Hebrew literature

Hebrew literature, the body of written works produced in the Hebrew language and distinct from Jewish literature, which also exists in other languages.

Literature in Hebrew has been produced uninterruptedly from the early 12th century bc, and certain excavated tablets may indicate a literature of even greater antiquity. From 1200 bc to c. ad 200, Hebrew was a spoken language in Palestine, first as biblical Hebrew, then as Mishnaic Hebrew, a later dialect that does not derive directly from the biblical dialect and one that gained literary status as the Pharisees began to employ it in their teaching in the 2nd century bc. It was not revived as a spoken language until the late 19th century, and in the 20th century it was adopted as the official language of the new State of Israel. The latter event gave impetus to a growing movement in Hebrew literature centred in Israel.

Hebrew literature is not synonymous with Jewish literature. Some Hebrew writing was produced by the Samaritans and in the 17th century by Protestant enthusiasts. Jews also produced important literatures in Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, Judeo-Spanish (Ladino), Yiddish, and a number of other languages. Apart from the Aramaic writings, however, such literatures always served only that part of Jewry using the language in question. When the community ceased to exist, the literature produced in that language was forgotten (or, in the case of Greek Jewish literature, became part of Christian tradition) except for whatever part of it had been translated into Hebrew and thus became part of Hebrew literature.

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The Hebrew language, though not spoken between c. ad 200 and the late 19th century, has always adapted itself to the needs of changing literary tastes. In the Bible it develops from a simple and earthy idiom to a language suitable for the expression of sophisticated religious thought without losing the poetic force and rhythmic fullness that characterizes it. Mishnaic Hebrew is pedestrian and exact, and yet it can reach heights of irony or of warmth. In medieval poetry Hebrew allows extravagant displays of verbal artistry but also, in northwestern Europe, a simplicity equal to that of the spoken languages of its milieu. One generation of translators in the 12th century created a scientific Hebrew that is not inferior to contemporary Arabic or Latin in precision or syntactic refinement. The 17th–19th centuries saw the formation of a stately, rigid, classical style based on biblical Hebrew, but at the same time eastern European mystics made the language serve the expression of their love of God. Literary Hebrew in the 20th century draws upon ancient literature to a marked degree, with styles often modeled upon ancient predecessors. The modern period has also evolved a new type of language for nonliterary writing, while in novels the style is often based upon the spoken language.

Ancient Hebrew literature

Preexilian period, c. 1200–587 bc

All that is preserved of the literature of this period is slightly more than 20 of the 39 books included in the Old Testament (the remainder being from the next period). Poetry probably preceded prose. Biblical poetry was based on the principle of parallelism; i.e., the two halves of a verse express the same idea, either by repeating it in different words or by stressing different aspects of it. Examples are found in the book of Psalms: “But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues” (Ps. 78:36); “He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams” (Ps. 78:44). To this form was added a simple rhythm, consisting mainly in having each half of a line divided into an equal number of stressed words. There were also folk songs, to which belonged perhaps large parts of the Song of Solomon, dirges, epic chants, and psalms. The use of various forms of poetry in the work of the prophets appears to be a later development.

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Poetry: First Lines

The earlier prose texts were still very close to poetry in structure and language. The first real prose may well have been some of the laws recorded in the Pentateuch. In Jeremiah and Deuteronomy a high standard of prose rhetoric was achieved: some of the conversations in the historical books were attempts to reproduce in writing the style of ordinary speech. (See also biblical literature: Texts and versions.)

Period of the Second Temple, 538 bc–ad 70

The literary output of this period was large, only part of it belonging to the biblical canon. The biblical Hebrew of the writings was artificial because it had ceased to be spoken and had been replaced by Aramaic, a related Semitic language, and Mishnaic Hebrew. Works that are included among the Dead Sea Scrolls belong to this period. Some of these works provide evidence of a new kind of writing, the homiletic, or sermonizing, commentary to the Bible called Midrash. The only work of real literary merit among the scrolls is the fervent personal poetry of the Hymns of Thanksgiving.

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Parts of the biblical books of Ezra and Daniel and certain works among the Dead Sea Scrolls are in an early form of Aramaic. This period also began to provide translations (called Targums) of most of the Hebrew Bible into a slightly later Aramaic.