How an Ancient Talmudic Term Became Football’s Word for a Draw

In a new video in the "Word from the Sources" series on Mishav, the channel of the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, Anat Korol-Gordon explains how the Hebrew word "teiku" became embedded in modern sports language. The video asks what connects Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Elijah the Prophet to the term used for a tie, and traces the answer back to the Babylonian Talmud.

Korol-Gordon says "teiku" comes from Aramaic and literally means "stand" or "will stand." In the Talmud, sages used it when they could not resolve a halakhic or conceptual dispute, leaving the question open and unresolved. She compares that to football debates over who is greater, Messi or Ronaldo, or Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe, where no definitive answer is reached.

The video gives one Talmudic example, a dispute over which student is preferable, a "sharp one who raises objections" or a "measured one who reaches conclusions." Here too, the matter ends in "teiku." It also notes a later interpretation that the word is an acronym for "Tishbi will answer questions and problems," referring to Elijah the Prophet, known as the Tishbite, who is expected to settle the unresolved questions in the future.