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The ''Encyclopaedia Hebraica'' ( he, האנציקלופדיה העברית) is a comprehensive
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
in the
Hebrew language
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 ...
that was published in the latter half of the 20th century.
[ha-Entsiklopediyah ha-ʻivrit (האנציקלופדיה העברית) / ''Encyclopaedia Hebraica''. (1949). Tel Aviv: Encyclopaedia Publishing Company]
History
The ''General Encyclopedia'' had been successfully printed by
Bracha Peli's printing business under the editorship of
Prof. Joseph Klausner. Bracha Peli's son,
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
was keen to start a more ambitious encyclopedia in Hebrew.
[Bracha Peli]
Asher Weill, Jewish Women's Archive. accessed October 2009
The idea of the ''Encyclopaedia Hebraica'' began to take material form in the summer of 1944.
An advisory committee was established to determine the goals of the encyclopedia. Printing of the first volume began in the summer of 1948 with the founding of the
State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. The honorary president of the project was the
President of Israel
The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...
, Professor
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israel ...
.
The first volume covered the entries
Aleph
Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez .
These letter ...
(א) through
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
(אוסטרליה). The first photograph that appears in the volume is a picture of
Israel's Declaration of Independence
The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive ...
. The entry concluding the encyclopedia, in volume 32, is
Tishrei
Tishrei () or Tishri (; he, ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year ...
(תשרי).
In the publisher's introduction was written:
We have strong faith that we will realize our aspiration to provide exceptional content in a magnificent vessel and to add and enhance from volume to volume, and that we will finish publishing all 16 volumes within five or six years and that the whole project will achieve its purpose.
As it turned out, the writing of the encyclopedia continued for more than thirty years, and only in 1980—a quarter century after the original target date—was the publication completed. In total, the encyclopedia numbered thirty-two volumes when it was completed. During the writing stage, an additional
Addendum
An addendum or appendix, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its author subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the gerundive , plural , "that which is to be added," from (, compare with memorandum, ...
I volume came out, which updated and supplemented volumes 1 through 16, and after volume 32 was completed an Addendum II volume was published. In 1985, five years after completion of the volumes of the encyclopedia, an
index
Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index''
* The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...
volume was printed, and in 1995 Addendum III came out, which updated data in Addendum II. With it also appeared two volumes containing extensive updates of entries dealing with the
State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
land of Israel
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 Isra ...
.
The many years needed for completion of the encyclopedia meant that its
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
s were replaced over the years. The position was held by
Joseph Klausner
Joseph Gedaliah Klausner ( he, יוסף גדליה קלוזנר; 20 August 1874 – 27 October 1958), was a Lithuanian-born Israeli historian and professor of Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writin ...
,
Benzion Netanyahu
Benzion Netanyahu ( he, בֶּנְצִיּוֹן נְתַנְיָהוּ, ; born Benzion Mileikowsky; March 25, 1910 – April 30, 2012)''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michiga ...
,
Yeshayahu Leibowitz
Yeshayahu Leibowitz ( he, ישעיהו ליבוביץ; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew ...
,
Nathan Rotenstreich, Yehoshua Gutman, and
Joshua Prawer
Joshua Prawer ( he, יהושע פרַאוֶור; November 22, 1917 – April 30, 1990) was a notable Israeli historian and a scholar of the Crusades and Kingdom of Jerusalem.
His work often attempted to portray Crusader society as a forerunner t ...
. The editorial supervisor throughout all the volumes was
Alexander Peli.
More than 2,500 writers participated in the writing of the encyclopedia, among them the leading Israeli scientists and fifteen Nobel laureates.
During the period of publication, a tremendous significance was associated with the encyclopedia. This was demonstrated by the fact there were people that felt a driving need to be included in the encyclopedia as a sort of stamp of approval of their importance and position. Bracha Peli, publisher of the encyclopedia, later told of an author who approached her one day and threatened to commit suicide if he was not included: "Even though his standing in the Hebrew literature was not of great importance, I did not take any chances and included him as an entry." At times, arguments arose over who would write a given article, arguments that stemmed from academic differences of opinion or from political or emotional factors. Such was the case with the articles on
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...
and on
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.
