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Lewis Glinert
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The Story of Hebrew (Library of Jewish Ideas, 10) Paperback – September 11, 2018

by Lewis Glinert (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
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The Story of Hebrew explores the extraordinary hold that Hebrew has had on Jews and Christians, who have invested it with a symbolic power far beyond that of any other language in history. Preserved by the Jews across two millennia, Hebrew endured long after it ceased to be a mother tongue, resulting in one of the most intense textual cultures ever known. Hebrew was a bridge to Greek and Arab science, and it unlocked the biblical sources for Jerome and the Reformation. Kabbalists and humanists sought philosophical truth in it, and Colonial Americans used it to shape their own Israelite political identity. Today, it is the first language of millions of Israelis. A major work of scholarship, The Story of Hebrew is an unforgettable account of what one language has meant and continues to mean.
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Previous page
  1. Book 7 of 7
    Library of Jewish Ideas
  2. Print length
    296 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  5. Publication date
    September 11, 2018
  6. Dimensions
    5.4 x 1 x 8.4 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0691183090
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0691183091
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Finalist for the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in History (Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award)"

"One of CHOICE’s Outstanding Academic Titles for 2017"

Review

“In this incandescent narrative of an ever-renewing tongue, masterful linguist Lewis Glinert traces how Hebrew, however severely displaced from its native ground, has continued through centuries of tribulation to nurture its heritage. Elegantly luring us from one intellectual movement to the next, he arrives at history’s most moving culmination: the language of the Book returning at last to the everyday voices of little children.”―Cynthia Ozick, author of Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays

“To read [this book] is to appreciate Hebrew as the grammar of a dynamic dialogue between the claims of the ever-changing present and the imperatives of the past.”―Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal

“[A] fascinating study that reads easily and wears its scholarship lightly.”―Sylvia Rothschild, The Jewish Chronicle

“I cannot recall reading any book about Jewish history that contains as much suspense and as many surprises, [or] that supplies so many ‘Aha!’ moments.”―Susan Miron, ArtsFuse

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press (September 11, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691183090
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691183091
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 1 x 8.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 73 ratings

About the author

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Lewis Glinert

Lewis Glinert

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AWARD

'The Story of Hebrew' has been named a Finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards 2017 (History)

'The Story of Hebrew' was selected by CHOICE (the magazine of the Association of College & Research Libraries) as one of 55 'Outstanding Academic Titles for 2017'

FALLING IN LOVE

They were big Hebrew letters, mounted on card. I still remember the day I first held them as a five year old in that old London Jewish school, and chanted their names -- like children since time immemorial -- aleph, beis, gimel, daled.

Overnight, it seemed, we were onto Torah, Mishnah, Gemara (no grammar, no dictionaries, just kind of by osmosis). But nothing had prepared me for the surprise of my first trip to Israel. They were actually SPEAKING Hebrew. Me too. ('Buy us two bus tickets', my father whispered. 'shnei kartisim'). What, Hebrew has a word for bus and ticket? At that moment, I fell in love with the Hebrew language.

Ten years later, it was obvious that my Ph.D. dissertation in linguistics should be about colloquial Hebrew syntax. But there was just one small problem: No one, amazingly, in 1972, had yet even begun to describe it. And so that's how I began my academic career teaching Hebrew linguistics at Haifa University. A Brit teaching them about their own language. And still (and still today) deeply in love with it.

BBC SOUND DOCUMENTARY ON THE REBIRTH OF SPOKEN HEBREW

It's a strange world. In the Israeli media, the centenary of the rebirth of Spoken Hebrew passed unnoticed.

