:4). Its horns can be used instead of sheep's horn to make a shofar . On Yom Kippur , the festival of the Day of Atonement, two goats were chosen and lots were drawn for them. One
11808-607: The Boer, to 20 to 27 kg (44 to 60 lb) for smaller does. Within each breed, different strains or bloodlines may have different recognized sizes. At the bottom of the size range are miniature breeds such as the African Pygmy, which stand 41 to 58 cm (16 to 23 in) at the shoulder as adults. Most goats naturally have two horns , their shape and size depending on the breed. There have been incidents of polycerate goats (having as many as eight horns), although this
11972-602: The Canaanite languages the shifts */ð/ > /z/ , */θʼ/ and */ɬʼ/ > /sʼ/ , widespread reduction of diphthongs, and full assimilation of non-final /n/ to the following consonant if word final, i.e. בת /bat/ from *bant. There is also evidence of a rule of assimilation of /j/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic. Typical Canaanite words in Hebrew include: גג "roof" שלחן "table" חלון "window" ישן "old (thing)" זקן "old (person)" and גרש "expel". Morphological Canaanite features in Hebrew include
12136-656: The English-speaking islands of the Caribbean , and in South Asia , the word ' mutton ' denotes both goat and sheep meat. However, some compare the taste of goat meat to veal or venison , depending on the age and condition of the goat. Its flavor is said to be primarily linked to the presence of 4-methyl octanoic and 4-methyl nonanoic acid . The meat is made into dishes such as goat curry , mutton satay , and capra e fagioli . Goats produce about 2% of
12300-514: The Exodus narrative took on a central function, as the apotropaic rite was, arguably, amalgamated with the Canaanite agricultural festival of spring which was a ceremony of unleavened bread , connected with the barley harvest. As the Exodus motif grew, the original function and symbolism of these double origins was lost. Several motifs replicate the features associated with the Akitu spring festival of ancient Mesopotamian religion , which celebrates
12464-662: The Feast of Unleavened Bread) stress the importance of remembering: In 2 Kings 23:21–23 and 2 Chronicles 35:1–19, King Josiah of Judah restores the celebration of the Passover, to a standard not seen since the days of the judges or the days of the prophet Samuel . Ezra 6:19–21 records the celebration of the passover by the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon , after the temple had been rebuilt . Some of these details can be corroborated, and to some extent amplified, in extrabiblical sources. The removal (or "sealing up") of
12628-841: The Greek alphabet transcription of the Hebrew biblical text contained in the Secunda (3rd century CE, likely a copy of a preexisting text from before 100 BCE ). In the 7th and 8th centuries CE various systems of vocalic notation were developed to indicate vowels in the biblical text. The most prominent, best preserved, and the only system still in use, is the Tiberian vocalization system, created by scholars known as Masoretes around 850 CE. There are also various extant manuscripts making use of less common vocalization systems ( Babylonian and Palestinian ), known as superlinear vocalizations because their vocalization marks are placed above
12792-418: The Hebrew root חסה , meaning "to have pity". Cognate languages yield similar terms with distinct meanings, such as "make soft, soothe, placate" ( Akkadian passahu ), "harvest, commemoration, blow" ( Egyptian ), or "separate" ( Arabic fsh ). Pesach may also refer to the lamb or goat which was designated as the Passover sacrifice. Four days before the Exodus, the Hebrews were commanded to set aside
12956-733: The Israelites established a unified kingdom in Canaan at the beginning of the first millennium BCE, which later split into the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south after a disputed succession. In 722 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel and some members of the upper class escaped to Judah. In 586 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire destroyed Judah . The Judahite upper classes were exiled and Solomon's Temple
13120-462: The Israelites to mark a lamb 's blood above their doors so God will pass over them and the plague of the death of the firstborn will not afflict them. The biblical regulations for the observance of the festival require that all leavening be disposed of before the beginning of the 15th of Nisan according to Exodus 13:7 An unblemished lamb or goat, known as the Passover sacrifice or "Paschal Lamb",
13284-523: The Israelites to slaughter a lamb and mark their doorframes with its blood, in addition to instructions for consuming the lamb that night. For that night, God would send the Angel of Death to bring about the tenth plague , in which he would smite all the firstborn in Egypt . But when the angel saw the blood on the Israelites' doorframes, he would pass over their homes so that the plague should not enter (hence
13448-843: The Near East, and a derivation from the root עבר "to pass", alluding to crossing over the Jordan River. Jews also began referring to Hebrew as לשון הקדש "the Holy Tongue" in Mishnaic Hebrew. The term Classical Hebrew may include all pre-medieval dialects of Hebrew, including Mishnaic Hebrew, or it may be limited to Hebrew contemporaneous with the Hebrew Bible. The term Biblical Hebrew refers to pre-Mishnaic dialects (sometimes excluding Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew). The term Biblical Hebrew may or may not include extra-biblical texts, such as inscriptions (e.g.
13612-483: The Paleo-Hebrew script, while the later books were written directly in the later Assyrian script. Some Qumran texts written in the Assyrian script write the tetragrammaton and some other divine names in Paleo-Hebrew, and this practice is also found in several Jewish-Greek biblical translations. While spoken Hebrew continued to evolve into Mishnaic Hebrew , A number of regional "book-hand" styles were put into use for
13776-503: The Paschal lamb in the individual homes of the Hebrews and smearing the blood of the lamb on their doorways were celebrated in Egypt. However, once Israel was in the wilderness and the Tabernacle was in operation, a change was made in those two original requirements. Passover lambs were to be sacrificed at the door of the Tabernacle and no longer in the homes of the Jews. No longer, therefore, could blood be smeared on doorways. Called
13940-542: The Phoenician script were "a curving to the left of the downstrokes in the "long-legged" letter-signs... the consistent use of a Waw with a concave top, [and an] x-shaped Taw." The oldest inscriptions in Paleo-Hebrew script are dated to around the middle of the 9th century BCE, the most famous being the Mesha Stele in the Moabite language (which might be considered a dialect of Hebrew). The ancient Hebrew script
14104-557: The Proto-Semitic sibilant *s 1 , transcribed with šin and traditionally reconstructed as * /ʃ/ , had been originally * /s/ while another sibilant *s 3 , transcribed with sameḵ and traditionally reconstructed as /s/ , had been initially /ts/ ; later on, a push-type chain shift changed *s 3 /ts/ to /s/ and pushed s 1 /s/ to /ʃ/ in many dialects (e.g. Gileadite ) but not others (e.g. Ephraimite), where *s 1 and *s 3 merged into /s/ . Hebrew, as spoken in
14268-487: The Qumran tradition showing the most liberal use of vowel letters. The Masoretic text mostly uses vowel letters for long vowels, showing the tendency to mark all long vowels except for word-internal /aː/ . In the Qumran tradition, back vowels are usually represented by ⟨ ו ⟩ whether short or long. ⟨ י ⟩ is generally used for both long [iː] and [eː] ( אבילים , מית ), and final [iː]
14432-508: The Qumran type. Presumably, the vowels of Biblical Hebrew were not indicated in the original text, but various sources attest to them at various stages of development. Greek and Latin transcriptions of words from the biblical text provide early evidence of the nature of Biblical Hebrew vowels. In particular, there is evidence from the rendering of proper nouns in the Koine Greek Septuagint (3rd–2nd centuries BCE ) and
14596-486: The Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded. The following sections present the vowel changes that Biblical Hebrew underwent, in approximate chronological order. Proto-Semitic is the ancestral language of all the Semitic languages , and in traditional reconstructions possessed 29 consonants; 6 monophthong vowels, consisting of three qualities and two lengths, */a aː i iː u uː/ , in which
14760-538: The Tiberian system; for instance, the Sephardic tradition's distinction between qamatz gadol and qatan is likely pre-Tiberian. However, the only orthographic system used to mark vowels is the Tiberian vocalization. The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is as follows: The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so-called "emphatics" were likely pharyngealized , but possibly velarized. The pharyngealization of emphatic consonants
14924-556: The Tiberian tradition /ħ ʕ h ʔ r/ cannot be geminate; historically first /r ʔ/ degeminated, followed by /ʕ/ , /h/ , and finally /ħ/ , as evidenced by changes in the quality of the preceding vowel. The vowel system of Hebrew has changed considerably over time. The following vowels are those reconstructed for the earliest stage of Hebrew, those attested by the Secunda, those of the various vocalization traditions ( Tiberian and varieties of Babylonian and Palestinian ), and those of
15088-470: The afternoon. Jubilees states the sacrifice was eaten that night, and together with Josephus states that nothing of the sacrifice was allowed to remain until morning. Philo states that the banquet included hymns and prayers. The Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan , which at present falls between March 26 and April 25 of the Gregorian calendar . The 15th day begins in the evening, after
15252-411: The beard of goats and the divided upper lip of sheep. Sheep tails hang down, even when short or docked , while the short tails of goats are held upwards. Sheep breeds are often naturally polled (either in both sexes or just in the female), while naturally polled goats are rare (though many are polled artificially). Males of the two species differ in that buck goats acquire a unique and strong odor during
15416-647: The common language in the north, in Galilee and Samaria . Hebrew remained in use in Judah, but the returning exiles brought back Aramaic influence, and Aramaic was used for communicating with other ethnic groups during the Persian period. Alexander the Great conquered the province in 332 BCE, beginning the period of Hellenistic (Greek) domination. During the Hellenistic period , Judea became independent under
