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190-712: Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes ( Hebrew : בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת , lit.   'House of Israel – People of Truth'), more commonly known as the Kane Street Synagogue , is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue at 236 Kane Street in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City , New York , United States. It is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn. Founded as Baith Israel in 1856,

380-470: A Brooklyn Law School professor, was elected as the congregation's first female president. Fink called a full membership meeting in 1982 to decide whether women could lead the services, blow the shofar (the rams-horn trumpet blown on the High Holidays), and whether daughters of kohanim (hereditary priests) could give the priestly blessing . Advised by Scheindlin, the congregation decided to make

570-685: A Hebrew form. Medieval Hebrew added 6421 words to (Modern) Hebrew. The approximate number of new lexical items in Israeli is 17,000 (cf. 14,762 in Even-Shoshan 1970 [...]). With the inclusion of foreign and technical terms [...], the total number of Israeli words, including words of biblical, rabbinic and medieval descent, is more than 60,000. In Israel, Modern Hebrew is currently taught in institutions called Ulpanim (singular: Ulpan). There are government-owned, as well as private, Ulpanim offering online courses and face-to-face programs. Modern Hebrew

760-631: A Jewish farm colony in Utah , and during World War I he was "said to be the first Jewish chaplain in the United States Army to serve on foreign soil". A leader in Jewish–Christian ecumenism , he was editor of American Hebrew Magazine from 1918, served as the delegate of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now Union for Reform Judaism ) to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference , and in

950-529: A bout between a German and a Negro was improper". Lyons denounced the Nazi racial ideas , which he noted discriminated against blacks as well as Jews, and encouraged the audience to boycott all German-made goods until "Hitler comes to his senses". Lyons died the following year, and Landman served as sole rabbi. After his death, the Central Conference of American Rabbis described Lyons as the "dean of

1140-595: A century ago, was fluent enough in this idiom to be able to follow the Mishna Berurah without any trouble." Hebrew has been revived several times as a literary language, most significantly by the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement of early and mid-19th-century Germany. In the early 19th century, a form of spoken Hebrew had emerged in the markets of Jerusalem between Jews of different linguistic backgrounds to communicate for commercial purposes. This Hebrew dialect

1330-661: A corollary Hebrew ceased to function as a spoken language around the same time. Moshe Zvi Segal , Joseph Klausner and Ben Yehuda are notable exceptions to this view. During the latter half of the 20th century, accumulating archaeological evidence and especially linguistic analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls has disproven that view. The Dead Sea Scrolls, uncovered in 1946–1948 near Qumran revealed ancient Jewish texts overwhelmingly in Hebrew, not Aramaic. The Qumran scrolls indicate that Hebrew texts were readily understandable to

1520-579: A distinct style of philosophical Hebrew. This is used in the translations made by the Ibn Tibbon family. (Original Jewish philosophical works were usually written in Arabic. ) Another important influence was Maimonides , who developed a simple style based on Mishnaic Hebrew for use in his law code, the Mishneh Torah . Subsequent rabbinic literature is written in a blend between this style and

1710-509: A drive to pay it off completely. Eugene Sack, the father of Second Circuit Court of Appeals judge Robert D. Sack , joined Landman as rabbi in 1946. While serving as assistant rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom of Philadelphia , Sack had been instrumental in the founding of the Reform movement's National Federation of Temple Youth in 1939, and had presented a paper at its first biennial convention. Starting in 1943 he spent 18 months in

1900-555: A ferry service from Whitehall Street in Manhattan to South Ferry, Brooklyn (at the foot of Atlantic Street) had existed since 1836 (see South Ferry (ferry) ), that the Atlantic Street synagogue's location, so close to the ferry terminus, "must have seemed convenient to many", and that "[f]erry service was fast, frequent and inexpensive ... In the year 1869 there were almost 52 million passengers." Thus, in her view,

2090-458: A few months, the former Calvary Protestant Episcopal church on Pearl Street, between Nasau and Concord, was purchased for $ 5,100 (today $ 156,000) and renovated for another $ 2,000 (today $ 61,000). The new building was dedicated on March 30, 1862, and the congregation became known as "the Pearl street synagogue". By 1868, membership had increased to 103, and by 1869, almost 100 students attended

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2280-594: A gradually accepted movement. It was not, however, until the 1904–1914 Second Aliyah that Hebrew had caught real momentum in Ottoman Palestine with the more highly organized enterprises set forth by the new group of immigrants. When the British Mandate of Palestine recognized Hebrew as one of the country's three official languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew, in 1922), its new formal status contributed to its diffusion. A constructed modern language with

2470-468: A literary language down through the Byzantine period from the 4th century CE. The exact roles of Aramaic and Hebrew remain hotly debated. A trilingual scenario has been proposed for the land of Israel. Hebrew functioned as the local mother tongue with powerful ties to Israel's history, origins and golden age and as the language of Israel's religion; Aramaic functioned as the international language with

2660-536: A literary language, especially in Spain, as the language of commerce between Jews of different native languages, and as the liturgical language of Judaism, evolving various dialects of literary Medieval Hebrew , until its revival as a spoken language in the late 19th century. In May 2023, Scott Stripling published the finding of what he claims to be the oldest known Hebrew inscription, a curse tablet found at Mount Ebal , dated from around 3200 years ago. The presence of

2850-427: A loss of identity, and forced a withdrawal. Instead, the congregation raised funds for a second building, and in 1928–1929 built the six-story Temple House (used for all congregational activities) on the corner opposite the main sanctuary. Designed by Mortimer Freehof and David Levy, the cast stone building's architectural style was "Jewish Deco", a mix of Romanesque Revival and Art Deco decorative forms that

3040-530: A new building helped revive the congregation, and by 1906 (its 50th anniversary) membership had doubled. Goldfarb was a talented musician, known to this day as composer of popular tunes for the songs " Shalom Aleichem " and "Magein Avot" used in most Ashkenazi synagogues. With his brother Samuel E. Goldfarb, he compiled The Jewish Songster for schoolchildren, the first American collection of Jewish songs. Israel Goldfarb also served as Professor of Liturgical Music at

3230-542: A number of times. The sanctuary ceiling cracked in the early 1980s, and services were held in Temple House for a time. The congregation mounted a "Save our Sanctuary" campaign in 1982, and repaired the ceiling. In the 1980s Beth Elohim also refurbished the Moses stained glass window, and painted the main sanctuary. The congregation restored and renovated its buildings in 1990, and in 1992 did emergency restoration work to

3420-764: A salary larger than Beth Elohim could match, and he moved there. Beth Elohim subsequently split the offices of cantor and rabbi, hiring G. Taubenhaus as rabbi and the Mauritz Weisskopf as cantor. Born in Warsaw , Taubenhaus could read the Pentateuch fluently in Hebrew at age four, and began studying the Talmud at age six. He attended the "Berlin theological seminary" (likely the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums ) for six years. Upon emigrating to

3610-548: A set of dialects evolving out of Late Biblical Hebrew and into Mishnaic Hebrew, thus including elements from both but remaining distinct from either. By the start of the Byzantine Period in the 4th century CE, Classical Hebrew ceased as a regularly spoken language, roughly a century after the publication of the Mishnah, apparently declining since the aftermath of the catastrophic Bar Kokhba revolt around 135 CE. In

3800-475: A single set of standards, that Jews should not organize as Jews for anything except purely religious purposes, and that in any event Reform Judaism was the future and Orthodox Judaism would not survive. As Lyons put it, To me Reform Judaism is an irresistible conviction. I believe it to be the religion of the Jewish future, while I regard orthodoxy as a survival that may have a galvanized life now and then, but on

3990-440: A special all-men section of pews was designated at the front left of the sanctuary. The merged congregations adopted the current name, a combination of the two previous names, and, with the assistance and encouragement of Goldfarb and synagogue president Harris Copland founded a sisterhood. Nevertheless, the combined membership was still not large; in 1911, the year the congregation renovated the recently acquired synagogue building,

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4180-615: A spoken language, it continued to be used as a lingua franca among scholars and Jews traveling in foreign countries. After the 2nd century CE when the Roman Empire exiled most of the Jewish population of Jerusalem following the Bar Kokhba revolt , they adapted to the societies in which they found themselves, yet letters, contracts, commerce, science, philosophy, medicine, poetry and laws continued to be written mostly in Hebrew, which adapted by borrowing and inventing terms. After

4370-407: A time, the only congregation in Brooklyn that celebrated Jewish holidays for the traditional two days. In 1889 Baith Israel asserted it was "the only orthodox congregation in the city", and that year the board forced the resignation of a Mr. J. Folkart, for transgressing the laws of Yom Kippur . In 1892, when Hyman Rosenberg was expelled as rabbi of Brooklyn's Beth Jacob synagogue for eating ham ,

4560-472: A truly Semitic vocabulary and written appearance, although often European in phonology , was to take its place among the current languages of the nations. While many saw his work as fanciful or even blasphemous (because Hebrew was the holy language of the Torah and therefore some thought that it should not be used to discuss everyday matters), many soon understood the need for a common language amongst Jews of

