johntjr wrote:
Professor Mordochia wrote:

John T.,

"Mordochai" is a transliteration of the Hebrew name מָרְדֳּכַי, the first cousin of the [possibly fictitious] eponymous Queen Hadassah-Estér of the m'gillah of Purim, and also one of the Y'hudæan Elders who, together with Crown Prince Z'rubavel and Chief Kohen-Designate Y'hoshua [also known as "Yéshua"] ben Y'hotzadak, grandson of S'rayah (the last Chief Kohen to serve in the First Temple), led the returning exiles who took advantage of Koresh the Persian's amnesty in 539BCE (see Ezra 2:2 and also N'hemyah 7:7). The last syllable rhymes with "EYE" and this vowel sound is represented in transliteration by the digraph ai. It is a source of constant irritation to me when people who are too lazy to pay proper attention to how others spell their names, continually insist on separating the A and I and writing them the wrong way around.


http://mordochai.tripod.com - פרופ' מָרְדֳּכַי בֶּן-צִיּוֹן, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל