Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!
Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.
Custom Community Name?
For those of us who were or still are a part of the Judaism StackExchange community, you'll know that they don't call themselves "Judaism Stack Exchange" – it's Mi Yodeya.
Here, we're just "Judaism Codidact." We are indeed a Codidact site about Judaism, but just calling ourselves "Judaism" is just asking for confusion. Is there any interest in branding?
What makes for a good name? I see three main criteria that ought to be considered:
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It needs to be unique and memorable. If the community is called “Judaism,” nobody will ever find it without adding the second keyword “Codidact.”
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It needs to be relevant to Judaism. Mi Yodeya is a great name because of its inspiration from the poem “Echad Mi Yodeya,” “Who Knows One,” as well as its being a quote from several places in the Bible.
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It needs to be relevant to this site’s mission. Whichever part you want to focus on, whether that be the Q&A aspect, the community aspect, or something else, the name more importantly than anything else has to reflect our goals here.
If you’ve got a name to suggest, I recommend posting each name individually as its own answer, with a brief explanation as to why you think it’s a good name.
Of course, you might think that we’re fine as-is, with just “Judaism Codidact.” Just as I’m asking you to suggest alternative names with your thoughts as to why we should switch to that instead, if you feel our current name is good feel free to post an answer with your thoughts as to why we should keep it.
All of the above is find and all, but the most important question is for the development team: How difficult would it be behind the scenes to readjust for a new name? The most obvious hurdle would seem to be swapping out the logo, but otherwise is it as simple as search, replace, and publish, or would it be more complicated than that?
To answer the technical questions, a site's name is reflected in: - the logo - the URL(s) - the short description in …
4y ago
I think Ta Shema has a few things going for it: - It's a very common phrase in the Babylonian Talmud so will be easy …
4y ago
Perhaps, to hew close to the "Codidact" brand, we could consider: CoTalmid That is, Latin for "together" plus Hebr …
4y ago
How about: Codida'at Combination of Codidact and da'at (knowledge/wisdom/however you want to translate it).
4y ago
The Judaism term that comes to mind immediately in association with "codidact" is chavruta/chavrusa - "study partner." T …
4y ago
צא ולמד "Tze u'lemad" -- "come let us learn. Unfortunately, the presence of a non-English consonant is problematic …
4y ago
Col Coreh Biblical reference (Like Isaiah 40:3), used to let people knows things in a public and urgent manner Plays …
4y ago
Spinning off my comment into a new answer (incorporating input from Isaac and AA): I love Isaac Moses' ideas, especia …
4y ago
Yes, just "Judaism" is asking for confusion, but no custom name is necessary: just always call ourselves "Judaism Codida …
4y ago
Shinanta Play on Deut 6:7 The 'ta' at the end gives it a nice rings Reference to learning
4y ago
Consider the Talmudic: Amar Mar (אמר מר) Could be called Amarmar (stress on the mar #1). Catchy Kinda fun …
4y ago
Why are we here? To study Torah, for some sufficiently expansive definition of Torah. ("This, too, is Torah.") What …
4y ago
Originally I was going to propose a name reflecting the Q&A nature of the site, something like Sho’el U’Meishiv, or Hisk …
4y ago
Jewish Learning = People of the book Book = Scroll Scroll = Like ArtScroll, also a Jewish Learning platform Internet …
4y ago
Another suggestion, in line with all the others emphasizing the "learning together" value: Haskeis, referencing Berachos …
4y ago
Gamzu Classic jewish theme
4y ago
6thirteen. Reminder of the commandments. Sounds a bit intriguing.
4y ago
17 answers
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Originally I was going to propose a name reflecting the Q&A nature of the site, something like Sho’el U’Meishiv, or Hiskalti (ref. Avos 4:1). But then I realized that Codidact isn’t about exchanging questions and answers; the name literally means “learning together.”
To that end, I propose the name Vahev Basufa. The name stems from Numbers 21:14, where in its simplest meaning Vahev and Sufa are locations, but the Talmud in Kiddushin 30b interprets the phrase differently.
מאי ״את אויבים בשער״? אמר רבי חייא בר אבא, ״אפילו האב ובנו הרב ותלמידו שעוסקין בתורה בשער אחד נעשים אויבים זה את זה, ואינם זזים משם עד שנעשים אוהבים זה את זה, שנאמר ׳את והב בסופה׳ - אל תקרי בסופה אלא בסופה.״
What [does the verse mean by] “enemies in the gate”? Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said, “Even the father and his son, the teacher and his student, who toil in Torah in one gate become enemies to each other, but they do not budge from there until they become lovers to each other, as it says, ‘And Vahev in Sufa.’ [Vahev is interpreted as cognate to Ahavah, love, and] do not read ‘Sufa’ but rather ‘sofa’ [‘in the end’].”
In the phrase Vahev Basufa, then, we see reflected the notion of differing parties debating out an issue, with the goal of reconciling over an agreed conclusion in the end.
To answer the technical questions, a site's name is reflected in:
- the logo
- the URL(s)
- the short description in the list of communities
Changing the logo is a matter of replacing one graphic with another; it'll take longer for someone to make it than to deploy it.
For URLs, I would suggest adding rather than replacing, so that old links continue to work. Redirecting one URL to another is not hard; in fact, Mi Yodeya does this too. (mi.yodeya.com redirects to the SE URL.)
The short description is editable by admins. Again, not hard.
That's the technical side. I would love to have a name that is catchier and more memorable. An issue that was raised on the proposal is the difference between clear names and branding. As someone not very proficient in marketing, I'm not sure how to navigate that -- but I hope others here have better ideas on how to do that!
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I think Ta Shema has a few things going for it:
- It's a very common phrase in the Babylonian Talmud so will be easy for anyone who's studied Talmud to remember.
- In the Talmud, it's used to introduce a proof of or against a position. While that's not an exact match to Q&A, it's thematically similar.
- It's got "Shema" in the name, so people less familiar with Judaism may recognize it as being about Judaism.
- It means, literally, "come hear", which is what the Codidact name and idea are about: learning together.
Perhaps, to hew close to the "Codidact" brand, we could consider:
CoTalmid
That is, Latin for "together" plus Hebrew for "student."
I thought about "CoMelamed" ("together" plus "teacher"), but that string could be incorrectly parsed as "Come Lamed," which isn't big deal, but may be a little confusing. Also, I like the humility of us all considering ourselves, first, students, again thinking of Rabbi Chanina (Taanit 7a):
הרבה למדתי מרבותי ומחבירי יותר מרבותי ומתלמידי יותר מכולן
I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my friends, but from my students I have learned more than from all of them.
The Judaism term that comes to mind immediately in association with "codidact" is chavruta/chavrusa - "study partner." The obvious domain names with that word (chavruta, chavrusa, havruta, havrusa .com) are all taken.
Chaverai (or Chaveirai).com = "my friends" / "my study partners" is available, and evokes the statement of Rabbi Chanina (Ta'anit 7a):
הרבה למדתי מרבותי ומחבירי יותר מרבותי ומתלמידי יותר מכולן
I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my friends, but from my students I have learned more than from all of them.
A cheeky idea would be OChavruta / OChavrusa, referring to the aphorism quoted by Rava (Ta'anit 23a):
או חברותא או מיתותא
Give me friendship, or give me death
(My free translation)
Of these, my favorite is Chaverai.
צא ולמד
"Tze u'lemad" -- "come let us learn.
Unfortunately, the presence of a non-English consonant is problematic, but may inspire someone else to a better idea.
Spinning off my comment into a new answer (incorporating input from Isaac and AA):
I love Isaac Moses' ideas, especially the reference that he made with "Chaverai," but I think that a word that refers to a group is better than "my (sing.) friends."
Therefore: "Chevraya" (Aramaic חברייא, literally group of friends/society (compare to "chevra kadisha").
It's related to the modern Hebrew "Chevreh" (חבר'ה, group of friends). Close enough in meaning to Chaburah (חבורה = group that learns together), but Chevraya has an advantage because it cannot be confused with the homonym for "bruise."
AA recommended we consider avoiding sounds that are not native to English (= ch/ח). Isaac suggested "Hevraya" as a replacement in that case, possibly with a dot under the H (= Ḥ) to represent the ח sound.
Col Coreh
- Biblical reference (Like Isaiah 40:3), used to let people knows things in a public and urgent manner
- Plays off of codidact and all
Consider the Talmudic: Amar Mar (אמר מר)
Could be called Amarmar (stress on the mar #1).
- Catchy
- Kinda fun
- Totally Random and new sounding
- Demonstrates fellow respect to all users, calling them 'master' and all
- Values all views and opinions
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Shinanta
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Play on Deut 6:7
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The 'ta' at the end gives it a nice rings
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Reference to learning
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Why are we here? To study Torah, for some sufficiently expansive definition of Torah. ("This, too, is Torah.")
What do many of us do before studying Torah? Say a blessing:
לעסוק בדברי התורה
(... asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tsivanu) LaAsok B'Divrei Hatorah
(acknowledging the commandment to occupy ourselves with Torah study.)
But emphasizing Torah study will be offputting to some, which leads me to
LaAsokBaSheylot
or even just
Sheylot (שאלות -- "questions")
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Jewish Learning = People of the book
Book = Scroll
Scroll = Like ArtScroll, also a Jewish Learning platform
Internet age + [art]Scroll = iScroll
iScroll = Also like I scroll on the website
iScroll = Could be you scroll, like Youtube - friendly and inviting
You Scroll = uScroll
uScroll = Why not ScrollU
ScrollU [or Scrollu] = U at the end, like a university
University = Joint learning etc.
Welcome to ScrollU.
Well that's all I got for now.. Glad to pop over here with the old Chevra.
6thirteen.
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Reminder of the commandments.
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Sounds a bit intriguing.
1 comment thread