In Haaretz there is an article by Ephraim Shoham-Steiner that describes the mounting evidence for the use of Hebrew in the public sphere in Medieval Europe. Shoham-Steiner discussed a number of important archaeological discoveries in Germany, among them the “Hebrew Cesspit” discovered in Cologne, and over a thousand tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions from Wurzberg. The [...]
The Academy of the Hebrew Language has been increasing its web presence recently. They have an updated web site, along with a Twitter account, and a Facebook page. Today they posted a link to a post (Heb.) from their website that explains the history behind the modern Hebrew phrase, כחוט השני. The phrase occurs twice [...]
A number of years ago I wrote a post about the origins of the word חנוכייה/Hanukkiyah. I just updated it with some new information and two images of early appearances of the word in print. חג אורים שמח. The post can be found here.
From Haaretz: Tempers are still boiling over a conference about Israel studies that took place this summer, in which speakers were initially asked to lecture in English. Though the organizers of the annual conference of the international Association for Israel Studies eventually allowed renowned Israeli writer Sami Michael to deliver a speech about racism in [...]
A few days ago David Assaf of Tel Aviv University reported (Hebrew) on his blog, Oneg Shabbat, about a most interesting archaeological find in the German city of Köln/Cologne. Köln was know to have an established Jewish community in the Middle Ages, and while digging in the Jewish Quarter, archaeologists discovered among other things a mikveh [...]
Another nice exhibition of Hebrew Manuscripts this Fall in NYC. (hat tip)
The Jewish Museum will be having an exhibition this Fall and Winter (September 14, 2012 – February 03, 2013), Crossing Borders: Medieval Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries. Crossing Borders features a superb selection of some sixty Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic manuscripts from Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, one of the world’s richest collections of manuscripts and [...]
This past Shabbat my wife asked “Since when have Jews called the bread that we eat on Shabbat ḥallah (חלה)?” I had no idea what was the answer, so during the past few days I did a little searching and this is what I came up with. Many people associate Shabbat ḥallah with the ḥallah [...]
Dr. Ezra Chwat at Giluy Milta B’alma has posted (Heb.) a Genizah fragment that included a recommendation to support a specific poor man. The letter was addressed to the residents of Ramla and was written in the early 11th c. In addition to the description of the beggar, the fragment includes a quote from Mishnah [...]
Today two new judges were sworn into the Israeli Supreme Court. One of them, Justice Dafna Erez-Barak, became the Deputy to the Chief Justice. Until today, despite her being a woman, her position would have been המשנֶה לנשיא בית המשפט העליון with the nun in the first word vocalized with a segol, ha-Mishneh. Justice Erez-Barak [...]
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