15580-502: The crumbs can be burned the next day with the hametz. However, most contemporary Orthodox authorities permit using a flashlight, while some strongly encourage it due to the danger coupled with using a candle. Biblical Hebrew language Biblical Hebrew ( Hebrew : עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִית , romanized : ʿiḇrîṯ miqrāʾîṯ ( Ivrit Miqra'it ) or לְשׁוֹן הַמִּקְרָא , ləšôn ham-miqrāʾ ( Leshon ha-Miqra ) ), also called Classical Hebrew ,
15744-490: The doe will have a sunken area around the tail and hip, as well as heavy breathing. She may have a worried look, become restless and display great affection for her keeper. The mother often eats the placenta , which gives her much-needed nutrients, helps stanch her bleeding, and parallels the behavior of wild herbivores , such as deer, to reduce the lure of the birth scent for predators. Freshening (coming into milk production) usually occurs at kidding, although milk production
15908-530: The dry environment of Egypt, and the survival of the Hebrew Bible may be attributed to scribal determination in preserving the text through copying. No manuscript of the Hebrew Bible dates to before 400 BCE, although two silver rolls (the Ketef Hinnom scrolls ) from the seventh or sixth century BCE show a version of the Priestly Blessing . Vowel and cantillation marks were added to
16072-721: The early Monarchic Period . This stage is also known as Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew, and is the oldest stratum of Biblical Hebrew. The oldest known artifacts of Archaic Biblical Hebrew are various sections of the Tanakh , including the Song of Moses ( Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah ( Judges 5). Biblical poetry uses a number of distinct lexical items, for example חזה for prose ראה 'see', כביר for גדול 'great'. Some have cognates in other Northwest Semitic languages, for example פעל 'do' and חָרוּץ 'gold' which are common in Canaanite and Ugaritic. Grammatical differences include
16236-637: The effect of the law of attenuation whereby /a/ in closed unstressed syllables became /i/ . All of these systems together are used to reconstruct the original vocalization of Biblical Hebrew. At an early stage, in documents written in the paleo-Hebrew script, words were divided by short vertical lines and later by dots, as reflected by the Mesha Stone, the Siloam inscription, the Ophel inscription, and paleo-Hebrew script documents from Qumran. Word division
16400-691: The end of the Bronze Age . The Northwest Semitic languages, including Hebrew, differentiated noticeably during the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), although in its earliest stages Biblical Hebrew was not highly differentiated from Ugaritic and the Canaanite of the Amarna letters . Hebrew developed during the latter half of the second millennium BCE between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea , an area known as Canaan . The Deuteronomic history says
16564-417: The fall as with the does' heat cycles. Bucks of equatorial breeds may show seasonal reduced fertility, but as with the does, are capable of breeding at all times. Rut is characterized by a decrease in appetite and obsessive interest in the does. A buck in rut displays flehmen lip curling and urinates on his forelegs and face . Sebaceous scent glands at the base of the horns add to the male goat's odor, which
16728-403: The first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. And ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days; in the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. The sacrifices may be performed only in a specific place prescribed by God. For Judaism, this is Jerusalem. The biblical commandments concerning the Passover (and
16892-529: The first millennium BCE ( יין = /ˈjajin/ ). The word play in Amos 8 :1–2 כְּלוּב קַ֫יִץ... בָּא הַקֵּץ may reflect this: given that Amos was addressing the population of the Northern Kingdom, the vocalization *קֵיץ would be more forceful. Other possible Northern features include use of שֶ- 'who, that', forms like דֵעָה 'to know' rather than דַעַת and infinitives of certain verbs of
17056-697: The form עֲשוֹ 'to do' rather than עֲשוֹת . The Samaria ostraca also show שת for standard שנה 'year', as in Aramaic. The guttural phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/ merged over time in some dialects. This was found in Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew, but Jerome (d. 420) attested to the existence of contemporaneous Hebrew speakers who still distinguished pharyngeals. Samaritan Hebrew also shows a general attrition of these phonemes, though /ʕ ħ/ are occasionally preserved as [ʕ] . The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, found at Khirbet Qeiyafa , dates to
17220-514: The holiday over seven days. Karaites use a different calendar; they rely on visual identification of ripe barley and the date of Passover cannot be determined before this. Some modern Karaites follow the Rabbinical calendar in modern Israel because of social pressure. The Samaritans use a calendrical system that uses a different method from that current in Rabbinic practice; it sometimes
