In passing, someone remarked to me that
“...the
motto of the Israeli Mossad...is 'By way of deception'”,
and the (seemingly run-of-the-mill and innocent) act of Googling this
set me off on a bit of a wild adventure.
Specifically, I undertook a
mini-investigation (just enough to satisfy myself) regarding the credibility of
the boisterous denials of the (mere possibility of the veracity of the) “By way of deception...”
translation. For example, on “YAHOO! Answers” one can read the
following question and the (pretty typical) replies.
Question:
Resolved Question
Is the mossad motto really "By way of deception, thou shalt do war"?
Or is this more "anti-zionist" lies? When are they going to use truth? Is it too late?
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāhHebrew בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה
What you are referring to is the old motto, still it does not translate to what you wrote, it translate to: "For by wise counsel thou shalt wage thy war".
The new motto, is from the Old Testament
be-'éyn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rov yō'éts (Hebrew:
באין תחבולות יפול עם, ותשועה ברוב יועץ
Translation
"Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety." (Proverbs XI, 14).
Hope this helps.
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Other Answers (5)
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- Nope. This is another myth that anti-semites use the internet
to disseminate.
Most of what they say is similar. Like Protocols of Zion.
Real motto is "Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."
Source(s):
no its Be'ein Tachbulot Yipol Am,
Uteshua Berov Yoetz (Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in
the multitude of counselors there is safety; Proverbs 11:14)
and yes its more anti zionist lies
and yes its more anti zionist lies
"For by wise counsel thou shalt
wage thy war" is the "motto" of Mossad.
Do you even know who Mossad
is?
It's quite unclear what you're babbling about.
It's quite unclear what you're babbling about.
Here's a screen capture of (the most
relevant portion of) the page:
The above “answers” are heavily
infused with rhetoric. But, I don't know Hebrew. So I decided to run
a simple test. I would just take the top Google hits for a few quick
searches, following a simple, two-step procedure. First, I would find
the Hebrew for Proverbs 11:14. Second, I would paste said Hebrew into
Google's translate engine.
And so...if one types “Proverbs 11
Hebrew” into Google's search field, one gets the following result:
mechon-mamre dot org.
If one subsequently clicks on the link
and goes to the online interlinear Hebrew-English version of Proverbs
at “the Mamre Institute”, one gets the following text:
Proverbs Chapter 11 מִשְׁלֵי
Zooming out to fit a bit more into the
viewable screen, I got this:
If one then pastes into Google
translate the Hebrew text across from verse 14 - “יד בְּאֵין
תַּחְבֻּלוֹת, יִפָּל-עָם;
וּתְשׁוּעָה,
בְּרֹב יוֹעֵץ. ” - one gets
the following:
; or, pasting: “בְּאֵין
תַּחְבֻּלוֹת, יִפָּל-עָם;
וּתְשׁוּעָה,
בְּרֹב יוֹעֵץ ”
one gets:
Of course,
“sabotaging” seems fairly well-known and obviously negatively
tinged (connotatively), but for those unaware, “finagle” means:
“fi·na·gle
”
The Hebrew word (תַּחְבֻּלוֹת
) translated “finagle” or “sabotage” (or “contrive”)
is “tachbulah”/“tachbūlōt” (or a cognate). Searching Google
on “תַּחְבֻּלוֹת,”, yields
(amongst other hits):
“Lexicon Results
Strong's H8458 - tachbulah
תַּחְבֻּלוֹת
Transliteration
tachbulah
|
Pronunciation
takh·vü·lä' (Key)
|
Part of Speech
feminine noun
|
Root Word (Etymology)
|
TWOT Reference
|
1) direction, counsel,
guidance, good advice, (wise) counsel
a) direction, guidance
b) counsel
1) good or wise counsel
2) of the wicked
”
Notice the variation. There is a
semantic range that seems to allow the word to mean “prudent
counsel” - what “Gesenius's Lexicon” calls good
counsel – or it can mean “cunning counsel” - what is called
bad counsel. Hence, it seems, “finagle” or
“sabotage” fit in with what is termed “bad counsel.”
Back to the original question, then:
“Is the mossad motto really 'By way
of deception, thou shalt do war'?”
