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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew as a holy language

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: "Sarah J. Blake" <sarah AT growingstrong.org>
  • To: "George Athas" <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>, "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew as a holy language
  • Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 07:58:09 -0400

LOL, George... When in formal classes I am quite an early riser. Last night I was cat-napping and rising--now awake for the day.

I did some poking around on Google with the phrase "holy language" and the word Hebrew. Fascinating things to ponder... More questions... Is the concept of ""holy language" about the way that a language is used or about the way that it is not used? Some of the articles I read point to Maimonides' claim that Hebrew has no direct words for sexual acts or profanity. Other articles claim that Hebrew was (at some point or in some place--I did not read thoroughly) used for sacred texts while another language was used for legal documents. This does not imply that "holy language" is the language spoken by God but rather the language used to speak of God. However, we humans do like to think of God in our likeness; so in this mindset surely God speaks Hebrew. It is also a convenient empowerment mechanism for an oppressed people whose language might be endangered (my theory).

My first reading about general topics regarding Hebrew language outside of grammar or works in Hebrew was a book called Hebrew in the Church: The Foundations of Jewish-Christian Dialogue (Pinchas E. Lapide and Helmut Gollwitzer, English ed. published 1984 by Eerdmans). It discusses the attempts of Christian scholars to learn Hebrew following the Jewish-Gentile split, when Christian-Jewish relations were oftenforbidden. It also talks about the various attitudes toward Hebrew over time: it was considered everything from sacred to the devil's language. Fascinating reading. What I don't like about this book is that most of the Hebrew is transliterated, though this makes it possible for lay readers to deal with it without learning Hebrew script since the Hebrew meanings are defined.

Enough for now...

Sarah J. Blake
Personal email: sjblake AT growingstrong.org
http://www.growingstrong.org

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