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University of Minnesota

Classical and Near Eastern Studies

Center for Jewish Studies

Readings in Late Biblical and Post-Biblical Hebrew

Text Box: Course Overview This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of Late Biblical Hebrew and Post-Biblical Hebrew. Building upon previous training in Hebrew, students will be introduced to the unique grammatical and syntactical elements of Late Biblical and Post-Biblical Hebrew. Close attention will be paid to features of this Hebrew that differs from Standard Biblical Hebrew. Readings will be chosen from prose narratives in the biblical books of Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther and the apocryphal works of Jubilees, Tobit, the Damascus Document, and 4QCommentary on Genesis (all found among the Dead Sea Scrolls). We will pay close attention to literary style and form, modes of biblical interpretation, and narrative technique. Students will develop skills necessary to read unvocalized Hebrew texts (Second Temple and Rabbinic texts are unvocalized). Students will also be introduced to early Rabbinic Hebrew through reading narratives taken from the Mishnah and Midrash. Course Requirements Quizzes (30%) Midterm (25%) Final (30%) Participation and attendance (15%) Quizzes There will be five short quizzes throughout the semester. They will test new vocabulary, grammar, and syntax encountered in the readings. Midterm and Final Both the midterm and final will be take-home assignments. You will be asked to prepare a critical translation of a selected passage with grammatical and literary analysis. The midterm will consist of a biblical text. The final will be a Second Temple period text. More details will follow. Attendance Students are expected to attend all class sessions and come to class with the assigned readings prepared. If you have specific questions related to the readings, please come to class prepared to ask these questions. This will improve your own understanding and that of your classmates. Attendance and active participation is essential to be successful in the course. If you miss a class due to illness, please let me know before class and then contact a fellow student to find out what you missed. Late Work All late work will be dropped one third of a letter grade per late class day. Please contact me prior to due date if extenuating circumstances arise. Grading Final course grades will be assigned according to the following scale: 100-93=A, 92-90=A-, 89-87=B+, 86-83=B, 82-80=B-, 79-77=C+, 76-73=C, 72-70=C-, 69-60=D, 59-0=F. (S/N: S=70%). A passing grade will only be given if all course work is completed. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism All student work is expected to represent the independent thinking and research of each student. All students are expected to abide by the University of Minnesota’s academic code. Scholastic dishonesty is defined by CLA as follows: “Scholastic dishonesty is any act that violates the rights of another student with respect to academic work or that involves misrepresentation of a student’s own work. Scholastic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to) cheating on assignments or examinations, plagiarizing (misrepresenting as one’s own anything done by another), submitting the same or substantially similar papers (or creative work) for more than one course without consent of all instructors concerned, depriving another of necessary course materials, and sabotaging another’s work.” http://advisingtools.class.umn.edu/cgep/studentconduct.html Any violations of this academic code will be dealt with according to the University’s guidelines: “Academic dishonesty in any portion of the academic work for a course shall be grounds for awarding a grade of F or N for the entire course.” http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/policies/grades&acadwork.html We will spend some class time discussing proper ways to draw upon secondary scholarship and how to forge your own independent thinking in dialogue with earlier scholarship. Student with Disabilities Any student with a documented disability condition (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, systemic, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations should contact me and Disability Services at the beginning of the semester. Students should first contact Disability Services at 180 McNamara Alumni Center (612-626-1333). For further information, see: http://ds.umn.edu Class Schedule Schedule of Readings (follow links for study guides) Late Biblical Hebrew Esther 1:1-2:20 (A Persian Royal Party and its Aftermath) Esther 6 (Mordecai and Haman) Nehemiah 9 (Recounting Israel’s History) 2 Chronicles 32 (Hezekiah and Sennacherib) 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 (Manasseh) 2 Chronicles 1 (Solomon’s Dream) 2 Chronicles 24 (Jehoash’s Temple Renovation) Second Temple Hebrew Jubilees 4Q216 1:4-2:17 (=Jub. 1:1-15) 4Q216 5:4-11 (=Jub. 2:2-4), 6:5-15 (=Jub. 2:8-12) 4Q223-224 I 1:46-2:14 (=Jub. 35:8-17) 4Q223-224 II 5:18-32 (=Jub. 40:1-6) Rabbinic Hebrew Mishnah Ta’anit 3:9-12 (Honi the Circle Maker) Mishnah Eduyyot 5:6-7 (Banning of Akavia b. Mehlalel) Tosefta Hagigah 2:3-4 (Four who Entered the Pardes) Tosefta Hullin 2:22-24 (Rabbis and Christians) Sifre Numbers §115 (The Commandment of the Fringes and its Reward) Abot D’Rabbi Nathan §4 (Rabbi Yoh9ahan b. Zakkai and Vespasian) Preparing for Class In preparing these texts, you should be able to translate the text clearly and be able to identify the grammatical and syntactical aspects (in order words, be able to explain your translation). Be sure to identify any Hebrew features that are unique to the text you are reading. Use the dictionaries listed below and the relevant commentaries. Look for elements of literary and narrative style, such as parallelism, repetition, symbolism, punning, inner-biblical interpretation, allusion, and character and plot development. Try to also look at the passages as a literary whole. In addition, draw upon whatever additional strengths you may have (grammatical or