''Am haaretz'' () or the people of the Land is a term found in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

and (with a different meaning) in

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...

. The world usually is a

collective noun In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing. For example, the collective noun "group" can be applied to people (" ...

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...

but occasionally pluralized as עמי הארץ ''amei ha-aretz'' "peoples of the land" or (in

Late Biblical Hebrew Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

) super-pluralized as עמי הארצות ''amei ha-aratzot'' "peoples of the lands". In

Mishnaic Hebrew Mishnaic Hebrew is the Hebrew of Talmudic texts. Mishnaic Hebrew can be sub-divided into Mishnaic Hebrew proper (also called Tannaitic Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew I), which was a spoken language, and Amoraic Hebrew (also cal ...

and later, the term is used as a euphemism for "ignoramus", such that an individual ignoramus is an ''am ha-aretz'' and multiple are ''amei ha-aretz.'' In

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the He ...

, the usual plurals are ''am ha-aretz'' and ''amei ha-aretz'' but the super-plural ''amei ha-aratzot'' is occasionally used. In

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

and

Yeshivish Yeshivish (), also known as Yeshiva English, Yeshivisheh Shprach, or Yeshivisheh Reid, is a sociolect of English spoken by Yeshiva students and other Jews with a strong connection to the Orthodox Yeshiva world. "Yeshivish" may also refer to n ...

, it is often pluralized עמי הארצים ''amei ha-aratzim'' or עמרצים ''amaratzim''.

Tanakh

In the Tanakh, the term "the people of the land" (Hebrew ''am ha'aretz'') refers to a special social group or caste within the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...

. Among the activities of the biblical ''am ha'aretz'' was the revolt against

Athaliah Athaliah ( el, Γοθολία ''Gotholía''; la, Athalia) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later quee ...

. By contrast, the plural ''ammei ha'aretz'' or ''ammei ha'aretzot'' refers to foreigners, either the nations of the world (

gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...

s) or the native Canaanite population living within

Eretz Yisrael The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Israe ...

. In the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Jewis ...

, the "people of the land" (''am ha'aretz'') are contrasted with those returning from the

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, the capital city of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, following their defeat ...

, "Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building". It is unclear whether the term refers to the people of Judah who remained behind and adopted syncretistic views, or to non-Hebrews. Rubenstein (2003) considers that in the

Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible; which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed rabbinic bibles of the earl ...

and

Nehemiah Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC). The name is pronounced ...

it designates the rural Jews who had remained in the land while the aristocratic and priestly classes were deported to exile in Babylonia. In the view of Kartveit (2009) the terms used in Ezra and Nehemiah may not be precise in their distinctions; there may be implication that the "people of the land" (Ezra 4:4) had intermarried with the "peoples of the lands" (Ezra 9:1 ''ammei ha'aretzoth''), and there may be an equation or relation with the origin of the

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

Rabbinic Judaism

Usage of the term ''am ha'aretz'' in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

has little connection to usage in the Hasmonean period and hence in the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

. The

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

applies "the people of Land" to uneducated Jews, who were deemed likely to be negligent in their observance of the commandments due to their ignorance, and the term combines the meanings of "rustic" with those of "boorish, uncivilized, ignorant". In antiquity (Hasmonean to the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, 140 BCE–70 CE), the ''am ha'aretz'' were the uneducated rustic population of

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...

, as opposed to the learned factions of the

Pharisees The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...

Sadducees The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio-religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Th ...

. The ''am ha'aretz'' were of two types, the ''am ha'aretz le-mitzvot'', Jews disparaged for not scrupulously observing the

commandments Commandment may refer to: * The Ten Commandments * One of the 613 mitzvot of Judaism * The Great Commandment * The New Commandment The New Commandment is a term used in Christianity to describe Jesus's commandment to "love one another" which, ac ...

, and the ''am ha'aretz la-Torah'', those stigmatized as ignoramuses for not having studied the Torah at all. The ''am ha'aretz'' are denounced in a very late and exceptional passage in

Talmud Bavli The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

Pesahim Pesachim ( he, פְּסָחִים, lit. "Paschal lambs" or "Passovers"), also spelled Pesahim, is the third tractate of ''Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate discusses the topics related to the Jewi ...

49, where they are contrasted with the '' chachamim'' ("wise") and '' talmidei chachamim'' ("wise students", i.e. scholars of the Talmud). The text contains the rabbinical teaching that no man should marry the daughter of an ''am ha'aretz'' because if he should die or be exiled, his sons will then also be ''ammei ha'aretz'' (see Jewish matrilineality). A man should rather sell all his possessions in order to afford marriage to a daughter of a ''talmid chacham''. Marriage of a ''talmid chacham'' to a daughter of an ''am ha'aretz'' is compared to the crossbreeding of grapevine with wild wine, which is "unseemly and disagreeable". The ''am ha'aretz'' is often contrasted with the

chaber ''Chaber'', ''chaver'' or ''ḥaber'' ( he, ''ḥāḇēr'', ) is a Hebrew term meaning "associate"; "colleague"; "fellow"; "companion"; or "friend". It appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, and is used in various ways in rabbinic sources. Hebrew ...

- a term used to describe someone scrupulous enough in Jewish law (namely laws of ritual purity and tithes) for an observant Jews of Second temple times to eat by their house. It too later evolved into a term to describe Torah knowledge - in this case a high degree of it.

References

Sources

*Mayer Sulzberger, ''The Am Ha-aretz, The Ancient Hebrew Parliament: A Chapter In The Constitutional History Of Ancient Israel'' (1910) *A'haron Oppenheimer, ''The ʻam ha-aretz: a study in the social history of the Jewish people in the Hellenistic-Roman period'', vol. 8 of Arbeiten zur Literatur und Geschichte des hellenistischen Judentums, Brill Archive, 1977, .

External links

Am ha’aretz
by Rabbi Julian Sinclair, October 28, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Am Ha'Aretz Ethno-cultural designations Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible Society of Israel Jews in the Land of Israel

Tanakh

Rabbinic Judaism

See also

References

Sources

External links