Hebrew in Ashkenaz

Hebrew in Ashkenaz is a pioneering attempt to reverse an age-old academic prejudice against the legitimacy of Ashkenazi Hebrew. Glinert has gathered philosophers, historians, sociologists, and linguists to address such contentious issues as the role of Hebrew in Jewish life and the evolving shape of the language, over the period of one thousand years from the dawn of Ashkenazi life in Germany through contemporary Jewish society in Britain and Russia.

This book finally abolishes the myth that Ashkenazi Hebrew was solely a language of religious study and fixed prayer. Instead, it is shown through these essays to be a language with vibrancy and creativity all its own, from which today's Hebrew emerged with remarkably little effort. This study, the first global look at the role of Hebrew in Jewish society, will interest students and scholars of Jewish history, Hebrew, mysticism, and general sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics.