Religious talk touches on Jewish law, legal writing

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

On Sunday, I had the privilege of delivering the message at my home church, in Barrington, R.I., regarding Psalm 121.

Anyone is welcome to watch the service. (The message starts at about 14:30.) The photo I referenced, from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, appears here, at left.

There is a bit to do with law. I talked about the Hebrew word shomer, which along with the related verb yishmar is used in some form six times in Psalm 121 to describe God as a watchman or guardian. The term has particular application in Jewish law, referring to the person who watches over the body of the deceased until burial, and to the person who is responsible for ensuring kosher standards in a kitchen.

Pictured Rocks is so named for images perceived
in the minerals and sediment. RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

I talked also about the merism, the literary device by which a writer cites two extremes to incorporate everything in between as well, or to two contrasting parts to refer to the whole. The merism is employed repeatedly in Psalm 121, for example in referring to the same "heaven and earth" described in Genesis 1:1.

Legal doublets, usually of historical origin, can be merisms. In the sermon, I used the examples of "cease and desist" and "aiding and abetting." But on further reflection, I don't think they're great examples, because the words are not so clearly contrasting. A better example would be "last will and testament," because the term once referred to two discrete documents, disposing of real and personal property, respectively. The merism thus signals that the instant document represents the whole of the testator's intentions.

Legal writers often are admonished to trim duplicative doublets, especially when the words are mere synonyms, lest they be misconstrued as narrowing specifics. But the imperative of clear and succinct writing sometimes should give way to the value in a term of art, which incorporates an established meaning, and in a true merism, which conveys the meaning of expansive entirety.

UPDATE, Oct. 26, 2024: Message now available on YouTube.

Daggett discovered higher ed, world in senior life

Olive Daggett, 1927-2023
Legacy.com

Olive Daggett died on December 21, 2023, at the age of 96.

Olive was a friend, a leader in my church, and an astounding human being. Her passing was marked at Legacy.com and by The Providence Journal. Her memorial service last weekend at Barrington Baptist Church in Rhode Island is posted at Vimeo.

I memorialize Olive here at The Savory Tort because she was inspiriting in ways especially relevant to my personal and professional interests in education and internationalism.

For 40 years, Olive had a full life and worked a career in accounting for AT&T in New Jersey. Yet she had another life ahead, even before the eternal one. After retiring, she moved to Rhode Island. And then she enrolled at the University of Rhode Island and earned a four-year bachelor's degree.

Moreover, in the course of her university studies, as a senior, Olive studied abroad. She discovered a love for the world, twice studying in England and traveling on the continent. At Barrington Baptist Church, Olive gravitated to foreign missions. She became the church's missions secretary and coordinated missionary efforts globally for decades.

Faintly visible in the ProJo photograph, a pink- or purple-dyed streak ran through Olive's silver hair. Pastor Scotty Neasbitt recounted that Olive adopted the color in part to help her relate to youth in the church. Either it worked or she never needed any help; she was adored by all ages. Something about her genial character and zest for life made her transcendent of generations.

My wife and I were fortunate to have been able to visit with Olive when she was in hospice care in December. She was her usual jovial self. Secure in her faith, she had no fear of her mortal end. In so many ways, she was, and for all who remember her will remain, an inspiration.