Ancient Wisdom Today » Hebrew

In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language

Maer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:09:17 +0000

Hoffman, Joel. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language. New York: NYU Press, 2006.

Hoffman traces the history of the Hebrew language from its antiquity to modern times. This book filled in some gaps in my knowledge of the language especially as it pertains to the differences in spelling, grammar and pronunciation of Hebrew in its different stages of development. People who have studied biblical Hebrew will benefit from his chapters on the Masoretes since most students are familiar with the Tiberian tradition but most likely never heard of the Babylonian or Palestinian families. Hoffman walks the reader through what we can learn from the Dead Sea scrolls followed by a tour of the different dialects in the Hebrew Bible and post-biblical Hebrew. I especially appreciated his chapter on Modern Hebrew with the fascinating story of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who brought Hebrew back to life. Some readers may find some portions of the book a bit tedious, especially his discussion on spelling. But people like me who can’t get enough of Hebrew will appreciate the balance between a popular treatment of the subject and his attention to the details of the language.

Hebrew: Beyond the Basics

Maer — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:46:14 +0000

These are just a few books that I’ve read recently that have helped me get a little beyond the basics of Biblical Hebrew.

Arnold, Bill T., and John H. Choi. A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Bilingual. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

This is a great book for a quick review of Biblical Hebrew syntax, and the wealth of examples makes it an enjoyable reading. Although it was written to be used as a reference, I recommend reading through the whole book at least once as it may help you get a general sense of syntactical issues and exegetical possibilities. This might be a good book to read before working through An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax by Bruce Waltke and M. O’Connor which is a much larger work and also highly recommended.

Read more on Hebrew: Beyond the Basics…

A Parable: The Man with a Fine Beard

Maer — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:01:17 +0000

This parable is quite short and, by itself, rather uninteresting. However, the background situation and Rabbi Ishmael’s response to the parable set the stage for a lesson in wisdom. The translation by McArthur and Johnston is given below along with the original in Hebrew. (My goal is to learn a little more of the Hebrew of these parables, when available, and become a little more familiar with the Talmud). I have broken up the text in such a way that will be easier to see some of its structure. After the parable, I will make a few comments.

The Man with a Fine Beard
R. Ekazar b. Azariah; ca. 80; B. Berakoth lla

וקורין ומעשה ברבי ישמעאל ור’ אלעזר בן עזריה שהיו מסובין במקום אחד והיה ר’ ישמעאל מוטה ור’ אלעזר בן עזריה זקוף

A Parable: The Wise and Foolish Invitees

Maer — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:44:08 +0000

For this parable, we are going to have the benefit of not only seeing its Hebrew but also two translations. John Hobbins was kind enough to translate the text in two posts entitled “The Parable of the Banquet in the Talmud.” In the first part, he looks at the exchange between R. Eliezer and his students culminating in a quote from Qohelet. Hobbins reminds us of the importance of taking the context of the parables into consideration as they may have never been stand-alone units.

I have my doubts about the tendency to treat parables as self-contained units. They may have been (or may never have been), once upon a time, autonomous units. But, just as is the case with the parables of the New Testament, the parables of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud do not stand on their own anymore. Relationship to context needs to be taken into full account.

Blessing and the Beginning of Torah

Maer — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:41:40 +0000

John Goldingay talks about blessing as one of the aspects of “God speaking” in creation. God’s speech is life-giving. He mentions something Genesis Rabbah says concerning the fact that Torah does not start with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, ‘aleph. And what does that have to do with blessing? Here is what he says,

“Thus blessing “is not simply a friendly wish” but “a bestowal of life-force… an act whereby the power-for-life monopolized by Yahweh generously is transmitted to Abraham and his descendants” (Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997], p. 165) — and here to humanity as a whole and to other living creatures. God shares power-for-life with the animal world. The prominence of the blessing theme makes for a pointed contrast with the gloomy vision of other Middle Eastern stories of the origins or the world and humanity, as well as with the troubled experience of Israel in; for instance, the exile. Genesis Rabbah 1:10 (on Gen 1:1) sees here another significance in the fact that Scripture begins with a bet, not an ‘alep, the second letter of the alphabet rather than the first, since b is the first letter of the word for blessing (whereas ‘aleph is the first letter of the word for curse). “Bless” has the first word in Scripture” (Israel’s Gospel, 54).

Creation and the Hebrew Alphabet: A Story

Maer — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:17:56 +0000

As I was reading a book on Jewish folkloric tales, I came across a story called The Aleph-Bet and immediately fell in love with it. It is short, cute and extremely imaginative.

I modified the original by including the Hebrew alphabet and words instead of their transliterations for visual effect. I think that even those who don’t know Hebrew will be able to follow the story and get its message.

The Aleph-Bet

When God was about to create the world, all twenty-two letters of the Aleph-Bet leapt off the flaming crown of God and crowded around the Heavenly Throne, pleading, “Create the world through me!”

First the (tav), the last letter of the aleph-bet, came forward. “I am the first letter of (Torah),” it said. “Create the world through me, for later on I will give Israel all its laws and stories.”

Small Words Matter

Maer — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:39:47 +0000

One of the things that intrigued me about this psalm is the way it seems to play with the word ‘ak. This has been duly noticed by commentators who take the word to be either restrictive (“only”) or asseverative (“truly”). The question then becomes which of these two senses the psalmist has in mind or if both are meant. James Boice lamented, for example, that Marvin Tate took the word to be asseverative in his translation. Boice believed that what the psalmist really meant was that his confidence was in God alone, the most important theological statement of the psalm.

“The most important thing about psalm 62 is that the psalmist is making God his only object of trust.” (Boice, James M. Psalms, Vol., 510)