Rabbi Bension Kohen or haKohen (; born in

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 a ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, died 1999 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) was a writer of literature on

Hebrew grammar Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. He was the author of ''Sfath Emeth'', a work on the pronunciation of the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, wikt:אלפבית, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew languag ...

Lineage

In the introduction to his work, Kohen provides a purported lineage going back over a dozen generations of

kohanim Kohen ( he, , ''kōhēn'', , "priest", pl. , ''kōhănīm'', , "priests") is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. Levitical priests or ''kohanim'' are traditionally be ...

born at Djerba. Among his claimed patrilineal ancestors are Rabbi (d. 1848), himself an author of multiple works on Hebrew grammar. Citing a similar lineage table from ''Heritage of Yehoyada HaKohen'' (), Kohen claims to trace the family back to Yitzchak HaKohen the Elder, who had emigrated from Israel to Djerba at the Second Temple Destruction.

Sfath Emeth

Kohen's flagship work, the ''Sfath Emeth'', was first printed in Jerusalem in 1987. The work purports to present the "authentic" pronunciation of the 22 Hebrew letters based on

Geonic ''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of ...

literature and the work of Hebrew grammarians such as Rav

Saadya Gaon Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...

, Rabbi Yitzhak ben Shlomo Yisraeli and the

Radak ''Cervera Bible'', David Qimhi's Grammar Treatise David Kimhi ( he, ר׳ דָּוִד קִמְחִי, also Kimchi or Qimḥi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK () (Rabbi David Kimhi), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commen ...

Table of pronunciation

Rabbi Kohen's research led him to produce a table of pronunciation. The table has been published (with minor variations than what is listed below) on page 150 of ''Sfath Emeth'':

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohen, Bension 20th-century Tunisian rabbis Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature Year of birth uncertain Jewish grammarians Hebrew linguists Grammarians of Hebrew People from Djerba Israeli Orthodox rabbis Tunisian emigrants to Israel 1999 deaths

Lineage

Sfath Emeth

Table of pronunciation

See also

References