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152-402: The term High Holy Days most probably derives from the popular English phrase, “high days and holy days”. The Hebrew equivalent, " Yamim Noraim " ( Hebrew : ימים נוראים ), is neither Biblical nor Talmudic. Professor Ismar Elbogen avers that it was a medieval usage, reflecting a change in the mood of Rosh Hashanah from a predominantly joyous celebration to a more subdued day that was a response to

304-685: 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

456-595: 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

608-661: 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

760-527: A court of justice, or a community is implied in Kol Nidrei . It does not matter if a vow was made to one or more non-Jews, such a vow cannot be annulled. According to Jewish doctrine, the sole purpose of this prayer is to give protection from divine punishment in case of violation of the vow. With reference to the annulment of vows described in Numbers 30 , as well as to Kol Nidre, the then Chief Rabbi of

912-453: A court. Also, the invalidation of future vows takes effect only if someone makes the vow without having in mind his previous Kol Nidrei declaration. But if he makes the vow with Kol Nidrei in mind—thus being openly insincere in his vow—the vow is in full force." Moreover, as Rabbi Yechiel of Paris explained in a Disputation that took place before the King and Queen of France in 1240, "Only

1064-399: A day of judgment. God is sometimes referred to as the "Ancient of Days." Some descriptions depict God as sitting upon a throne, while books containing the deeds of all humanity are opened before Him. Prayer services are longer than on a regular shabbat or other Jewish holidays , and include (on weekdays) the blowing of the shofar . On the afternoon of the first (or the second, if the first

1216-579: 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

1368-594: 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

1520-465: A holy day), known as hatarat nedarim (annulment of vows), where the individual presents himself before a tribunal of three and recites a Hebrew formula, very different from that of Kol Nidrei, asking for annulment of all vows. So, from a time before the composition of Kol Nidrei there was a corresponding ritual intended for Rosh Hashana. It is believed that Kol Nidrei was added to the liturgy of Yom Kippur, ten days after Rosh Hashana, because that service

1672-555: A latecomer not hear them. In the Italian and Romaniote rites, it is recited in Hebrew ( Kol Nedarim , Hebrew: כל נדרים) instead of Aramaic. The following provides the traditional Aramaic text, which (except for the Hebrew insert connecting one Day of Atonement to another) is quite similar in the various rites, although there are minor differences between the Ashkenazic , Eastern Ashkenaz and Sephardic liturgies. The following text

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1824-468: 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

1976-536: 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

2128-482: A morally offensive nature be found, for the [rabbinic] authorities agree unanimously that the text has in view only obligations undertaken by an individual toward himself or obligations respecting cultic regulations of the community . Rabbis have always pointed out that the dispensation from vows in Kol Nidrei refers only to those an individual voluntarily assumes for himself alone and in which no other persons or their interests are involved. The first verse ends with

2280-565: A parenthetical option. The Hebrew version of Kol Nidrei set out in the Siddur of Rav Amram Gaon (ca. 870) uses the formula "from the last ... to this ...", and similarly De Sola Pool. Wolf von Heidenheim's mahzor uses "from this Day ... to the next ...", and similarly Adler, and Birnbaum. The Rinat Yisroel combines both, "from the last ... to this..., and from this....", and similarly the Syrian and other Sefardic or Mizrahi traditions set forth in

2432-474: A peak feeling of devotion or gratitude—or of desperation, but our good intentions are short-lived, and we allowed the promises to slip from our attention. The text presented here is taken from the ArtScroll Mahzor for Yom Kippur (Ashkenaz ed.), which uses the formula "from this Day of Atonement to the next" in its main text but allows the alternative ("from the last Day of Atonement to this Day") as

2584-468: A period of persecution. The Hebrew month preceding Rosh Hashanah, Elul , is designated as a month of introspection and repentance. In preparation for the Jewish New Year, special prayers are recited. In many communities, Psalm 27 is added at the end of morning and evening prayers . The shofar (ram's horn) is blown at the end of morning services on weekdays , and in some communities in

2736-410: A pledge card, where the amount of the donation is represented by a paper tab that can be bent down in the amount of donation desired. Some temples provide a card listing donation amounts, and a paper clip which the congregant may put on the card indicating their preferred donation amount. In both cases, the card is stored inside an envelope with the congregant's name and other personal contact details, and