17384-498: The homestead or village, while others are kept penned and fed in a 'cut-and-carry' system. This involves cutting grasses, maize or cane for feed rather than allowing the animal access to the field. The system is well suited for crops like maize that are sensitive to trampling. In 2022, there were more than 1,100 million goats living in the world, led by India with 150 million and China with 132 million, and followed by Nigeria with 88 million and Pakistan with 82.5 million. Over 93% of
17548-519: The household and especially leftover alcohol. In Finland the Nuuttipukki tradition is kept alive in areas of Satakunta , Southwest Finland and Ostrobothnia . Nowadays the character is usually played by children and involves a happy encounter. The goat is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac . Several mythological hybrid creatures contain goat parts, including
17712-492: The lactation, the doe will "dry off", typically after she has been bred. Occasionally, goats that have not been bred and are continuously milked will continue lactation beyond the typical 305 days. Male lactation sometimes occurs in goats. Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything. They are browsing animals, not grazers like cattle and sheep, and (coupled with their highly curious nature) will chew on and taste anything resembling plant matter to decide whether it
17876-612: The land of Israel used a late form of the Proto-Sinaitic Alphabet (known as Proto-Canaanite when found in Israel) around the 12th century BCE, which developed into Early Phoenician and Early Paleo-Hebrew as found in the Gezer calendar ( c. 10th century BCE ). This script developed into the Paleo-Hebrew script in the 10th or 9th centuries BCE. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet's main differences from
18040-405: The language יהודית "Judaean, Judahite" In the Hellenistic period , Greek writings use the names Hebraios , Hebraïsti and in Mishnaic Hebrew we find עברית 'Hebrew' and לשון עברית "Hebrew language". The origin of this term is obscure; suggested origins include the biblical Eber , the ethnonyms ʿApiru , Ḫabiru, and Ḫapiru found in sources from Egypt and
18204-633: The leaven is referred to in the Elephantine papyri and ostraca in an Imperial Aramaic papyrus letter from the 5th century BCE from Elephantine , Egypt. The slaughter of the lambs on the 14th is mentioned in Jubilees , a Jewish work of the Ptolemaic period , and by the Herodian-era writers Josephus and Philo . These sources also indicate that "between the two evenings" was taken to mean
18368-533: The letters. In addition, the Samaritan reading tradition is independent of these systems and was occasionally notated with a separate vocalization system. These systems often record vowels at different stages of historical development; for example, the name of the Judge Samson is recorded in Greek as Σαμψών Sampsōn with the first vowel as /a/ , while Tiberian שִמְשוֹן /ʃimʃon/ with /i/ shows
18532-430: The long vowels occurred only in open syllables; and two diphthongs */aj aw/ . The stress system of Proto-Semitic is unknown but it is commonly described as being much like the system of Classical Latin or the modern pronunciation of Classical Arabic : If the penultimate (second last) syllable is light (has a short vowel followed by a single consonant), stress goes on the antepenult (third to last); otherwise, it goes on
18696-422: The male goat, Old English used bucca (cf. Dutch / Frisian bok , modern English buck ) until ousted by hegote , hegoote ('he-goat') in the late 12th century. Nanny goat (adult female) originated in the 18th century, and billy goat (adult male) in the 19th century. Castrated males are called wethers . While the words hircine and caprine both refer to anything having a goat-like quality, hircine
18860-460: The masculine plural marker -ם , first person singular pronoun אנכי , interrogative pronoun מי , definite article ה- (appearing in the first millennium BCE), and third person plural feminine verbal marker -ת . Biblical Hebrew as preserved in the Hebrew Bible is composed of multiple linguistic layers. The consonantal skeleton of the text is the most ancient, while the cantillation and modern vocalization are later additions reflecting
19024-426: The meat of the goats, but takes care that all bones remain whole. Then he wraps the remains up, and in the morning, the goats always come back to life to pull the chariot. When a farmer's son who is invited to share the meal breaks one of the goats' leg bones to suck the marrow, the animal's leg remains broken in the morning, and the boy is forced to serve Thor as a servant to compensate for the damage. Possibly related,
19188-415: The mid-1990s. Goats are used to provide milk and specialty wools, and as meat and goatskin . Some charities provide goats to impoverished people in poor countries, in the belief that having useful things alleviates poverty better than cash. The cost of obtaining goats and then distributing them can however be high. The taste of goat kid meat is similar to that of spring lamb meat; in fact, in
19352-676: The modern Samaritan Hebrew reading tradition. The vowel system of Biblical Hebrew changed over time and is reflected differently in the ancient Greek and Latin transcriptions, medieval vocalization systems, and modern reading traditions. Biblical Hebrew had a typical Semitic morphology with nonconcatenative morphology , arranging Semitic roots into patterns to form words. Biblical Hebrew distinguished two genders (masculine, feminine), three numbers (singular, plural, and uncommonly, dual). Verbs were marked for voice and mood , and had two conjugations which may have indicated aspect and/or tense (a matter of debate). The tense or aspect of verbs
