Hebrew Literature

From the late biblical period on, Hebrew was not a spoken language, and it
was used primarily in religious contexts. An exception to this rule was the
Hebrew literature that flourished in Spain, Provence, and Italy between the
10th and 14th centuries. Poets such as Samuel HaNagid, Judah HaLevi, and
Immanuel of Rome wrote secular verse in addition to their many religious
and liturgical poems. Prose fiction was much less common, though Abraham
ben Samuel ha-Levi ibn Hasdai's Ben ha-Melek ve-ha-Nazir--a work based
on an Arabic version of a classic Indian story about the life of Buddha--is
one interesting example.

Ancient Hebrew Literature

The great monuments of the earliest period of Hebrew literature are the Old
Testament and the Apocrypha. Parts of the Pseudepigrapha and of the Dead
Sea Scrolls were also produced before the conquest of Judaea by Titus. The
literature of the Jews developed mainly in the Hebrew language, although
there were also works in Greek, Aramaic, and Arabic.
In the 2nd century began the Talmudic period, which lasted well into the
6th century. In these centuries the great anonymous encyclopaedic work of
religious and civil law, the Talmud, was compiled, edited, and interpreted.
The Midrash a collection of halakah (found also in the Talmud) and haggadic
material likewise forms part of the Hebrew literature of that period. In the
4th century the Targum to the Pentateuch and to the Prophets was finished.
The 6th and 7th century saw the development of the Masora in Palestine. In
Babylonia meanwhile many valuable additions to Hebrew literature were
made by the Gaonim after the 6th cent.
The Mishna, compiled around 200 CE, is the primary rabbinic codification of
laws as derived from the Torah. It was written inMishnaic Hebrew, but the
major commentary on it, the Gemara, was largely written in Aramaic. Many
works of classical midrash were written in Hebrew.

Medieval Hebrew Literature

Commentaries on the Talmud and haggadic material continued to be written
until the 11th century, when the Babylonian academies were suppressed
and the center of Jewish literary activity shifted to Spain. France and
Germany became the main centers of Talmudic commentary. In Spain, and
to some extent in Italy, Hebrew literature flourished for centuries. The finest

work was accomplished in the realms of poetry influenced by Arab and

Indian literature and philosophy. Philology, exegesis, and codification also
flourished. By the 14th century the largely Aramaic mystical treatise,
the Zohar, had appeared the masterpiece of a flourishing literature of
Jewish mysticism (see kabbalah).
Famous scholars and authors of Hebrew literature in the Middle Ages
included Aha of Shabcha, Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi, Dunash ben
Tamim, Dunash ben Labrat, Gershom ben Judah, Al-Fasi, Solomon ben
Judah Ibn
Gabirol, Rashi, Judah
ha-Levi,
Abraham
ben
Meir Ibn
Ezra, Maimonides, Immanuel ben Solomon, Isaac Abravanel, and Joseph ben
Ephraim Caro. In the persecutions following the Crusades, when the Jews
were driven from country to country, they clung to their literature which
leaned increasingly to mysticism and asceticism and especially to the
Hebrew Bible.
Up to and during the medieval period, the majority of Jewish and Hebrew
literature was composed in North Africa, Moorish Andalusia, Palestine, and
the
Middle
East
by
Sephardic
Jews.
Many
works
of
medieval philosophical literature such as Maimonedes'Guide to the
Perplexed and The Kuzari, as well as many works of fiction, were written
in Judeo-Arabic. Works of rabbinic literaturewere more often written in
Hebrew, including: Torah commentaries by Abraham ibn Ezra, Rashi and
others; codifications of Jewish law, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah,
the Arba'ah Turim, and the Shulchan Aruch; and works of Musar
literature (didactic ethical literature) such as Bahya ibn Paquda's Chovot haLevavot (The Duties of the Heart). One work of fiction which was written in
Hebrew was the "Fox Fables" by Berechiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan,
Hebrew fables which resemble Aesop's fables.
Much medieval Jewish poetry was written in Hebrew, including
liturgical piyyutim in Palestine in the seventh and eighth centuries by Yose
ben Yose, Yanai, and Eleazar Kalir. These poems were added to the Hebrewlanguage liturgy. This liturgy was compiled in book form as "the siddur" by
rabbis including Amram Gaon and Saadia Gaon.
Later Spanish, Provenal, and Italian poets wrote both religious and secular
poems; particularly prominent poets were Solomon ibn Gabirol, Yehuda
Halevi, and Yehuda al-Harizi. Most were also active in translating Jewish
rabbinic and secular literature from Arabic into Hebrew.

Modern Hebrew Literature

On the threshold of the transition from the old isolated life to a wider one
was the poet Moses Hayyim Luzzattoa contemporary of the Gaon of
Vilna, Elijah ben Solomonbut the modern period of Hebrew literature
really began with Moses Mendelssohn. While Nachman Krochmal and
Shloime Ansky (Solomon Seinwel Rapoport) were contributing to biblical
criticism
and
historical
scholarship,
writers
such
as
Peretz
(Peter) Smolenskin were devoting themselves to Haskalah, or literature of
enlightenment, intended to shake the Jews of Central Europe from their
medieval attitudes. Other important figures of the period are the scholar
Joseph Halvy, the poet Jehuda (Leon) Gordon, and the novelist Solomon
Yakob Abramovich, whose pseudonym was Mendele mocher sforim.
Eighteenth Century
By the early eighteenth century, Jewish literature was still dominated by
Sephardic authors, often writing in Judeo-Arabic. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto's
allegorical drama "La-Yesharim Tehillah" (1743) may be regarded as the
first product of modern Hebrew literature. It has been referred to as "a
poem that in its classic perfection of style is second only to the
Bible."[4] Luzzatto's pupil in Amsterdam, David Franco Mendes (171392),
in
his
imitations
of Jean
Racine ("Gemul
'Atalyah")
and
of Metastasio ("Yehudit"), continued his master's work, though his works
are not as respected as were Luzzatto's.
Later in the eighteenth century, the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment)
movement worked to achieve political emancipation for Jews in Europe, and
European Jews gradually began to produce more literature in the mould of
earlier Middle Eastern Jewish authors. Moses Mendelssohn'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. Other
periodicals followed. Poetry by Naphtali Hirz Wessely such as "Shire
Tif'eret," or "Mosiade," made Wessely, so to speak, poet laureate of the
period.
Nineteenth Century
In nineteenth-century Galicia, poets, scholars, and popular writers who
contributed to the dissemination of Hebrew and to the emancipation of the
Jews of Galicia included:

Nachman Krochmal (17851840), a philosopher, theologian, and

historian.
Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport (17901867), a rabbi, poet, and
biographer

Isaac Erter (17921841), a satirical poet whose collection of essays,

"Ha-Tzofeh le-Bet Yisrael," is one of the purest works of modern
Hebrew literature, attacking Hasidicsuperstitions and prejudices in a
vigorous and classical style.
Meir Halevy Letteris (18001871), a lyric poet also known for his
adaption of Goethe's Faust into Hebrew.

Twentieth Century
As Zionist settlement in Palestine intensified at the start of the twentieth
century, Hebrew became the shared language of the various Jewish
immigrant communities along with native Palestinian Jews of the Old
Yishuv, who continued the literary traditions of earlier Sephardic and ArabJewish writers such as Maimonedes (Moshe ibn Maimoun) and alHarizi. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in particular worked to adapt Hebrew to the
needs of the modern world, turning to Hebrew sources from all periods and
locales to develop a language that went beyond the sacred and poetic and
was capable of articulating the modern experience.
With the rise of the Zionist movement amongst Jews in Europe, Ashkenazi
Jews embraced Hebrew literature and began to dominate it for the first
time. The foundations of modern Israeli writing were laid by a group of
literary
pioneers
from
the Second
Aliyah including Shmuel
Yosef
Agnon, Moshe Smilansky, Yosef Haim Brenner, David Shimoniand Jacob
Fichman. Hayim Nahman Bialik (18731934) was one of the pioneers of
modern Hebrew poets and came to be recognized as Israel's national poet.
Bialik contributed significantly to the revival of the Hebrew language, which
before his days existed primarily as an ancient, scholarly, or poetic tongue.
His influence is felt deeply in all modern Hebrew literature. Bialik, like
other great literary figures from the early part of the 20th century such
as Ahad Ha-Am and Tchernichovsky, spent his last years in Tel Aviv, exerting
a great influence on younger Hebrew writers.

