Editing Dwarves in Middle-earth (section)

=== Jewish history ===

In ''The Hobbit'', Dwarves are portrayed as occasionally comedic and bumbling, but largely as honourable, serious-minded, and proud. Tolkien was influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding [[Jewish]] people and their history.<ref name="HotH">{{harvnb|Rateliff|2007|loc=Part One ''Mr. Baggins'', pp. 79–80}}</ref> The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their homeland in<!--this is not the place for a summary of The Hobbit--> [[Erebor]], and living among other groups but retaining their own culture, are derived from the medieval image of Jews,<ref name="HotH"/> while, according to the Tolkien scholar [[John D. Rateliff]], their warlike nature stems from accounts in the [[Hebrew Bible]].<!--Please do not add anything here without citing a suitable source--><ref name="HotH"/><ref name="The Secret Jews of The Hobbit">{{Cite web |date=2016-08-11 |title=The Secret Jews of The Hobbit |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/meir-soloveichik/the-secret-jews-of-the-hobbit/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Commentary Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Medieval views of Jews also saw them as having a propensity for making well-crafted and beautiful things,<ref name="HotH"/> a trait shared with Norse dwarves.<ref name="chance"/><ref name="names">''[[Poetic Edda]]'', translated by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]].</ref> The Dwarf calendar invented for ''The Hobbit'' reflects the [[Jewish calendar]]'s [[Rosh Hashanah]] in beginning in late autumn.<ref name="HotH"/><ref name="Eden2014">{{cite book |last=Eden |first=Bradford Lee |author-link=Bradford Lee Eden |title=The Hobbit and Tolkien's Mythology: Essays on Revisions and Influences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ariQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |year=2014 |publisher=[[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]] |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-7960-3 |page=40}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Tolkien's use of Jewish history for his Dwarves<ref name="HotH"/>
! Aspect !! Historical element !! Application to Dwarves
|-
| Dispossession of homeland || [[Jewish diaspora]] || Living in exile from [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria]] and [[Erebor]], retaining own culture
|-
| Warlike nature || Medieval image of Jews || Warlike Dwarves 
|-
| Skill || Medieval image of Jews || Propensity for making well-crafted, beautiful things<br/>(like Norse Dwarves, too)
|-
| [[Jewish calendar]] || [[Rosh Hashanah]], the Jewish New Year (September/October) || Dwarves' new year is in late autumn 
|-
| Private language || Medieval Jews spoke [[Yiddish|Hebrew-derived language]] alongside local languages || Dwarves spoke "Semitic"<ref name="Lebovic 2013"/> [[Khuzdul]] amongst themselves, shared language ([[Westron]]) to others<ref name="Letter 176" group=T/>
|}