4750-558: A vernacular in Judea until it was displaced by Aramaic, probably in the 3rd century CE. Certain Sadducee , Pharisee , Scribe , Hermit, Zealot and Priest classes maintained an insistence on Hebrew, and all Jews maintained their identity with Hebrew songs and simple quotations from Hebrew texts. While there is no doubt that at a certain point, Hebrew was displaced as the everyday spoken language of most Jews, and that its chief successor in

4940-539: A week, had 15 teachers and 200 students. In 1908, the congregation purchased a 100-foot (30 m) by 112-foot (34 m) lot on the northeast corner of Garfield Place and Eighth Avenue. Plans were made to erect a new synagogue building there with a sanctuary seating 1,500 people, at an anticipated cost of $ 100,000 (today $ 3.4 million). The structure was designed and built by the Manhattan architectural firm of Simon Eisendrath and B. Horowitz (or Horwitz). Construction began in 1909 and completed in 1910. Designed in

5130-518: Is 8198, of which some 2000 are hapax legomena (the number of Biblical Hebrew roots, on which many of these words are based, is 2099). The number of attested Rabbinic Hebrew words is less than 20,000, of which (i) 7879 are Rabbinic par excellence, i.e. they did not appear in the Old Testament (the number of new Rabbinic Hebrew roots is 805); (ii) around 6000 are a subset of Biblical Hebrew; and (iii) several thousand are Aramaic words which can have

5320-644: Is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family . A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages , it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period ) and Samaritanism . The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and

5510-567: Is fighting to stop businesses from using only English signs to market their services. In 2012, a Knesset bill for the preservation of the Hebrew language was proposed, which includes the stipulation that all signage in Israel must first and foremost be in Hebrew, as with all speeches by Israeli officials abroad. The bill's author, MK Akram Hasson , stated that the bill was proposed as a response to Hebrew "losing its prestige" and children incorporating more English words into their vocabulary. Hebrew

5700-534: Is one of several languages for which the constitution of South Africa calls to be respected in their use for religious purposes. Also, Hebrew is an official national minority language in Poland , since 6 January 2005. Hamas has made Hebrew a compulsory language taught in schools in the Gaza Strip. Congregation Beth Elohim Founded in 1861 as a more liberal breakaway from Congregation Baith Israel , for

5890-573: Is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival . It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being Aramaic , still spoken today. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew , with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around

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6080-457: Is the primary official language of the State of Israel. As of 2013 , there are about 9 million Hebrew speakers worldwide, of whom 7 million speak it fluently. Currently, 90% of Israeli Jews are proficient in Hebrew, and 70% are highly proficient. Some 60% of Israeli Arabs are also proficient in Hebrew, and 30% report having a higher proficiency in Hebrew than in Arabic. In total, about 53% of

6270-547: Is used to pronounce the Hebrew Bible; however, properly it should be distinguished from the historical Biblical Hebrew of the 6th century BCE, whose original pronunciation must be reconstructed. Tiberian Hebrew incorporates the scholarship of the Masoretes (from masoret meaning "tradition"), who added vowel points and grammar points to the Hebrew letters to preserve much earlier features of Hebrew, for use in chanting

6460-650: The Chayei Adam in Hebrew, as opposed to Yiddish , as a guide to Halacha for the " average 17-year-old" (Ibid. Introduction 1). Similarly, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan 's purpose in writing the Mishnah Berurah was to "produce a work that could be studied daily so that Jews might know the proper procedures to follow minute by minute". The work was nevertheless written in Talmudic Hebrew and Aramaic, since, "the ordinary Jew [of Eastern Europe] of

6650-480: The Brooklyn Eagle canvassed local rabbis for their views on the matter. While George Taubenhaus, rabbi of Beth Elohim stated, "I do not believe my congregation would expel me if I ate ham", Baith Israel's rabbi Friedlander responded, "While there are some differences between the reform and orthodox Jews, I do not think it is the place for any Jewish minister to eat ham. The reformers do not so strictly observe

6840-643: The Tanakh ( Hebrew Bible ) were inscribed on the Garfield Place facade , and the Biblical verses " SHOW ME THY WAYS O LORD TEACH ME THY PATHS GUIDE ME " ( Psalms 25:4–5 ) on the Eighth Avenue facade. The building was also decorated with bas-reliefs of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish and Babylonian charioteers . It housed a 125-seat chapel, a large ballroom, social halls, class rooms for

7030-727: The Ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος ( hebraîos ) and Aramaic 'ibrāy , all ultimately derived from Biblical Hebrew Ivri ( עברי ), one of several names for the Israelite ( Jewish and Samaritan ) people ( Hebrews ). It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham 's ancestor, Eber , mentioned in Genesis 10:21 . The name is believed to be based on the Semitic root ʕ-b-r ( ע־ב־ר ‎), meaning "beyond", "other side", "across"; interpretations of

7220-547: The Canaanite group of languages . Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages. Hebrew was the spoken language in the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the period from about 1200 to 586 BCE. Epigraphic evidence from this period confirms the widely accepted view that the earlier layers of biblical literature reflect the language used in these kingdoms. Furthermore,

7410-570: The Classical Revival style, this "monumental example" of "austere neo-Classical grandeur" had five sides, representing the five books of Moses , a sanctuary that ultimately sat 1,200, and was capped by a saucer dome . The entrance faced the corner of Garfield and Eighth, and carved in stone over it was the Biblical verse fragment "MINE HOUSE SHALL BE AN HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE" ( Isaiah 56:7 ). The basement held classrooms, an auditorium, and administrative offices, and behind

7600-493: The First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland . After Friedlander left, his name was, for reasons unknown, deleted from the synagogue histories, and the financial records and minute books dating from his tenure were removed from Baith Israel's archives. He was succeeded by Joseph Taubenhaus, the brother of Dr. Gottheil/Godfrey Taubenhaus, the rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim; another brother, Jacob/ Jean Taubenhaus

7790-520: The Gospel of Matthew . (See the Hebrew Gospel hypothesis or Language of Jesus for more details on Hebrew and Aramaic in the gospels.) The term "Mishnaic Hebrew" generally refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud , excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The dialects organize into Mishnaic Hebrew (also called Tannaitic Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew I), which

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7980-467: The Great Depression brought difficult times; officers were no longer paid their salaries, and were informed in 1932 that they would have to "wait indefinitely" to receive their back wages. In 1933, the synagogue abolished fixed wages entirely for its employees, and instead paid them on a "month-to-month basis", depending on what the congregation could afford. In 1932 women were allowed to join

8170-495: The Latin alphabet of ancient Rome . The Gezer calendar is written without any vowels , and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places in which later Hebrew spelling requires them. Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example, Proto-Sinaitic . It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to Egyptian hieroglyphs , though

8360-682: The Maccabean Revolt (167–160 BCE) and the emergence of the Hasmonean kingdom , the Great Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE), and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE). The nationalist significance of Hebrew manifested in various ways throughout this period. Michael Owen Wise notes that "Beginning with the time of the Hasmonean revolt [...] Hebrew came to the fore in an expression akin to modern nationalism. A form of classical Hebrew

8550-554: The National Register of Historic Places . The congregation went through difficult times during the Great Depression , and the bank almost foreclosed on its buildings in 1946. Membership dropped significantly in the 1930s because of the Depression, grew after World War II , and dropped again in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of demographic shifts. Programs for young children helped draw Jewish families back into

8740-703: The Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II as an army chaplain ; at one point he had to substitute peach juice for Passover wine . Sack had also previously been involved in anti-Zionist efforts amongst the Reform rabbinate. In 1942 the Central Conference of American Rabbis had abandoned its former anti-Zionist stance, and adopted a resolution favoring the creation of a Jewish army in Palestine, to fight alongside other Allied armies , and under Allied command. Sack and other prominent Reform rabbis opposed this; meeting on March 18, 1942, they agreed "there

8930-611: The Red Cross ; many committee members eventually resigned in protest over the overt politicization of the event, and its control by William Randolph Hearst . Isaac Landman , a graduate of Hebrew Union College , joined Lyons as rabbi of Beth Elohim in 1931. Born in Russia in 1880, Landman had come to the United States in 1890. In 1911, with the assistance of Jacob Schiff , Julius Rosenwald , and Simon Bamberger , he founded

9120-536: The Second Aliyah , it replaced a score of languages spoken by Jews at that time. Those languages were Jewish dialects of local languages, including Judaeo-Spanish (also called "Judezmo" and "Ladino"), Yiddish , Judeo-Arabic and Bukhori (Tajiki), or local languages spoken in the Jewish diaspora such as Russian , Persian and Arabic . The major result of the literary work of the Hebrew intellectuals along

9310-578: The Torah ark was a combination Rabbi's study/Board meeting room. The State Street building was sold to Congregation Mount Sinai. 1909 was also the year Judah Leon Magnes proposed and founded his Kehilla , a "comprehensive communal organization for the Jews of New York", which operated until 1922. Lyons opposed its creation, arguing that Jews in New York were too diverse to co-exist in one organization with

