The Power of Hebrew Language. Grammar Ca PDF
The Power of Hebrew Language. Grammar Ca PDF
The Power of Hebrew Language. Grammar Ca PDF
Johannes Thon
Abstract
The concept of the power of language is a modern one in linguistic studies. But
ancient Biblical and cognate traditions show similar insights reflecting the speaking
of men as real acts. The reception and interpretation of this idea is often connected
with magical traditions and in many cases authors had to face charges of dealing in
magic. The Hebrew language in particular has been associated with power as well as
with magic, and the Christian Hebraists thus showed a very ambivalent attitude to
their fascinating subject.
Keywords
Hebrew grammar, Speech act, Magic, Cabbalah, Reformation
1
This paper is connected with my research within the project on language concep-
tions in the OT and the first Hebrew grammarians in Halle, funded by the German
Research Foundation (DFG).
2
Cf. Gerd Antos, Laien-Linguistik. Studien zu Sprach- und Kommunikationsproblemen im
Alltag. Am Beispiel von Sprachratgebern und Kommunikationstrainings (Tbingen: Niemeyer,
1996), Reihe Germanistische Linguistik 146.
3
Ingwer Paul, Praktische Sprachreflexion (Tbingen: Niemeyer, 1999), Konzepte der
Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft 61, 18.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 EJJS 6.1
Also available online brill.nl/ejjs DOI: 10.1163/187247112X637579
106 johannes thon
4
Antos (as in n. 2), 209221, 269281. Jochen Rehbein and Shinichi Kameyama,
Pragmatik/Pragmatics, in Soziolinguistik. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Wissenschaft
von Sprache und Gesellschaft, ed. Ulrich Ammon et al., 2nd ed. (Berlin, New York: Walter
de Gruyter, 2004), vol. 1: 556560.
5
Cf. Stefan Schorch, The Pre-Eminence of the Hebrew Language and the
Emerging Concept of the Ideal Text in Late Second Temple Judaism, in Studies in
the Book of Ben Sira. Papers of the Third International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books,
Shimeon Centre, Ppa, Hungary, 1820 May, 2006, eds. Gza G. Xeravits and Jszef
Zsengellr (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2008), Supplements to the Journal for the Study of
Judaism 127, 4951.
6
Many thanks to Antje Seeger for pointing this out.
7
Cf. for example Stefan Schorch, Between Science and Magic. The Function
and Roots of Paronomasia in the Prophetic Books of the Hebrew Bible, in Puns
and Pundits. Word Play in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Literature, Ed. Scott
B. Noegel (Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press, 2000), 206; Martin Leuenberger, Segen
und Segenstheologien im alten Israel. Untersuchungen zu ihren religions- und theologiegeschichtlichen
Konstellationen und Transformationen, (Zrich: Theologischer Verlag, 2008), Abhandlungen
zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments 90, 282285.
the power of (hebrew) language 107
that magic is a category in its own right (and even a forbidden one!).
So they distinguished it from everyday speech. Comparable phenom-
ena like blessing, cursing and uttering an oath work in an analogous
way: all these speech acts show a special quality of power, but this
linked with well-defined circumstances. Second, all these phenomena
are explained in recent anthropological studies (focusing on religion,
ethnicity or language) by adapting speech act theory. Magic is an
operation among others with words which works in a special and well-
defined setting.8 But if we have now found a way to describe magic as
a speech act, it might be possible again to compare it with other forms
of this category and to inquire into the mutual operative influences.9
Nevertheless, as the following pages seek to show, there is a ten-
dency in the history of Biblical interpretation to understand the word
of God, and thus the text of the Biblical revelation itself, as a powerful
tool which can also be described as magic, even if this often might be
a misinterpretation.
8
Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Magic, science, religion, and the scope of rationality,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 7380; Rdiger Schmitt, Magie im
Alten Testament, (Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2004), Alter Orient und Altes Testament 313,
90 f.; Giuseppe Veltri, Magie und Halakha. Anstze zu einem empirischen Wissenschaftsbegriff im
sptantiken und frhmittelalterlichen Judentum, (Tbingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1997), Tbinger
Studien zum Antiken Judentum 62, 286293.