19516-509: The more southern Canaanite dialects (like Hebrew) that the Egyptians were in contact with, so that there is no contradiction within this argument. Originally, the Hebrew letters ⟨ ח ⟩ and ⟨ ע ⟩ each represented two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, with the distinction unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However the uvular phonemes /χ/ ח and /ʁ/ ע merged with their pharyngeal counterparts /ħ/ ח and /ʕ/ ע respectively c. 200 BCE. This
19680-454: The musical motifs used in formal recitation of the text. While the Babylonian and Palestinian reading traditions are extinct, various other systems of pronunciation have evolved over time, notably the Yemenite , Sephardi , Ashkenazi , and Samaritan traditions. Modern Hebrew pronunciation is also used by some to read biblical texts. The modern reading traditions do not stem solely from
19844-579: The name.) The story is part of the broader Exodus narrative, in which the Israelites, while living in Egypt, are enslaved en masse by the Pharaoh to suppress them; when Pharaoh refuses God's demand to let them go, God sends ten plagues upon Egypt. After the tenth plague, Pharaoh permits the Israelites to leave. This story is recounted at the Passover Seder by reading the Haggadah . The Haggadah
20008-581: The neck. Goats have horizontal, slit-shaped pupils , allowing them to see well by both night and day, and giving them a wide field of vision on either side to detect predators, while avoiding being dazzled by sunlight from above. Goats have no tear ducts. Goats are ruminants . They have a four-chambered stomach consisting of the rumen , the reticulum , the omasum , and the abomasum . As with other mammal ruminants, they are even-toed ungulates. The females have an udder consisting of two teats, in contrast to cattle, which have four teats. An exception to this
20172-404: The night of the fourteenth of Nisan , the night before the Passover Seder (after nightfall on the evening before Passover eve), Jews do a formal search in their homes known as bedikat chametz for any possible remaining leaven ( chametz ). The Talmudic sages instructed that a search for chametz be made in every home, place of work, or any place where chametz may have been brought during
20336-509: The northern Kingdom of Israel, known as Israelian Hebrew , shows phonological, lexical, and grammatical differences from southern dialects. The northern dialect spoken around Samaria shows a more frequent simplification of /aj/ into /eː/ as attested by the Samaria ostraca (8th century BCE), e.g. ין (= /jeːn/ < */jajn/ 'wine'), while the southern or Judean dialect instead adds in an epenthetic vowel /i/ , added halfway through
20500-419: The offering, and none of the meat could be left over by morning. Because of the Passover sacrifice's status as a sacred offering, the only people allowed to eat it were those who had the obligation to bring the offering. Among those who could not offer or eat the Passover lamb were an apostate , a servant, an uncircumcised man , a person in a state of ritual impurity except when a majority of Jews are in such
20664-616: The official language of Israel . Currently, Classical Hebrew is generally taught in public schools in Israel and Biblical Hebrew forms are sometimes used in Modern Hebrew literature, much as archaic and biblical constructions are used in Modern English literature. Since Modern Hebrew contains many biblical elements, Biblical Hebrew is fairly intelligible to Modern Hebrew speakers. The primary source of Biblical Hebrew material
20828-459: The older consonantal layer of the Bible between 600 CE and the beginning of the 10th century. The scholars who preserved the pronunciation of the Bibles were known as the Masoretes . The most well-preserved system that was developed, and the only one still in religious use, is the Tiberian vocalization, but both Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations are also attested. The Palestinian system
20992-441: The original owner's possession in a locked cabinet until they can be repurchased after the holiday. Modern observance may also include sealing cabinets and drawers which contain "Chametz" shut by using adhesive tape, which serves a similar purpose to a lock but also shows evidence of tampering. Although the practice of selling "Chametz" dates back many years, some Reform rabbinical authorities have come to regard it with disdain – since
21156-436: The penult. Domestic goat Capra aegagrus hircus Linnaeus, 1758 Capra depressa Linnaeus, 1758 Capra mambrica Linnaeus, 1758 Capra reversa Linnaeus, 1758 The goat or domestic goat ( Capra hircus ) is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock . It was domesticated from the wild goat ( C. aegagrus ) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe . The goat
21320-505: The plague of the death of the firstborn. Moses said, “Thus says יהוה : Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians, and every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; and all the first-born of the cattle. And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been or will ever be again; Before this final plague, Yahweh commands Moses to tell
21484-455: The possibility that a clump of flour that was never properly mixed with water (and thus is still susceptible to leavening) may come into contact with the liquid. Leaven or chametz may be sold rather than discarded, especially in the case of relatively valuable forms such as liquor distilled from wheat, with the products being repurchased afterward. In some cases, they may never leave the house, instead being formally sold while remaining in
21648-588: The power to fill itself with whatever its owner wanted, making it the cornucopia or horn of plenty . The ancient city of Ebla in Syria contains a tomb with a throne decorated with bronze goat heads, now called "The Tomb of the Lord of the Goats". According to Norse mythology , the god of thunder, Thor , has a chariot that is pulled by the goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr At night when he sets up camp, Thor eats
21812-460: The proto-Semitic phoneme */θ/ , which shifted to /ʃ/ in most dialects of Hebrew, may have been retained in the Hebrew of the Transjordan (however, there is evidence that שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת 's Proto-Semitic ancestor had initial consonant š (whence Hebrew /ʃ/ ), contradicting this theory; for example, שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת 's proto-Semitic ancestor has been reconstructed as * š u(n)bul-at- . ); or that
21976-448: The purpose of Torah manuscripts and occasionally other literary works, distinct from the calligraphic styles used mainly for private purposes. The Mizrahi and Ashkenazi book-hand styles were later adapted to printed fonts after the invention of the printing press. The modern Hebrew alphabet , also known as the Assyrian or Square script, appears a descendant of the Aramaic alphabet. The Phoenician script had dropped five characters by
22140-541: The roman colonia of Aelia Capitolina . Hebrew after the Second Temple period evolved into Mishnaic Hebrew, which ceased being spoken and developed into a literary language around 200 CE. Hebrew continued to be used as a literary and liturgical language in the form of Medieval Hebrew . The revival of the Hebrew language as a vernacular began in the 19th century, culminating in Modern Hebrew becoming
22304-521: The rule in Mishnaic Hebrew. In all Jewish reading traditions /ɬ/ and /s/ have merged completely; however in Samaritan Hebrew /ɬ/ has instead merged with /ʃ/ . Allophonic spirantization of /b ɡ d k p t/ to [v ɣ ð x f θ] (known as begadkefat spirantization) developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic. This probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes /θ, ð/ disappeared in
22468-448: The rumen soon increases in size and in its capacity to absorb nutrients. The adult size of a particular goat is a product of its breed (genetic potential) and its diet while growing (nutritional potential). As with all livestock , increased protein diets (10 to 14%) and sufficient calories during the prepuberty period yield higher growth rates and larger eventual size than lower protein rates and limited calories. Large-framed goats, with
22632-467: The sacrifice at the end of the Seder meal ( Mishnah Pesachim 119a). Many Sephardic Jews have the custom of eating lamb or goat meat during the Seder in memory of the sacrifice. Leaven, in Hebrew chametz ( Hebrew : חמץ ḥamets , " leavening ") is made from one of five types of grains combined with water and left to stand for more than eighteen minutes. The consumption, keeping, and owning of chametz
22796-418: The sacrifice on which the sun rises by the morning of the 15th of Nisan may be eaten, but must be burned. The biblical regulations of the original Passover at the time of the Exodus only also include how the meal was to be eaten: "your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to יהוה ." The biblical requirements of slaying
22960-462: The second millennium BCE, but disappear almost totally afterwards. Mimation is absent in singular nouns, but is often retained in the plural, as in Hebrew. The Northwest Semitic languages formed a dialect continuum in the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), with Phoenician and Aramaic on each extreme. Hebrew is classed with Phoenician in the Canaanite subgroup, which also includes Ammonite , Edomite , and Moabite . Moabite might be considered
23124-501: The solar calendar in such a way that 15 Nisan always coincides with Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. The Hebrew day starts and ends at sunset, so the holiday starts at sunset the day before. For example, in 2024, 15 Nisan coincides with Tuesday, April 23. Therefore, Pesach starts at sundown on Monday, April 22. Biblical Hebrew : פֶּסַח is rendered as Tiberian [pɛsaħ] , and Modern Hebrew : [ˈpesaχ] Pesaḥ, Pesakh . The verb pāsaḥ ( פָּסַח )
23288-543: The southeastern United States. Some countries' militaries use goats to train combat medics . In the United States, goats have become the main animal species used for this purpose after the Pentagon phased out using dogs for medical training in the 1980s. While modern mannequins used in medical training are quite efficient in simulating the behavior of a human body, trainees feel that "the goat exercise provide[s]
