The Ta'am of Tourism

Abstract

The title deserves comment and explanation, unless, of course, you understand Hebrew. It could just as easily have been of tourism, but then the Jewish references would have disappeared. Ta'am means taste in Hebrew, in the sense of flavor--what we normally associate with food. But it also signifies the second meaning of taste as used in English, namely discernment orjudgment, as in good or bad Bad in Hebrew is ta'am zol, or literally cheap taste, indicating the implicit class dimensions of such judgment. By contrast, person of good is called simply ish ta'am or, literally, a man of taste. There is, however, third meaning to ta'am absent from English: understanding or sense, logic or reason. A logical remark is devarim shel ta'am, or literally sensible (i.e., tasty) words. That which is senseless and unreasoning is also tasteless in Hebrew, literally lacking ta'am. Thus the English expression, without rhyme or reason, in Hebrew is also without savor or flavor.