9
Cf. Schorch, Science and Magic, 221 f.; Antos, Laien-Linguistik, 169, who
speaks of weak magics.
10
Ludwig Geiger, Das Studium der hebrischen Sprache in Deutschland vom Ende des XV.
bis zur Mitte des XVI. Jahrhunderts (Breslau: Schletter, 1870), 15.
11
Jerome Friedman, The Most Ancient Testimony. Sixteenth-Century Christian-Hebraica in
the Age of Renaissance Nostalgia, (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1983), 182.
12
Thomas Willi, Basel und die Kontroverse um die Veritas Hebraica, Theologische
Zeitschrift, 53 (1997), 195; Stephen G. Burnett, Reassessing the Basel-Wittenberg
Conflict: Dimensions of the Reformation-Era Discussion of Hebrew Scholarship,
in Hebraica Veritas? Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe, Ed.
Allison P. Coudert and Jeffrey S. Shoulson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2004), Jewish Culture and Contexts, esp. 186195.
108 johannes thon
13
Cf. Karl E. Grzinger, Reuchlin und die Kabbala, in Reuchlin und die Juden, eds.
Arno Herzig and Julius H. Schoeps (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1993) 175187;
Joseph Dan, The Kabbalah of Johannes Reuchlin and its Historical Significance, in
The Christian Kabbalah. Jewish Mystical Books & their Christian Interpreters, Ed. Joseph Dan
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard College Library, 1997).
14
Friedman, Most Ancient Testimony, 256 f.
15
Eugene F. Rice, Saint Jerome in the Renaissance (Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1985), 1214. 116136.
16
Cf. Stefan Rebenich, Jerome: the vir trilinguis and the hebraica veritas,
Vigiliae Christianae 47 (1993). Cf. Rice (as in n. 15), 12.
the power of (hebrew) language 109
Verfrer durch diese Buchstaben viel wunder und Gttliche werck thun
knnen
But the mad Jews give the Schem Hamphoras the divine power, as the
only, sole letter, without any promise or commandment from God. For
they all say that even the godless and seducers can do many miracles
and divine works through these letters.17
But Luther compares this description of Jewish superstition with com-
parable phenomena by Roman Catholics or Muslims. So he must
swiftly make an important distinction: the Lutheran doctrine of the
sacraments should not be seen as the same thing, while the Roman
Catholic interpretation of sacraments in Luthers view should.
But regarding the Jews he goes further: he makes a much stronger
call for persecution of the Jews because he connects these magical
practices with witchcraft. Therefore he can demand the same punish-
ment for Jews as for witches.
In this text, Luther explicitly addresses Christians who want to
convert to Judaism. If at the end of the tractate he refers to Christian
Hebraists and even speaks to them, it becomes clear that he considers
them obvious candidates for such conversion. And although he con-
cedes that many of them are aware of the danger of Judaization, he
attacks their extensive use of rabbinic sources.
WA 53, 646
Wenn nu uber solch urteil vnd verdamnis der Jden ein Christ wil bei
den Jden verstand jnn der Schrifft suchen, was thut der anders, denn
der bey einem Blinden das gesicht [. . .] sucht. [. . .] Das man die Sprache
und Grammatica von jhnen lernet, das ist fein vnd wol gethan [. . .]
Darum solten vnser Ebreisten (Darumb ich sie auch hiermit wil vmb
Gottes willen gebeten haben) lassen jhn diese erbeit befohlen vnd ange-
legen sein [. . .] Wo sie die punct, distinction, coniugadion, construction,
signification und was mehr die Grammatica hat, kundten endern und
von der Jden verstand wenden, das sichs zum vnd mit dem newen
Testament reimet.
If a Christian seeks understanding in the scriptures from Jews despite
such damnation and judgement, what else does he do but that he seeks
the sight of a blind man. [. . .] Therefore we too should learn the lan-
guage from them [. . .]
That is why our Hebraists (I have therefore pleaded with them about
this for the sake of God) if this work is recommended or important to
them [. . .] They could have altered the points, distinctions, cunjugations,
17
Translation according to Gerhard Falk, The Jew in Christian Theology, ( Jefferson,
N. C./London: McFarland, 1992), 175.
110 johannes thon
constructions, significance and whatever else the grammar has and devi-
ate from the interpretation of the Jews so that it agrees with the New
Testament.18
The idea that the word of God implies its own power as much as it
could be seen as a central instrument of creation is not so strange to
the Biblical tradition. The first account of creation in Gen 1 shows
clearly this creative power of the divine order. And in the NT, the pro-
logue of the Gospel of John refers to this text, identifying this word of
God with Jesus Christ. In the Hebrew Bible, the classical locus where
this is expressed explicitly is Ps 33:6:
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by
the breath of his mouth.19
But the interpretation of this hymnic statement is strongly debated
among Biblical scholars. In comparison with Egyptian and Mesopo-
tamian texts, the power of the word could be seen as a mythical entity.
Yet OT scholars have often stressed that in Old Testament texts, the
idea appears in a much more rational formespecially if one consid-
18
Translation (with one correction) according to Falk, Jew, 222.
19
Translations of Biblical passages are based on the Revised Standard Version.
the power of (hebrew) language 111
Prov 25:15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue
will break a bone.
But of course, the strategy of a speech act can fail. And then too, one
has to face the powerful consequences:
Prov 13:3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens
wide his lips comes to ruin.
This represents the general tenor of wisdom literature: the possible
consequences of speech are so strong and dangerous that humans are
advised to use it very carefully.
I wish to argue here that the link between the human and the divine
modes of speech power is that of the king. To illustrate this I will cite
a passage of the Aramaic wisdom sayings of Ahikar (column 6). Here
we find comparable warnings to be cautious with speech:
][ ]?[
[ ...] ]?[
Your mouth be guarded and shall not be their booty more than every
guard keep watch over your mouth and about that which you heard [?]
make hard your heart! [. . .] The trap of the mouth is stronger than the
trap of the war.24
We can see here that speech is seen as a very central mode of human
behaviour. And it is especially the danger of mistakes which makes
speech acts so powerful: if you fail to make an utterance according to
the rules of the context, then the consequences for you will be very
seriousespecially if you stand before the king:
][ /
[ ]?[ ][...] [ ]
Do not cover the word of the king it shall be healing for your heart! Soft
is the word of the king but it is more thin and sharp than a sword with
two blades[. . .] Soft is the tongue [of the king?] but it breaks the bones
of the dragon like death which is not seen.
24
Herbert Niehr, Aramischer A iqar (Gtersloh: Gtersloher Verl.-Haus, 2007),
Jdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-rmischer Zeit 2.2, 42 f.; Porten, Bezalel and Ada
Yardeni, eds., Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. III: Literature, accounts, lists
(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1993), 36.
the power of (hebrew) language 113
On the one hand, the power of the kings speech is described in a way
similar to that of human beings in general. On the other, the degree
of power is much greater and associated with mythical images. So it
comes near to the power of a god. The reason is clear: the king has
more power and therefore his word is also conceptualized as more
powerful. So the power of speech is based on the dynamics of interper-
sonal interactions. Depending on the constellations of communication,
speech is characterized as more or less powerful and dangerous.
The model to describe the relationship between Gods word and
His Creation is the order of a king. Of course, his words come true
because everybody and everything obeys him. Human speech implies
a power like a kingly deed. The model of a king is thus only the link
between the human and the divine level.
25
Veltri, Magie, 4043, 286 f.
114 johannes thon
19
Twenty-two letters: he carved them out, he hewed them, he weighed
them, he exchanged them, he combined them and formed with them the
life of all Creation and the life of all that would be formed.26
Joseph Dan has stated that this little book was the first Jewish book
to state that language is rule-bound, it has a system of rules by which
it works.27 Composed as an elementary book for learning numbers
and letters, it explains these as basic elements of the world and pres-
ents a system of anthropological and cosmological speculations. It
is often assumed that here we see the adaptation of neo-Platonic or
neo-Pythagorean thinking into Hebrew literature. But it is very likely
that this reception occurred much later, in the early Islamic era.28
Pico della Mirandola and Reuchlin used Platonic and Pythagorean
elements for their interpretation of the Jewish mystical tradition.29 In
any case, we find the reception of classical science in the form of
grammatical traditions. The division of consonants according to their
place of articulation (gutturals, labials, velars, dentals and fricatives)
shows influence from the Greek and Arabic grammatical traditions.
