Israel Yeivin
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Israel Yeivin (
Hebrew 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 ...
: ישראל ייבין) (born January 7, 1923 in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
– died December 19, 2008) was an Israeli linguist, scholar of
Masorah Masorah or Mesorah ( he, מסורה) refers either to the transmission of Jewish religious tradition, or to the tradition itself, and may refer to: * The Hebrew vowel points also known as niqqud. * Masoretic Text, the authoritative text of the Tan ...
and 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 ...
.


Biography

Israel Yeivin was born in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. His family
immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
when he was seven, and he grew up in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
. His father, Yehoshua Yeivin, was a conceptual philosopher of the
Revisionist Zionism Revisionist Zionism is an ideology developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who advocated a "revision" of the "practical Zionism" of David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann which was focused on the settling of ''Eretz Yisrael'' (Land of Israel) by independent ...
movement and founder of the radical Zionist group
Brit HaBirionim Brit HaBirionim (Hebrew: ברית הבריונים, variously translated as ''The Strongmen Alliance'', ''Alliance of Thugs'', ''Alliance of the Hoodlums'', and ''The Covenant of the Outlaws'') was a clandestine, self-declared fascist faction o ...
. His mother was Miryam Atara Margolin. As a child, he attended Ahad Ha'Am School and graduated from
Gymnasia Balfour Ironi Alef High School ( he, תיכון עירוני א'), previously Gymnasia Balfour (), is a notable high school located in Tel Aviv, Israel. Also known as Aleph High School of Arts Tel Aviv-Yafo. History Gymnasia Balfour The Gymnasia Balf ...
in 1940. Soon after, he began to study Hebrew Language & Literature and Philosophy at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
. He received his M.A degree in 1958. His thesis dealt with "Hakafat HaTevot HaZeirot BaMikra (21 Sfarim)". In 1958, he married Batya Heifetz, with whom he had two sons. In 1968 he received his doctorate for his research on " Babylonian point vocalization". While studying at the University, he worked at a printing shop as a typesetter and proofreader. Then he became a proofreader on the editorial staff of the
Hebrew Encyclopedia The ''Encyclopaedia Hebraica'' ( he, האנציקלופדיה העברית) is a comprehensive encyclopedia in the Hebrew language that was published in the latter half of the 20th century.ha-Entsiklopediyah ha-ʻivrit (האנציקלופדיה ...
. He worked on the preparatory stage of the
Encyclopedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langua ...
and became Editorial Secretary of the "Tarbitz" quarterly. Working on the Bible Project of the Hebrew University, he became expert in deciphering ancient manuscripts of the Bible, including "The Aleppo Codex", on which he published a book.


Academic and linguistics career

In 1959, Yeivin joined the
Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...
's project to publish a historic dictionary of the Hebrew language. He worked on the Dictionary's editorial board for more than 30 years as Head of Ancient Hebrew research. From 1968, he taught at the Hebrew University Language Department, becoming a professor and head of the Hebrew Language Department. He retired in 1990 but continued to research the Masorah; Bible accentuation (Ta'amei HaMikra), the traditional language revealed in the Babylonian Vocalization, Rabbinical Hebrew, Leshon Hachamim), liturgical poetry (Piyyut), and lexicology. He published 3 books and more than 50 research papers. In 1975, Yeivin spent several months at Cambridge, England helping to unravel and classify documents from the Cairo Genizah. Ezra Fleischer and Jacob Sussmann shared in this work with Yeivin.Language, Culture, Computation: Computing for the Humanities, Law and the Narratives
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Awards and recognition

In 1986, Yeivin was awarded the Friedenberg Prize for his book "The Hebrew Language Tradition as Reflected in the Babylonian Vocalization". In 1989, he was awarded the
Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
, for the study of the Hebrew language. Among the reasons for their decision, the judges stated that "…he is one of the greatest world authorities in the study of the Masorah and Accentuation (Teamim) and the greatest scholar of the Hebrew Masorah in Babylonian Vocalization." Yeivin was a member of the
Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...
from 1987 and member of the
Israel Academy of Sciences Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on r ...
since 1991. He transferred his private collection of micro-films of vocalizations, including parts of hidden archives of Genizah, in vocalization and accentuation to the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the
National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...
in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in memory of his son Dov, who died in 1986. Further in memory of his son Dov, a large part of his rare scholarly collection has been donated to the
Ariel University Center of Samaria Ariel University ( he, אוניברסיטת אריאל), previously a public college known as the Ariel University Center of Samaria, is an Israeli university located in the urban Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. The college precedi ...
Library.


Selected works

*The Aleppo Codex of the Bible: a study of its vocalization and accentuation, 1968 *The Hebrew Language Tradition as Reflected in the Babylonian Vocalization, 1985 *The Biblical Masorah, 2003 * Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, 1980


See also

*
List of Israel Prize recipients This is a complete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 through to 2022. List For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize ...


References

* Reuven Mirkin, "Baal Hayovel", in Researches in Language E-H, Book Israel Yeivin. Jerusalem 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeivin, Israel Linguists from Israel 1923 births 2008 deaths Israel Prize in study of the Hebrew language recipients Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 20th-century linguists German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine