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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

Hebrew Professor Tawil 4 absences Midterm + final The expression of Hebrew is very late. The expression of Lashon HaKodesh ‫לשון‬ ‫ הקודש‬comes in the 2nd century BCE in the times of the Hasmonean. There was the Tanaic language. The idea of idea of ‫ עברית‬comes later it is trying to connect up to Avraham, who was Mesopatanian (the other side of the river ‫)עבר לנהר‬. His mother tongue was Akkadian, which had two different dialects, Assyrian and Babylonian. 2300 – 535 is the ancient era. Most probably Avraham was tri-lingual. The concept is an idea of incumbencies. In 701 Sancheirev conquered Lachish and went up to Yerushalayim. The chief of staff of Sancheirev was called Rav Shaked. According to Talmud RavShaked was Judean. Two different types of people Israelite (kingdom of the North) and Israelians (return from Bavel) and Isrealis. On top of the city wall were the high city, and RavShaked gives the propaganda speech. This is the first time we have the definition of the language – Judean. Two different type dialects Judean and Israelite. The Gemarah says someone cannot differentiate between ‫ נשבע‬and ‫נשבא‬. In 701 we define the language. When Ezra and Nehemiah they mention the problem that half speak Judean and half speak Ashdodi. Technical dialects of the Hebrew language: 1) ‫לשון הקדוש‬ 2) ‫יהודית‬ 3) ‫עברית‬ Ezra and Nehemiah made many rules 1) Outlawed intermarriage 2) Enforced Shabbat 3) ‫ קריאת התורה‬institutionalized 4) He changed the script from ‫עברי לאשורי‬ 5) He changed the calendar He did this in order to differentiate between the Samaritans and us. In the time of Bar Kochba the old Hebrew was used on the coins. This is the group of the Sofrim, because they wrote the letters. That it is why Ezra is called Ezra Hasofer. Read about the Hebrew language in Encyclopedia Judaica in the Biblical period.

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

It is a large amount of work to change the whole text in Torah. In the Torah of the Samaritans even today write in old Hebrew. One can learn old Hebrew in 10 minutes. When the Torah was written there was no nice text, there was only script. The Dead Sea Scrolls is very important for us, we did not find the whole of Tanach, we only we have Isaiah complete. It is very interesting that it says in Sefer Devarim whenever it says Eleh Devarim, it refers to the past and not the future. In Parshas Hazinu, it says that Moshe said the whole Shirah to B”Y and then it says he finished, however, in Parshas Vayelech he says that he finished as well. If there is no final of chaf, it has in the Dead Sea Scrolls it has vayichal instead of vayelach. It is metastasis this happens all the time. The Nikud is a newer invention. We have to worry if ancient Israel was a literate society. When did Nikud start? Without Nikud many people could not read or pronounce Hebrew. Hebrew it is a consonantal language. Hebrew with Aramaic is a consonantal script. Hebrew was invented 8th century or 9th century, and then one can create grammar. Hebrew did not have grammar until the invention of the vocalization. Therefore, had no grammar until this time. With the Nikud the whole world is different. Before the invention of the printing in 1592 by Guttenberg, we wrote by hand, it was not called a book they were scrolls or Megillot. That is why Torah Nitanh Megillot and Mesechta Megillah. It is very difficult to roll a Megillah. The earliest Sefer Torah shevyachatav, which is written on Megillah, the mere thing reason that we don’t vocalize Sefer Torah shows that it is early. The oldest Sefer Torah Shevayachal that we have is 13th century after the era (somewhere in Yemen). We don’t have any earlier Sefer Torah. We have old Kitvei Yad, there are lots of old Kitvei Yad. We most probably have Sefer Torah Shevayachal in the Vatican. One of the most important manuscripts of the Tanach is Ktav Yad Vatican. In the early years they wrote on Papyrus, which are leaves of the reeds grown on the river because parchment is very expensive. Dr. Tawil assumes that they did not have many Sifrei Torah early Israel. The Mesopotamians and Babylonians wrote on clay. There are no regular stones there; one has to get it out of a mountain. They wrote on clay, which they then dry in the sun. There are 8,000 words in Biblical Hebrew. The English language has half a million; the ancient Mesopotamians had a language of 50,000. That is because clay is preserved; however a papyrus does not stay preserved. It turns into dust from the sun; therefore we are lucky to have the Dead Sea scrolls. That is why we are missing so many works which we know exists. The Dark Age in Judaism is the time until the Anshei Knesset Hagdolah, we have 300 years of nothing found in terms of literature. Then we have the Dead Sea Scrolls. Then we have an historical boom, where there is Mishnah Tosefta Aggadah 2 Talmuds. Then we have nothing until the invention of the Nikud by two families Ben-Asher and Ben-Naftali. They were guilds; they were scribes in the family. There were two schools of Nikud one on top of the letters, one under the letters. The center of the book was Tiveryah, this is where everything was being written. Under the letter was the school in Tiveryah. From the Dead Sea Scrolls until the 8th century we have no manuscripts. We don’t have a manuscript in this middle time. All the Torah was