Because of this obvious Arabic influence, this passage is often declared
as secondary. The grouping of bgdkp(r)t is a Massoretic element, and
the cosmological interpretation of grammatical elements could be an
influence from the Indian grammatical tradition.30
I wish to stress here that this little book combines the idea of
the creative word of God with grammatical thinking. We have to
26
A. Peter Hayman, Sefer Yeira. Edition, Translation and Text-Critical Commentary
(Tbingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 2004), 93, 100.
27
Joseph Dan, The Language of Creation and Its Grammar, in Jewish Mysticism,
ed. Joseph Dan. Vol. I Late Antiquity (Northvale, N. J.: Jason Aronson, 1998), 137.
28
Nehemia Allony, Zeman ibbr l sepr ye rh, Temirin, 2 (1981); Steven M.
Wasserstrom, Sefer Ye ira and Early Islam: A Reappraisal, Journal of Jewish Thought
and Philosophy 3 (1993); Steven M. Wasserstrom, Further Thoughts on the Origin of
Sefer ye irah, Aleph 2 (2002). A very early dating (first century CE) in contrast propose
Yehuda Liebes, trat hayye rh l sepr ye rh (Tel Aviv: Schocken-Verlag, 2000), 229;
Giulio Busi, The grammatical classification of Hebrew letters as a mystical tool, in
Indigenous Grammar Across Cultures, ed. Hannes Kniffka (Frankfurt am Main u. a.: Peter
Lang, 2001).
29
Heinz Scheible, Reuchlins Einflu auf Melanchthon, in Reuchlin und die Juden,
eds. Arno Herzig and Julius H. Schoeps (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1993), 142;
Grzinger (as in n. 13), 187 f.
30
Dan, Language, 153; David Shulman, Is There an Indian Connection to
Sefer ye irah? Aleph 2 (2002). But cf. Vivien Law, Indian Influence on Early Arab
Phoneticsor Coincidence? in The early Islamic grammatical tradition, ed. Ramzi Baalbaki
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), The formation of the classical Islamic world 36.
the power of (hebrew) language 115
bear in mind that Sefer Yezirah was a widely received basic text for
Jewish science as well as for the mystical tradition. Saadiah, the first
known commentator of the Sefer Yezirah, represents the rationalistic/
Aristotelian tendency of interpretation.31 In his opinion, Creation by
the word is likely a mechanical process: because speech would be an
anthropomorphic imagination of God, his speaking is explained as a
creation of words in the aira second, spiritual air.32 The power
coming from these forms has an effect on the other elements. With
Giulio Busi, one could speak here of a form of magical realism.33 So
we have a quasi-materialistic explanation of the spiritual sphere. But,
as Jospe emphasizes, Saadiah takes the concept of the book primarily
as the plan for Creation.34 Of course, there is a relationship between
the essence of a thing and its name: Saadiah probably refers to
Aristotle, de Interpretatione 1, and explains the three forms of s-f-r in SJ
1,1 with four aspects of a word: essence, writing, thinking (expressed
as counting)35 and speech. Essence is not mentioned explicitly, because
it is (or seems?) self-evident.36
From the thirteenth century onwards, another theosophic-theurgic
tendency of interpretation of the Sefer Yezirah developed, especially
among the Hassidic Ashkenazim. Here we find the idea that humans
could imitate Creation, e.g. by making a Golem, through the use
of the divine letters.37 If we remember the polemical accusations of
Luther, it was these Jewish magical traditions he had in mind. But, as
Joseph Dan has highlighted, the Christian view on the Jewish tradi-
tion is infused with a deep misunderstanding. While the Jewish tradi-
tions for the interpretation of texts naturally deal with the semantic
as well as with the non-semantic elements of the text (like the form
or numerical value of a letter), Christians were too much focused on
31
Raphael Jospe, Early Philosophical Commentaries on the Sefer Ye irah: Some
Comments, Revue des tudes juives, 159 (1990), 370380; Klaus Herrmann, ed., Sefer
Je ira. Buch der Schpfung (Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig: Verlag der Weltreligionen,
2008), 138.
