From Chironomy to Trope. Originally Published March 18-19, 2022.
March 18, 2022
Last week we discussed chironomy. That brought us to the question of which came first, the hand signs or the written symbols. We know that we were singing the Song of the Sea, the Decalogue, and some Psalms at the daily service back when services were live at the Temple in Jerusalem. Nehemiah 8:1-8 tells […]
What Is Chironomy? Originally Published March 11-12, 2022.
March 17, 2022
Have you ever watched a Torah reading for which one of the gabbayim was making hand signals for the reader? You have seen chironomy! The word is derived from the Latin chironomia, which came from the Ancient Greek χειρονομία (kheironomía); from χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + νέμω (némō, “manage”). Chironomy is known to have existed in ancient Egypt (through hieroglyphics), […]