Not so in Britain: In 1989, the BBC invited me to create a 45 minute documentary on the rebirth of Hebrew, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. It has now been placed on the BBC's Archive. You can hear it crystal-clear at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033k7qn

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
73 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Daniel Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and accessible
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2023
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Takes you all the way through the history of Hebrew, from Moses or before, through medieval midrash, rabbis, printed Hebrew Bibles, medical texts, the Inquisition, and the return of Jews to the Levant and the coming of modern Hebrew. It is academic and thorough but still accessible for interested readers. I have some academic background in Hebrew and wanted to know more about the language's history. I loved it!
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Eric Maroney
5.0 out of 5 stars A Long Overdue Work
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2017
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Lewis Glinert is correct to assert in his The Story of Hebrew that a book like this has not been written since the 1950s. William Chompsky’s Hebrew: The Eternal Language, 1957, is well out of date; A History of the Hebrew Language by Angel Sáenz-Badillos, 1996, is written in a style that leans more toward the expert in the field of linguistics (it is also a translation from Spanish, and the section dealing with modern, or Israeli Hebrew, is positively anemic). In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language by Joel Hoffman, 2006, is an accomplished book, but spends just as much time on the theory of language and writing in general as it does on the specifics of Hebrew.

Fact is, it is difficult to write a book about the entire span of a 3000 year language history. But Glinert has done an admirable job. He focuses on particular eras and important individuals to explore how Hebrew began, expanded, slumbered, and was reawakened as a spoken language. There are two chapters on the impact of Hebrew “On the Christian Imagination” and although interesting, I wonder if the author would have best spent precious pages elsewhere, as Christian investigations into Hebrew, by and large, seldom interested Jews, especially in the time period he explores.

With that said, this is a fascinating book, and long in coming. The history of Hebrew is singularly fascinating. An ancient language, it was at once literary (biblical Hebrew), spoken (rabbinical Hebrew) and a language of poetry, letters, and religious study. When it once again became a spoken language in the late nineteenth century, Hebrew entered the world of European nationalism, forming a cohesive bond in a land of immigrants. In the process, it expanded and modernized, developed modern literary forms and informal, spoken modes of speech.

For fans of language study, this book has about all areas of interest; we are lucky to have this work.
45 people found this helpful
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Raphael
4.0 out of 5 stars well written
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2021
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I'm early into the book at this point but already find it interesting, well-written and absorbing.
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Michael Kuhn
5.0 out of 5 stars I'd especially recommend this book because
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2017
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This book provides an engaging history of Hebrew from the ancient world until the present day, with the many twists and turns that the language has taken during this period. I'd especially recommend this book because, surprisingly, there is no other book available on Amazon.com that attempts to cover the topic in this scope. The topic of the history of Hebrew ties together aspects of Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Modern history that are usually not thought of together. The 17th through 20th Century history of the modernization of Hebrew, and the relation to modernization in other languages like German and Italian, is particularly interesting.
5 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Service
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very well pleased with delivery time, book in excellent shape, much appreciated care in wrapping book in materials to prevent any damage in shipment. My books mean a lot to me. Excellent service!
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Throck Morton
5.0 out of 5 stars A superb study, valuable for lay readers and specialists alike!
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2017
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This is a stellar book--learned and analytically sharp but also eminently readable and, in fact, engaging. Among its many strengths is the attention it pays to the vast development of Hebrew between the time it ceased to be a spoken language in the period of the Roman Empire and the time it was revived as that late in the nineteenth century. Another is the insight the volume provides into the larger history of the Jews and Judaism alike. Highly recommended!
5 people found this helpful
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ronnie
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2018
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This wonderful little book tells is about the external history of the Hebrew language--that is, who used it, when, and for what purposes (and not about the historical changes in vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and the like). It is a great story, and the author's relating it reads like a novel. Highly recommended.
3 people found this helpful
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Nessim Levy
4.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2017
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This seems like a recondite subject, but this is a very lucidly written book that is very illuminating. I found the pages dealing with the revival of Hebrew as a vibrant language particularly interesting.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

cynewulf
5.0 out of 5 stars Background to a miracle
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2017
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A scholarly and eloquent account of how the flame of the ancient language was kept flickering quietly, before bursting into the modern language of Eretz Yisrael. A prodigious piece of work. Mazel ton, Mr Glinert !
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Gabriel Stein
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2019
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A very interesting and easy to read book on the history and development of the Hebrew language. Perhaps not for the general reader -- you do need slightly more than a glancing interest in the topic.
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