לְשֶׁעָבַר (le-she'avar) — former, ex-
Etymology
Modern Hebrew offers several ways to say that someone no longer holds a position they once held: le-she'avar (former), be-dimos (retired/emeritus), be-fensiyah (on pension), and be-gimla'ut (on benefits/pension). All of these senses emerged only in the twentieth century. Before then, to express the idea, one used a full relative clause: "Benjamin Netanyahu, who was prime minister..." The transformation of le-she'avar from a Mishnaic adverb into a postpositive attributive adjective is a striking case of journalistic usage quietly reshaping a language.
In Rabbinic Hebrew, le-she'avar was an adverbial phrase meaning "in reference to / concerning what is past." The Mishnah employs it in Berakhot 9:3: "One who cries out about what is past — this is a vain prayer," meaning a prayer retroactively addressed to an already-determined outcome. Over centuries the phrase developed a second meaning: "in former times" — as in the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael: "In the past (le-she'avar) you used to plunder them and I would demand payment from you by royal custom." Both usages are found in rabbinic literature, but neither is the modern adjectival form.
The decisive shift came in January 1923, when the editors of Ha'aretz began systematically using le-she'avar after a title as the Hebrew equivalent of German früherer, Yiddish gevezenener, and English "former": "The newspapers in Egypt find in this an affront to the dignity of the prime minister le-she'avar." Earlier isolated examples exist — in Ha-Tsefira (1912) and Ha-Ivri (1921) — but these still function more as temporal adverbs ("the former editor," meaning "the editor in former times"). What changed in 1923 was systematic, repeated use in the specific attributive sense. Within months, other papers followed, the earlier senses faded, and the new adjectival meaning calcified into the standard Hebrew term.
The phrase be-dimos has a similarly indirect history. For the Talmudic sages, dimos was the Latin legal term dimissio (acquittal, release from penalty), as opposed to speqola (supplicium, execution): "When a king of flesh and blood grants dimos everyone praises him; when he grants speqola everyone murmurs" (Jerusalem Talmud, Berakhot 9:5). In 1890, Nahum Sokolov repurposed the phrase yatsa be-dimos ("was released/acquitted") as a Hebrew substitute for Yiddish dimisyah (dismissal from post), itself borrowed from Polish dymisja, ultimately from the same Latin dimissio. By the 1930s, be-dimos was being applied to retired officers in the press, and yatsa be-dimos gradually dropped away while be-dimos remained.
The word gimla'ut was coined by the drafters of Israel's National Insurance Law in the early 1950s. When the law passed in 1953, section one defined gimlah broadly as "any benefit that insurance under this law grants" — including maternity pay, unemployment benefits, and old-age pension. In popular use, however, be-gimla'ut came to mean specifically "on pension," functioning as a Hebrew alternative to the Yiddish-origin be-fensiyah.
Key Quotes
"הצועק לשעבר הרי זו תפילת שוא" — משנה ברכות ט׳, ג׳
"העתונים שבמצרים מוצאים בזה פגיעה בכבודו של ראש הממשלה לשעבר" — הארץ, ינואר 1923
"גנראל פאופאל, קצין בדימוס, נשיא המכון האיברי-אמריקני בברלין..." — דבר, 1936
Timeline
- Mishnaic era: Le-she'avar used as adverb meaning "in reference to the past"
- Early medieval: Phrase shifts to mean "in former times" (temporal adverb)
- 1890: Nahum Sokolov repurposes yatsa be-dimos ("acquitted") to mean "dismissed from a post"
- 1912: Ha-Tsefira uses le-she'avar after a title (still read as temporal adverb)
- January 1923: Ha'aretz begins systematic use of le-she'avar as "former" (attributive adjective)
- 1930s: Be-dimos applied to retired military officers; be-fensiyah in common use
- 1953: National Insurance Law coins gimlah; be-gimla'ut enters use as pension synonym
- Present: All four forms — le-she'avar, be-dimos, be-fensiyah, be-gimla'ut — in active use
Related Words
- בְּדִימוֹס — "retired, emeritus" (from Latin dimissio via Talmudic and Yiddish usage)
- בְּפֶּנְסִיָּה — "on pension" (from Yiddish pensye, ultimately Latin pensio)
- בְּגִמְלָאוּת — "on pension/benefits" (coined 1953 for National Insurance Law)
- גִּמְלָה — individual benefit payment (coined 1953, same law)
- שֶׁעָבַר — "that has passed" (the relative clause at the origin of the phrase)