9500-896: The Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive website. Epstein, born in the Bronx and raised in New Milford, Connecticut , attended Wesleyan University and Hebrew Union College, and served as the coordinator of the Institute for Reform Zionism. In 2008 she was a member of "Rabbis for Obama", a cross-denominational group of more than 300 American rabbis supporting Barack Obama 's 2008 presidential campaign . Barrington Rhode Island native Marc Katz graduated from Tufts University and studied at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem before becoming Beth Elohim's rabbinic intern in 2009. He served as

9690-462: The literary and liturgical language into everyday spoken language . However, his brand of Hebrew followed norms that had been replaced in Eastern Europe by different grammar and style, in the writings of people like Ahad Ha'am and others. His organizational efforts and involvement with the establishment of schools and the writing of textbooks pushed the vernacularization activity into

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9880-620: The official language of the State of Israel . Estimates of worldwide usage include five million speakers in 1998, and over nine million people in 2013. After Israel, the United States has the largest Hebrew-speaking population, with approximately 220,000 fluent speakers (see Israeli Americans and Jewish Americans ). Modern Hebrew is the official language of the State of Israel, while pre-revival forms of Hebrew are used for prayer or study in Jewish and Samaritan communities around

10070-484: The ostraca found near Lachish , which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE. In its widest sense, Biblical Hebrew refers to the spoken language of ancient Israel flourishing between c.  1000 BCE and c.  400 CE . It comprises several evolving and overlapping dialects. The phases of Classical Hebrew are often named after important literary works associated with them. Sometimes

10260-441: The 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic period , the traditional time of the reign of David and Solomon . Classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew , the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after the city in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that, through the Greeks and Etruscans , later became

10450-401: The 1908 merger with Talmud Torah Anshei Emes re-invigorated the congregation. The famous composer Aaron Copland celebrated his Bar Mitzvah there in 1913, and long-time Goldman Sachs head Sidney Weinberg was married there in 1920. Membership peaked in the 1920s, but with the onset of the Great Depression declined steadily, and by the 1970s the congregation could no longer afford to heat

10640-401: The 1930s—offered its premises for the holiday (Sunday night and Monday), and accommodated over 1000 worshipers. The day before the holiday, the synagogue was picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church , who shouted antisemitic and anti-gay slogans. As of 2012 , Beth Elohim was the "oldest Brooklyn congregation that continues to function under its corporate name", and its pulpit was

10830-484: The 1960s, following Goldfarb's retirement, the synagogue hired a series of part-time rabbis, including Goldfarb's grandson, Henry D. Michelman, who served as rabbi from 1967 to 1971. Michelman, who would later become the Executive Vice President of the Synagogue Council of America , was, like his grandfather, a talented musician, composing music for synagogues and churches, writing scores for television films for ABC , A&E , CNBC , and PBS , and serving as Chairman of

11020-461: The 1970s. After the war, Beth Elohim allowed women to become full members, granting them full voting privileges and allowing them to hold office. The congregation subsequently elected Jeanette Marks as a trustee. At this time the origins of the membership began to change, as Jews of Eastern European descent started joining the congregation. In the late 1940s the central vault ceiling of the main sanctuary cracked, and had to be repaired. At that time

11210-454: The 1980s in the USSR , Hebrew studies reappeared due to people struggling for permission to go to Israel ( refuseniks ). Several of the teachers were imprisoned, e.g. Yosef Begun , Ephraim Kholmyansky , Yevgeny Korostyshevsky and others responsible for a Hebrew learning network connecting many cities of the USSR. Standard Hebrew, as developed by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, was based on Mishnaic spelling and Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation. However,

11400-535: The 19th century was a lexical modernization of Hebrew. New words and expressions were adapted as neologisms from the large corpus of Hebrew writings since the Hebrew Bible, or borrowed from Arabic (mainly by Ben-Yehuda) and older Aramaic and Latin. Many new words were either borrowed from or coined after European languages, especially English, Russian, German, and French. Modern Hebrew became an official language in British-ruled Palestine in 1921 (along with English and Arabic), and then in 1948 became an official language of

11590-495: The 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity . For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Lashon Hakodesh ( לְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶש , lit.   ' the holy tongue ' or ' the tongue [of] holiness ' ) since ancient times. The language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Bible , but as Yehudit ( transl.  ' Judean ' ) or Səpaṯ Kəna'an ( transl.  "the language of Canaan " ). Mishnah Gittin 9:8 refers to

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11780-439: The American Society of Jewish Music. The membership decline continued in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as older congregants died and moved away, and dwindled to the point where the congregation could no longer afford to heat the sanctuary, and thought they would have to disband. Nevertheless, in 1972 the congregation established a nursery school and prozdor (high school). Changing demographics and new synagogue programs helped

11970-579: The Aramaized Rabbinic Hebrew of the Talmud. Hebrew persevered through the ages as the main language for written purposes by all Jewish communities around the world for a large range of uses—not only liturgy, but also poetry, philosophy, science and medicine, commerce, daily correspondence and contracts. There have been many deviations from this generalization such as Bar Kokhba 's letters to his lieutenants, which were mostly in Aramaic, and Maimonides' writings, which were mostly in Arabic; but overall, Hebrew did not cease to be used for such purposes. For example,

12160-466: The Associate Rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C. At Beth Elohim, he focused on programming and services for urban Jewish families. Under his leadership, Beth Elohim opened after–school and early childhood centers in 1978, and a day camp the following year, all housed in the Temple House. The 1970s also saw a return to more traditional practices in the service, under Weider's guidance. Some members began wearing head coverings in

12350-427: The Boerum location was part of the problem, and made the bold decision to sell it, buy new premises, and hire a rabbi (the synagogue had, for many years, run without one). In 1905, they hired Israel Goldfarb, a 1902 graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary , as "Hazan [cantor] and Teacher", his first and only pulpit. The following year Goldfarb was appointed rabbi, a position he would hold for over 50 years. In 1905,

12540-503: The British Mandate who at the turn of the 20th century were arriving in large numbers from diverse countries and speaking different languages. A Committee of the Hebrew Language was established. After the establishment of Israel, it became the Academy of the Hebrew Language . The results of Ben-Yehuda's lexicographical work were published in a dictionary ( The Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew , Ben-Yehuda Dictionary ). The seeds of Ben-Yehuda's work fell on fertile ground, and by

12730-435: The Brooklyn rabbinate from the point of view of service". The synagogue's fortunes improved in the 1940s, but in 1946, its bank threatened to foreclose on its buildings, in anticipation of their sale to the local Catholic diocese , as the congregation had not paid the mortgage in many years. The congregation succeeded in convincing the bank to re-negotiate its mortgage, and reduce the outstanding loan, and Max Koeppel led

12920-405: The Depression. By 1937 the congregation had elected Lyons "rabbi for life". In 1938 Lyons made common cause with Thomas Harten, the black pastor of Holy Trinity Baptist Church. Speaking to a mixed black–Jewish audience at the church, Lyons informed the listeners that he was planning to attend the second Joe Louis versus Max Schmeling boxing match in order to protest Adolf Hitler 's "view that

13110-416: The Great conquered Babylon, he allowed the Jewish people to return from captivity. In time, a local version of Aramaic came to be spoken in Israel alongside Hebrew. By the beginning of the Common Era , Aramaic was the primary colloquial language of Samarian , Babylonian and Galileean Jews, and western and intellectual Jews spoke Greek , but a form of so-called Rabbinic Hebrew continued to be used as

13300-432: The Hebrew name of god , Yahweh, as three letters, Yod-Heh-Vav (YHV), according to the author and his team meant that the tablet is Hebrew and not Canaanite. However, practically all professional archeologists and epigraphers apart from Stripling's team claim that there is no text on this object. In July 2008, Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa that he claimed may be

13490-437: The Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes inherited a biblical text whose letters were considered too sacred to be altered, so their markings were in the form of pointing in and around the letters. The Syriac alphabet , precursor to the Arabic alphabet , also developed vowel pointing systems around this time. The Aleppo Codex , a Hebrew Bible with the Masoretic pointing, was written in the 10th century, likely in Tiberias, and survives into

13680-548: The High Holidays every year until 2016. In 1982 Scheindlin stated that the membership had grown to the point where it again required the services of a full-time rabbi, and the congregation hired Jonathan Ginsburg as its first full-time rabbi since Israel Goldfarb's retirement. Ginsburg developed adult education and young singles programs, and improved standards in the synagogue's children's education programs. Geoffrey Goldberg followed him as rabbi from 1987 to 1988. In 1994

13870-454: The Israeli population speaks Hebrew as a native language, while most of the rest speak it fluently. In 2013 Hebrew was the native language of 49% of Israelis over the age of 20, with Russian , Arabic , French , English , Yiddish and Ladino being the native tongues of most of the rest. Some 26% of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 12% of Arabs reported speaking Hebrew poorly or not at all. Steps have been taken to keep Hebrew