literary). Bibliography * Indicates available in CNES library (Nicholson 255) I would recommend purchasing the BDB (it is available from www.hendrickson.com) Dictionaries and Lexica *BDB (for BH, LBH): The Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic: coded with the numbering system from Strong’s Exhaustive concordance of the Bible, edited by Francis Brown with the cooperation of S.R. Driver and Charles A. Brigg (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999). *HALOT (for BH, LBH, STH): The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, edited by Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner (5 vols.; Leiden; E.J. Brill, 1994-2000). [also available in a 2 volume study edition (2000)] DCH (for BH, LBH, STH): The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, edited by David J.A. Clines (5 vols. to date; Sheffield : Sheffield Academic Press, 1993-). *Jastrow (for RH): A dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic literature, edited by Marcus Jastrow (New York: Judaica Press, 1971; Repr. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2006). Concordances *Abraham Even-Shoshan, Konkordantsyah hadashah le-Torah, Nevi’im u-Khetuvim = New Concordance of the Bible: Thesaurus of the Language of the Bible, Hebrew and Aramaic, Roots, Words, Proper Names, Phrases, and Synonyms (Jerusalem: Kiryat Sefer Pub. House, 1985). Solomon Mandelkorn, Konkordantsyah la-Tannakh = Veteris Testementi Concordantiae (2 vols.; Tel Aviv: Schocken, 1971). Martin Abegg, with E. Tov and J. Bowley, The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance (2 vols.; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2003) Grammars Biblical Hebrew (including Late Biblical Hebrew) *(Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley) = E. Kautzsch, ed., Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (sec. ed.; trans. A. E. Cowley; Oxford: Clarendon, 1910). *Paul Joüon and Takamitsu Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (two vols.; Subsidia biblica 14/I and II; Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1991). *Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Conner, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990). *Marc Brettler, Biblical Hebrew for Students of Modern Israeli Hebrew (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002). Second Temple Hebrew and Dead Sea Scrolls *Elisha Qimron, The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986). Rabbinic Hebrew Moshe Z. Segal, A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew (Oxford: Clarendon, 1927; repr. Wipf and Stock, 2001). Miguel Pérez Fernández, An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997). History of Hebrew Some material will be distributed in class. General Eduard Y. Kutscher, A History of the Hebrew Language (ed. Raphael Kutscher; Jerusalem: the Hebrew University, Magnes; Leiden: E.J. Brill 1982). Eduard Y. Kutscher, "Hebrew," Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971), 16.1560-1662. New edition (with some additions) Encyclopaedia Judaica (ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik; Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007), 8.620-51. [available as E-book through U of M libaries] Angel Sáenz-Badillos, A History of the Hebrew Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Alexander Sperber, A Historical Grammar of Biblical Hebrew: A Presentation of Problems with Suggestions to Their Solution (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1966). Nahum Waldman, The Recent Study of Hebrew: A Survey of the Literature with Selected Bibliography (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989). Late Biblical Hebrew [LBH] Robert Polzin, Late Biblical Hebrew: Toward an Historical Typology of Biblical Hebrew Prose (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976). Ian Young, ed., Biblical Hebrew: Studies in Chronology and Typology (London: T. & T. Clark, 2003). M.F. Rooker, Biblical Hebrew in Transition: The Language of the Book of Ezekiel (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990). Avi Hurvitz, A Linguistic Study of the Relationship Between the Priestly Source and the Book of Ezekiel: A New Approach to an Old Problem (CahRB 20; Paris: Gabalda, 1982). Avi Hurvitz, Ben Lashon le-Lashon: le-Toldot Leshon ha-Mikra bi-Yeme Bayit Sheni = Biblical Hebrew in Transition: A Study in Post-Exilic and its Implications for the Dating of the Psalms (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1972) (Hebrew). Bendavid, Abba, Leshon Mikra u-Leshon Hakhamim = The Language of the Bible and the Language of the Sages (2 vols.; Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1967-71) (Hebrew). Second Temple Hebrew (including Dead Sea Scrolls) [STH] Eduard Y. Kutscher, The Language and Linguistic Background of the Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa) (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1974). Martin Abegg, “The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (ed. J.C. VanderKam and P.W. Flint; 2 vols.; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1998-1999), 1:325-58 Elisha Qimron, “Observation on the History of Early Hebrew (1000 B.C.E.-200 C.E.) in the Light of the Dead Sea Documents,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (ed. D. Dimant and U. Rappaport; Leiden: Brill Jerusalem: Magnes, 1992), 349-61. Takamitsu Muraoka and John F. Elwolde, eds., The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira: Proceedings of Symposium Held at Leiden University, 11-14 December 1995 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997). Takamitsu Muraoka and John F. Elwolde, eds., Sirach, Scrolls and Sages: Proceedings of a Second International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999). Takamitsu Muraoka and John F. Elwolde, eds., Diggers at the Well: Proceedings of a Third International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2000). Rabbinic Hebrew [RH] Moshe Bar Asher, ed., Studies in Mishnaic Hebrew (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1998).

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