2888-647: A pointed version of Amram's Hebrew version is given in Birnbaum. Amram's Hebrew version is the one used in Balkan (Romaniote) and Italian liturgy. Otherwise, Ashkenaz and Sefardic liturgy has adopted Rabbeinu Tam 's Aramaic text. The words "as it is written in the teachings of Moses, thy servant", which were said in the old form before the quotation of Numbers 15:26, were canceled by Meir of Rothenburg . There has been some criticism from scholars fluent in Aramaic that

3040-481: A qualifier for all the forms of pledges and vows being annulled—עַל נַפְשָׁתָֽנָא—"regarding ourselves"—by which this formula is limited to annulling only those vows that would affect only ourselves but not vows that would affect any other person. The formula is restricted to those vows between man and God alone; they have no effect on vows made between one man and another. No vow, promise, or oath that concerns another person,

3192-548: 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

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3344-668: 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

3496-630: A tool used only for building or repairing the Temple) and never for mundane purposes, that a thing will be given to the Temple or treated as if it were already given to the Temple, and so forth. To make this declaration clearer, every possible synonym for such pledging and for nullification or cancellation of such pledges is used. Such vows, it is obvious, are sometimes made impulsively or in moments of panic, desperation or some other strong emotion, and would be impossible, impractical, or ruinous to fulfill. This

3648-472: 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

3800-558: 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

3952-518: 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

4104-644: 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

4256-475: Is a brief sermon at this point, and the Yom Kippur evening service begins. According to some Kol Nidre must be recited before sunset, as it is a form of hatarat nedarim (annulment of vows ), which, according to halakha , should not be performed on major holidays (of which Yom Kippur is one). However, according to the customs that recite Kol Nidrei for the following year ("from this Day of Atonement until

4408-580: Is a recurring offense – and acting as if promises made to God were so trifling that they could be thoughtlessly forgotten is a further offense; the only remedy is, first, to admit that these promises will never be fulfilled, by formally cancelling them – which is one of the purposes of the Kol Nidrei, and then to repent for them – which is the purpose of the Day of Atonement. It has even been suggested that Kol Nidrei includes vows that had been fulfilled, because

4560-402: Is an Aramaic declaration which begins Yom Kippur services in the synagogue . Strictly speaking, it is not a prayer, even though it is commonly spoken of as if it were a prayer. This declaration and its ceremonial accompaniment have been charged with emotional undertones since the medieval period , creating a dramatic introduction to Yom Kippur on what is often dubbed "Kol Nidrei night", with

4712-567: 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

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4864-482: Is finished nightfall has commenced or is on the very cusp of commencing. The vows and pledges being annulled by this ceremony are of a limited category. 'Kol Nidrei’ is a nullification of vows—whether past or future, gives people the right to break their word or to make insincere promises that will have no legal force. The Kol Nidrei declaration can invalidate only vows that one undertakes on his own volition. It has no effect on vows or oath imposed by someone else, or

5016-550: Is given to them. The alteration which was made by Meïr ben Samuel, who concurred with Isaac ibn Ghayyat's view, was accepted in the German, northern French, and Polish rituals as well as in those rituals which were dependent on them, but it was not accepted in the Spanish, Roman, and Provençal rituals. The old version is, therefore, usually called the "Sephardic". The old and new versions are sometimes found side by side. Because it

5168-542: Is in accordance with the older text of the formula as it is preserved in the Siddur of Amram Gaon . The readiness with which vows were made and the facility with which they were annulled by the scribes gave the Karaites an opportunity to attack rabbinic Jews. This may have encouraged the geonim (leaders of early medieval Babylonian Jewry) to minimize the power of dispensation. Yehudai Gaon of Sura (760 CE), author of

5320-539: Is included in the subscription. Synagogues never pass a collection plate during most holiday services as some churches do, as Jews are forbidden to touch money on Shabbat or other holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. However, promises to make donations are allowed. Among synagogues in the United States, donations are often sought during the Kol Nidre service, called the "Kol Nidre Appeal," often via

5472-486: Is much more solemn, because Yom Kippur is entirely attuned to the theme of repentance and remorse, because (despite the great importance of Rosh Hashana) Yom Kippur services are better attended, and perhaps because Yom Kippur itself is once referred to as Rosh Hashana in Scripture (Ezekiel 40:1). Such reasons were enumerated by, among others, Asher ben Jehiel (early 14th century). There may be an additional reason—perhaps