14060-531: The JTSA and moving to Brooklyn Heights , and from that point on read the Torah every week and served as cantor . He also encouraged the re-constitution of a choir, which called itself "the DeRossi Singers" after Salamone DeRossi , the leading Jewish composer of the late Italian Renaissance , whose works the choir sang. Even after leaving the synagogue, Scheindlin continued to return to serve as cantor for

14250-668: The Jewish Theological Seminary from 1920 to 1944, and in 1949 founded the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College . In his Kol Nidre sermon of 1905, Goldfarb emphasized the need for a Talmud Torah (providing inexpensive Jewish education for primary school children), and it was immediately founded. Talmud Torahs helped synagogues in neighborhoods with small Jewish populations to attract young Jewish families, and were common in "second-settlement areas of New York City such as Harlem and Brooklyn". By 1907–1908

14440-586: The LGBTQ+ community since at least the early 1990s, and following the late 2006 decision by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards to allow same-sex commitment ceremonies , in 2007 Kane Street Synagogue voted to follow suit. The day before Yom Kippur , 2009, the synagogue was picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church , who shouted antisemitic and anti-gay slogans. The congregation

14630-477: The Middle East was the closely related Aramaic language, then Greek , scholarly opinions on the exact dating of that shift have changed very much. In the first half of the 20th century, most scholars followed Abraham Geiger and Gustaf Dalman in thinking that Aramaic became a spoken language in the land of Israel as early as the beginning of Israel's Hellenistic period in the 4th century BCE, and that as

14820-646: The New York Landmarks Conservancy's Sacred Sites Program awarded Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes grants totaling $ 17,500, for copper roof and masonry restoration. In 2008, the Synagogue filed documents with the New York Department of State, and was approved to officially use the name "Kane Street Synagogue," which had been its commonly-used name for several decades at that point. The congregation had been supportive of

15010-470: The Reform movement, in 2002 he started a small, more traditional, Hebrew -focused spinoff prayer group at Beth Elohim, and has spoken in favor of a more traditional liturgy. Bachman and his wife, Rachel Altstein, have been instrumental in bringing 20- and 30-year-olds into the synagogue, and in December 2007, Bachman was named one of The Forward ' s "Forward 50". In 2008 he was a regular contributor to

15200-463: The Reverend Dr. Tinter. The confirmation ceremonies, which had initially been held during the holiday of Sukkot , were eventually moved to the holiday of Shavuot (the holiday during which the Reform movement held these ceremonies), and continued for both boys and girls (in place of Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations) until the 1940s. Aaron Wise , father of Stephen Samuel Wise , was one of

15390-551: The Sunday school and Talmud Torah. The Weinbergs subsequently moved to Flatbush , where in 1924 Pincus became the first president of the East Midwood Jewish Center . In 1924, a fire almost destroyed the upper level of the school building, but the congregation repaired the damage. Another renovation was begun in 1928, and included installing illuminated stained glass over the ark and bronze memorial tablets at

15580-606: The Sunday school. Beth Elohim had originally conducted its services in the traditional manner, but on February 19, 1870 "inaugurated the moderate reform services" instead. In an attempt to stem defections and make the synagogue more attractive to existing and potential members, that same month the congregation purchased, for $ 55,000 (today $ 1,330,000), the building of the Central Presbyterian Church on Schermerhorn Street near Nevins Street. Sufficient numbers of new members did not, however, materialize, and

15770-649: The Talmud Torah had only 45 students, 10 of them the children of non-members. The sisterhood had grown to 42 members by 1913; that year 11 men were accepted as new congregants, including "a dentist, an optician, a druggist, a lawyer, a butler and two store owners and a roofer"—in general, middle class occupations. Baith Israel Anshei Emes also became one of the charter members of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 1913, with Michael Salit, who had been synagogue president in 1906, serving as

15960-674: The Talmud, the Gemara , generally comments on the Mishnah and Baraitot in two forms of Aramaic. Nevertheless, Hebrew survived as a liturgical and literary language in the form of later Amoraic Hebrew, which occasionally appears in the text of the Gemara, particularly in the Jerusalem Talmud and the classical aggadah midrashes . Hebrew was always regarded as the language of Israel's religion, history and national pride, and after it faded as

16150-460: The Talmud, various regional literary dialects of Medieval Hebrew evolved. The most important is Tiberian Hebrew or Masoretic Hebrew, a local dialect of Tiberias in Galilee that became the standard for vocalizing the Hebrew Bible and thus still influences all other regional dialects of Hebrew. This Tiberian Hebrew from the 7th to 10th century CE is sometimes called "Biblical Hebrew" because it

16340-542: The Torah after it has been read). In the 1970s, women became more involved in the synagogue's political and religious activities: in 1972, the first woman was elected to the board of trustees, and in 1975, the congregation began calling women to the Torah and counting women in the minyan , the latter just two years after the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly voted nine to four in favor of this innovation. In 1980, Nancy Fink,

16530-564: The United Brethren Society, a benefit society that provided members with medical and burial assistance. Hiring the Reverend M. Gershon as cantor (the person who leads the prayers), they first met in various homes, then rented space at 155 Atlantic Street, now Atlantic Avenue . Gershon's appointment was controversial; after a background check, the board decided by a 10–9 vote on April 6, 1856, that he had never held

16720-769: The United States, he served at Kehillah Kodesh Bene Yeshurum in Paducah, Kentucky , Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio , and Congregation B'nai Israel in Sacramento, California , before becoming the rabbi of the Shaari Zedek ("Gates of Hope") synagogue in New York. Differences with the latter congregation led to his resignation there shortly before being hired by Beth Elohim. Taubenhaus's brother Joseph would be appointed rabbi at Baith Israel, Beth Elohim's parent congregation, in 1893, and another brother, Jacob/ Jean Taubenhaus ,

16910-488: The ability to speak the language and attempted to promote its use. According to the Jerusalem Talmud , Megillah 1:9: "Rebbi Jonathan from Bet Guvrrin said, four languages are appropriate that the world should use them, and they are these: The Foreign Language (Greek) for song, Latin for war, Syriac for elegies, Hebrew for speech. Some are saying, also Assyrian (Hebrew script) for writing." The later section of

17100-478: The above phases of spoken Classical Hebrew are simplified into "Biblical Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 10th century BCE to 2nd century BCE and extant in certain Dead Sea Scrolls) and "Mishnaic Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE and extant in certain other Dead Sea Scrolls). However, today most Hebrew linguists classify Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew as

17290-561: The average Jew, and that the language had evolved since Biblical times as spoken languages do. Recent scholarship recognizes that reports of Jews speaking in Aramaic indicate a multilingual society, not necessarily the primary language spoken. Alongside Aramaic, Hebrew co-existed within Israel as a spoken language. Most scholars now date the demise of Hebrew as a spoken language to the end of the Roman period , or about 200 CE. It continued on as

17480-547: The beginning of the 20th century, Hebrew was well on its way to becoming the main language of the Jewish population of both Ottoman and British Palestine. At the time, members of the Old Yishuv and a very few Hasidic sects, most notably those under the auspices of Satmar , refused to speak Hebrew and spoke only Yiddish. In the Soviet Union, the use of Hebrew, along with other Jewish cultural and religious activities,

17670-668: The buildings' stained glass windows, parapet tower, and brownstone were repaired, landscaping redone, and, with a grant from the Sol Goldman Charitable trust, the bimah and vestibule were refurbished. Membership had increased to almost 200 families by 1995, and in 1996 Samuel H. Weintraub was hired as rabbi. In 1961 the synagogue began granting women some pulpit honors, giving the Sisterhood President gelila , and in 1966 granting married couples hagbaha and gelila (the honors of lifting and re-wrapping

17860-509: The choir. In deference to traditionalists , however, the choir was moved to the organ loft, so that the women would be less visible. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Herman Belth raised $ 20,000 (today $ 250,000) and contributed another $ 20,000 for another renovation of the synagogue. The building was fortified, the interior (except the front wall) repainted, and the exterior brick walls, which had been clad in "blue-veined white stone", were refinished with " brownstone type stuccoed slabs". When

18050-602: The composition of 1 Maccabees in archaizing Hebrew, Hasmonean coinage under John Hyrcanus (134-104 BCE), and coins from both the Great Revolt and Bar Kokhba Revolt featuring exclusively Hebrew and Palaeo-Hebrew script inscriptions. This deliberate use of Hebrew and Paleo-Hebrew script in official contexts, despite limited literacy, served as a symbol of Jewish nationalism and political independence. The Christian New Testament contains some Semitic place names and quotes. The language of such Semitic glosses (and in general

18240-604: The congregation also purchased for $ 30,000 (today $ 1,020,000) its current building at Tompkins Place and Harrison Street (renamed Kane Street in 1928), along with an adjacent school building and a connecting two-story arcade. The Romanesque revival church building, erected in 1855, had originally housed the Middle Dutch Reformed Church , and, from 1887, the Trinity German Lutheran Church. The hiring of Goldfarb and purchase of

