Hebrew Language

This chapter examines some of the assumptions that are typically employed when dealing with the development of the Hebrew Bible. The first part of the chapter is a critique of the very term "Jewish Bible." It points out some of the problems with the term and make a plaidoyer against being politically correct. The second part focuses on what it means to explain the "development" of the Hebrew Bible and suggests that diachronic analysis alone cannot fully explain its formation. In this author's view, proper understanding of the development of the Bible requires drawing upon intellectual and literary models more commonly associated with the period of the “reception of scripture” than with conventional composition history.

This succinct and accessible resource will help students of biblical languages gain a better appreciation and understanding of the rules, functions, and terminology of English grammar. Useful for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students this quick reference guide can be used in both Biblical languages courses as well as in exegetical courses and as a resource in writing exegetical papers. Instructors will also benefit from the book as both a refresher in grammatical terms and as an additional resource for helping students define terms. This handy resource provides: Definitions of nearly 100 grammatical terms based on their English usage;  Explanations of how terms are used in Greek and Hebrew; An easy-to-use quick reference tool for beginner, intermediate, and advanced biblical language students; A useful aid to exegesis; Alphabetical organization

Hebrew philologists disagree on how to describe the biblical Hebrew verbal system. We especially disagree about the difference in meaning between the main verb forms: yiqtol and qatal, wayyiqtol, weyiqtol, weqatal: is it tense, taxis, aspect, modality, or something else that prompts the use of one form rather than the other?
In this paper I clarify the semantic value of the finite verb forms in biblical Hebrew by identifying a model that accounts for the selection of verb forms in a limited corpus: the narrative beginning in 1 Samuel.
This study contributes to the resolution of the question of Biblical Hebrew verb form semantics by using the same method I applied to Qumran Hebrew: analyzing all the verbs in this narrative, using an empirical method of statistical correlation between form and meaning. I first produced a computer database of all the verbs in this corpus, tagged for formal features such as morphology, situation aspect, and word order on one hand, and semantic functions such as time reference, viewpoint aspect, and modality on the other. I then determined the strength of an association between each form and each function. Finally, I used the patterns found in these correlations to (1) evaluate conflicting proposed interpretations, and (2) construct a model that accounts for the ancient Hebrew author’s choice of verb forms in this corpus.
In this paper I first introduce the problem of Hebrew tense and aspect, then very briefly outline the basics of relevant theoretical linguistics, significant methodological issues, and previous attempts to explain the Hebrew verbs, synthesize statistical trends from the database into hypotheses, and describe the results of applying these hypotheses to specific verbs in 1 Samuel 1-2.

An enormous amount of research and the synthesization of historical events and archaeological artifacts has led the author to verify Israelite residence in Egypt from 1876–1446 BC. This research is connected to the unexpected discovery of interconnecting archaeological, epigraphical, and iconographical evidence that attests to the presence of Israelites in Egypt over virtually the entire 430 years. By the sheer volume of verifiable evidence of complementary historical data—when comparing the biblical text and the artifactual and epigraphical record—the author attempts to demonstrate convincingly to objective readers that the biblical story of the Egyptian origins of the Israelite ‘nation’ is reliable as a factual account. Never again will students of the Bible have to listen to uniformed university professors denounce the story of Israelites in Egypt without a ready defense for its validity.

For about 150 years, scholars have attempted to identify the language of the world’s first alphabetic script, and to translate some of the inscriptions that use it. Until now, their attempts have accomplished little more than identifying most of the pictographic letters and translating a few of the Semitic words. With the publication of The World’s Oldest Alphabet, a new day has dawned. All of the disputed letters have been resolved, while the language has been identified conclusively as Hebrew, allowing for the translation of 16 inscriptions that date from 1842–1446 BC. These inscriptions expressly name 3 biblical figures and greatly illuminate the earliest Israelite history in a way that no other book has achieved, apart from the Bible.

In his objective study of the texts, Maurice Bucaille clears' away many preconceived ideas about the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Quran. He tries, in this collection of Writings, to separate what belongs to Revelation from what is the product of error or human interpretation.

His study sheds new light on the Holy Scriptures. At the end of a gripping account, he places the Believer before a point of cardinal importance: the continuity of a Revelation emanating from the same God, with modes of expression that differ in the course of time. It leads us to meditate upon those factors which, in our day, should spiritually unite rather than divide-Jews, Christians and Muslims.

As a surgeon, Maurice Bucaille has often been in a situation where he was able to examine not only people's bodies, but their souls. This is how he was struck by the existence of Muslim piety and by aspects of Islam which remain unknown to the vast majority of non-Muslims. In his search for explanations which are otherwise difficult to obtain, he learnt Arabic and studied the Quran. In it, he was surprised to find statements on natural phenomena whose meaning can only be understood through modern scientific knowledge.

