Goy

Goi (Hebrew גוי, plural goyim גוים; גוי Yiddish goy, plural goyim גוים ) is a Hebrew word that means "nation" or "people". In the broadest sense so that all non-Jews are referred to.

Forms, meaning development

The Hebrew feminine form for " gojische woman " is Goja (plural: Gojot; Yiddish: Goje, Gojte; plural: Gojes, Gojtes ), the adjectival form of Yiddish is gojisch ( גוייִש ); for non-Jewish women, there is also the term shiksa. Today Goi is usually as a general term of the non-Israelites ( " non-Jews " lo - Jewish people ) is used, although the term also in the original meaning ( "people", "nation" ) is common.

Symbolic meanings of the word from the time of the creation of the Tanakh are still " swarm of locusts " and "all kinds of beasts " and " herds " and " animal flock ".

The name Goi occurs first in the Torah in Genesis (Hebrew: Bereishit ) 10:1 in relation to non-Israelites. In Genesis 12:2, and many other places in the Bible, the term is also used for the Israelites themselves, such as Abraham learns that he will be the father of a tribe goi gadol, a " great nation ".

Use in the German

In German, the use of Goi in pejorative form is known.

If the expression Goi is used by Jews to other Jews, this is also a pejorative reference to " unjüdisches " behavior such as disrespect of Jewish rules on behavior contrary to traditional Judaism or a reference to depraved or unintelligent behavior: for example, it means hot a Yiddish Kopp ( "He has a Jewish head ", Yiddish ) " He's smart ," said He, unlike a hot gojischen Kopp ( "He has a gojischen head") for " He is stupid " is.

As Schabbesgoi, Shabbesgoi or even German Sabbath -Goi is referred to a non-Jewish auxiliary force that performs forbade a Jewish household during the Sabbath work.