Cobwebs of the Righteous?

cobwebs_of_the_righteous

(with thanks to Dahlia Beck)

You would think that one of Canada’s major banks would use someone who knows Hebrew to design the artwork aimed at its Jewish customers—or at least give the artwork to a Hebrew speaker before approval.

The intention in the front cover illustration of what appears to be a calendar in the run-up to the Jewish New Year was to write Tombs of Tsadikim (Tombs of the Righteous) in Hebrew below the English —

קברי צדיקים

In fact, what is written is

קורי צדיקים

which means “Cobwebs of the Righteous.”

4 thoughts on “Cobwebs of the Righteous?

  1. Mistakes like that happen, all the time, and in both language-directions. This one is srikingly simple. (some others are only double-entendrees)
    What’s fascinating to me,Jonathan, is the Reaction: possibly a mix of ‘how could that happen?” “Oh well, at least they tried.” or, (these post-fact days ,I fear) “Who cares? Close enough.”
    If it’d been *my* error, I’d hide behind some obscure (nonexistent?) hidtorical allusion comparing tombs to the webs of spiders, spun to ‘catch’ souls and keep them closer to the True Path, * yada yada…
    Btw/ aren’t ‘corim’ also miners? Haven’t seen it in print to know the spelling though.
    Good catch, guy/ JS

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  2. The spelling is in the picture: קורים. Miners is כורים.
    You’re right that as errors go, this is not as egregious as many others. But it’s a reflection of the notion that Jews = Israelis, so it’s enough to ask any Jewish person (perhaps the grahic artist him/herself?) to check the Hebrew. It also reflects poorly on the professionalism of the bank.

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