He then turned to the question of the authenticity of the writings that constitute the Holy Scriptures of the monotheistic religions. Finally, in the case of the Bible, he proceeded to a confrontation between these writings and scientific data.

The results of his research into the Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Quran are set out in this book.

A first-year resource to guide introductory Hebrew courses, A MODERN GRAMMAR FOR BIBLICAL HEBREW is a complete revision of Duane Garrett's previous textbook A MODERN GRAMMAR FOR CLASSICAL HEBREW. Written with the student in mind, this new textbook provides an innovative overview of the essentials of grammar while moving the learning into the original text as early as lesson eight, providing first-hand experience in God's word. Some of the distinct features are as follows:
    -Completes all essential first-year material in 26 lessons.
    -Clarifies the rules for accent shift and vowel change very early.
    -Overviews the verbs within the first weeks of study.
    -Enables early mastery of weak verbs.
    -Initially introduces weak roots and derived stems first through principal parts.
    -Includes intermediate topics in the final chapters and appendixes.
A MODERN GRAMMAR FOR BIBLICAL HEBREW includes tables, charts, and "blackboards" for further emphasis and features a CD containing additional helps for the student and teacher. Flexible teaching plans guide the learner through the essentials, whether the goal is an understanding of only the rudiments of traditional first-year biblical Hebrew or an appreciation of intermediate issues like Masoretic cantillation, textual criticism, lexicography, or discourse grammar and literary structure in prose and poetry. Appendixes include introductions to the standard Hebrew text and use of a lexicon, as well as a glossary, vocabulary lists, and verb paradigms.

People are kind and loving to each other in the Book of Ruth. So God blesses everyone.
The Book of Ruth is pivotal in our human evolution, as discussed in the forthcoming Red Line of Hope.
This is an appendix for that book; it is a (nearly) line-by-line commentary on the Book of Ruth

Supported by the modern European Zionist movement, the Bezelel Academy of Art, Jerusalem, was founded in 1906 by Lithuanian artist and Zionist Boris Schatz. In the early years of the academy, work produced by students exhibited the political complexities presented in the Jewish return to Eretz Israel. The expression of concepts addressed in modern Jewish identity and Zionist ideologies were utilized in creative processes of visual communication and design. As most faculty and students were immigrating to Mandatory Palestine from Europe, the academy’s curriculum was developed through the culmination of styles and materials reflective of both European art and design canon and biblical allegory and Hebrew typography. This essay discusses the philosophies and aesthetics that influenced the progression of the Bezelel Academy of Art, Jerusalem, in its founding years.

This paper offers a critical analysis of Rabbinic sources concerning the the history of Loshon HaQodesh. The paper first attempts to define the language known as "Loshon HaQodesh" and then trace its origins through Midrashic and Talmudic sources. The paper also follows the rise and decline of this language.
A more complete version of this paper was printed in Nov. 2014 under the name Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew (Mosaica Press, 2014).

Im Folgenden wird der Hauptwortschatz des hebräischen Alten Testaments (TANACH) und aus der Mischna alle Traktate der 1. Ordnung (Berakhoth, Pea, Demai, Kilayim, Scheebi‘it, Trumot, Ma‘aserot, Ma‘aserot Scheni, Challah, Orla und Bikkurim), der 2. Ordnung (Schabbat, Eruwim, Pesachim, Schekalim, Joma, Sukka, Jom Tow, Rosch Haschana, Ta‘anijot, Megilla, Mo‘ed Katan und Chagiga) sowie der 3. Ordnung (Jebamot, Ketubot, Nedarim, Nasir, Sota, Gittin und Qiddu-schim) grundsätzlich vorausgesetzt. Meine Wortschatz-Dateien dazu findet man unter folgendem Link: https://sthbasel.academia.edu/JacobThiessen/Drafts. Man beachte die Einführung mit vielen Link in den Dateien zur Mosestora, zum Matthäusevangelium, zum Römerbrief und zu den zwei Korintherbriefen sowie in dem alphabetischen Verzeichnis zum TANACH.
Die Verben ohne Punktierung beziehen sich grundsätzlich auf den TANACH-Wortschatz, während die Verben mit Punktierung den neuhebräischen Gebrauch darstellen.
Ich weise darauf hin, dass ich kein Philologe, sondern Exeget (Neutestamentler) bin. Das ist beim Gebrauch dieser Unterlagen zu beachten. Gleichwohl werden Experten und andere durch diese Un-terlagen zu sehr spannenden philologischen Erkenntnissen gelangen.

