Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The term Hebraic book is considered here to refer to books, scrolls, and single sheets copied or printed in the Hebrew alphabet. Thus, a Hebrew book need not necessarily be in the Hebrew language. In the pre-medieval period, Aramaic had gradually become the second language of the Jews; all important Aramaic dialects used by the Jews were written in the Hebrew alphabet. Also, Jews in the Diaspora used to write their everyday language in Hebrew characters. Besides Hebrew, the most important “Jewish languages” are Yiddish, Ladino (so-called Judeo-Spanish), and Judeo-Arabic.Jews have always displayed great interest in their literary heritage. Among the earliest handwritten Hebrew sources known are the Dead Sea Scrolls, found in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran (south of Jericho) from 1947 onward. The scrolls, which were written between approximately 200 bc and ad 100, contain biblical texts, biblical interpretations, apocryphal and pseudepigraphical texts, hymns, and many other texts dealing with the organization of the community and with its specific customs and beliefs (Tov 1993; Parry and Tov 2004–5).Later Hebrew manuscripts and thousands of fragments were found in the “Genizah” discovered toward the end of the nineteenth century in the Fostat synagogue in Cairo. As one is not allowed to destroy the divine name, religious books and other documents containing the divine name, and ... log in or subscribe to read full text