Important as Dead
Regarded as someone who is already dead. Figuratively: worthless. Their life is not a life; it is extremely hard.
("Four are counted as dead: the poor, the destitute, the deaf, and he who has no children" - Nadarim Sad 12:2, and so on: "The word...in the participation of artists, who fill the inner senses of the tongue with their senses and drip life into what is 'counted as dead'" - Bialik/ Heblei Lashan, and so on: "Wrapped in hunger and naked without clothing and their home "Even as a grave and a lamp are dimmed, and they are considered dead, but they have not yet been given to burial." - Agnon/ Elo Ve Elo, On the Wombs and the Grinder, 263)
Translation
Expression (Hebrew)
חָשׁוּב כְּמֵת
Definition (Hebrew)
נֶחֱשָׁב כְּמוֹ אֶחָד שֶׁכְּבָר מֵת. בְּהַשְׁאָלָה: חֲסַר עֵרֶךְ. חַיָּיו אֵינָם חַיִּים. חַיָּיו קָשִׁים בְּיוֹתֵר.
("אַרְבָּעָה חֲשׁוּבִים כְּמֵתִים:עָנִי וּמְצֹרָע וְסוֹמֵא וּמִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ בָּנִים "-נְדָרִים סַד ע"ב, וְכֵן:"הַמָּלוֹן...בְּהִשְׁתַּתְּפוּת יוֹצְרִים אָמָּנִים, שֶׁצּוֹפִים בְּחוּשָׁם הַפְּנִימִי לְחַדְרֵי חֲדָרִים שֶׁל הַלָּשׁוֹן וּמְטַפְטְפִים חַיִּים בְּמָה שֶׁ'חָשׁוּב כְּמֵת'"- בְּיָאלִיק/ חֶבְלֵי לָשׁוֹן,וְכֵן:"עֲטוּפִים בְּרָעָב וַעֲרוּמִים בְּלֹא לְבוּשׁ וּבֵיתָם אָפֵל כְּקֶבֶר וְתַנּוּרָם צוֹנֵן כְּמֵת, וְאַף הֵם חֲשׁוּבִים כְּמֵתִים אֶלָּא שֶׁעֲדַיִן לֹא נִתְּנוּ לִקְבוּרָה"- עַגְנוֹן/ אֵלּוּ וָאֵלּוּ, בַּעַל הָרֵחַיִם וְהַטּוֹחֵן, 263)