23452-427: The sowing of barley. Scholars John Van Seters , Judah Segal , and Tamara Prošić disagree with the merged two-festivals hypothesis. In the Book of Exodus , the Israelites are enslaved in ancient Egypt. Yahweh , the god of the Israelites, appears to Moses in a burning bush and commands Moses to confront the Pharaoh . To show his power, Yahweh inflicts a series of ten plagues on the Egyptians , culminating in
23616-409: The supposed "new owner" never takes actual possession of the goods. The sale of chametz may also be conducted communally via a rabbi , who becomes the "agent" for all the community's Jews through a halakhic procedure called a kinyan (acquisition). Each householder must put aside all the chametz he is selling into a box or cupboard, and the rabbi enters into a contract to sell all the chametz to
23780-409: The surface. The soft hairs are the ones valued by the textile industry ; the material goes by names such as down, cashmere and pashmina . The coarse guard hairs are of little value as they are too coarse, difficult to spin and to dye. The cashmere goat produces a commercial quantity of fine and soft cashmere wool , one of the most expensive natural fibers commercially produced. It is harvested once
23944-536: The time. They initially indicated only consonants, but certain letters, known by the Latin term matres lectionis , became increasingly used to mark vowels . In the Middle Ages, various systems of diacritics were developed to mark the vowels in Hebrew manuscripts; of these, only the Tiberian vocalization is still widely used. Biblical Hebrew possessed a series of emphatic consonants whose precise articulation
24108-417: The tradition of Nuutinpäivä — St. Knut's Day , January 13—involves young men dressed as goats (Finnish: Nuuttipukki ) who visit houses. Usually the dress was an inverted fur jacket, a leather or birch bark mask, and horns. Unlike the analogues Santa Claus , Nuuttipukki was a scary character (cf. Krampus ). The men dressed as Nuuttipukki wandered from house to house, came in, and typically demanded food from
24272-465: The use of זה , זוֹ , and זוּ as relative particles, negative בל , and various differences in verbal and pronominal morphology and syntax. Later pre-exilic Biblical Hebrew (such as is found in prose sections of the Pentateuch, Nevi'im , and some Ketuvim ) is known as 'Biblical Hebrew proper' or 'Standard Biblical Hebrew'. This is dated to the period from the 8th to the 6th century BCE. In contrast to Archaic Hebrew, Standard Biblical Hebrew
24436-595: The weeks before Passover in a flurry of thorough housecleaning, to remove every morsel of chametz from every part of the home. Jewish law requires the elimination of olive -sized or larger quantities of leavening from one's possession, but most housekeeping goes beyond this. Even the seams of kitchen counters are thoroughly cleaned to remove traces of flour and yeast, however small. Any containers or implements that have touched chametz are stored and not used during Passover. Some hotels , resorts , and even cruise ships across America , Europe , and Israel also undergo
24600-663: The wild (become feral) if given the opportunity. Feral goats have established themselves in many areas: they occur in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, the Galapagos and many other places. When feral goats reach large populations in habitats that provide unlimited water supply and do not contain sufficient large predators or are otherwise vulnerable to goats' aggressive grazing habits, they may have serious effects, such as removing native scrub and trees. Feral goats are extremely common in Australia, with an estimated 2.6 million in
24764-564: The world's goats live in Africa and Asia. The top producers of goat milk in 2022 were India (6.25 million metric tons), Bangladesh (0.91 million metric tons), and South Sudan (0.52 million metric tons). As of 2015 , India slaughters 41% of 124.4 million goats each year. The 0.6 million metric tonnes of goat meat make up 8% of India's annual meat production. Approximately 440 million goats are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide, yielding 6.37 million metric tons of meat. Goats readily revert to
24928-413: The world's total annual milk supply. Dairy goats produce an average of 540 to 1,180 kg (1,200 to 2,600 lb) of milk during an average 284-day lactation . The milk can contain between around 3.5% and 5% butterfat according to breed. Goat milk is processed into products including cheese and Dulce de leche . Most goats have soft insulating hairs nearer the skin, and long guard hairs on
25092-789: The world, including in the classical myth of Amalthea , in the goats that pulled the chariot of the Norse god Thor , in the Scandinavian Yule goat , and in Hinduism's goat-headed Daksha . In Christianity and Satanism, the devil is sometimes depicted as a goat. The Modern English word goat comes from Old English gāt "goat, she-goat", which in turn derives from Proto-Germanic * gaitaz (cf. Dutch / Frisian / Icelandic / Norwegian geit , German Geiß , and Gothic gaits ), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰaidos meaning "young goat" (cf. Latin haedus "kid"). To refer to