18430-434: The congregation constructed the first synagogue on Long Island , and hired Aaron Wise for his first rabbinical position in the United States. Early tensions between traditionalists and reformers led to the latter forming Congregation Beth Elohim , a Reform synagogue, in 1861. The synagogue nearly failed in the early 20th century, but the 1905 hiring of Israel Goldfarb as rabbi, the purchase of its current buildings, and

18620-510: The congregation found no specific fault with Brandenstein, but wanted "a change", and succeeded in dismissing him and electing an entirely new board of officers. The final vote was 29 in favor, 21 against, out of a total membership of 53 or 54 (only the male heads of households were counted as members during this era). Solomon Mosche was hired to replace Brandenstein. In April 1883, Baith Israel, Beth Elohim, and Temple Israel , Brooklyn's three leading synagogues, attempted an amalgamation. This

18810-665: The congregation from 1907 to 1910, and was made a life trustee in 1936. Aaron's brother Ralph served as superintendent of the Sunday School. Goldfarb was instrumental in assisting Aaron Copland in his early musical career. While still in high school, Aaron had approached Goldfarb for his support in studying music: Aaron's father wanted him to enter the legal profession. Goldfarb engineered an agreement whereby Aaron would study music for two or three years, and, if that did not work out, then study law. In his memoirs, Copland would later describe Goldfarb as "a composer of liturgical music and

19000-399: The congregation had 160 members, and the congregational school, which held classes for two hours once a week, had ten teachers and 150 students. Though the synagogue had undertaken innovations in some areas of Jewish law , it still insisted on strict adherence in others. In 1878 Tinter was dismissed for officiating at the marriage of a Jewish woman and Christian man, and Baith Israel was, for

19190-520: The congregation had grown to 85 member families. The Talmud Torah, which held classes four days a week, had three teachers and 75 students. In 1908, Baith Israel merged with Degraw Street's Talmud Torah Anshei Emes Synagogue, a growing congregation that had become too large for the row house in which it held services. Talmud Torah Anshei Emes's membership was mostly made up of Eastern European Jews, who were stricter in their observances than Baith Israel's mostly German-origin membership; to accommodate them,

19380-518: The congregation in 1901, and the following year Alexander Lyons was hired as the congregation's first American-born rabbi. Lyons went on to serve the congregation for 37 years, until his death in 1939 at the age of 71. In 1907, the women's auxiliary was founded; until then, though seating was mixed, women had little say in the running of the synagogue. That year the congregation had 110 member families and annual revenues of $ 9,259.55 (today $ 300,000). The congregational school, which held classes one day

19570-545: The congregation recover from its low point in the 1970s. In 1979, Raymond Scheindlin, a Ph.D. in Arabic literature from Columbia University , and professor of medieval Hebrew poetry at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA), became the part-time rabbi of the congregation, replacing Howard Gorin, who had served since 1976. Scheindlin had become a member in 1974, after joining the faculty of

19760-517: The congregation was forced to give up its new building, forfeit its $ 4,000 (today $ 96,000) deposit, and return to the Pearl Street building. Instead, the Pearl street building was renovated, and an organ and choir added. Ignaz Grossmann served as rabbi from 1873 to 1876. Beth Elohim voted to retire Brandenstein in 1882, an action which created some controversy both within the congregation, and among other Brooklyn synagogues. Younger members of

19950-711: The congregation's Associate Rabbi until 2018 and is now the Rabbi at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, NJ. On September 22, 2013, Beth Elohim celebrated its 150th anniversary and dedicated a new Sefer Torah . Members of Beth Elohim stated it was "the first Torah in New York City to be completed by a woman". In June 2015, Andy Bachman departed to join the 92nd Street Y as the Director of Jewish Content and Community Ritual, and in addition, he founded "Water Over Rocks,"

20140-440: The congregation's delegate, and he, Rabbi Goldfarb and another synagogue member, Isaac Applebaum, were among the 22 individuals who initially founded the organization. Aaron Copland celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Baith Israel Anshei Emes in 1913. The Copland family was active in the synagogue; his father Harris became treasurer and chairman of the Talmud Torah in 1905, had helped purchase the current building, served as president of

20330-468: The content of Hebrew inscriptions suggests that the written texts closely mirror the spoken language of that time. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a spoken vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile when the predominant international language in the region was Old Aramaic . Hebrew was extinct as a colloquial language by late antiquity , but it continued to be used as

20520-617: The development of the Kane Street Kids program for preschool age children housed in the Congregation's Early Childhood Center". Nearly 300 households were members by 2006, and in the same year, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation awarded the synagogue a grant of $ 350,000 for exterior restoration of the sanctuary. The grant was part of a million-dollar capital campaign that

20710-568: The dialects of Classical Hebrew that functioned as a living language in the land of Israel. A transitional form of the language occurs in the other works of Tannaitic literature dating from the century beginning with the completion of the Mishnah. These include the halachic Midrashim ( Sifra , Sifre , Mekhilta etc.) and the expanded collection of Mishnah-related material known as the Tosefta . The Talmud contains excerpts from these works, as well as further Tannaitic material not attested elsewhere;

20900-423: The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating from around 3,000 years ago. Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said that the inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned that "[t]he differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear", and suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far. The Gezer calendar also dates back to

21090-513: The earliest speakers of Modern Hebrew had Yiddish as their native language and often introduced calques from Yiddish and phono-semantic matchings of international words. Despite using Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation as its primary basis, modern Israeli Hebrew has adapted to Ashkenazi Hebrew phonology in some respects, mainly the following: The vocabulary of Israeli Hebrew is much larger than that of earlier periods. According to Ghil'ad Zuckermann : The number of attested Biblical Hebrew words

21280-532: The early 6th century BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the ancient Kingdom of Judah , destroying much of Jerusalem and exiling its population far to the east in Babylon . During the Babylonian captivity , many Israelites learned Aramaic, the closely related Semitic language of their captors. Thus, for a significant period, the Jewish elite became influenced by Aramaic. After Cyrus

21470-405: The facade of Temple House and restored the pews. In 1997 the synagogue began its "Kadimah Capital Campaign", which was intended to raise funds to repair and renovate the buildings. By 1999, the congregation had restored Temple House's facade, rebuilt the collapsed Garfield St. entrance, made entry into the synagogue handicapped accessible, added a multipurpose space and classrooms in the basement of

21660-506: The first 65 years it attempted four mergers with other congregations, including three with Baith Israel, all of which failed. The congregation completed its current Classical Revival synagogue building in 1910 and its "Jewish Deco" ( Romanesque Revival and Art Deco ) Temple House in 1929. These two buildings were contributing properties to the Park Slope historic district , listed as a New York City Landmark district and listed on

21850-711: The first Middle East printing press, in Safed (modern Israel), produced a small number of books in Hebrew in 1577, which were then sold to the nearby Jewish world. This meant not only that well-educated Jews in all parts of the world could correspond in a mutually intelligible language, and that books and legal documents published or written in any part of the world could be read by Jews in all other parts, but that an educated Jew could travel and converse with Jews in distant places, just as priests and other educated Christians could converse in Latin. For example, Rabbi Avraham Danzig wrote

22040-416: The following year the three congregations carried out combined activities, including a picnic and a celebration of the 100th birthday of Moses Montefiore . Membership at that time still hovered around 50. Mosche fell ill in 1884, and after being unable to serve for six months, was replaced by 26-year-old William Sparger. Despite his illness, Mosche lived until age 75, dying on November 3, 1911. Sparger

22230-439: The formation of the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism , "the only American Jewish organization ever formed for the specific purpose of fighting Zionism and opposing the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine." Landman died suddenly in 1946, leaving Sack to head Beth Elohim alone; Sack would eventually serve as rabbi for 35 years. Richard Harvey also joined as cantor in the 1940s; he would serve until his death in

22420-573: The founding of Baith Israel "[h]itherto the Hebrew residents in Brooklyn had been under the necessity of finding their way across the East River in all kinds of weather, when they wished to go to their place of worship". According to synagogue legend, the founders had grown tired of rowing across the East River each Friday to celebrate Shabbat in Manhattan . Carol Levin, however, writes that

22610-407: The front pews were removed, the side pews extended to the walls, and the vestibule moved outside the sanctuary. Led by rabbi Dr. E. M. Myers, the synagogue was re-dedicated on September 7. In April 1883, Baith Israel, Beth Elohim, and Temple Israel, Brooklyn's three leading synagogues, tried to merge; Beth Elohim and Temple Israel had both been formed in the 1860s by dissenters from Baith Israel. This

22800-406: The generic term for these passages is Baraitot . The dialect of all these works is very similar to Mishnaic Hebrew. About a century after the publication of the Mishnah, Mishnaic Hebrew fell into disuse as a spoken language. By the third century CE, sages could no longer identify the Hebrew names of many plants mentioned in the Mishnah. Only a few sages, primarily in the southern regions, retained