5624-404: Is not specifically for Kol Nidre but for the whole of Yom Kippur, it being obvious that when even sinners join in repenting, the occasion is worthy of Divine clemency. The cantor then chants the passage beginning with the words Kol Nidre with its touching melodic phrases, and, in varying intensities from pianissimo (quiet) to fortissimo (loud), repeats twice (for a total of three iterations) lest

5776-577: 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. Kol Nidre Kol Nidre / ˈ k ɔː l n ɪ ˈ d r eɪ / (also known as Kol Nidrei or Kol Nidrey ; Aramaic : כָּל נִדְרֵי kāl niḏrē )

5928-552: Is shown by the following Biblical usage of the terms in Kol Nidrei: After this point Amram's Hebrew version ceases to list forms of vows and shifts to synonyms for the making of vows, the list in the present day Kol Nidre uses Aramaic non-Biblical synonyms for pledges, which do not have equivalents in Biblical Hebrew: Though these promises to God may have been ill-considered, the failure to keep them

6080-494: Is the Eastern Ashkenazic text, reflecting the two customs of which year it is referring to (and those who combine the texts). The leader and the congregation recite the verse "May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are in fault" ( Numbers 15:26 ) three times. Different regional traditions have woven it into the recitation in various ways. In

6232-573: 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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6384-457: 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

6536-533: Is traditional to recite the Kol Nidrei three times, some Sephardic communities and even some Ashkenazic communities (especially in Israel) make a point of reciting both versions (usually referring to the previous Yom Kippur in the first two iterations and usually referring to the next Yom Kippur in the third), with some reciting both versions one after the other each of the three times. In the Siddur of Amram Gaon (9th century; printed 1865, Warsaw, p. 47) and in

6688-537: Is used in the Talmud for apostates or renegades , and in the Talmud Yerushalmi as a repetitious transgressor, indicating something worse that the usual reprobates, namely someone whose offenses are of such magnitude that he is no longer recognized by the Jewish community. Their inclusion in the Yom Kippur service is a temporary expedient, and does not operate as a remission of their sins or rejoin them to

6840-547: 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

6992-650: 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

7144-727: 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

7296-547: 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,

7448-572: 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

7600-693: The Halakot Pesukot, forbade the study of the Nedarim , the Talmudic treatise on oaths. Thus the Kol Nidre was discredited in both of the Babylonian academies and was not accepted by them. Amram Gaon in his edition of the Siddur calls the custom of reciting the Kol Nidre a foolish one ("minhag shetut"). According to others however, it was customary to recite the formula in various lands of

7752-610: The Hazzan (in some communities holding the Torah Scrolls), and the three (forming a beth din or rabbinical court) recite: בישיבה של מעלה ובישיבה של מטה, על דעת המקום ועל דעת הקהל, אנו מתירין להתפלל עם העבריינין. ‎ In the Heavenly Academy and in the earthly academy, by the authority of Hashem and by the authority of this congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with these sinners. This invitation to outcasts

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7904-528: The Kol Nidre another custom developed: the recital before the Kol Nidre of the formula mentioned beginning "Bi-yeshivah shel ma'alah" ( By authority of the Heavenly Court... ), which has been translated above, and which gives permission to transgressors of the Law or to those under a ban "to pray with the congregation", or, according to another version, to the congregation "to pray with the transgressors of

8056-491: The Kol Nidrei varied according to different customs. According to the custom of Frankfurt, no Torah Scrolls are removed; in other places one, two, three, seven, or even all that the synagogue possesses. The first Torah-scroll taken out is called the Sefer Kol Nidrei . Although Kol Nidrei is printed in every prayerbook for Yom Kippur, and it is commonly thought of as being the beginning of Yom Kippur, according to

8208-495: 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

8512-536: 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

8664-462: 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

8816-620: 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

8968-484: 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

9120-607: 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

9272-454: 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,

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9424-535: 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

9576-495: 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

9728-579: 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,

9880-426: The British Empire, Joseph Hertz wrote: ... Not all vows or oaths could be absolved. A vow or oath that was made to another person, even be that person a child or a heathen, could not be annulled except in the presence of that person and with his consent; while an oath which a man had taken in a court of justice could not be absolved by any other authority in the world . As pointed out above, many rabbis state that

