Re: Peter Brimelow's blog post Happy William Tyndale (And John Rogers) Day! Oh, And Yom Kippur

From: Norm [Email him]

Thanks for the Yom Kippur wishes, although by the time I read them here in Israel, Yom Kippur was over. :-)

Most Jews don't realize at least one debt they owe to Bible translator Tyndale: It was he who had the flash of inspiration that the term "Passover" was not only a good translation of the Hebrew "Pesach" but also sounded nicely similar as well. (Other European languages use "Pascha" or some similar meaningless quasi-transliteration, which of course also serves for the holiday known in English as "Easter.") English-speaking Jews use "Passover" all the time without realizing it's Tyndale.

It's more than just one word, of course: Tyndale leads directly to the King James Bible, which in one form or another forms the basis even of many Jewish Bible translations to this day.

See previous letters from the same reader.