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Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew (English, Hebrew and Aramaic Edition) Hardcover – November 25, 2014

4.7 out of 5 stars 14 customer reviews

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 289 pages
  • Publisher: Mosaica Press; 1st edition (November 25, 2014)
  • Language: English, Hebrew, Aramaic
  • ISBN-10: 1937887367
  • ISBN-13: 978-1937887360
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,709,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

By Israel Drazin TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on December 13, 2015
Format: Hardcover
This is a fascinating book filled with interesting information for both people who believe what rabbis teach in Midrashim and those who reject it and prefer a naturalistic explanation of history.
Those who take the latter approach are convinced that the Hebrew language developed just as other languages did, that it was influenced by surrounding cultures, and changed over time. They would accept that Hebrew is Lashon Hakodesh, Hebrew for “holy language, but only in the sense that it is the language in which the Torah and siddur, the prayer book, and other religious documents is written. Rabbi Klein takes the opposite approach. He writes, among much else that is interesting, that Hebrew is the language with which God created the world.
Rabbi Klein discusses the various rabbinical views about the language that Adam spoke, that some rabbis believe that Hebrew was not invented by people but by God; what happened at the Tower of Babel when the Bible states that God caused people to speak in different languages, did they all speak a single language before building the tower and, if so, what was it; what language did Abraham and the Israelites in Egypt speak; the views of Ultra-Orthodox who refuse to adopt Modern Hebrew as a spoken language and why they do so; foreign influences on Hebrew in the past and today; the development of Aramaic; the various scripts of Hebrew letters, including which came first and what script was used for the Ten Commandments; Egyptian and Aramaic words that are in the Five Books of Moses; and prayers recited today in Aramaic and why this is done.
He tells the different views of dozens of rabbis on these subjects. For example, Yehuda Halevi believed that Adam spoke Aramaic during the day and Hebrew for sacred purpose.
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Format: Hardcover
The term “Lashon Hakodesh” means different things to different people. It’s generally translated as “the holy language.” And what that language is can mean different things to different people. The author knows there is no definitive answers on the development of Lashon Hakodesh and does his best to offer various theories and opinions. This is in line with what Professor Haym Soloveitchik so astutely noted: history is not a question of logical possibilities, but of historical probabilities.

In Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew , author Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein takes a historical and linguistic look at Lashon Hakodesh and its derived languages. The title conveys the message that Lashon Hakodesh and Hebrew are two different languages. In fact, the author dedicates a chapter showing that Modern Hebrew, while connected to Lashon Hakodesh, is clearly not identical to the elemental Lashon Hakodesh language.

The book is a fascinating and engaging reference to the topic. For the traditional reader who wants to know the origins of the Divine language they are using for sacred purposes, the book will likely answer most of their questions. For the reader who simply wants to know the history and development of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic, the book will also be extremely rewarding.

References such as A History of the Hebrew Language by the late Professor Angel Sáenz-Badillos and A Social History of Hebrew: Its Origins Through the Rabbinic Period by William Schniedewin of UCLA take a purely academic approach to the development of the Hebrew language. While not an academic text, Klein takes a hybrid approach to the topic and quotes liberally from academic sources, but the book has a strong focus on traditional rabbinical sources.
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Format: Hardcover
This book is written in a down-to-earth, easy to read style. The copious notes and source materials are corralled into the footnotes, so it doesn't slow up the book’s narrative,while still giving the reader access to the extra stuff.
The book also presents readers with a lot of different, and occasionally even conflicting opinions about the various traditions we have regarding Lashon Hakodesh, enabling the reader to make their mind up for themselves, where they felt the truth really lies, which I liked.
Spanning from the beginning of time, right up to the use of modern-day Hebrew and the State of Israel, the book packs a lot of information and material into its pages, but it’s not in the least overwhelming or (worse…) boring.
It's an interesting read even if you’re not a language ‘nerd’, and full of fascinating facts about the Jewish use of biblical Hebrew that you probably never knew before.
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Format: Hardcover
This is a fascinating book that every Orthodox person interested in the Hebrew language must own. It asks many interesting questions and provides both traditional and more academic answers. It has many useful references. It answers dozens and perhaps hundreds of questions that thinking Orthodox Jews should have been asking themselves. The book focuses to a large extent on how traditional sources answer the questions it raises, but points the reader to a variety of academic sources as well. The writers' wide range of knowledge is revealed in the extensive footnotes.
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Format: Hardcover
This author really knows his stuff.
It is well researched and with be an enjoyable read for the scholar and student alike ;)
I'm glad this book came my way.
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