10032-503: 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

10184-418: The Days of Judgment [meaning the High Holy Days] with such violation in hand." Rash vows to God that for whatever reason were not fulfilled created painful religious and ethical difficulties for those who had made them; this led to an earnest desire for dispensation from them. Therefore, halakha allowed for the absolution from a vow ('hattarat nedarim'), which might be performed only by a scholar, or an expert on

10336-415: The Eastern Ashkenazic rite, the leader then adds: "O pardon the iniquities of this people, according to Thy abundant mercy, just as Thou forgave this people ever since they left Egypt." And then the leader and congregation say together three times, "The Lord said, 'I pardon them according to your words. ' " (quoting Numbers 14:19–20 ). The Torah scrolls are then put back in the Ark. In some communities there

10488-408: The English language is poor in short equivalent terms that express the same nuances. These terms are almost exclusively religious pledges of various kinds: That something will be done (or not done) or given in exchange for a prayer being answered, that something will be done (or not done) for religious purposes or to show religious devotion, that a thing will be used only for religious purposes (e.g., as

10640-416: 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

10792-432: 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

10944-602: 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

11096-454: 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

11248-745: The Jewish dispersion, and it is clear likewise from Amram's Siddur that the usage was widespread as early as his time (9th century) in Spain. But the geonic practice of not reciting the Kol Nidre was long prevalent; it has never been adopted in the Catalan or in the Algerian ritual, nor in the French regions of Carpentras or Avignon. At one time it was widely believed that the Kol Nidre was composed by Spanish " Marranos ", Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity , yet who secretly maintained their original faith. This idea has been shown to be incorrect, as

11400-528: The Law." This addition is traced to Meir of Rothenburg (d. 1293), and was subsequently endorsed by the Rabbi of Mainz, Jacob ben Moses Moelin , "the Maharil" (died 1427), and substantiated by the Talmudic teaching that "Any community fast in which sinners do not participate, is not considered a [valid] fast." From Germany this custom spread to southern France, Spain, Greece, and probably to northern France, and

11552-477: 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

11704-560: The Orot Sephardic mahzor: According to the holy Zohar , Kol Nidre is recited on Yom Kippur because, at times, the Heavenly judgment is handed down as an 'avowed decree' for which there can normally be no annulment. By reciting the Kol Nidre annulment of vows at this time, we are asking of God that He favor us by annuling any negative decrees of judgment that await us, even though we are undeserving of such annulment. Originally,

11856-521: The Orot mahzor and the Bagdadi version. The Sefardic and Mizrahi traditions add one or two more synonyms for pledges (such as harem ). Some Ashkenaz and Sefardic editions omit "and any synonymous terms"—וכנויי—that appears here in the first sentence. The Kol Nidrei prayer has been used by non-Jews as a basis for asserting that an oath taken by a Jew may not be trusted. Historically, this accusation

12008-529: The Roman Mahzor (ca. 1486; printed 1541 folio 232b, p. 63) and the Romaniote Machzor (Venice 1523) the Kol Nidrei is written in Hebrew, and therefore begins Kol Nedarim . Both Hebrew versions refer to vows of the year just concluded, rather than vows made in the coming year. The two Hebrew versions are slightly different from each other. Amram's version was apparently written unpointed, but

12160-621: 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

12312-460: 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

12464-431: The Torah forbids the making of vows, so that even those which were kept required atonement. There is also a kabbalistic or spiritual purpose to Kol Nidrei: God has vowed, in Scripture, to punish Jewry for its sins; therefore by demonstrating that we can and do cancel our own vows, we hope to induce God to cancel His own dire decrees. Kol Nidrei also admits our moral inconstancy. We made promises and pledges to God, often at

12616-576: The [next] Day of Atonement that will come for our benefit"), this would not constitute a hatarat nedarim , and it should be permitted on Yom Kippur itself. The date of the composition of the declaration and its author are alike unknown, but it was in existence at the Geonic period (589–1038 CE). There was a common theory that it commenced during and because of a period of extreme persecution, in which Jews were forced at sword's point to convert (either to Christianity or Islam) and that Kol Nidre would restore

12768-488: 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

12920-478: 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

13072-413: The afternoon service as well (it is omitted on the eve of Rosh Hashanah in order to differentiate between the customary blasts of the month of Elul and the obligatory blasts of Rosh Hashanah, and in some communities it is omitted for the 3 days proceeding Rosh Hashanah). Among Sephardi Jews , selichot are recited at dawn on weekdays throughout the month. Also, many complete the entire Psalms twice during