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

written on parchment. The very first complete Tanach we have is from the Ben-Asher family.

1) 2) 3) 4)

The Ben-Asher family lived in Tiveryah and used the Nikud under the letters. Ben-Asher HaZaken Moshe Ben-Asher (we only have from the Neviim) – this late 8th, 9th century Ahron Ben-Asher is the last of the family

Why don’t we have manuscripts for 2,000 years? However, in ancient Israel many people could not even afford a Siddur. Hebrew printing never entered Yemen; they were dependant on books from Spain and E”Y. They would have people (recently – up until now) where people would all look at a Sefer Torah from all directions. The Ben-Ashers invented the Nikud (Ahron Ben-Asher). 5 short vowels 4 long vowels A Dagesh A Mahpich Until the 8th century nothing was there. The Romans invented Codex – which is a book, that you have binding. They wrote on parchment as Megillot, Megillot before then. The book was not paper but rather parchment, because the Chinese invented paper. ‫ – מצחף‬binding, it was originally made out of wood. They invented vocalization because of Islam. We have been more influenced by Islam then they have influenced us, math, poetry, etc. Arabic script is very artistic and very beautiful. Codex showed what means to write and to vocalize. A Sofer Staam, writes, but he does not vocalize (that is why it only takes him a year). To sit and vocalize the whole Tanach takes a long time. The most important manuscript that Ahron Ben-Asher vocalized was that of a Kaarite. The Kaaraites were better grammarians then Rabinical Judaism. Ben-Boyah was a Kaarite who vocalized the whole Tanach, it is called a ‫כתר ארם צובא‬. This is called the crown of Aleppo. We call it crown, because Hebrew is a Keter. Ben-Asher wrote the Crown of Aleppo; it was probably ordered by a Kaarite, he vocalized the entire text. To vocalize the whole Tanach from Bereishit until Divrei Hayaimim is a tremendous job. The book was written over a thousand years ago, it was translated in Yerushalayim. In the Crusades it made it’s way to Cairo. The Rambam in Hilchos Sefer Torah says that a Sefer Torah must be written exactly like ‫כתר ארם צובא‬. They brought it to Allepo, that was where the Rambam was and the Jews of Aleppo hid it until 1948. The book was Downloaded from: www.yumesorah.com HEB1205TawNotes1.pdf

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

saved miraculously to Israel and today it is found in the Israel Museum. The Crown of Aleppo is the most important thing we have in Judaism. However, the Crown was saved intact from the Shul in Alleppo, we are missing everything until the beginning of the curses in Ki Tavo. We have about 2/3 of the Crown it is currently being restored. The Rambam and the crown have 33 breaks in Hazinu and we only have 28. Once it was codex-ised we can now have rules of grammar. Nechem ben Saruv and Menachem Ben Asher, were the first grammarians. What we have today is based on biblical grammar. Especially the vocalization, we will go to the library to see Ketav Yad Leningrad and Aleppo. The Koren is based on printed manuscripts. H.W. read about the Ben-Asher family, and read the handout. Then prepare 5 Pesukim of Parshat Vayelach making sense of the vocalization of the words. Shiur # 3 The first Tuesday of October we come back, we miss the classes between R”H and Yom Kippur. There is another manuscript from Leningrad, which is a manuscript 100 years later then the Keter. Hebrew is a consonantal language English is a syllabic language. The Masoretic text we have in the Tanach today is earlier then the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was only transmitted until when it was written down. The MT we have today is the earliest one. The only full book in Dead Sea Scrolls is Isaiah. If we compare our Sefer Isaiah to their Sefer Isaiah, we see differences, ours is longer. In Biblical time they had the Torah, were the people literate, they were literate because it was a society of oral transmission. This is like what happened to the Yemenites, a 5 year old would get an Aliyah – that is the Halacha. By the Yemenites the Oleh reads his Aliyah. They appreciate someone who can read his Aliyah. By the Yemenites they have a Miturgaman/translator. With the Yemenite Jews it is like the Biblical period they learn things from the father Baal Peh. In the time of the Mishna the simple people never studied secular literature. The ancient Israel had Tanach, Mishnah, Midrashim and Kabalah. If we take the ancient Israel, without consonantal script it is a whole different world. The Hebrew language has different pronunciations. There was an argument in 1901 in Techniyon University how to pronounce Hebrew in modern Israel, Ashkanazi, Yemenite or Sefardi. In a Yemeni Shul you cannot understand what they are saying. They adapted the easiest way, the Sephardim. The Yemenites were isolated therefore they retained the proper Hebrew. There were no dictionaries between Hebrew and Aramaic.