To some extent, we can ignore the “best
answerer's” old motto-new motto distinction because the word
“tachbulah” shows up in both. But if we simply ask whether a
reasonable person could translate “tachbulah” - for example, as
it occurs in Proverbs 11:14 – as “cunning counsel”, also known
as, “deception”, “contrivance”, “finagling”, etc., the
answer seems to be a resounding: Yes! In fact, it's Google's first
choice.
I hasten to add that I am not saying
subtle translation issues can be settled with Google searches. Rumor
has it that “CIA Seed Money Helped Launch Google” in the first
place! Source:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/google_cia_seed_money_launched_google.htm
(cf.: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/)
Of course, with the seemingly cozy
relationship that CIA has with Mossad, one might wonder where this
leaves us with respect to the matter at hand. But, spook-i-ness
aside, I am simply suggesting that, in virtue of the fact that
something close to the “deception”-translation (namely, Google's
“finagle”/“sabotage” translation) is obviously available as a
surface reading, it is disingenuous (at best) and propagandistic (at
worst) to accuse of “anti-Semitism” or “anti-Zionism” those
who adopt the “deception”-reading. After all, an uneasily
duplicable search (conducted by a person of good will) shows that the
decision is not a one between an obviously correct reading and an
obviously incorrect reading. Rather, the choice is a one between a
positively-connoted sort of “counsel” and negatively-connoted
sort of “counsel”. This is a close call. One might say that it
has a delicious ambiguity. In such case, only surrounding context –
and neither a priori penchants for
philo-Semitism/anti-Semitism nor philo-Zionism/ anti-Zionism – can
determine the best reading in any situation. It may well bell that
the occurrence in Proverbs 11:14 is best construed as positive. As
for the Mossad Motto, those with some background knowledge of the
likes of Yitzhak Shamir and his ilk (and Shamir's involvement with
the terrorist group (euphemistically designated by Wikipedia, et. al.
as a the “more militant faction” of a “Zionist paramilitary
group”) known as the “Stern Gang”), might come to a different
conclusion than those who are blissfully or willfully ignorant.
Update:
Subsequent to my initial
Google-experience, I have discovered that the “by way of deception”
information comes via former Israeli Mossad case officer, Victor
Ostrovsky. Ostrovsky wrote a book entitled, By Way of Deception
– and variously subtitled “The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad
Officer”, “A Devastating Insiders-Portrait of the Mossad”, and
suchlike.
As of “9 September 2012 at 01:26”,
the relevant Wikipedia page (“By Way of Deception”) has the
following text:
“The title of the book is supposedly
a translation of part of Proverbs 24:6, which Ostrovsky alleges is
the former motto of the Mossad: be-tahbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā
milkhamāh (Hebrew: בתחבולות תעשה לך
מלחמה. Ostrovsky claims this translates, 'By Way Of
Deception, Thou Shalt Do War.' The Hebrew word בתחבולות
translates into English as, 'Ploys, Tricks, Trickery,
Subterfuges, or Stratagems' (Source: Google Translate) Alternatively,
translations of בתחבולות into
English in Proverbs 24:6 in Christian Bibles substitute a different
meaning from the original Hewbrew. For example, the King James
translation of Proverbs 24:6 is 'For by wise counsel thou shalt make
thy war"; the American Standard Bible translation is, 'For by
wise guidance thou shalt make thy war'; the New American Standard
Bible translation is 'For by wise guidance you will wage war.'[1] In
contrast The Jewish Study Bible published by Jewish Publication
Society at Oxford University Press (2004) under the editing scrutiny
of Michael Fishbane, Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler reads 'For by
stratagems you wage war, and victory comes with much planning'.”
And the relevant footnote #1 is as
follows:
“^ "Proverbs 24:6 -- Parallel
Translations". Retrieved May 18, 2011.”
The “Google Translate” citation
brings back memories. Here's the Wikipedia screen capture:
(Note: Even though I ran Proverbs 11,
and the Wikipedia blurb speaks about Proverbs 24, the word
“בְתַחְבֻּלוֹת” is the
same in both places. Google translate gives the meaning of the word –
as taken from Proverbs 24:6, via the website
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2824.htm
– as “contrive”, “sabotage”, “circumvent”, and
“wangle”. Like I said at the outset, I was simply trying to
satisfy myself with respect to the question of how seriously to take the hysterical denials of the "by way of deception" translation. And I am satisfied.)
###
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