13224-411: The annulment of vows speaks of the negation of vows which will be made in the future. Finally, there was the distinct probability that a person would die with unfulfilled vows having been made since the previous Day of Atonement, so annulling these vows in advance might diminish the weight such unkept vows imposed on him at his death. It was Rabbeinu Tam , however, who accounted for the alteration which

13376-400: The annulment of vows was moved to, or repeated at, the beginning of Yom Kippur in order to minimize the risk that new vows would be made in the ten-day interval between the repudiation of vows on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and, more than the rather dry legalistic Rosh Hashana declaration, Kol Nidre includes an emotional expression of penitence that sets the theme for Yom Kippur. Together with

13528-460: The annulment of vows was performed on Rosh Hashana , the New Year, ten days before Yom Kippur. The Talmud says, "Who wished to cancel his vows of a whole year should arise on Rosh Hashanah and announce, 'All vows that I will pledge in the coming year shall be annulled. ' " There is, in fact, a ritual that is supposed to take place the day before Rosh Hashana (because one does not do such chores on

13680-506: 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

13832-547: 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,

13984-602: 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

14136-489: The congregation. The original text of Kol Nidrei concluded, "as it says ( Numbers 15:26 ): 'May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are in fault, ' " but Meir of Rothenburg ruled that the words 'as it says' should be removed, so the verse became an independent recitation. These words are still recited in the Italian rite. An important alteration of

14288-468: 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

14440-450: The course of the next year, so as to preemptively avoid the sin of breaking vows which are made to God but are not or cannot be upheld, or annuls any vows taken in the preceding year. Kol Nidrei has had an eventful history, both in itself and in its influence on the legal status of the Jews . Introduced into the liturgy despite the opposition of rabbinic authorities, repeatedly attacked in

14592-516: The course of time by many halakhists , and in the nineteenth century expunged from the prayer-book by many communities of western Europe, it has often been employed by Christians to support their assertion that the oath of a Jew can not be trusted. Before sunset on Yom Kippur eve, worshipers gather in the synagogue . The Ark is opened and in many communities some of the Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) are removed. A person stands on each side of

14744-568: 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;

14896-423: 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

15048-513: 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

15200-532: 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

15352-542: The eleventh century Rabbi Meir ben Samuel ( Rashi 's son-in-law) changed the original wording of Kol Nidré so as to make it apply to the future instead of the past, that is, to vows that one might not be able to fulfill during the next year." This is the Nusach Ashkenaz version, the Nusach Sefard version still refers to the past year. However The Complete ArtScroll Machzor, Yom Kippur, Nusach Sefard has

15504-477: The ensuing year. Meir ben Samuel likewise added the words "we do repent of them all", since real repentance is a condition of dispensation. The reasons for this change were that an " ex post facto " annulment of a vow was meaningless and, furthermore, that no one might grant to himself a dispensation, which might only be given by a board of three laymen or a competent judge. Additionally, the Talmudic discussion of

15656-573: The entire Yom Kippur evening service popularly called Kol Nidrei . The common text for Kol Nidrei is written mostly in Aramaic, with one Hebrew phrase. However, the earliest known text of Kol Nidrei ("Kol Nedarim"), as it appears in the Siddur of Rav Amram Gaon, is in Hebrew; this text is used with minor changes by Italian rite and Romaniote Jews. Its name is taken from its opening words , which mean "all vows". The formula, depending on rite, either proactively annuls any personal or religious oaths or prohibitions which are made between oneself and God in

15808-577: The erroneously broken vows are annulled, that nobody might commit the sin of intentionally breaking vows." Philip Birnbaum , in his edition of the Mahzor, comments on this passage: "It refers to vows assumed by an individual for himself alone, where no other persons or interests are involved. Though the context makes it perfectly obvious that no vows or obligations towards others are implied, there have been many who were misled into believing that by means of this formula all their vows and oaths are annulled. In

15960-711: 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

16112-470: The future with the past included in brackets. Kol Nidrei is not a prayer, it makes no requests and is not addressed to God, rather, it is a juristic declaration before the Yom Kippur prayers begin. It follows the juridical practice of requiring three men as a tribunal, the procedure beginning before sundown, and of the proclamation being announced three times. The many different terms for vows and pledges used in Kol Nidrei can be confusing, especially because