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

[At 23 Sadia Gaon wrote a dictionary on the lone words]. The Ashkenazim were almost never interested in grammar; they were dependant on the Sephardim. Eliza ben Bergansi was interested in grammar. We only had grammar after the invention of Nekudot.

Phonology The first things we are learning are the parts of the speech. The first is

‫שם עצם‬ A noun ‫ ( שם עצם מוחשי‬1 This is something you can feel a substantive noun (‫)דלת‬ ‫( שם עצם מו פשט‬2 This is an abstract noun (love – ‫)אהבה‬ ‫( שמות פרטיים‬3 These are personal names ‫( שם עצם מלכתי‬4 As well there are royal names, like ‫פרעה או שלמה‬. ‫( שם עצם גאוגרפי‬5 Geographical names ‫( שם עצם אלוקי‬6 Divine name (nouns) ‫( שם מספר‬7 Numerals ‫( שם תואר‬8 Adjective (‫ כסא גדול‬,‫)ילד טוב‬ ‫( שם המין‬9 Gender we only have ‫ זכר ונקבה‬there is no neutral like other languages. The ‫ שם תואר‬must always follow the ‫ שם המין‬as well as the ‫יחיד ורבים‬. [The ‫ ות‬does not mean female, and ‫ ים‬does not mean male.] The adjective must follow the noun. Parts of the body that are dual ‫ זוגי‬are feminine. With the numerals the ‫ ה‬ending works with the male and not the female. ‫( שם הפועל‬10 Are the adverbs, they are also called ‫תוער הפעל‬ Downloaded from: www.yumesorah.com HEB1205TawNotes1.pdf

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

The adverbs’ tense always follows itself. ‫( שם הגוף‬11 These are the personal pro-nouns (I, me, this, that, him…) ‫( מילת הזיקה‬12 Relative pronoun (‫זה‬, ‫)זו‬ There are 3 ‫ מילת הזיקה‬in the Tanach in Tanach ‫ מילת הזיקה‬is the oldest – ‫זו‬ This will only be found in poetry. -‫ אשר‬This will be found in middle Hebrew Both these words mean ‘which’ The last ‫ מילת הזיקה‬that comes in is ‫ש‬ e.g. ‫שלקחתי‬ This is in later Hebrew Demonstrative - ‫( הכינוי הרומז‬13 There are both masculine and feminine demonstrative pronouns This could be ‫ זה‬or ‫ זו‬that is ‫זאות‬ This is like or ‫ ההוא‬or ‫ ההיא‬or ‫ ההם‬or ‫ ההן‬which is for the cases of ‫רחוק‬ ‫ אלה‬is these, like ‫ הילדים האלה‬these boys. These girls are ‫הילדות האלו‬ 14) ‫ – מלת השעלה‬is the interrogative pronoun – the classic one is yhn76`‫ה‬ Such as ‫האם‬ ‫ מה‬- ‫ מי‬- ‫מדוע – מה – אם‬ 15) ‫ מלת השלילה‬are the negative particle These have tenses for the present, past and future. In present this is ‫( אין‬like ‫)אינני אוכל‬ In the future and past we have ‫לא‬ ‫ אל‬is only ‫לעתיד‬ ‫ בל‬is additionally only for the future 16) ‫ מלת היחס‬are the preposition These are the letters (used as prefixes) ‫ב – כ – ל – מ‬ Of course we have other ‫ מלת היחס‬like ‫ליד‬ ‫ את‬is a ‫ מלת היחס‬and it introduces the object, there is no word like this in English 17) ‫ – מלת החיבור‬these are words that put together the expressions, the conjunctive. 18) ‫ – מלת החיבור‬these are expressions. Oy – hey, etc. The vocatives in Hebrew, oy voy, oy vavoy, there is ‫האח‬ In Hebrew we have 28 letters not 22. The letters ‫ םץףך‬did not exist in Biblical Hebrew – these are later editions. There are 6 extra letters. The word ‫ מלה‬comes from the word ‫מלל‬. Hebrew is a consonanated language – the vowels are later additions. ‫ שנה‬has 6 different meanings. The letters we call ‫ עצורים‬which are consonants. Downloaded from: www.yumesorah.com HEB1205TawNotes1.pdf

