Passing Phrase - www.learnhebrew.org.il

Olam Umelo'o

Literally: The world and everything that fills it.
Idiomatically: A world unto itself / the whole world / the whole package

We find almost the same phrase twice in Psalms (24:1): "Ha'aretz Umelo'o," הארץ ומלואו and again (50:12) "Teivel U'melo'ah " ,תבל ומלאה Both phrases have the same meaning. A nice commentary using this phrase comes from the Talmud (Sanhedrin 4:5) in discussing why only one person was created by God. It concludes, to teach us that:

כל המקיים (מציל) נפש אחת, מעלים עליו כאילו קיים עולם מלא.

"Kol hamekayeim (matzil) nefesh achat ma'alim alav ke'ilu kiyem olam malei." Whoever saves one person it is as if he saved the whole world.

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