Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

Jack Kilmon wrote:And the view of the majority of ANE historians and 
linguists.

>
>
> The view that Hebrew was not a working language of the day is
> no longer held by "many."  Hebrew was indeed a living language,
> developing dialects, among certain social pockets, including
> the religious elite and certainly the DSS people, whether the
> scrolls were from a sequestered group at Qumran, Jerusalem or
> perhaps even the temple itself.  It was not the evry day
> language of the common folk.
>
> If Hebrew was the common tongue of the common folk, there
> would be no Targums, would there?
>
> >

Your point is well taken. The Rabbis direct (I forget where), to read the 
weekly Torah
portion "twice Scripture (i.e., Hebrew) and once Targum".
But, on the other hand, I remember reading that one of the Tannaim, either R. 
Akiba or
R. Judah Ha-Nasi, once said tha he consulted with his maid when he wanted to 
know the
meaning of a certain word. If my memory serves me correctly (would someone 
care to
comment?), wouldn't thaty point to Hebrew being used as the spoken language 
at least
among some of the common folk?
Sincerely,
--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
44905 Beit Berl Post Office
Israel