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

In ancient Hebrew there were no soft letters. Generally the letters of ‫ ש‬and ‫ ס‬are interchangeable The ‫ עצורים‬can be divided into different groups ‫החכים‬ ‫השניים החוצצים‬ Guttural Palette ‫גרוניים‬ ‫א‬ ‫ג‬ ‫ז‬ ‫ה‬ ‫י‬ ‫צ‬ ‫ח‬ ‫כ‬ ‫ש‬ ‫ע‬ ‫ק‬ ‫ש‬ ‫ס‬ Get weaker

‫שינים‬ Dentals ‫ד‬ ‫ט‬ ‫נ‬ ‫ת‬ ‫ל‬ ‫ר‬

‫השפתיים‬ ‫מ‬ ‫פ‬ ‫ב‬ ‫ו‬

Get strong

For HW – do ‫ בראשית‬the first 10 Pesukim; figure out all the parts of speech. And divide the consonants of the first 4 Pesukim into their class v ‫ ה הידיעה‬is the definite object and it is a ‫ מלת היחס‬. ‫ ו ההיפוך‬is the ‫ ו‬that switches the tenses. These are types of words in and of themselves. Hebrew has more then 22 letters. There were two ways to say ‫ ש‬a s sound and a th sound. ‫ ש‬and ‫ ת‬are not interchangeable epigraphically whenever there is a ‫ ש‬in Hebrew and a ‫ ת‬in Aramaic it is a th (thow ) sound. ‫ ד‬and ‫ ז‬are phonetically interchangeable because it is really tha (as opposed to tho). We added to letters the thou and the tha. ‫אומות הקריאה‬ These are letters that are can function as vowels ‫י‬ ‫ו‬ These are vocalic

‫ה‬

‫א‬

Vowels – ‫תנועות‬ There are 5 long and 5 short. ‫ארוכות‬/‫תנועות גדולות‬ ָ ֵ

‫תנועות קטנות‬ ַ ִ

ִ

In Bereishit 2 – do the first 5 Pesukim, 1) When are the ‫ א ה ו י‬vocalic? Downloaded from: www.yumesorah.com HEB1205TawNotes1.pdf

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

2) Which are the long and short vowels? Words in Hebrew are consonants + vowels ‫ תנועות‬+ ‫עצור‬ There are 10 vowels (see above). ‫ארוכות‬/‫תנועות גדולות‬ ‫קמץ‬ ‫צרה‬ ‫שוריק‬ ‫מלא‬/‫חולם חסר‬ ‫חיריק מלא‬

(‫תנועות קטנות )קטנות‬ ‫פתח‬ ‫סגול‬ ‫קבוץ‬ ‫קמץ קטן‬ ‫חיריק חסר‬

The next to issues is the Shin and Sin – ‫ש‬ This called ‫נקוד‬ Then there is the ‫ ה – מפיך‬that is a consonant. ‫ דגש‬means a dot inside the letters. Then we have the ‫– שוא‬ As well as the ‫– חטף‬ This steals the sound – it takes away –makes the vowel even shorter. There was a time when there were no weak letters in Hebrew. Now we have ‫ דגש‬and ‫רפה‬. We are talking about ‫ב ג ד כ פת‬. These used to not exist, (Only the sound with the ‫)דגש‬. This all talking about a ‫ דגש קל‬we will talk about the rules next time. There is a whole other world of ‫דגש חזק‬. H.W. the first 6 Pesukim of Noach identify the long and short vowels? And Dagesh Chazak and Kal.