25256-478: The year. When the first Seder is on a Saturday night, the search is conducted on the preceding Thursday night (thirteenth of Nisan) as chametz cannot be burned during Shabbat . The Talmud in Pesahim (p. 2a) derives from the Torah that the search for chametz be conducted by the light of a candle and therefore is done at night, and although the final destruction of the chametz (usually by burning it in
25420-429: Was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, /ʔ ħ h ʕ/ have generally all merged, either into /ʔ/ , a glide /w/ or /j/ , or by vanishing completely (often creating a long vowel), except that original /ʕ ħ/ sometimes have reflex /ʕ/ before /a ɒ/ . Geminate consonants are phonemically contrastive in Biblical Hebrew. In the Secunda /w j z/ are never geminate. In
25584-587: Was also influenced by the conjunction ו , in the so-called waw-consecutive construction. Unlike modern Hebrew, the default word order for biblical Hebrew was verb–subject–object , and verbs were inflected for the number, gender, and person of their subject. Pronominal suffixes could be appended to verbs (to indicate object ) or nouns (to indicate possession ), and nouns had special construct states for use in possessive constructions. The earliest written sources refer to Biblical Hebrew as שפת כנען "the language of Canaan". The Hebrew Bible also calls
25748-792: Was destroyed. Later, the Achaemenid Empire made Judah a province, Yehud Medinata , and permitted the Judahite exiles to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem . According to the Gemara , Hebrew of this period was similar to Imperial Aramaic ; Hanina bar Hama said that God sent the exiled Jews to Babylon because "[the Babylonian] language is akin to the Leshon Hakodesh " in the Talmud ( Pesahim 87b ). Aramaic became
25912-540: Was in continuous use until the early 6th century BCE, the end of the First Temple period. In the Second Temple Period the Paleo-Hebrew script gradually fell into disuse, and was completely abandoned among the Jews after the failed Bar Kochba revolt . The Samaritans retained the ancient Hebrew alphabet, which evolved into the modern Samaritan alphabet . By the end of the First Temple period
26076-467: Was not used in Phoenician inscriptions; however, there is no direct evidence for biblical texts being written without word division, as suggested by Nahmanides in his introduction to the Torah. Word division using spaces was commonly used from the beginning of the 7th century BCE for documents in the Aramaic script. In addition to marking vowels, the Tiberian system also uses cantillation marks, which serve to mark word stress, semantic structure, and
26240-419: Was preserved mainly in piyyutim , which contain biblical quotations. Biblical Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language from the Canaanite subgroup . As Biblical Hebrew evolved from the Proto-Semitic language it underwent a number of consonantal mergers parallel with those in other Canaanite languages. There is no evidence that these mergers occurred after the adaptation of the Hebrew alphabet. As
26404-433: Was retained by the Samaritans , who use the descendent Samaritan script to this day. However, the Imperial Aramaic alphabet gradually displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet after the Babylonian captivity , and it became the source for the current Hebrew alphabet . These scripts lack letters to represent all of the sounds of Biblical Hebrew, although these sounds are reflected in Greek and Latin transcriptions/translations of
26568-407: Was sacrificed and the other allowed to escape into the wilderness, symbolically carrying with it the sins of the community. From this comes the word " scapegoat ". In Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus said that like a shepherd he will separate the nations, rewarding the sheep, those who have shown kindness, but punishing the goats. The devil is sometimes depicted, like Baphomet , as a goat, making the animal
26732-773: Was used as fuel; and their bones, hair, and sinew were used for clothing, building, and tools. The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years Before Present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran . Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in Jericho , Choga Mami , Djeitun , and Çayönü , dating the domestication of goats in Western Asia at between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago. DNA evidence suggests that goats were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Historically, goat hide has been used for water and wine bottles in both traveling and transporting wine for sale, and to produce parchment . Each breed of goat has specific weight ranges, which vary from more than 140 kg (310 lb) for bucks of larger breeds such as
26896-414: Was used in Koine Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts. The Hebrew language is attested in inscriptions from about the 10th century BCE, when it was almost identical to Phoenician and other Canaanite languages, and spoken Hebrew persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period , which ended in the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE) . It eventually developed into Mishnaic Hebrew, which was spoken until
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