Kefizat haderech

In one universe, David Lowe referred to Jenny Everywhere's shifting abilities as “the kefizat haderech."

When he mentioned it to her, Kim misheard his statement as a reference to the Kwisatz Haderach, a title belonging to a character called Paul Atreides. In turn, David did not understand the reference and thought Kim was telling him about some person named Paul who was another user of the kefizat haderech. (PROSE: The Absquatulation of Jenny Everywhere)

Behind the scenes

The Hebrew phrase kefizat haderech literally means “contraction of the road”, and refers to a kind of miraculous journey allowing supernaturally quick travel between one place and another, whereby the road one travels becomes shorter for the traveller than it is from the outside. Talmudic tradition reads evidence of kefizat haderech in many episodes from the Torah.

The term of Kwisatz Haderach as used in Frank Herbert's Dune series is a corruption of “kefizat haderech”, and indeed, its literal meaning is given in the books as “the Shortening of the Way”, even though, within the novel's far-future setting, it has acquired another, more figurative meaning as the title of a messianic figure who comes to be embodied in the form of Paul Atreides.