HEBREWS LITERATURE
ETYMOLOGY WHO ARE THE HEBREWS
• Middle English word- “EBREU” • Ancestors of Samaritan and Jews
• Latin - HEBRAEUS • Descendants of the Hebrew
• Descendants of Biblical Partiarch
WHAT COUNTRY DO WHAT DID THEIR
THEY LIVE? BUILDING LOOK LIKE?
• Ancient Middle East, 1400BC • Tent
they settle in Canaan • House made of sand dried mud
• Member of the Canaanite group bricks
of Semitic languages. • Jerusalem Temple
WHAT DID THEY EAT? WHAT DID THEY WEAR?
• Bread • Fringes
• Wine • Tekhelet ribbon
HEBREW LITERATURE
o It consists of ancient, medieval and modern writings in the
Hebrew language.
o It is one of the primary forms of Jewish Literature.
o It was produce in many different parts of the world
throughout the medieval the modern eras.
ANCIENT HEBREW LITERATURE
oLiterature in Hebrew begins with the Oral Literature of the
Leshon Hakodesh or the “Holy Language”.
oThe most important work of Ancient Hebrew is the Hebrew
Bible named Tanakh.
oMishna – primary rabbinic codification of laws as derived
from the Torah. It was written in Mishnaic Hebrew.
MEDIEVAL HEBREW LITERATURE
o During the medieval period, the majority of Jewish and Hebrew was composed in
Islamic North Africa, Spain, Palestine, and Middle East.
o Many works of medieval philosophical literature such as Maimonides Guide to
the Perplexed and the Kuzari, as well as many works of fictions, were written in
Judeo-Arabic.
o One of work of fictions which was written in Hebrew was the “Fox Fables” by
Berechiah ben Natronia ha-Nakdan, Hebrew fables which resemble Aesop’s fable.
o Much medieval Jewish poetry was written in Hebrew, including the liturgical
Piyyutim in Palestine in the 7th and 8th Centuries by Yose ben Yose, Yanai, and
Eleazar Kalir.
o This litturgy was compiled in book from as “ the siddur” by rabbis including
Amram Gaon and Saadia Gaon.
MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE
oIn additional to writing traditional rabbinic literature in
Hebrew, MODERN Jews developed new forms of fiction,
poetry, and essay writing which are called “ Modern Hebrew
Literature”.
18th CENTURY
• “ La – Yesharim Tehillah”
- it is an allegorical drama
- 1st product of modern Hebrew literature
- it was written by Moses Hayyim Luzatto
• Moses Mendelsshon’s translation of the Hebrew Bible into German
inspired interest in the Hebrew language that led to the founding
of a quarterly review written in Hebrew.
“Shire Tif’eret” and “Mosiade”
- poems made by Nephtali Hirz and Wessely.
19th CENTURY
• In the 119th century Galicia poets, scholars, and popular writers who
contributed to the discrimination of Hebrew and to the emancipation
of the Jews of Galicia.
• Joseph Perl
- writer and educator
- In 1819, he published Revealer of Secrets, the 1st Hebrew
novels.
• Nachman Krochmal
- a philosopher, theologian, and historian.
• Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport
- a rabbi, poet, and biographer.
19th CENTURY
• Isaac Erter
- a satirical poet, whose collection of essays, “Ha-Tzofet le- Bet
Yisrael, is one of the purest works of modern Hebrew Literature.
• Meir Halevy Letteris
- a lyric poet
• Julius Barasch
- a notable Jewish author in Romania.
20th CENTURY
• Hayim Nahman Bialik
- one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poets.
• Yitzhaq Shami
- novelist, Palestine Jewish native of Hebron
• 2004 – he was recognized by Palestinian Academic Society as one
of the important Palestinian writers.
20 CENTURY
th
• Leah Goldberg
- prolific writer and pioneer
of Israel Children’s Literature.
CONTEMPORARY HEBREW LITERATURE
• My Michael and Black box
- novels by Amos Oz
• The Lover and Mr. Mani
- by A.B Yehoshua
• Anton Shammas
- Israel author who published the Hebrew novel “Arabesque”
Thank you