22990-407: The job of assistant porter to head Goldman Sachs from 1930 to 1969, was married at Baith Israel Anshei Emes in 1920. The Weinberg family, which had joined the synagogue when it was still on Beorum Place, was also very active in the synagogue; Sidney's mother, Sophie, was sisterhood president from 1912 to 1913, and his father, Pincus, served as president from 1919 to 1921, and the children all attended

23180-462: The language as Ivrit , meaning Hebrew; however, Mishnah Megillah refers to the language as Ashurit , meaning Assyrian , which is derived from the name of the alphabet used , in contrast to Ivrit , meaning the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet . Hebrew ceased to be a regular spoken language sometime between 200 and 400 CE, as it declined in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Bar Kokhba revolt , which

23370-465: The language spoken by Jews in scenes from the New Testament) is often referred to as "Hebrew" in the text, although this term is often re-interpreted as referring to Aramaic instead and is rendered accordingly in recent translations. Nonetheless, these glosses can be interpreted as Hebrew as well. It has been argued that Hebrew, rather than Aramaic or Koine Greek, lay behind the composition of

23560-471: The language. The revival of the Hebrew language as a mother tongue was initiated in the late 19th century by the efforts of Ben-Yehuda. He joined the Jewish national movement and in 1881 immigrated to Palestine , then a part of the Ottoman Empire . Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of the diaspora " shtetl " lifestyle, Ben-Yehuda set out to develop tools for making

23750-737: The late 1930s and early 1940s was editor of the new ten volume Universal Jewish Encyclopedia . Landman had also been a prominent opponent of Zionism : when, in 1922, the United States Congress was considering the Lodge–Fish resolution in support of the Balfour Declaration , Landman and Rabbi David Philipson had presented the Reform movement's (then) anti-Zionist position to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs . Landman also printed many opinions against

23940-442: The membership intended to carry out in 2008, as the synagogue building still required extensive repairs: the roof leaked, causing interior damage, and (along with the gutters ) needed to be replaced; interior columns were taped to prevent plaster from falling off them; the sanctuary doors needed to be replaced; and the stained glass windows needed to be removed, the metal holding them repaired, and their wooden framing replaced. In 2007

24130-477: The neighborhood and revitalize the membership. By 2006, Beth Elohim had over 1,000 members, and, as of 2009 , it was the largest and most active Reform congregation in Brooklyn, the "oldest Brooklyn congregation that continues to function under its corporate name", and its pulpit was the oldest in continuous use in any Brooklyn synagogue. In 2009, it was listed by Newsweek as one of America's 25 "Most Vibrant" Jewish congregations. Congregation Beth Elohim

24320-727: The newly declared State of Israel . Hebrew is the most widely spoken language in Israel today. In the Modern Period, from the 19th century onward, the literary Hebrew tradition revived as the spoken language of modern Israel, called variously Israeli Hebrew , Modern Israeli Hebrew , Modern Hebrew , New Hebrew , Israeli Standard Hebrew , Standard Hebrew and so on. Israeli Hebrew exhibits some features of Sephardic Hebrew from its local Jerusalemite tradition but adapts it with numerous neologisms, borrowed terms (often technical) from European languages and adopted terms (often colloquial) from Arabic. The literary and narrative use of Hebrew

24510-465: The offices of rabbi and cantor: Baith Israel, at the time, had no rabbi. Though this attempt also failed, in the following year the three congregations carried out combined activities, including a picnic and a celebration of the 100th birthday of Sir Moses Montefiore . Baith Israel hired Marcus Friedlander as rabbi in 1887. Born in Congress Poland in 1862, he left Russia for England before he

24700-544: The old Mosaic law, but it does not seem to me a good example for a rabbi to set to his congregation." By 1904, membership had fallen to 30, and the synagogue nearly failed: mass transit had allowed Jews to migrate away from downtown Brooklyn , and a fire had nearly destroyed the Boerum synagogue building. Further innovations were attempted, including a pipe organ and a mixed-sex choir , but these were removed after objections from Orthodox members. The congregation decided that

24890-521: The oldest in continuous use in any Brooklyn synagogue. Its rabbis were Andy Bachman, Shira Koch Epstein, and Marc Katz, the rabbi emeritus was Gerald Weider, and the cantor was Joshua Breitzer. Bachman, a graduate of University of Wisconsin–Madison with a 1996 rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College, became Beth Elohim's first new senior rabbi in 25 years on October 25, 2006. Before becoming senior rabbi he had previously been an educator there from 1993 to 1998. An advocate of more traditionalism in

25080-534: The phonetic values are instead inspired by the acrophonic principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called Canaanite , and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from that of Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous Moabite Stone , written in the Moabite dialect; the Siloam inscription , found near Jerusalem , is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Archaic Hebrew include

25270-485: The position of cantor in any other congregation, and was therefore not "sufficiently acquainted with the actual requirements to fill said office", and was furthermore not "a competent reader enough to read the Sepher Torah ". As a result, services were led by laymen, except during the Jewish holidays , when a professional cantor would be brought in from Manhattan. An 1886 Brooklyn Eagle article states that until

25460-544: The possessor of a fine baritone voice ... a sensitive human being and an effective leader of the congregation". By 1916, the congregation had installed 10 stained glass windows, electric lighting, a new pulpit , and two large bronze menorahs , and employed six people. Dues were $ 12 (today $ 340) per year, and Sunday school fees were $ 0.02 (today $ 0.560) per session. Membership had grown to 140 families by 1919. The congregational school held classes daily, and had 400 students and 20 teachers. Sidney Weinberg , who rose from

25650-591: The present day. It is perhaps the most important Hebrew manuscript in existence. During the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain , important work was done by grammarians in explaining the grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew; much of this was based on the work of the grammarians of Classical Arabic . Important Hebrew grammarians were Judah ben David Hayyuj , Jonah ibn Janah , Abraham ibn Ezra and later (in Provence ), David Kimhi . A great deal of poetry

25840-635: The primary language of use, and to prevent large-scale incorporation of English words into the Hebrew vocabulary. The Academy of the Hebrew Language of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem currently invents about 2,000 new Hebrew words each year for modern words by finding an original Hebrew word that captures the meaning, as an alternative to incorporating more English words into Hebrew vocabulary. The Haifa municipality has banned officials from using English words in official documents, and

26030-453: The pulpit was also rebuilt, so that the rabbi and cantor had separate pulpits. Underneath the sanctuary ran an underground stream which would regularly overflow, leading to flooding problems. The flooding was fixed in the 1950s with the installation of check valves , and a concrete slab floor was installed. Though the intent was to provide usable space in the basement, it was rarely used. By 1953, Beth Elohim had grown to over 700 families, and

26220-548: The rabbis of the Park Slope Jewish Center and Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes , proposed opening a liberal Jewish day school in Brooklyn. Though housed at Beth Elohim, it would not be affiliated with any specific Jewish movement, and was intended for children from all branches of Judaism. Planning began in earnest in 1994; the school was modeled on New York's Abraham Joshua Heschel School , as an outgrowth of Beth Elohim's preschool program . The intent

26410-468: The rear of the sanctuary, and repainting the sanctuary walls and columns in a trompe-l'œil manner imitating Jerusalem stone and marble . On its 75th anniversary in 1931, the congregation received a congratulatory message from President Herbert Hoover . Additional congratulatory messages arrived from Governor (later President) Franklin D. Roosevelt , Lieutenant Governor Herbert H. Lehman , Mayor Jimmy Walker , and Felix M. Warburg . Nevertheless,

26600-472: The reconstruction and expansion of Yale Law School's library , and $ 5 million to Manhattan's 92nd Street Y for a family center there. After raising over $ 2 million more, including a $ 54,000 grant from the Jewish Communal Fund, in 2003 the congregation began re-building the three-story school/community center from the ground up, leaving only the historic facade . In 2004 the building

26790-513: The religious school had over 550 students. In the 1960s, however, membership began to decline, as young families moved to the suburbs. In 1970, the congregation again encountered difficulties, "faced with dwindling membership and bleak prospects". The members, however, created one of the earliest nursery schools in the neighborhood, which, along with the Brownstone Revival movement in Park Slope, helped draw Jewish families back into

26980-467: The religious school, meeting rooms, administrative offices, a library, handball courts, a gymnasium, and a swimming pool. Lyons took on a number of causes in the 1910s and 1920s. He worked with Bishop David Greer and Rabbi Stephen Wise to expose conditions in New York's tenements , dissociated himself from Tammany Hall candidates, tried to secure a re-trial for Leo Frank , and opposed some of

27170-567: The renovations were complete, the synagogue was re-dedicated in January 1953. Despite Belth's efforts, membership continued to decline, as congregants moved to the suburbs . Though the Centennial Celebrations of 1956 "provided a brief burst of energy for the Congregation and produced funds to maintain the Synagogue", during this period the choir was disbanded, the Sunday School and Talmud Torah closed, and paid staff reduced. In

