A lecturer at Israel’s largest public college stirred controversy Wednesday after instructing proctors not to write a common religious phrase on a class board during an exam.
The instructions were made public after a student photographed and uploaded to the Internet an envelope apparently containing exams for a politics course at Sapir College near Sderot, on which “Please do not write BS”D on the board” was handwritten.
BS”D, an acronym for the Aramaic phrase meaning “with the help of heaven,” is traditionally written by practicing Jews at the top of every written document.
According to students present in the class, though, it appears the orders were not followed.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Banned Aramaic
ARAMAIC WATCH: Lecturer bans use of Jewish phrase. Exam proctors instructed not to write ‘Besiyata Dishmaya’ on board, igniting anger among students (Times of Israel).
