October 27 is Coming: Why Israeli Politics Sounds Like a Giant Bible-Study Meets Grocery List

Elections are just around the corner on October 27 (specifically, Marheshvan 5787), which means two things: your social media feeds are about to become unhinged, and it’s time to talk about words.

Specifically, let's dive into three Hebrew political buzzwords—miflaga (mppl), si'a (faction), and reshima (list)—courtesy of Dr. Tamar Katzir’s brilliant linguistic segment on Galei Tzahal. Because if we’re going to lose our minds over ballots, we might as well know what we’re shouting about.

1. Miflaga (מפלגה) – The Grand Splitting of Ways

Today, a miflaga (מִפְלָגָה) is an organized political and social group trying to grab power. But where did this word come from?

To find out, we have to travel back to the Book of Chronicles II (Chapter 35), describing King Josiah’s Passover. Verse 12 uses the word:

"וַיָּסִירוּ הָעֹלָה לְתִתָּם לְמִפְלַגּוֹת לְבֵית אָבוֹת לִבְנֵי הָעָם..."

In that same chapter, you’ll also find words like plugot (פלוגות - divisions/companies), halachot (חלוקות - distributions), and mahlakot (מחלקות - departments). Linguistically, plugot and miflagot share the root פל"ג, which means separation or splitting.

In fact, Hebrew loves words for human groups that come from cutting and chopping things up:

• Ket/Keta (כת / כיתה): From lechatet (לְכַתֵּת), like lechatet raglaim (crushing your feet from exhaustion).

• Gdud (גדוד): From lagdod (לגדוד), meaning to cut (like date harvesting, gadid tamarim).

• Hativa (חטיבה): From lechatov (לחטוב), meaning to chop.

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Fun fact: Chronicles is the only place in the entire Bible where the plural word miflagot appears—and it never appears in the singular! Back in the Dead Sea Scrolls, they used the masculine singular miflag (מִפְלַג).

During the Haskalah (Enlightenment), Mendele Mocher Sefarim used it in his History of Animals to talk about the "miflaget ha-yonkim" (mammal group/division) and "miflaget ha-of" (bird group). By the 19th century and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's dictionary, it locked into politics. Ben-Yehuda even joked about the "miflaget ha-chafshanim" (the Liberals, literally "the freedom-seekers") and "miflaget ha-shatfanim" (the Socialists, from shutaf / partner). Oh, and it might also have been influenced by the English word party, which comes from part.

2. Si'a (סיעה) – The Crew That Sticks Together

Unlike a miflaga that runs in elections, a si'a (סִיעָה) is made up of sitting Members of Knesset—usually sticking to their original parties, though breakaway and single-person factions happen all the time.

Unlike miflaga, the word si'a is nowhere to be found in the Bible. It pops up in Rabbinic literature (Tosefta) and Aramaic translations. For instance, the Tosefta mentions "Shevna ha-sofer ve-si'ato" ("Shevna the scribe and his crew"), or phrases like "haya omed betoch si'a shel bnei adam" ("standing amidst a crowd of people"). In Aramaic Bible translations, si'a translates Hebrew words like aguda (group) or leha (band)—such as translating the band of prophets (lahakat ha-nevi'im) Saul meets into "si'at safraya" (the scribes' faction).

Linguistically, si'a likely ties to the Rabbinic verb lesayea (לסייע)—a group of people helping and banding together.

And because Hebrew has cool linguistic cousins, let’s look at Arabic! The Arabic cognate of si'a is shi'a (שִׁיעָה). And that is how we get the Shiites—the supporters/faction (si'a) of Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. Politics, language, and history are wild.

3. Reshima (רשימה) – The Grocery List of Democracy

The final word is the simplest of them all. A miflaga is sometimes called a reshima (רְשִׁימָה), which is just short for reshimat mumadim (list of candidates). When a party wants to enter the Knesset, they have to hand the Central Elections Committee a literal list of who’s running.

And just like that, much like heading out with a grocery list (reshimat kinyan), we head to the ballot boxes with a list for the Knesset. Only difference? This shopping trip costs us a lot more.

See you at the polls on October 27!