27360-601: The resolution and Zionism in his American Hebrew Magazine . The bill was eventually unanimously supported by both houses of Congress, and approved by President Harding . During the Great Depression synagogue membership decreased significantly; experiencing financial difficulties, the congregation stopped paying its mortgage. Nevertheless, Beth Elohim was not completely moribund; in 1931 it opened its Academy of Adult Jewish Education, which "offered courses in Bible, religion and contemporary Jewish life", and operated throughout

27550-674: The rest of the Middle East; and eventually Greek functioned as another international language with the eastern areas of the Roman Empire. William Schniedewind argues that after waning in the Persian period, the religious importance of Hebrew grew in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and cites epigraphical evidence that Hebrew survived as a vernacular language – though both its grammar and its writing system had been substantially influenced by Aramaic. According to another summary, Greek

27740-421: The same. In 1895, Samuel Radnitz succeeded Weisskopf as cantor, a role he filled until his death in 1944. By the turn of the twentieth century English had replaced German in the services and official minutes, and the second days of holidays eliminated. The synagogue had 106 members and annual revenues of around $ 8,000 (today $ 290,000), and its Sunday School had approximately 300 pupils. Taubenhaus left

27930-605: The sanctuary, and planned to add a fifth floor for more classrooms. That year Sack (by then Rabbi Emeritus) died; the year before his death his son, Robert, at his induction as a Second Circuit judge, had described his father as "the most open minded man he had ever known". Janet Leuchter joined as cantor in 2001. A native of Vineland, New Jersey, and 1999 graduate of Hebrew Union College, she had previously served as cantor of Temple Avodah in Oceanside, New York. Weider retired as senior rabbi in 2006, after 28 years of service. He

28120-520: The sanctuary, some Hebrew prayers were added to the Sabbath service, and the Reform movement's new High Holy Days prayer book The Gates of Repentance was adopted. The synagogue building and Temple House were contributing properties to the Park Slope historic district , which was listed as a New York City Landmark district in 1973, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1985, Weider and Beth Elohim, in cooperation with

28310-589: The sanctuary. Membership has recovered since that low point; the congregation renovated its school/community center in 2004, and in 2008 embarked on a million-dollar capital campaign to renovate the sanctuary. Twelve Bavarian , Dutch , and Portuguese Jews gathered at a private home on January 22, 1856, to discuss their "earnest desire [to] effect the incorporation of a synagogue and congregation for divine service", and in March that year they founded Congregation Baith Israel. The group had originally organized in 1855 as

28500-491: The school had 500 pupils. In 1869 reformers again left Baith Israel, and, joining with dissenters from Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim of Williamsburg , founded Temple Israel. Though many reformers had left the congregation, several reforms in the service were nonetheless introduced: the congregation abolished most piyyutim and the Priestly Blessing , and, in 1873, introduced a confirmation ceremony for girls, led by

28690-643: The service. He appealed to younger congregants, and, under his direction, the synagogue experienced a large increase in attendance. Though more seats had been added to the synagogue by narrowing the aisles, as a result of Sparger's innovations Beth Elohim outgrew its Pearl Street building, and a new one was sought. After a three-year search, in 1885 Beth Elohim purchased the building of the Congregational Church at 305 State Street (near Hoyt) for $ 28,000 (today $ 950,000), and moved in that year. In 1891, Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan offered Sparger

28880-571: The services fully egalitarian, allowing women to perform all three functions. Baith Israel Anshei Emes' move to egalitarianism culminated in August 1988, when Debra Cantor was hired as its first female rabbi, making it the first synagogue in the Northeastern United States to be led by a woman. Cantor, who was 33 at the time, had been valedictorian of that year's graduating class at the Jewish Theological Seminary . The decision

29070-493: The southern villages of Judea." In other words, "in terms of dialect geography, at the time of the tannaim Palestine could be divided into the Aramaic-speaking regions of Galilee and Samaria and a smaller area, Judaea, in which Rabbinic Hebrew was used among the descendants of returning exiles." In addition, it has been surmised that Koine Greek was the primary vehicle of communication in coastal cities and among

29260-474: The spoken language of the Russian Jews, should be treated as their only national language, while Hebrew was to be treated as a foreign language. Hebrew books and periodicals ceased to be published and were seized from the libraries, although liturgical texts were still published until the 1930s. Despite numerous protests, a policy of suppression of the teaching of Hebrew operated from the 1930s on. Later in

29450-576: The story of the founders growing tired of rowing across the East River is a "folk tale". In the congregation's early years, tensions existed between traditionalists and reformers, and in 1861, 41 of the latter left Baith Israel to form the Congregation Beth Elohim , a Reform synagogue. That year Baith Israel hired the Reverend Joel Alexander as its religious leader. Alexander, the synagogue's first full-time rabbi,

29640-425: The synagogue's earliest rabbis, from 1874 to 1875. This was his first rabbinical position in the United States, before moving to Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan. In 1876, the congregation voted by a margin of over two to one to re-orient the synagogue pews in the manner of Christian churches, and introduce mixed seating . However, nothing was done about this until 1879, when the renovations were carried out:

29830-496: The temple and revitalize the membership. One of those young families was that of Gerald I. Weider, a young rabbi who joined the synagogue's staff in 1978. A native of the Bronx , Weider graduated from Rutgers University , and was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1973 (he would be granted a Doctor of Divinity degree by Hebrew Union College in 1998). Before joining Beth Elohim, he served as Assistant Rabbi of Temple Ohabei Shalom of Brookline, Massachusetts, and as

30020-414: The term "Hebrew" generally render its meaning as roughly "from the other side [of the river/desert]"—i.e., an exonym for the inhabitants of the land of Israel and Judah , perhaps from the perspective of Mesopotamia , Phoenicia or Transjordan (with the river referred to being perhaps the Euphrates , Jordan or Litani ; or maybe the northern Arabian Desert between Babylonia and Canaan ). Compare

30210-580: The upper class of Jerusalem , while Aramaic was prevalent in the lower class of Jerusalem, but not in the surrounding countryside. After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century CE, Judaeans were forced to disperse. Many relocated to Galilee, so most remaining native speakers of Hebrew at that last stage would have been found in the north. Many scholars have pointed out that Hebrew continued to be used alongside Aramaic during Second Temple times, not only for religious purposes but also for nationalistic reasons, especially during revolts such as

30400-441: The views of Samuel Gompers . In 1912, Lyons was a founding member of the Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis, an organization of Reform rabbis from the Eastern United States that was created despite opposition from the Central Conference of Reform Rabbis . In 1919 he withdrew from the Brooklyn Victory Celebration Committee (celebrating the Allied victory in World War I ) and asked that his contributed funds be donated instead to

30590-402: The whole is doomed. By 1919, Beth Elohim had 133 member families. The congregational school, which held classes once a week, had 305 students and 16 teachers. Negotiations to merge with Union Temple (the successor to Temple Israel) were started in 1925. A confirmation vote eventually passed, and the impending merger was announced in the Brooklyn Eagle . However, younger congregants feared

30780-455: The word Habiru or cognate Assyrian ebru , of identical meaning. One of the earliest references to the language's name as " Ivrit " is found in the prologue to the Book of Sirach , from the 2nd century BCE. The Hebrew Bible does not use the term "Hebrew" in reference to the language of the Hebrew people; its later historiography, in the Book of Kings , refers to it as יְהוּדִית Yehudit " Judahite (language)". Hebrew belongs to

30970-424: The world today; the latter group utilizes the Samaritan dialect as their liturgical tongue. As a non- first language , it is studied mostly by non-Israeli Jews and students in Israel, by archaeologists and linguists specializing in the Middle East and its civilizations , and by theologians in Christian seminaries . The modern English word "Hebrew" is derived from Old French Ebrau , via Latin from

31160-412: Was Hungarian by birth, a graduate of the Prince Rudolph University of Vienna , and, according to a contemporary New York Times article, "belong[ed] to the extreme liberal school of Hebrew theology". He introduced changes to the services, including improving the choir, bringing in a new prayer book, adding Friday night services, and the "radical reform" of making the sermon the most important part of

31350-421: Was a spoken language , and Amoraic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a literary language . The earlier section of the Talmud is the Mishnah that was published around 200 CE, although many of the stories take place much earlier, and were written in the earlier Mishnaic dialect. The dialect is also found in certain Dead Sea Scrolls. Mishnaic Hebrew is considered to be one of

31540-483: Was a famous French chess master . By the time of Taubenhaus's hiring, Beth Elohim was, according to the Brooklyn Eagle , "recognized as the leading Hebrew synagogue of Brooklyn". The views of the congregation regarding kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws) were by then quite liberal; in 1892, when Hyman Rosenberg was expelled as rabbi of Brooklyn's Beth Jacob synagogue for eating ham , Taubenhaus stated that he did not believe his congregation would expel him for doing

31730-466: Was a famous French chess master . In 1889, the congregation again renovated the synagogue building, repairing it and replacing the roof, increasing the seating capacity, adding a new vestibule and double entrance way, and redecorating the interior. At that time over half of the congregants still spoke German as their native language. The congregation had 50 members—defined as "heads of families who own seats"—by 1891, and 300 congregants in total. By 1900,