The purpose of the present article is the contrastive analysis of the semantic aspect of the lexemes דָםּ (dam), krew and blood, respectively in biblical Hebrew, Polish, and English. Apart from its fundamental meaning referring to the fluid which circulates in the blood vessels of humans and animals, in all of these three languages blood occurs in many other meanings and contexts of language use. The analysis of examples taken from the Hebrew Bible and from Polish and English
dictionaries demonstrates that some of these meanings are coincident for all the three languages, some are analogous only in Polish and English and some typical only to one of these languages.
Key words: blood, contrastive analysis, semantics, symbolism, Polish, English, biblical Hebrew

Arabisch en Hebreeuws zijn verschillende schriften van dezelfde taal. Dit is de taal van Adam. De taal van de mens, Adamiet. In de afgelopen eeuwen heeft God de mensen niet geleid om te kijken hoe wij het vandaag de dag zouden doen.
Dwalende generaties hebben leestekens toegevoegd aan het heilige schrift, uitspraken veranderd en woordbetekenissen veranderd. Zo is het heilige woord verdraaid. Tot hier en niet verder!
De letter die geschreven staat is de letter die je uitspreekt. De rest eromheen is vals.
Als de uitgang van een woord -an -un -in is dan staan de letters er geschreven.
Grammatica wordt voor of na de stam van 2 of 3 letters toegepast. Een woord heeft nooit een stam van meer dan 3 letters.

The dual curriculum model ubiquitous to Orthodox Jewish day schools in North America typically bifurcates into religious (Judaic) studies and general studies. While most classes generally fit into one of those two halves of the curriculum, some classes are not intuitively categorized as wholly belonging to one part over the other. One of those classes is Ivrit (Modern Hebrew). This study aims to describe Ivrit’s place in the dual curriculum model and the various factors that contribute to that reality by exploring the context in which Ivrit emerged as a subject-matter for Orthodox schools and seeking to identify trends in the ways Ivrit is taught. This paper lays out the theories behind how ideology influences curriculum formation and documents how Hebrew has fit into the curriculum of Jewish Education throughout the ages. It also provides a picture of the particular context of North American Orthodox Jewry that this study focuses on, as well as a review of the different theories behind Hebrew education (heritage language vs. communicative language). With this theoretical background in hand, this dissertation surveyed 36 Orthodox high schools in North America to better understand how they viewed Ivrit’s place and shows that ultimately this subject’s place in the dual curriculum model remains ambiguous. Documenting how Ivrit is taught and examining the reasons as to why Ivrit is taught helped shed light on Ivrit’s precarious place in the dual curriculum model, as some of those policies/techniques/motives seem to line up with the aims of the Judaic studies curriculum, while others seemingly reflect the goals of the general studies curriculum.

This article discusses the style of Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (Ha-Ḥida) in the introductions he wrote to other authors’ books. In these introductions Ha-Ḥida refrained from using his own words and expressed his thoughts by embedding expressions from biblical and rabbinic sources. He deliberately made multiple changes to the sounds and meanings of his sources, thus creating surprise, challenge and pleasure for his readers. At the beginning of the article there is an overview of the development of the calembour style based on the allosemic appropriation from its inception to its spectacular development by Ha-Ḥida. The main part of the article is devoted
to the analysis of Ha-Ḥida’s usage of allosemic appropriations. The analysis is carried out on the first introduction he wrote when he was 22 years old; this introduction appears in the book Neḥpah Ḇakkesep̄ by Rabbi Yonah Navon (Constantinople 1748). The entire introduction is given at the end of the article and is accompanied by a full commentary.

מרבית המחקרים המנתחים את זיכרון הנאציזם בחברות הגרמניות שקמו לאחר מלחמת העולם השנייה טוענים שגרמנים רבים הדגישו את סבלם שלהם במלחמה כאסטרטגיה שנועדה להסתיר את השותפות הפסיבית או האקטיבית של האוכלוסייה הגרמנית לרדיפת היהודים. מאמר זה טוען שייצוגי הסבל או חוסר האונים של "גרמנים רגילים" לא תמיד שימשו כדרך לחמוק מאחריות ולהשכיח את השואה. בחינה מקרוב של סרט מזרח גרמני וסרט מערב גרמני המתארים סדרת ניסיונות כושלים להציל יהודים, מצביעה על מסר מורכב יותר המשתמש במרכיבים אפולוגטיים על מנת לבקר את האוכלוסייה הגרמנית על אדישותה לגורל היהודים ולעמת את הגרמנים עם השואה. ההשוואה בין הסרטים והביקורות עליהם גם מצביעה על ההבדלים בין מזרח ומערב גרמניה בשאלת הלקח שיש
ללמוד ממקרים אלו של הצלה כושלת.