32
Jacob Guttmann, Die Religionsphilosophie des Saadia (Hildesheim [u.a.]: Olms,
1981), 119; Jospe (as in n. 29), 380a concept which he abandoned later (Karl Erich
Grzinger, Jdisches Denken. TheologiePhilosophieMystik, Vol. I. Vom Gott Abrahams
zum Gott des Aristoteles [Frankfurt u. a.: Campus-Verl., 2004], 341).
33
Busi, Grammatical classification, 351.
34
Jospe, Early philosophical, 379.
35
Jospe, ibid., 390.
36
Jospe, ibid., 389 f.
37
Herrmann, Sefer Jezira, 142145.
116 johannes thon
5. Rabbinical Commentaries
As already noted, Saadiah rejected the idea that God could speak like
a man and explained Biblical speech of God as the creation of forms in
a spiritual material. Speaking must therefore be the same as plan-
ning and doing. The Biblical commentators following him opposed
this view and highlighted the literal meaning of the text ( pshat). Thus,
Ibn Ezra explained that in Gen 1,3 (the first creating utterance of
God)in accordance with Ps 33:6it is explicitly the act of speaking
through which God creates the light.
38
Grzinger (as in n. 13), 177 f.
39
Cf. Dan, Reuchlin, 77.
40
Dan, Reuchlin, 71/72.
the power of (hebrew) language 117
.
. . .
.
and he spoke. The Gaon said that is like , but if it were
so it had to be predestinated to be light. But it is like the literal sense
(cf. Ps 33:6.9). And this is an expression for a work without effort. And
with a simile: A king and his servants [. . .]
So by this insistence on the literal meaning of the text, a possibly
mythical motif could be conserved. But Ibn Ezra refers to the above-
mentioned model: the word of God works like the order of a king.
I wish to argue that the alternative of mythical vs. rational inter-
pretation seems to be too simple: while Saadiah in his rationalistic
interpretation described the power of the word of God in a very
mechanistic modeland thus constructed a mythical pictureIbn
Ezra insisted, in a literal reading of Gen 1.3, that the effectiveness of
divine speech can be understood in a rather human picture.
41
Burnett, Reassessing, 188191.
118 johannes thon
42
Munsterus, Sebastian, ed., Miqda . . . Hebraica Biblia Latina Planeqve Nova Sebast.
Mvnsteri tralatione, post omneis omnium hactenus ubiuis gentium aeditiones euulgata, & quoad fieri
potuit, hebraicae ueritati conformata (Basileae: Isengrin, 1534).
43
I am indebted to Dr. Anne Friedrich from the University of Halle-Wittenberg
for her help to translate these passages.
the power of (hebrew) language 119
44
Printed with permission of the Library. Many thanks to Alexander Loose for his
help to decifer this note.
45
Siegfried Reader, Reuchlin, Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart VII (2004),
467; Ingmar Ahl, Humanistische Politik zwischen Reformation und Gegenreformation. Der
Frstenspiegel des Jakob Omphalius (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004), Frankfurter historische
Abhandlungen 44, 4851.
the power of (hebrew) language 121
Jerome Friedman has tried to typify the Christian use of Hebraica and
Rabbinica taking Reuchlin, Servetus and Fagius as clearly different
types of scholars. The aforementioned statements by Luther would
place him in a fourth group: those who refuse to make use of Judaica
at all (except for the pure Hebrew consonantal Bible text). Friedman
describes Mnster as being in close affinity to Fagius.
According to Friedman, 46 for Johannes Reuchlin Cabbalistic
mysticism provided the very best expression of what he sought in the
ancient theology, a reliable method for understanding God and the
world. Michael Servetus saw Jewish monotheism in accordance with
scripture and he destructed Christian dogma, especially the dogma of
trinity, in order to reconstruct the true Christianity. The third model
for Christian reception of Judaica according to Friedman was that of
Paul Fagius. He took the rabbinical sources as historical documents,
illuminating the context of the New Testament. So he observed the
rite of qiddush and explained with it the accounts of the last supper.
Friedman termed this third way orthodox, because one could deal
with it without clashing with the prevailing dogmatic system. In the
seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, Cabbalistic texts could also be
read in this way even in Lutheran universities.
8. Conclusion
46
Friedman (as in n. 11), 99 f.
122 johannes thon