31920-417: Was a graduate of the Jews Seminary in Münster , and had been ordained both in Posen and by Hermann Adler , the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom . In 1862, the remaining 35 members purchased two lots at the corner of State Street and Boerum Place in Boerum Hill for $ 3,000 (today $ 92,000), and on January 12 laid the cornerstone for a new building, the first synagogue built on Long Island . The building

32110-405: Was a need to revitalize Reform Judaism, to oppose Jewish nationalism, and to publicize their point of view". They planned "for a meeting of non-Zionist Reform Rabbis to discuss the problems that confront Judaism and Jews in the world emergency", to be held in Atlantic City . 36 rabbis eventually attended the two-day conference on June 1, 1942, including Beth Israel's Landman. The conference led to

32300-406: Was carried out against the Roman Empire by the Jews of Judaea . Aramaic and, to a lesser extent, Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among societal elites and immigrants. Hebrew survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy , rabbinic literature , intra-Jewish commerce, and Jewish poetic literature . The first dated book printed in Hebrew

32490-448: Was common in Jewish buildings of the period. Romanesque features included the fenestrations , while a prominent Art Deco feature was "the figure of Moses and the Tablets of Law , emphasizing the corner of the roof parapet ." The doorway and balcony at the east end of the building had "a distinctly Moorish flavor, featuring symbolic ornament: the Star of David , the Menorah , and the Lion of Judah ." The names of major figures from

32680-438: Was completed on August 12, at a cost of $ 10,000 (today $ 305,000), and was consecrated on August 31 by Alexander and assembled dignitaries. The synagogue, which came to be known as the Boerum Schule, created a Sunday school soon afterwards, the first in Brooklyn, and at the time, an innovation. The school was free, and run by volunteers, with separate classes for boys and girls. By 1890 the school had 160 students, and at its peak

32870-492: Was described as the largest and most active Reform congregation in Brooklyn. Prominent members included U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer . In April of that year, Beth Elohim was listed by Newsweek as one of America's 25 "Most Vibrant" Jewish congregations. In September, just four days before Yom Kippur , a part of the sanctuary ceiling collapsed. No-one was hurt, but the sanctuary had to be closed. The nearby Old First Reformed Church—with which Beth Elohim had had close ties since

33060-419: Was founded on September 29, 1861, by 41 German and Bohemian Jews at Granada Hall on Myrtle Avenue , members of Congregation Baith Israel who had become disaffected after they attempted and failed to reform practice there. The synagogue name was chosen by a vote of the membership, and the services were led by George Brandenstein, who served as cantor , and was paid $ 150 (today $ 5,100) a year. Brandenstein

33250-482: Was hired as cantor, not rabbi , because "the congregation believed having a cantor was more important", though in practice he filled both roles. A shamash (the equivalent of a sexton or beadle ) was also hired for $ 75 a year. While searching for a permanent location, the congregation continued to meet and hold services at Granada Hall. Men and women sat together, unlike the traditional separate seating , and services were conducted in German and Hebrew . Within

33440-616: Was led by now Rabbi Emeritus, Samuel H. Weintraub from 1996 to 2021. He was succeeded by Interim Senior Rabbi Paul. F. Resnick. Rabbi Michelle Dardashti was elected as head rabbi by the congregation in March 2022, and officially assumed her role on August 1 of that year. Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes continues to be the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn. Hebrew language Hebrew ( Hebrew alphabet : עִבְרִית ‎, ʿĪvrīt , pronounced [ ʔivˈʁit ] or [ ʕivˈrit ] ; Samaritan script : ࠏࠨࠁࠬࠓࠪࠉࠕ ‎ ʿÎbrit )

33630-501: Was not accepted by all congregants; the Conservative movement had ordained its first female rabbi, Amy Eilberg , only three years before, in 1985, and following Cantor's appointment a number of families left the synagogue to form B'nai Avraham, an Orthodox congregation in Brooklyn Heights . In 2002 Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes received a $ 1 million grant for building renovations from Lillian Goldman, just weeks before her death; she had previously donated $ 20 million for

33820-438: Was now a more significant written language than Aramaic within Judaea." This nationalist aspect was further emphasized during periods of conflict, as Hannah Cotton observing in her analysis of legal documents during the Jewish revolts against Rome that "Hebrew became the symbol of Jewish nationalism, of the independent Jewish State." The nationalist use of Hebrew is evidenced in several historical documents and artefacts, including

34010-406: Was published by Abraham Garton in Reggio ( Calabria , Italy) in 1475. With the rise of Zionism in the 19th century, the Hebrew language experienced a full-scale revival as a spoken and literary language. The creation of a modern version of the ancient language was led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda . Modern Hebrew ( Ivrit ) became the main language of the Yishuv in Palestine , and subsequently

34200-460: Was re-opened as the "Sol and Lillian Goldman Education Center", and a day-time pre-school launched. Though the sanctuary also needed extensive repairs, the renovations of the school/community center were undertaken first because the congregation decided "a venue for social functions is at the heart of every cohesive religious group". The following year, the school received a $ 25,000 grant from the Edith Glick Shoolman Children's Foundation "[t]o assist in

34390-470: Was revived beginning with the Haskalah movement. The first secular periodical in Hebrew, Ha-Me'assef (The Gatherer), was published by maskilim in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad ) from 1783 onwards. In the mid-19th century, publications of several Eastern European Hebrew-language newspapers (e.g. Hamagid , founded in Ełk in 1856) multiplied. Prominent poets were Hayim Nahman Bialik and Shaul Tchernichovsky ; there were also novels written in

34580-421: Was succeeded by Andy Bachman. At that time, Beth Elohim had over 500 members. In 2007, the synagogue was a winner of the Union for Reform Judaism 's Congregation of Learners award for medium size synagogues, for "those synagogues that provide an exceptional environment of varied and comprehensive learning opportunities and have imbued their synagogue communities with a culture of learning". In 2009, Beth Elohim

34770-479: Was suppressed. Soviet authorities considered the use of Hebrew "reactionary" since it was associated with Zionism, and the teaching of Hebrew at primary and secondary schools was officially banned by the People's Commissariat for Education as early as 1919, as part of an overall agenda aiming to secularize education (the language itself did not cease to be studied at universities for historical and linguistic purposes ). The official ordinance stated that Yiddish, being

34960-437: Was the language of government, Hebrew the language of prayer, study and religious texts, and Aramaic was the language of legal contracts and trade. There was also a geographic pattern: according to Bernard Spolsky , by the beginning of the Common Era, " Judeo-Aramaic was mainly used in Galilee in the north, Greek was concentrated in the former colonies and around governmental centers, and Hebrew monolingualism continued mainly in

35150-453: Was the third such attempt; the previous two had failed when the members could not agree on synagogue ritual. The combined congregation, which would purchase new premises, would have 150 members; members would be refunded half the purchase price of the pews in their existing buildings. Mosche and the rabbi of Temple Israel were to split the offices of rabbi and cantor: Baith Israel, at the time, had no rabbi. Though this attempt also failed, in

35340-408: Was the third such attempt; the previous two had failed when the members could not agree on synagogue ritual. The combined congregation, which would purchase new premises, would have 150 members (only heads of households were considered members at that time). Members would be refunded half the purchase price of the pews in their existing buildings. The rabbis of Beth Elohim and Temple Israel were to split

35530-408: Was to a certain extent a pidgin . Near the end of that century the Jewish activist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda , owing to the ideology of the national revival ( שיבת ציון , Shivat Tziyon , later Zionism ), began reviving Hebrew as a modern spoken language. Eventually, as a result of the local movement he created, but more significantly as a result of the new groups of immigrants known under the name of

35720-450: Was to start with only first grade in 1995, but extend to eighth grade by 2000. At the time Beth Elohim had approximately 500 member families and 141 children in the preschool. The school opened in 1995, and continued for three years, growing to 38 students, before moving to new premises and becoming independent under the name "Hannah Senesh Community Day School". In the 1980s and 1990s Beth Elohim's buildings were repaired and refurbished

35910-429: Was twenty. Though speaking little English at the time, he graduated there from the London Theological Seminary, before emigrating to the United States. He was 24 years old when he assumed the post at Baith Israel, at the time the youngest man in New York state to be appointed to so significant a position of Jewish leadership. Friedlander served until 1893, when he resigned to take a more lucrative position in California at

36100-570: Was written, by poets such as Dunash ben Labrat , Solomon ibn Gabirol , Judah ha-Levi , Moses ibn Ezra and Abraham ibn Ezra , in a "purified" Hebrew based on the work of these grammarians, and in Arabic quantitative or strophic meters. This literary Hebrew was later used by Italian Jewish poets. The need to express scientific and philosophical concepts from Classical Greek and Medieval Arabic motivated Medieval Hebrew to borrow terminology and grammar from these other languages, or to coin equivalent terms from existing Hebrew roots, giving rise to

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