This study is concerned with the properties, structural representation and derivational patterns of deverbal nouns (DNs) in Modern Hebrew. A recurring question arises in the context of such 'hybrid' formations: precisely how similar or far-apart are these derivatives from the verbs from which they originate? Enlisting Hebrew, a language with rich morphological marking on both verbs as well as DNs, several loci of divergence between verbs and respective DNs in the domain of argument-and eventstructure are eliminated. Taking as a point of reference the influential view which equates the processes of nominalization and passivization, this study scrutinizes syntactic structure and its interaction with nominalization, showing that behaviours typical of passives are absent from DNs. Most notably, the 'demoted' status of external arguments, and rejection of unaccusative and unergative verbs as inputs to nominalization, are not intrinsic to Hebrew DNs, a finding which weakens long-standing beliefs bearing on this class. A novel area of exploration offered in this study is the examination of morpho-syntactic factors and their interaction with nominalization, a domain where inconsistencies do arise. What emerges from a comparison of some 3000 verbs based on verb-class (templatic) morphology is a significant asymmetry between DNs carrying Middle (intransitive) marking and DNs marked as Active, wherein Middle forms are found to be less productive in two well-defined syntactic contexts. Not entirely absent, however, the same roots which fail to surface with Middle morphology are perfectly licit when derived from the corresponding Active verb (in case of alternating roots). Building on the notions of competition and markedness, such paradigmatic gaps are analysed not as grammaticallydetermined incompatibilities, but as a consistent preference for less-marked forms (Active-marked DNs) over more complex ones (Middle-marked DNs), a trend which lies within the realm of performance. As such, Hebrew DNs constitute a case study of the interrelations between the syntactic and morphological modules, and pragmatics.

In the first half of the 16th century in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the reception of Hebrew studies took place. It happened by personal contacts of magnates and church dignitaries with the West-European Hebrew experts, through Jewish converts teaching Semitic languages, through foreign studies at European university centers and through books. Polish Hebrew studies were not creative. The contacts of Polish humanists and reformers with the Jews, persisting in their faith, were of insignificant importance for local Hebrew studies. One could observe humanistic trends of Hebrew studies, as well as trends connected with different Christian confessions. Hebrew studies organization was based on two methods: one within university structures and within religious movements. Polish Hebrew studies were first of all practical. Their aim was to provide an opportunity to use the Hebrew Bible texts directly, and to deal with translation of the Hebrew Bible into Polish.

Der folgende Wortschatz bezieht sich primär auf den TANACH, doch wird allgemein auch dargelegt, wie die betroffenen Begriffe im Neuhebräischen gebraucht werden. Grundsätzlich wird der Wortschatz der hebräischen Mosestora und der Großen Propheten (Jesaja, Jeremia und Hesekiel – siehe die entsprechenden Dateien) vorausgesetzt, und zwar vor allem diejenigen Wörter, die oft vorkommen. Meine Dateien mit dem Wortschatz des gesamten TANACHs sowie der Großen Propheten und des (modernen) hebräischen Neuen Testaments findet man auf meiner „Academia“-Seite: https://sthbasel.academia.edu/JacobThiessen/Drafts. Den Text aller Bücher der Bibel (auch mit Au-dio-Dateien) findet man u. a. unter dem folgenden Link: http://haktuvim.co.il.
Ich weise darauf hin, dass ich kein Philologe, sondern Exeget (Neutestamentler) bin. Das ist beim Gebrauch dieser Unterlagen zu beachten. Gleichwohl werden Experten und andere durch diese Un-terlagen zu sehr spannenden philologischen Erkenntnissen gelangen.

This workbook of Biblical Hebrew is tailored to the specific form of Biblical Hebrew teaching as it has long been cultivated at the Protestant Faculty of Theology of the Charles University in Prague (four-week intensive language course and two-semester exercises). It is conceptually based on Wolfgang Schneider's Grammatik des Biblischen Hebräisch: Ein Lehrbuch, München: Claudius Verlag 2001 (english edition: Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, New York: Peter Lang, 2016). In its material and method of treatment, however, it can of course serve all others interested in the study of this biblical language.

Cvičebnice biblické hebrejštiny zpracovaná „na míru“ konkrétní podobě výuky biblické hebrejštiny, jak je již dlouhodobě pěstována na ETF (čtyřtýdenní intenzivní jazykový kurz a dvousemestrové cvičení).
Koncepčně navazuje na německou gramatiku Wolfganga Schneidera, Grammatik des Biblischen Hebräisch: Ein Lehrbuch, München: Claudius Verlag 2001.
Svým materiálem i způsobem zpracování však samozřejmě může sloužit všem dalším zájemcům o studium tohoto biblického jazyka.

This paper attempts to make plain the principles of Creole and Hybridized languages, so that further research may be conducted to investigate linguistic phenomena such as phono-semantic matching, relexification and morpho-phonological divergence.