Contemporary Hebrew Literature

A new generation of Hebrew writers emerged with the establishment of
the State of Israel in 1948. This new generation included the
novelists Aharon Megged, Nathan Shaham, and Moshe Shamir, and the
poets Yehudah Amichai, Amir Gilboa, and Haim Gouri. The novels My
Michael (1968) and Black Box (1987) by Amos Oz and The Lover (1977)
andMr. Mani (1990) by A. B. Yehoshua describe life in the new state. These
works also explore topics such the as conflict between parents and

children and
the
rejection
of Judaism and Zionism.

of

some

once-sacred

ideals

Many Hebrew writers in the late twentieth century dealt with the
Holocaust, women's issues, and the conflict between Israelis and Arabs.
Another topic was the tension between Jews of European origin,
the Ashkenazim, and Jews of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origin,
the Mizrahim and Sephardim.
In 1986, the Palestinian-Israeli author Anton Shammas published the
Hebrew novel "Arabesques", marking a milestone with the first major work
of Hebrew literature written by a non-Jewish Israeli. Shammas's novel has
been translated into a number of foreign languages.
Modern Hebrew authors include Ruth Almog, Aharon Appelfeld, David
Grossman, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, Etgar Keret, Savyon Liebrecht, Sami
Michael, Yaakov Shabtai, Meir Shalev, and Zeruya Shalev.
Contemporary Israeli authors whose works have been translated into other
languages
and
attained
international
recognition
are Ephraim
Kishon, Yaakov Shabtai, A. B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, Irit Linur, Etgar
Keret and Yehoshua Sobol.
Hebrew poets include David Avidan, Maya Bejerano, Erez Biton, Dan
Pagis, Dalia Ravikovitch, Ronny Someck, Meir Wieseltier, and Yona Wallach.
Today thousands of new books are published in Hebrew each year, both
translations from other languages and original works by Israeli authors.

Judah Halevi (1086-1145)

Judah Halevi was the greatest Hebrew poet of his
time. Born in Toledo, the capital of Castile, Judah
studied with the famous rabbinic scholar, Isaac
Alfasi. In addition to mastering biblical Hebrew,
Arabic and the intricacies of the Talmud, Judah
explored the physical sciences, philosophy and
metaphysics. He was especially proficient at
writing poetry, and soon he attracted the attention
of the great poet Moses Ibn Ezra. It wasn't long
before his fame spread throughout the Jewish
communities of Spain. Because Cordoba was the
cultural capital of Spanish Jewry, Halevi migrated
there. As he matured, Judah Halevi found his voice
as Israel's sweetest singer. He left behind an

abundance of synagogue liturgy and nationalistic poems. Since he lived at

the time of the first crusade, Judah realized the plight of his people. In his
most famous work, The Kuzari, Halevi foreshadowed the philosophy
of Zionism and Jewish nationalism.
The remarkable, and apparently indissoluble, union of religion, nationalism,
and patriotism, which were so characteristic of post-exilic Judaism, reached
its acme in Judah Halevi and his poetry. Yet this very union, in one so
consistent as Judah, demanded the fulfillment of the supreme politicoreligious ideal of medieval Judaismthe "return to Jerusalem". Though his
impassioned call to his contemporaries to return to "Zion" might be
received with indifference, or even with mockery; his own decision to go to
Jerusalem never wavered. "Can we hope for any other refuge either in the
East or in the West where we may dwell in safety?" he exclaims to one of his
opponents (ib.). The songs that accompany his pilgrimage sound like one
great symphony, wherein the "Zionides" the single motive never varied
voice the deepest "soul-life" alike; of the Jewish people and of each
individual Jew.
The most celebrated of these "Zionides" is found in every Jewish
prayerbook, and is usually repeated in the synagogue on the Ninth of Ab.
Zion, wilt thou not ask if peace's wing Shadows the captives that ensue thy
peace, Left lonely from thine ancient shepherding?
Lo! west and east and north and south world-wide All those from far
and near, without surcease, Salute thee: Peace and Peace from every side."

REFERENCES:

Jacobs, R, ;Hebrew Literature ;2000 ; Available from:

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Literature/Hebrew.shtml?p=4
(Accessed December 2014 ).
Willliam, S, ;"Chronology of the Old Testament" ;2000 ; Available from:
(Accessed December 2014 ).
Kracitz, N, ;Three Thousand Years of Hebrew Literature ; 1972 ; Available
from: (Accessed December 2014 ).
Carmi, T, ;The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse ;1981 ; Available from:
(Accessed December 2014 ).
Neiman, M, ;A Century of Modern Hebrew Literary Criticism ;1983 ;
Available from: (Accessed December 2014 ).