The Kollel wrote-
>>(We may add that the reason Arna was never used to refer to the Aron ha'Kodesh was, in turn, because the people used to take care to use Lashon ha'Kodesh when talking about objects of Kedushah. Using a foreign word ("synagogue"? "Temple"? "Bible"? "ark"?) to refer to objects of Kedushah was termed disgraceful. Support can be found for this in the Gemara at the end of Sukah (see especially Peirush ha'Mishnah of the Rambam) which seems to have learned that the family of Bilgah was punished because Miryam bas Bilgah called the Mizbe'ach "Lucas," or wolf in Latin . M. KORNFELD)<<
Dear R' Mordechai Amu"sh,
First of all thank you for your enlightening posts - they are a pleasure!
It seems to me that the Ta'aneh on the Bilgah family was _not_ that she
used a mundane word but rather that it was used as a degrading term. That
is to say that the Mizbe'ach consumes Jewish money and doesn't help .
Thank you again
Aaron Goldman
Aaron,
Yes, that is correct. The simple reading of the Gemara is that Miryam bas Bilgah disgraced the Mizbe'ach by calling it a "wolf."
However, in his Perush ha'Mishnah, the Rambam originally wrote that she called it "Lucas, Lucas," as the Gemara says -- that is, he copied over the Latin word instead of translating it to the Arabic, as he did with the rest of the story. I once saw a convincing article in ha'Darom, by Rav Tuvya Preschel, in which he makes a case for the suggestion that part of Miryam's sin was using the secular term, "Lucas," instead of the Hebrew Ze'ev.
In fact, the Torah itself relates the Mizbe'ach to the wolf-like characteristic of Binyomin (b'Chelko Shel TOref). According to the Targum (Bereishis 49:27) the words "Binyomin is a wolf that rips apart" translate as "In Binyomin's land will the Shechinah est and in his portion will the Beis ha'Mikdash be built." This clearly depicts the Shechinah and Beis ha'Mikdash as a "wolf." If Miryam had used the Hebrew wolf, it may not have been disgraceful. But by reverting to the Latin "Lucas," it showed that hers was a degrading statement which profaned the Temple service.
Be well,
-Mordecai
PS - Please forgive me for taking so long to get back to you! -MK