Editing Hebrew language (section)

===Medieval Hebrew===
{{Main|Medieval Hebrew}}
[[File:Aleppo Codex Joshua 1 1.jpg|thumb|[[Aleppo Codex]]: 10th century [[Hebrew Bible]] with [[Masoretes|Masoretic]] pointing (Joshua 1:1).]]
[[File:Cochin Jewish Inscription.JPG|thumb|[[Kochangadi Synagogue]] in [[Kochi]], India, dated to 1344]]

After the Talmud, various regional literary dialects of [[Medieval Hebrew]] evolved. The most important is [[Tiberian Hebrew]] or Masoretic Hebrew, a local dialect of [[Tiberias]] in [[Galilee]] that became the standard for vocalizing the [[Hebrew Bible]] and thus still influences all other regional dialects of Hebrew. This Tiberian Hebrew from the 7th to 10th century CE is sometimes called "Biblical Hebrew" because it is used to pronounce the Hebrew Bible; however, properly it should be distinguished from the historical Biblical Hebrew of the 6th century BCE, whose original pronunciation must be reconstructed. Tiberian Hebrew incorporates the scholarship of the [[Masoretes]] (from ''masoret'' meaning "tradition"), who added [[niqqud|vowel points]] and [[Hebrew cantillation|grammar points]] to the Hebrew letters to preserve much earlier features of Hebrew, for use in chanting the Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes inherited a biblical text whose letters were considered too sacred to be altered, so their markings were in the form of pointing in and around the letters. The [[Syriac alphabet]], precursor to the [[Arabic alphabet]], also developed vowel pointing systems around this time. The [[Aleppo Codex]], a Hebrew Bible with the Masoretic pointing, was written in the 10th century, likely in Tiberias, and survives into the present day. It is perhaps the most important Hebrew manuscript in existence.

During the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]], important work was done by grammarians in explaining the grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew; much of this was based on the work of the [[Islamic grammatical tradition|grammarians]] of [[Classical Arabic]]. Important Hebrew grammarians were {{Lang|he-latn|[[Judah ben David Hayyuj]]|italic=no}}, [[Jonah ibn Janah]], [[Abraham ibn Ezra]]<ref>Abraham ibn Ezra, [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/19685 ''Hebrew Grammar''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701091916/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/19685 |date=1 July 2021 }}, Venice 1546 (Hebrew)</ref> and later (in [[Provence]]), {{Lang|he-latn|[[David Kimhi]]|italic=no}}. A great deal of poetry was written, by poets such as {{Lang|he-latn|[[Dunash ben Labrat]]|italic=no}}, [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]], [[Judah ha-Levi]], [[Moses ibn Ezra]] and [[Abraham ibn Ezra]], in a "purified" Hebrew based on the work of these grammarians, and in Arabic quantitative or strophic meters. This literary Hebrew was later used by Italian Jewish poets.<ref>T. Carmi, ''Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse''.</ref>

The need to express scientific and philosophical concepts from [[Classical Greek language|Classical Greek]] and [[Arabic language|Medieval Arabic]] motivated Medieval Hebrew to borrow terminology and grammar from these other languages, or to coin equivalent terms from existing Hebrew roots, giving rise to a distinct style of philosophical Hebrew. This is used in the translations made by the {{Lang|he-latn|[[Ibn Tibbon]]|italic=no}} family. (Original Jewish philosophical works were usually written in Arabic.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}) Another important influence was [[Maimonides]], who developed a simple style based on [[Mishnaic Hebrew]] for use in his law code, the {{Lang|he-latn|[[Mishneh Torah]]|italic=no}}. Subsequent rabbinic literature is written in a blend between this style and the Aramaized Rabbinic Hebrew of the Talmud.

Hebrew persevered through the ages as the main language for written purposes by all Jewish communities around the world for a large range of uses—not only liturgy, but also poetry, philosophy, science and medicine, commerce, daily correspondence and contracts. There have been many deviations from this generalization such as [[Simon bar Kokhba|Bar Kokhba]]'s letters to his lieutenants, which were mostly in Aramaic,<ref>Safrai, Shmuel, Shemuel Safrai, M. Stern. 1976. The Jewish people in the first century. P.1036</ref> and Maimonides' writings, which were mostly in Arabic;<ref>Fox, Marvin. 1995. Interpreting Maimonides. P.326</ref> but overall, Hebrew did not cease to be used for such purposes. For example, the first Middle East printing press, in Safed (modern Israel), produced a small number of books in Hebrew in 1577, which were then sold to the nearby Jewish world.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://cojs.org/1577-first-printing-press-middle-east-safed/|title=1577 The First Printing Press in the Middle East – Safed – Center for Online Judaic Studies|date=2017-09-07|work=Center for Online Judaic Studies|access-date=2018-08-03|language=en-US|archive-date=4 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804013842/http://cojs.org/1577-first-printing-press-middle-east-safed/|url-status=live}}</ref> This meant not only that well-educated Jews in all parts of the world could correspond in a [[mutually intelligible]] language, and that books and legal documents published or written in any part of the world could be read by Jews in all other parts, but that an educated Jew could travel and converse with Jews in distant places, just as priests and other educated Christians could converse in Latin. For example, Rabbi [[Avraham Danzig]] wrote the ''{{Lang|he-latn|[[Chayei Adam]]}}'' in Hebrew, as opposed to [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], as a guide to ''[[Halacha]]'' for the "''average'' 17-year-old" (Ibid. Introduction 1). Similarly, Rabbi [[Yisrael Meir Kagan]]'s purpose in writing the ''{{Lang|he-latn|[[Mishnah Berurah]]}}'' was to "produce a work that could be studied daily so that Jews might know the proper procedures to follow minute by minute". The work was nevertheless written in Talmudic Hebrew and Aramaic, since, "the ordinary Jew [of Eastern Europe] of a century ago, was fluent enough in this idiom to be able to follow the Mishna Berurah without any trouble."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onNwsw0akyoC&pg=PR14 |title=Mishnah B'rurah – Israel Meir (ha-Kohen), Aharon Feldman, Aviel Orenstein – Google Books |access-date=3 May 2013 |isbn=978-0-87306-198-8 |year=1980 |last1=(Ha-Kohen) |first1=Israel Meir |publisher=Feldheim Publishers |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152917/https://books.google.com/books?id=onNwsw0akyoC&pg=PR14 |url-status=live }}</ref>