16264-456: The gates of heaven as the day of repentance comes to an end. It provides one last chance to seek forgiveness and offer prayers before the conclusion of the holiday. The seventh day of Sukkot is known as Hoshana Rabbah . Jews take bouquets of willow branches that represent their sins and bash them on the floor while saying a special prayer to God to forgive them for the sins that may have been missed on Yom Kippur. Generally, throughout most of

16416-406: 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

16568-480: The judgment in one's favor. Yom Kippur ([יום כפור] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |translit= ( help ) "Day of Atonement") is the holiest day of the Jewish year. The Hebrew Bible calls the day Yom Hakippurim "Day of the Atonement/s". In the Hebrew calendar, the ninth day of Tishrei is known as Erev Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur eve). Yom Kippur itself begins around sunset on that day and continues into

16720-462: 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

16872-465: 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

17024-471: 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

17176-402: The minority) consider it proper to wait until nightfall, when Yom Kippur officially begins, before reciting Kol Nidre. The men of the congregation wear their prayer shawls, one of the few times in the year that these are worn in the evening. It would appear, in most congregations, that a sort of compromise has been adopted; Kol Nidre begins just before sundown, so by the time its last repetition

17328-464: The month. It is customary to increase the giving of tzedakah (charity) and to ask forgiveness from people one may have wronged. At midnight on the Saturday night or Sunday morning before Rosh Hashanah (or one week before that, if the first day of Rosh Hashanah is Monday or Tuesday), Ashkenazi Jews begin reciting selichot . On the following days, however, they generally recite the selichot before

17480-727: 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

17632-412: The next day until nightfall, and therefore lasts about 25 hours. Observant Jews will fast throughout Yom Kippur and many attend synagogue for most of the day. There are five prayer services, one in the evening (sometimes known as " Kol Nidre " from one of the main prayers) and four consecutively on the day. On Yom Kippur day, Ne'ilah, a prayer only recited on this day, is said. It symbolizes the closing of

17784-414: The one hand, or by a board of three Jewish laymen on the other. This rite declared that the petitioners, who were seeking reconciliation with God , solemnly retracted their vows and oaths they had made to God during the period intervening between the previous Yom Kippur and the present one; this rite made them null and void from the beginning, entreating in their stead pardon and forgiveness from God. This

17936-473: The opinion that it is annulling oaths from the previous year, it must be performed before the commencement of Yom Kippur, since such juridical business cannot take place on a holy day. Kol Nidrei should be recited before sunset, since dispensation from a vow may not be granted on the Sabbath or on a feast-day, unless the vow refers to one of these days. However, some communities (apparently Sephardic and in

18088-602: The palace of the king to ask a gift of him whom he fears to approach; the second time he may speak somewhat louder; and the third time more loudly still, as one who is accustomed to dwell at court and to approach his sovereign as a friend." However, Rabbi Meier ben Yitzchak of Worms (11th century), author of Akdamut , would sing it only twice, the Aleppo community would sing it seven times, and Maharil (died 1427) would sing it repeatedly in various tunes to ensure that latecomers would hear it. The number of Torah-scrolls taken out for

18240-540: The person's Jewish identity by nullifying the conversion in the eyes of the Jewish community. The tendency to make vows to God was strong in ancient Israel; the Torah found it necessary to caution against the promiscuous making of vows ( Deuteronomy 23:23 ). As one commentary puts it, "it is considered a fearsome sin for one to violate his vows and oaths and the Sages regard it as an extremely serious matter for one to approach

18392-534: 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

18544-645: The prayer pre-dates this era (circa 15th century) by many centuries. However, this prayer was indeed used by the Marranos and it is possible that its great significance and wide usage derives from this persecution. As Kol Nidre clearly predated the Spanish Inquisition, it was supposed that it may have commenced during the Visigothic period in Spain (7th century), but this theory has serious weaknesses, such as its adoption by Jewish communities around

18696-431: The prayerbooks must include, as an introduction to Kol Nidrei, a Hebrew explanation to the readers of the limited nature of the vows that could be released by this ceremony. As Prof. Ismar Elbogen said in his monumental study of Jewish Liturgy: It is well known how many baseless accusations the text of [ Kol Nidre ] has aroused against Jews in the course of centuries. But nowhere in the sources can any interpretation of

18848-591: 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

19000-635: 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

19152-616: The regular morning prayers. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, extra prayers are recited and many fast until noon. Rosh Hashanah ( Hebrew : ראש השנה "Beginning of the Year") is the Jewish New Year, and falls on the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishrei (September/October). The Mishnah , the core work of the Jewish Oral Torah , sets this day aside as the new year for calculating calendar years and sabbatical and jubilee years. Rabbinic literature describes this day as