The newer volumes of the encyclopedia that were written in the 1990s and edited by David Shacham were criticized for allegedly containing a
post-Zionist
Post-Zionism refers to the opinions of some Israelis, diaspora Jews and others, particularly in academia, that Zionism fulfilled its ideological mission with the formation of the modern State of Israel in 1948, and that Zionist ideology should ...
tone.
Within a year of the last volume being published the rights to the encyclopedia had been sold.
Schocken Publishing House are said to be working on a new, revised edition of the encyclopedia.
[
]
Characteristics
The nature of the encyclopedia is reflected in its secondary title: "General, Jewish, and Israeli." The encyclopedia covers general topics, but a Jewish-Israeli emphasis is discernible, principally in articles dealing with Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
s, and Israel, as well as in its treatment of such topics within articles on general topics. Thus the encyclopedia takes care to emphasize in every biographical article the Jewishness of the person, even when Judaism is of no significance in the person's life (e.g. Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...
), as well as the person's impact on Jewish people. The longest biographical article (thirty-two columns) is on Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern p ...
, and the longest non-Jewish biographical article is on Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
.
Articles dealing with various countries and cities typically give an account of the place's general history, followed by a separate detailed account of its Jewish history where it has one; in particular, for places that were under Nazi rule a detailed account is given of the fate of its Jewish community during the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. Similarly, in describing countries and cities with an existing Jewish community, the encyclopedia invariably provided a detailed account of the number of Jews, their professions and main places of habitation, the structure of the community etc.
Writers of the encyclopedia did not hide their Jewish-nationalistic political views. Thus the Kingdom of Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River ...
did not warrant an entry since the encyclopedia did not recognize it. Details of this country are included within the article "Land of Israel," and it is stated in the beginning of the article that in the Hebrew language, the phrase includes the "land of Israel" on both sides of the Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
. In the second supplementary volume, the entry "Jordan" finally appears, reflecting the change of political attitudes in Israeli society in the passing decades.
The letter Aleph
Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez .
These letter ...
contains the largest number of articles, and six and a half volumes are accorded to it (more than 30% of the anticipated number of volumes). The last article is "Ether
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
s" (אתרים). The longest article starting with aleph is "Land of Israel" (ארץ ישראל), to which an entire volume is dedicated: volume 6. Next in size is "United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
" (ארצות הברית של אמריקה), which spans 126 columns. The collective size of the aleph articles does not stem from its relative weight in 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 ...
, but rather reflects the initial enthusiasm with which the editors tried to include the sum of human knowledge. When it became clear that at that rate and depth production of the encyclopedia would never come to an end, it was decided to limit its extent (which, among other things, led to the existence in the first volumes of "see also"'s that in the end pointed to unwritten articles). The smallest letter in the encyclopedia is the letter Tsade
Tsade (also spelled , , , , tzadi, sadhe, tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ṣādē , Hebrew ṣādi , Aramaic ṣāḏē , Syriac ṣāḏē ܨ, Ge'ez ṣädäy ጸ, and Arabic . Its oldest phoneti ...
(צ), which spans 531 pages, less than one volume, and is contained in volume 28.
A famous non-political controversy involved the article on Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
(אפלטון) appearing in volume 5. Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz
Yeshayahu Leibowitz ( he, ישעיהו ליבוביץ; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew ...
, one of the encyclopaedia's main editors, sharply disagreed with the interpretation given to Plato's ideas. This he expressed by adding in the forward pages of this volume, where he was listed as "Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, editor in Philosophy", a footnote reading "until page 223" (the page where the Plato article appeared).
References
{{reflist
Hebrew-language encyclopedias
Israeli culture
20th-century encyclopedias