The letters ‫ האחרע‬never receive a ‫דגש‬. That is because these letters are emphatic in and of themselves; they cannot become more emphatic then they are already. The ‫ פתח‬at the end of the word is called a ‫ ;פתח גנוב‬this is where you pronounce the ‫ פתח‬before the consonant. ‫ דגש קל‬can come at the beginning of the word or after a Shvah Nach at the beginning of a syllable. All the ‫ חטפים‬come under one of the gutturals where a ‫ שוא נע‬should be. After ‫ ו ההיפוך‬there is a ‫דגש חזק‬.

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

The ‫ מפיק‬comes generally as a ‫ – ה‬this is because it is getting up/going. ‫ מפיק‬is an Aramaic word. The ‫ה יוצא‬. The difference between ‘queen’ and ‘her king’ (‫ )מלכה‬having a ‫ ה‬- ‫מפיק‬. ‫ אשת חיל‬is chuck full of ‫מפיק‬. There are also verbs where the ‫ ה‬is consonantal. Here we use the ‫ מפיק‬as well. ‫ ההברה‬in Hebrew means syllable. There are 2 types of syllables 1) Open – ends in a vowel - ‫פתוחה‬ 2) Closed – ends in a consonant. – ‫סגורה‬ Take the 6 Pesukim (7th – 12th), do: 1) ‫דגש‬ 2) ‫מפיק‬ 3) Syllabifies 3 Pesukim A ‫ דגש חזק‬doubles the pronunciation of a word. So ‫ אמה‬is ‫מה‬- ‫אמ‬. The ‫ דגש חזק‬always follow a ‫תנועה קטנה‬. ‫ דגש חזק‬comes into instances when either a letter is assimilated, or when we want to double a letter. (For example in the word ‫ אפל‬it is ‫ נפל‬with the ‘I’ at the beginning the ‫ נ‬is assimilated). The ‫ ה הידיעה‬is an assimilation of ‫הל‬. Assimilation is called ‫הטמעה‬. Usually the ‫ ל‬or the ‫ נ‬is assimilated. Doubling of the consonant is called ‫הכפלה העצור‬. The ‫שווא‬ There are three vowels that are (‫ קמץ‬,‫ סגול‬,‫חטפים )פתח‬ The ‫שוא נע‬ This does not move any consonant. There are 5 rules of ‫שוא נע‬ 1) Beginning of word 2) Two ‫ שואים‬together (the first is ‫שוא נח‬the 2nd is ‫)שוא נע‬ 3) After a ‫ תנועות גדולה‬that is 4) The ‫שוא‬under a Dagesh Chazak that is doubling a letter 5) The ‫ שוא‬under the first of two double letters Rules for ‫שוא נח‬: 1) Closes a syllable 2) At the end of a word 3) After another ‫ שוא‬at the beginning of the word. Downloaded from: www.yumesorah.com HEB1205TawNotes1.pdf

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HEB 1205 – Intermediate Hebrew I Professor Tawil

Fall 2002 Notes

H.W. Take Parshat Lech Lecha 1st 10 Pesukim and 1) Shvah Nah and 2) Nach and 3) Mapik and 4) Dagesh -

There is never a ‫ דגש‬after a ‫שוא נע‬.

There is a 3rd ‫ שוא‬as well. It is called ‫שוא מרחף‬. When in the middle of the word you have a ‫ שוא‬that closes a syllable and then you have a ‫ ב ג ד כ פת‬that does not receive a Dagesh then it is a ‫שוא מרחף‬. H.W. The first 5 Pesukim of Sheni of Parshas Lecha Lecha 1) Sylabise 2) The Shvas 3) Mapik Once upon a time the definite article in Hebrew was ‫הל‬. Generally ‫ ל‬falls off. For the Yemeni Jews there is no ‫ שוא נע‬only a ‫חטף פתח‬. To be precise all the cases of ‫ חטפים‬are a case of ‫הברה חטופה‬ The ‫ שוריק‬is not an original vowel it is there to deal with having 2 ‫ שוא נע‬at the beginning of a word. There is a case of a ‫ דגש דחק‬this comes with the letters ‫ל נ ק‬. This puts the two words together. This is still a case of ‫דגש חזק‬. The ‫ שוא מרחף‬used to be a ‫שוא נע‬. Generally wh...