19304-674: 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

19456-493: 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

19608-474: 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

19760-469: The temple reaches them after the High Holidays are over. Rabbis and other temple representatives say that holiday ticket sales represent a significant source of revenue. Hebrew language Hebrew ( Hebrew alphabet : עִבְרִית ‎, ʿĪvrīt , pronounced [ ʔivˈʁit ] or [ ʕivˈrit ] ; Samaritan script : ࠏࠨࠁࠬࠓࠪࠉࠕ ‎ ʿÎbrit )

19912-470: 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

20064-487: The text of Kol Nidre has grammatical errors; however, any efforts to introduce corrections have been frustrated because the changes would not comport with the traditional, and much-beloved, melody. As to the manner in which the hazzan (cantor) is to recite the Kol Nidrei , the Mahzor Vitry (early 12th century) gives the following directions: "The first time he must utter it very softly like one who hesitates to enter

20216-547: The third day of Tishrei , and Shabbat Shuvah, which is the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Shabbat Shuvah has a special Haftarah that begins Shuvah Yisrael (come back, oh Israel), hence the name of that Shabbat. Traditionally the rabbi gives a long sermon on that day. It is held that, while judgment on each person is pronounced on Rosh Hashanah, it is not made absolute until Yom Kippur. The Ten Days are therefore an opportunity to mend one's ways in order to alter

20368-580: 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

20520-505: 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

20672-483: The wording of the Kol Nidre was made by Rashi 's son-in-law, Rabbi Meir ben Samuel (early 12th century), who changed the original phrase "from the last Day of Atonement until this one" to "from this Day of Atonement until the next". Thus, the dispensation was not a posteriori and concerning the unfulfilled obligations of the past year, but it was a priori , making reference to vows which one might not be able to fulfill or vows which one might forget to observe during

20824-595: 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

20976-559: The world, even in liturgical communities that did not experience such persecution. It may be that it was simply inspired by the Talmudic instructions about avoiding oaths. A very different reason for Kol Nidre was suggested by the Zohar ; God has already threatened and vowed terrible punishments upon the Jewish people for their sins, but by our own demonstration that we can unbind ourselves from vows using Kol Nidre we hope to persuade God to similarly annul His own vows of calamity. As stated in

21128-523: The year, Jewish worship services are open to all, regardless of affiliation, and membership or payment of any fee is not a requirement in order to attend. However, the High Holy Days are usually peak attendance days for synagogues and temples, often filling or over-filling synagogues. For this reason many synagogues issue tickets for attendance and may charge for them: practice varies on whether paid-up synagogue members must also buy these or whether it

21280-452: Was Saturday) day, the ritual tashlikh is performed, in which sins are "cast" into open water, such as a river, sea, or lake. The "ten days of repentance" or "the days of awe" include Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days in between, during which time Jews should meditate on the subject of the holidays and ask for forgiveness from anyone they have wronged. They include the Fast of Gedalia , on

21432-421: 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

21584-457: 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

21736-400: Was in time generally adopted. It has been suggested that Kol Nidre originated with this invitation to avaryanim (sinners) to join the congregation's prayers, as an effort to inspire their return or at least prevent losing them completely, rather than as a mechanism for coping with Christian or Muslim persecution. The last word (העבריינים), usually translated as sinners or transgressors ,

21888-521: Was leveled so often and so persistently that many non-Jewish legislators considered it necessary to have a special form of oath administered to Jews (" Oath More Judaico "), and many judges refused to allow them to take a supplementary oath, basing their objections chiefly on this prayer. As early as 1240 in the Disputation of Paris, Yechiel of Paris was obliged to defend Kol Nidrei against these charges. The Russian government, in 1857, decreed that

22040-403: Was made by his father, as already stated, and he also tried to change the perfect tense of the verbs ("which we have vowed", "have sworn", etc.) to the imperfect. Whether the old text was already too deeply rooted, or whether Rabbeinu Tam did not correct these verbal forms consistently and grammatically, the old perfect forms are still retained at the beginning of the formula, but a future meaning

22192-491: 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

22344-566: 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

22496-629: 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

22648-531: 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

22800-551: 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

22952-408: 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

23104-570: 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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