Hillel I. Newman. "Sandak and Godparent in Midrash and Medieval Practice. JQR (Jewish Quarterly Review), Winter 2007. pp. 1-28 (+four pages of appendix).
Basically, he argues that the Jewish institution of sandak is derived from a similar Christian institution: not compater* (co-parent, who has a social link to the parents), but patrinus (godfather, who has a social link to the child).The problem is that the Greek word for compater is anadokhos, whereas the Greek word for patrinus is synteknos.
Why, then, should the Jewish compater be called "sandak" (or, in many manuscripts, sandiknus, seemingly from synteknos)? Newman argues that it is based on a misinterpration of a passage from Midrash Tehillim, which says that one uses one's knees to make a sandikos for an infant who is being circumcised. Newman argues that the original meaning of this passage is "to make a box [sandyx] for the infant.*
*(The common distinction in modern practice between sandak and Yiddish קוואַטער is a late development; see A.N.Z. Roth, "Millim be-milah", Yeda‘ ‘Am 13 (1968), 52-53.)
1 comment:
hm. My grandfather was sandek at my bris, and labeled "godfather" in my baby book.
I was sandek at a friend's son's bris (intermarried), and have tried to take a godfather's interest in his Jewish education or lack of thereof. Not that it's working too well, so far - we were supposed to be working together, but he has some kind of respiratory problem that keeps him home on weekends. Also, I think his parents are nervous about letting their 7th-grader take the bus by himself.
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